Hound-Dog Man (1959)

Director:

Don Siegel

Writers:

Fred Gipson (book)
Winston Miller (writer)

Release Date:

November 1959 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama

Plot Keywords:

Punctuation In Title | Beautiful Woman | Hyphen In Title | Based On Book

Cast

Fabian	...	Clint
Stuart Whitman	...	Blackie Scantling
Carol Lynley	...	Dony Wallace
Arthur O'Connell	...	Aaron McKinney
Dodie Stevens	...	Nita Stringer
Betty Field	...	Cora McKinney
Royal Dano	...	Fiddling Tom Waller
Margo Moore	...	Susie Bell Payson
Claude Akins	...	Hog Peyson
Edgar Buchanan	...	Doc Cole
Jane Darwell	...	Grandma Wilson
L.Q. Jones	...	Dave Wilson
Virginia Gregg	...	Amy Waller
Dennis Holmes	...	Spud McKinney
Rachel Stephens	...	Rachel Wilson

Runtime:

87 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

4-Track Stereo (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Finland:K-12 | USA:Unrated | Sweden:Btl

Filming Locations:

Big Bear Lake, California, USA

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Movie Connections:

Featured in Hollywood Screen Tests: Take 2 (1999) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Got the Feeling

The Old Bait and Switch

I haven't seen this film since my parents took my sisters and I to see it when it first came out. I was about six or seven. I thought, given the title, we were going to see an Elvis Presley movie. Even at that age I'd heard so much about Elvis that I was anxious to see it. My parents might have fallen for the deceptive title too as far as I know. I don't recall the movie being really bad (when I was that age i was just happy to go to the movies at all) but I thought the music and the guy singing were awful. I recall thinking that this Elvis guy was awful and I didn't pay any attention to him until a couple of years later when I saw "It Happened At The World's Fair". That was 1963 although I probably didn't see it until 1964. I thought Elvis was a lot cooler than he was in "Hound Dog Man" but again, the music was really unmemorable. A year or so later came "Viva Las Vegas". I don't remember whether I saw that one in the theatre or not but I remember that, thanks to the Beatles, I had been listening to the radio constantly for about a year or so by then and "Return To Sender" was a hit. Wow! That song knocked me for a loop. I couldn't get enough of it. I guess I must have thought the other films were just a couple of bumps in the road because this guy Elvis was GREAT! Around the same time I found out that it wasn't Elvis in "Hound Dog Man" at all but Fabian! I am quite proud of the fact that at only six I could tell that Fabian was a bad actor and an even worse singer.

Looking at the incredible cast of "Hound Dog Man"-Stuart Whitman,Arthur O'Connell, Carol Lynley-I'm thinking it might not be such a bad movie after all. If I could sit through the music I might consider watching it again. But I doubt it.