Follow That Dream -
United Artists 1962
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By: For Elvis Fans Only
Source: EPE
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Follow That Dream |
Elvis Presley's ninth movie was "Follow
That Dream". It was based on Richard
Powell's 1957 novel "Pioneer, Go Home",
the story of the Kwimper family, who
homesteaded on land along a newly built
highway in Florida.
When the Kwimper family car runs out
of gas on a new Florida highway and an
officous state supervisor tries to run
them off, Pop Kwimper digs in his heels
and decides to do a little homesteading.
He and his son Toby and their "adopted"
children - Holly, Ariadne and the twins
- start their own little community along
a strip of the roadside.
The fishing is good and the living is
easy until the mob sets up a gambling
operation and the state supervisor
sticks a sexy social worker on the
Kwimpers in an effort to take away
Ariadne and the twins.
Follow That Dream" opened nationwide on
May 23, 1962 and peaked at #5 on the
Variety Box Office Survey. The location
shots for "Follow That Dream" took place
in July and August of 1961 near Crystal
River, Ocala, Inverness, and Tampa
Florida. Elvis arrived by chartered bus
and stayed at the Port Paradise Hotel in
Crystal River. Following behind the bus
in Elvis' limo an pulling his new ski
boat were his friends/entourage members
Alan Fortas and Lamar Fike.
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Pam Ogles, Anne Helm, Elvis
Presley and Arthur O'Connell in
Follow That Dream |
Elvis played
Toby Kwimper, who had an unique
method for avoiding amorous women and
tempting situations - reciting his
multiplication tables.
In "Follow That Dream", as with many
of his films, Elvis worked with some of
the best talent in the movie business.
Arthur O'Connell played
Pop Kwimper. The family patriarch
believed he was helping the government
by taking advantage of their various
assistance programs. Mr. O'Connell would
play Elvis' father again in the 1964
film "Kissin' Cousins". He was nominated
for an Academy Award as Best Supporting
Actor in the 1955 film "Picnic" and
again in the 1960 film "Anatomy of a
Murder".
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Anne Helm and Elvis Presley in
Follow That Dream |
Anne Helm played Holly
Jones, one of the women interested in
making Toby forget his math. Ms. Helm, a
native of Canada, moved to New York at
age 14, studying ballet and beginning to
model. Eventually, she moved to
California and worked in numerous TV
series and in movies such as "Desire In
the Dust", "The Magic Sword" and "The
Interns". She and Elvis dated during the
filming of "Follow That Dream". During
the Elvis Presley Birthday Celebration
2002, she was a special guest at the
Elvis Fan Club Presidents' Luncheon and
shared her memories of their time
together. That year's luncheon was
themed around the 40th anniversary of
the film.
Also visiting Graceland in January 2002
and appearing as prez lunch guests were
the twins Gavin and Robin Koon, who
played twins Eddy and Teddy Bascombe in
the movie. They shared with the fans
their memories of making this movie from
the viewpoint of two nine-year-old boys.
They remembered being in awe of the
movie grips and all their muscles and
the interesting equipment they moved in
and around the set. They also recounted
the many movie takes that were required
to get the famous candy bar scenes
filmed. The twins were always sharing a
single candy bar and often one twin got
a little more than the other in
attempting to break the bar evenly. Just
for old times' sake the Graceland staff
provided all attending with their own
souvenir candy bar.
Joanna Moore played
Alisha Claypoole, the state welfare
supervisor who became vindictive when
Toby remembered his math and rejected
her. Ms. Moore married and divorced
actor Ryan O'Neal, with whom she had two
children - Oscar winning daughter Tatum
O'Neal and son Griffin O'Neal. Moore had
a long career with roles in TV series
and movies. Some of the movies she
worked in were, "Ride A Crooked Trail",
"The Last Angry Man", "Walk On the Wild
Side" and "Nevada Smith". A recurring
role for her on television was Andy
Taylor's girlfriend Peg on "The Andy
Griffith Show".
Roland Winters played
the judge. You might remember his
playing Elvis' father in the film
"Blue
Hawaii".
Howard McNear played
George the bank loan officer. He was in
two other Elvis movies. He played Elvis'
boss at the tourist service office in
"Blue
Hawaii" and he played Dr. Stevers in
"Fun
In Acapulco". He is best known for
his role as Floyd the barber on the
television series "The Andy Griffith
Show".
Veteran character actor
Herbert
Rudley played Mr. Endicott, the
bank president who took the Kwimper
family under his wing and helped them
start their business.
Several other veteran character actors
portrayed the gangsters in this film.
Carmine was played by Jack Kruschen, who
was nominated for an Academy Award for
his supporting role in the 1960 film
"The Apartment". Simon Oakland, who
played Nick, began in show business as a
concert violinist, but he had a long
career playing tough guys in films such
"West Side Story", "Psycho" and
"Bullitt".
The film was edited by William B.
Murphy, who received an Academy Award
nomination in 1967 for his work on
"Fantastic Voyage". The makeup artist
was Daniel C. Striepeke, who was
nominated for an Academy Award for his
work in the 1994 film "Forrest Gump" and
for his work in the 1998 film "Saving
Private Ryan". He was nominated for a
1976 Emmy Award for television's "Beauty
and The Beast". He won an award from the
Hollywood Makeup Artist and Hair Stylist
Guild for the 2001 film "Castaway" and
was nominated again this year for the
film "The Road To Perdition".
The film was directed by Gordon
Douglas, who began his career as an
actor in the early 1930's, but was soon
directing the "Our Gang" series of
movies for RKO. He also directed such
films as "Robin and the 7 Hoods",
"Harlow", "Stagecoach", "Tony Rome" and
"The Detective
The screenplay was written by Charles
Lederer, whose writing credits include
"Ocean's Eleven", and "Mutiny On the
Bounty". He was nominated five times for
Writers Guild of America awards for his
screenplays.
Producer David Weisbart also produced
the Elvis movies "Love Me Tender",
"Flaming Star" and "Kid Galahad". Leo
Tover, the cinematographer, also worked
on the Elvis film "Love Me Tender".
Tover was nominated twice for the
Academy Award for his work in films.
The executive producer was Walter
Mirisch, who received an Academy Award
for the 1968 film "In The Heat of the
Night". He received the Golden Globe
Awards' Cecil B. DeMille Award in 1977.
In 1978, he received the Academy's
Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award and
the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award.
Musical scoring was done by seven-time
Academy Award nominee Hans J. Salter.
The art director was Malcolm C. Bert,
who was nominated twice for an Academy
Award.
|
Follow That Dream EP now
available on CD. |
Soundtrack
- Follow That Dream 1:37 (Fred
Wise/Ben Weisman)
- Angel 2:38 (Sid Tepper/Roy C. Bennett)
- What A Wonderful Life 2:26 (Sid
Wayne/Jerry Livingston)
- I�m Not The Marrying Kind 1:49 (Mack
David/Sherman Edwards)
- Sound Advice 1:45 (Giant/Baum/Kaye)
The song "A Whistling Tune" was
dropped from this movie, but later
re-recorded and used for the film Kid
Galahad. Elvis disliked the song "Sound
Advice" so much that he requested it be
left off the soundtrack EP. It turned up
later on the non-movie album "Elvis for
Everyone" in 1965.
Recorded at:
RCA
Studios, 17th Avenue, South Nashville.
July 1961.
Musicians: Elvis Presley
(vocals), Scotty Moore, Hank Garland &
Neal Mathews (guitars), Bob Moore
(bass), D.J Fontana, Buddy Harman
(drums), Floyd Cramer (piano), Millie
Kirkham and the Jordanaires (vocals)
Follow That Dream - United
Artists 1962
Directed Gordon
Douglas
Writing Credits Richard Powell
(III) (Novel), Charles Lederer
Producer Kavid Weisbart
Art Direction Mal Bert
Music Hans J Salter
Cast Overview
Elvis Presley .... Toby Kwimper, Arthur
O'Connell.... Pop Kwimper, Anne Helm
.... Holly Jones, Joanna Cook Moore....
Alisha Claypoole, Jack Kruschen ....
Carmine, Simon Oakland .... Nick, Roland
Winters .... Judge, Alan Hewitt .... H.
Arthur King, Howard McNear .... George,
Frank DeKova .... Jack, Herbert Rudley
.... Endicott, Gavin Koon .... Eddy
Bascombe, Robin Koon .... Teddy
Bascombe, Robert Carricart.... Al
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