Elvis' last dramatic feature film is one of his most interesting. (Come to think of it, he made a whole bunch of interesting films towards the end of his career - none of them quite worked out, though, encouraging his retirement from acting.) It's not really about him, but rather three nuns who decide to go out into the real world and see what's happening.
Elvis plays a guitar-playing doctor who runs a free clinic in the ghetto. He has a meet cute with the nuns, thinking they’ve come in for an abortion – which he refuses to perform.When they reveal they’re nurses, he accuses them of being Park Avenue debutantes, even though one is black; he then says nurses can’t make it there, two of the last nurses were raped “one of them against their will”. Hilarious. And there's a really really weird scene where he gets a girl to talk again by cuddling her and rocking her saying "I love you" but telling her to get mad - this was downright uncomfortable watching. (Is it a real technique?)
But this dodgy stuff apart, this is actually a half-decent movie. It fits firmly into the “three girls” sub-genre that Roger Corman’s New World Pictures would like so much. As in those films, each girl has there own plot, there’s a black one who gets involved in black causes, lots of comedy and a rape sequence. No nudity, though.
The toughness of life on the streets isn’t shied away from: heroin, deafness, teen pregnancy, violence, mafia, black power, police relation (Ed Asner is a cop), racism. Also the local priest is shown to be horrible and mean to the nuns – this feels all too realistic, as does the fact the women are tempted by life on the outside. On the lighter side, there is decent comedy from the fish out of water concept: nuns being treated well in uniform but bad out of it, nuns learning how to flirt to get their way – plus a Sister Act-like stuff about trying to make the church more accessible to people eg nuns encouraging the priest to have mass in Spanish for the Spanish-speaking locals.
Elvis is in terrific shape, and good form, even if he doesn't sing a lot (a few songs - but why not more gospel numbers?) His character is a bit lecherous – he seems to leave his hands on the boobs of a 17 year old who has a crush on him, he hits on Mary Tyler-More by approaching her from behind in the kitchen and feeling her up (he backs off when she says she’s interested in someone else, i.e. God – but how about maybe just a kiss first, Elvis). More is actually the real star of the film – she’s pretty and vivacious, and is one of Elvis’ best co-stars. Barbara McNair and especially Jane Eliot give excellent support as the other nuns. Surprisingly open ending where we’re not sure whether Moore is going to leave the church for Elvis or stay. Not an entire success but I enjoyed this a lot more than I thought I would.
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