Change of Habit

Starring:Elvis Presley, Mary Tyler Moore, Barbara McNair, Jane Elliot, Leora Dana, Edward Asner, Robert Emhardt, Regis Toomey, Doro Merande, Ruth McDevitt, Richard Carlson, Nefti Millet, Laura Figueroa, Lorena Kirk, Virginia Vincent, David Renard, Ji-Tu Cumbuka, William Elliott (II), Rodolfo Hoyos Jr., Pepe Hern
Director: William A. Graham
Studio: Universal Studios
Product Type: DVD

Amazon.com

Elvis tried something different in his final narrative movie… but the results are oddly similar to his usual '60s formula. Here the King plays a doctor working in an inner-city free clinic, playing host to three Catholic nurses (who are really nuns incognito). Elvis gets hung up on one of the nuns, played by Mary Tyler Moore; she seems a lot closer to The Dick Van Dyke Show than the Vatican. The songs are sparse--"Rubberneckin'" gets a workout in one of those awful stilted hootenannies so prevalent in Elvis pictures. The flower-power ambience is more interesting than the story; the film features Mod Squad-style attempts at racial politics, a sit-down protest, and a weird sequence involving "rage reduction" to cure an autistic child. Elvis has good scenes and indifferent ones, but he looks fantastic (this is just after the great "comeback"), and he dresses like no other doctor before or since. --Robert Horton

Customer Reviews:

Best of all Elvis Films.......2007-04-09

This movie is my favorite and I'm a huge Elvis fan! I can't understand why it is so underrated.

Not an Elvis Movie.......2007-01-05

This movie does star Elvis Presley. However, he is really a minor player. Even my 12 yr old son noticed that much. The movie is about the 60's movement to better the humanity in a neighborhood of racial mixes, young people on drugs, & the Banker - the guy who "owns" the neighborhood, preys on those just trying to get by. So we have Sr. Michelle who tries to naively help the troubled youth, Sr. Irene who comes to terms with her ownself as she learns how to beat the Banker & help her people & young Sr. Barbara - the young rebel, who learns how to fight the tough battle while staying in tune with the neighborhood people. Elvis has the role of Dr John Carpenter, a calm voice in a sea of turmoil. He knows there's trouble in the streets, he's there to help those he can, get involved when necessary & help where he can. He doesn't have any illusions of being the superhero. Actually Elvis seems to have walked in off the street onto the movie set he is so lowkeyed. He appears to be having fun, relaxed & even gets to play football. He does sing - 4 songs if you include the title track. One song at the beginning where he & the neighborhood kids are just hanging out & jamming, & one at the end - a gospel song in church. The one in the middle is the kind of movie song he hated to do - he just bursts into song on a carousel, singing to a small girl trying to get her to smile. This is one of my favorite Elvis movies, give it a shot.

Just a good old movie.......2006-09-11

I just would like to say, just watch this movie for fun. If you try and rate this movie by asking if it is Elvis's best you are probably not going to like it, same thing with Mary Tyler Moore. Too many people try and be movie critics. Most of the time if the movie critics hate it, I like it, and if they love it, I hate it. I just watch movies for the fun and try not to rate people on if it is their best. This is a good family movie. It is a clean movie and not out of line for the 60's. So just sit back and enjoy, don't try and read anything into the movie and you will probably like the movie.

Change of Habit - starring Elvis Presley.......2006-03-23

HELLO. WITH REGARDS TO THIS MOVIE ( CHANGE OF HABIT ) STARRING ELVIS PRESLEY, IT IS MY OPINION THAT THIS WAS ONE OF HIS BEST MOVIES. ALMOST EVERY OTHER MOVIE HAS HIM SINGING REALLY DORKY SONGS. THIS MOVIE WAS NOT BAD. IT ALLOWED HIM TO ACT AND SING SONGS THAT WERE NOT THAT BAD.

PAUL SUMMERS

Elvis and Mary.......2006-02-09

This movie is enjoyable if flawed (holding a child for 8 hours straight won't cure autism). Elvis as Dr. Dreamboat is gorgeous, (despite mutton chops) I just wish that MTM as Sister Michelle wasn't such a quavery nervous wreck. (and besides, she looks like a chipmunk in her full habit at the end). Elvis is very natural with the mediocre dialogue, a shame that he was under the thumb of his manager and didn't get more dramatic roles, he surely could have handled them. (Check out Jailhouse Rock for a comparison)

Watching this while I was growing up, I hoped that Sr. Michelle would choose the doctor over the church, (which we are frustratingly left to figure out ourselves). But now I think his character would have been happier with the nun who definitely leaves in the end!

If not the best written Elvis movie (with stereotypes and heavy handed messages galore) at least it's nice to see him in a dramatec role. It meant well as a commentary on the times, it just needed a bit more fine tuning. The opening 'striptease' by the nuns (they change from habits to streetclothes) certainly sends a mixed message and some might say a sacriligious one too, but for the most part, it's just immature and a bit ridiculous.

I still like this picture if just for Elvis alone!

Average customer rating:

Best of all Elvis Films
Not an Elvis Movie
Just a good old movie
Change of Habit - starring Elvis Presley
Elvis and Mary

Change of Habit [Region 2]
Starring: Elvis Presley , Mary Tyler Moore , Barbara McNair , Jane Elliot , and Leora Dana
Director: William A. Graham
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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