Easy Come, Easy Go (1967)

(On Cable TV, November 2022) In Easy Come, Easy Go, Elvis Presley stars as a Navy diver (also a nightclub singer) who retires and spots a nearby sunken Spanish ship with a fortune in ancient coins. Working with a yoga instructor who exemplifies the then-cutting edge of American culture (while Elvis plays the comfortable, relatable exemplar of a more conservative approach—what a shift!), he launches an expedition to raise the treasure. Since this is a latter-day Elvis film, don’t expect much here but a serviceable plot, plenty of clichés and a few musical numbers from The King. By now, I’m somewhat immune to the so-called terrible nature of Elvis movies: My expectations run low, and I understand the secondary nature of the plot in those films. In fact—the sillier the film, the better it is. As such, I don’t have major complaints about Easy Come, Easy Go—it is that it wants to be, and that’s that. Elvis’ shift to a conservative viewpoint making fun of the wilder gyrations of the hippie generation is probably what’s most interesting here, speaking much about his evolving place in the cultural landscape and explaining why this was one of his last star vehicles. Easy Come, Easy Go becomes an evocative title pointing to more than the bittersweet ending of the film—Former rebels becoming establishment representatives and all that, cultural cachet accumulating then evaporating.