In Tickle Me (easily one of the great titles of Elvis' illustrious screen career), the King plays -- brace yourself -- a singing rodeo cowboy with a lucrative second job as a handyman at a beauty spa. Naturally, all of the women at the ranch compete for E's attentions, but he's only got eyes for the stunning Jocelyn Lane. The second half of the film gets supremely silly, as the lovers search for a hidden treasure of gold in a haunted house. The horrifyingly awful gags that accompany the climactic sequence belong in a Scooby Doo episode, but are more accurately akin to the Three Stooges -- since writers Elwood Ullman and Edward Bernds had put in time for the eye-gouging, hair-pulling, face-slapping nitwits. Tickle Me has a weird appeal to me, however, as it allows Elvis the opportunity to show off his talent for comedy (an under-appreciated aspect of his acting for which he shows remarkable aptitude).
