Elvis Movies - Change of Habit
by Claire J Rottenberg
"Change of Habit," Elvis' last movie, released in
1969, is my favorite Elvis film. It was a dramatic
move away from the previous eight years of
meaningless Elvis musicals.
"Change of Habit" has the strongest plot of any of
Elvis' films in the 1960s. In addition, it is the
only one of his films that addressed social issues
relevant to life in the United States in the
1960s.
The cast of "Change of Habit" is one of the strongest
ones in an Elvis movie. The main co-stars, Mary Tyler
Moore, Barbara McNair and Jane Elliot, were excellent
and they made their characters believable. The movie
also has an exceptional supporting cast, with veteran
character actors Robert Emhardt, Regis Toomey and Ed
Asner playing key roles in the film.
"Change of Habit" has only four songs and they are
not the typical silly songs usually found in Elvis
movies. The songs in this film, for the most part,
have lyrics that match the situation in which they
are sung. For example, the title song relates to the
changes in the nuns' lives and, also, to the changes
in the neighborhood that were needed to address
modern social issues of the changing community.
The characters and situations in "Change of Habit"
are mostly realistic and believable. The one
exception is the assessment and treatment of the
autistic child. This part of the film is particularly
unrealistic with today's knowledge of the condition,
but, in 1969 when the film was made, little was known
about autism so it is understandable that the writers
created the "instant" cure. This is, however, the
weakness of the film.
For Elvis fans, especially of his later concert
years, "Change of Habit" has one more treat. Elvis
looked and sounded fantastic and the film is a
preview of his following year performances on stage
in "Elvis, That's the Way It Is."