Is this your favorite Elvis role of all time? I really liked his early days better than his middle and later movies.
This article talks about each one of his roles and how they progressed into more fluff musicals as his career went on...
http://hubpages.com/hub/Elvis-Movies/
Compare the films Elvis made before he went in the Army with those he made afterwards. In "Love Me Tender," "Loving You," "Jailhouse Rock" and "King Creole," Elvis was a whole lot closer to =Elvis= as he'd been in the era of the "Louisianna Hayride," "Stage Show," "The Milton Berle Show," "Your Hit Parade" and "The Steve Allen Show." The famous "cell block dance skit" may have choreographed, but it's still closer to the Elivis of "Heartbreak Hotel" and "Hound Dog" -- and thus, to the Elvis that "changed the world" in '56 -- than to anything he did on film until the "comeback special" in 1968.
I've heard a few people assert that Col. Tom went along with Elvis going in the Army to "clean him up" and "make him more controllable." Anyone who's read James Dickerson's book on the relationship between The King and The Colonel may well agree. But in whatever event, "Jailhouse Rock" provides compelling evidence that the Elvis of 1968-1975 or so was no "invention." That Elvis was the logical development of the Elvis of 1955-1958.