Customer Reviews

Elvis / Stay Away Joe [VHS]

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

Stay Away, Joe was filmed in the beautiful Sedona, Az area circa
1968. The aesthetic value of enjoying this unspoiled scenery is
worth the price of admission or price of the video.
A departure from the previous Elvis formula movie...Elvis drinks
beer, smokes cigars, puts the moves on every women he sees, regardless if she is spoken for or not. Oddly enough, Elvis
does not "get the girl." in the end.
Stay Away, Joe is totally slapstick, silly, outrageously camp.
The indian stereotypes are politcially incorrect by today's standards. But both whiteman and indians are portrayed as boozing, brawling buffoons.
This is perhaps the worst editing I ever saw in a film. Fight
scenes and dance scenes and at time the music soundtrack is
uneven and incongruous. Burgess Meredith portrays Elvis' indian
father and is without a doubt the worst makeup job ever fimed.
His makeup looks like it was applied with a putty knife.
Surprisingly Elvis sings only 4 songs. "Stay Away" set to the tune of "Greenselves" starts with the opening credits with an
aerial view of Sedona and beautiful redrock formations. Another
is "All I Needed Was This Rain" a slow tempo blusey number positions Elvis out in a rainstorm with four canine companions.
And "Dominique" a silly little ditty set to a suggestive seductive romp up the canyon, where two women wear Elvis out.
All in all a pretty silly, low budget and poorly edited film.
The humor is arcane, inane and most certainly dated. But dated to a much simpler time in America when humor was less sophisticated, uncomplicated and unchallenged by the ethical and moral morass of today. Buy it if you are an Elvis fan.

Before people lose their minds about the title of my review, just think about this: I genuinely wonder how the Native American community viewed this film when it was released. Sure, the stereotypes we see in STAY AWAY, JOE are now considered highly offensive--that Native Americans are irresponsible and alcoholic and such--but were they thrilled to be shown in a movie where they weren't getting shot off a horse by John Wayne?

As politically-incorrect as these images are, I gotta say that there was something...hip...about this nonstop party. I'd be really curious to find out how Native Americans felt about this movie when it came out.

Elvis chasing two beautiful Indian girls in Sedona's spectacular red rock country plays like a dream. Although most of the humor dropped with a thud for me, I did get a chuckle out of Elvis running off to the same liquor store with a carload of girls every time his character got a hold of a couple bucks.

I'm not saying this is a great movie.
But I think I'd enjoy it again before signing up for the guilt-heapin' pretensions of the Billy Jack films.
Maybe if Elvis had been Billy Jack....

Apart from the unfortunate Native American stereotypes, "Stay Away, Joe" (1968) features one of Elvis' most engaging performances in this party-hardy farce. Nice Sedona photography and remarkably few songs. A strange film to be sure, but the King certainly made worse.

I must say I decided to review this film because it had so much negative reviews. I LOVE this film. It's pure fun and completely crazy and it's fine like that. If you want to watch an art film, don't watch an Elvis Presley film.
I would really like this film to be released on DVD. I don't understand it's not on DVD yet as you can find horrible Elvis films like HARUM SCARUM or FRANKIE AND JOHNNY already on DVD. As I'm writing this review the following Elvis films have not been released on DVD yet: KISSIN' COUSINS, TICKLE ME, LIVE A LITTLE, STAY AWAY JOE and ELVIS ON TOUR. With the exception of COUSINS, the other four films are among Elvis's best.
STAY AWAY JOE is a fun film to watch but it's sure that you won't like it if you don't like Elvis. So if you don't like Elvis, stay away!

Elvis is the only person that keeps this movie alive. It's not one of his best, but it's still entertaining. All Elvis movies are nice to watch simply because of Elvis. Without him, there's no picture. Elvis really cuts loose in the fight scenes, and really shows how tough and strong he is. I always enjoy watching these fight scenes. Don't knock "Stay Away Joe", people. It's not one his best films, but it's still pretty cool to watch.

Elvis, Elvis, Elvis! Need I say more??? I purchased this as a Christmas gift for my dad. Dad's in is 70s now and had never seen this E. P. movie! I had though and knew how funny it was so I purchased it for him. We had an early Christmas and we all sat around and watched the video and we laughed and laughed at Elvis and Burgess Meredith, and all "Joe's" Elvis' rowdy friends in the movie. They were always destroying something!
It's fun and it's Elvis, what more could you want?

I found this at Big Lots for $3.00. One of the most truly dreadful movies ever to use up perfectly good film stock. Now and then there is a scenic view of the beautiful country around Sedona, Arizona, but you would be better off looking at a National Geographic magazine of the same. To call this movie "slapstick" is an insult to the Keystone Kops and Laurel and Hardy. Do not be fooled by the supporting cast of formerly good actors. They must have been desperate for a movie role to have accepted these roles. This must be an example of why Elvis became sick and tired of making cheesy movies and went back to performing on stage. I saw Elvis in person twice (Honolulu, 1957 and San Diego, 1976) so am predisposed to like Elvis. I liked him before he was cool.

I purchased this movie because it was the last movie of Elvis's that I did not have and I wanted a collection of all of his movies. I did not like this movie but I still wanted it to complete my collection. I am an Elvis fan and always have been, and I also have a lot his documentaries, so I am happy to have this last movie. Would I recommend this movie? To a real Elvis fan, yes, but to someone wanting to see a good movie, no.

I love the movie because its just like watching Elvis and the guys rough housing and having fun. Elvis hated doing the same scripts over and over but he loved working with the people in Arizona and you can tell he was having fun. If you want to laugh and just have fun with Elvis, this is the movie. Its a good musical comedy.

I GUESS THIS MOVIE MUST HAVE BEEN THE MOST EMBARRACING MOVIE MADE BY ELVIS. IT ALMOST FAILS ON ALL COUNTS AS A MOVIE,PRODUCTION,SCRIPT AND PLOT.ELVIS USE TO REFER TO MOVIES HE WOULD LIKE TO FORGET,AND SADLY ENOUGH THIS IS ONE OF THEM.THE MOVIE ALMOST STEALS THE CHARISMA AND CHARM OF ELVIS,BY FORCING HIM TO ACT OUT SILLY ROLES AND READ RIDICULAS SCRIPTS.IRONICALLY I WOULD STILL RECOMMEND THIS FILM TO ANY ELVIS FAN BECAUSE THIS FILM WAS A CHANGING POINT IN HIS CAREER WHICH LEAD HIM BACK TO SINGING.JUST WATCHING THIS FILM IT BECOMES APPARENT ELVIS HAS LOST INTEREST IN ACTING.ITS SAD TO SEE A GREAT MAN HAVE TO PUT HIMSELF TO SHAME IN FILM LIKE THIS.