Elvis Presley has a visible erection in a scene from the movie Girls! Girls! Girls! that wasn't edited out by the filmmakers. Alongside his well-documented musical career, Elvis tried his hand as an actor. Most of these films had a musical element, including Jailhouse Rock, Blue Hawaii, and Love Me Tender, which was his feature film debut.
Girls! Girls! Girls! is a musical comedy from 1962 starring Presley, along with Laurel Goodwin and Stella Stevens. The story follows a young sailor (Presley) who tries to buy the boat he built with his father after learning that his boss is retiring to Arizona. As in many of his movies, Elvis plays a man pulled into a love triangle with two women, Robin and Laurel. His hit single "Return To Sender" is featured in the film, which opened #1 at the box office.
As first spotted by Cinema Blend, a scene in the film during a musical number performed by Presley and co-star Laurel Goodwin called "The Walls Have Ears" shows the singer with a visible erection. The article notes that Joe Esposito (Presley's road manager) stated in his memoir that everyone on set was aware of the issue. According to Esposito, Presley claimed the reason for the issue was due to his pants, which were rubbing him the wrong way, and he couldn't stop "feeling." The problem reportedly did not concern Esposito, as he believed that the filmmakers would never actually use those shots in the film, as the erection was so prominent. Watch the scene in question below:
Click here to watch "The Walls Have Ears" on YouTube.
Esposito also noted in his memoir that Presley's only genuine concern about the incident was whether or not it would because reshoots, indicating that he wasn't too embarrassed by the event. This is not the first time that Presley has been known to have trouble keeping himself in check in this manner. Presley has been under scrutiny for years over his enjoyment of underage girls, chasing after minors as young as fourteen years old.
While this film has been out of the public eye for many years, it is possible that it will begin to draw audiences again after this revelation. With today's trend of re-editing old films to be more palatable for today's social climate, it will be interesting to see if the film remains the way it is now. As it stands, the current edit remains the same, and people are talking about it. The excitement around Girls! Girls Girls! may not be for the reasons that the King would have wanted, but at least he didn't have to do any reshoots.