Change of Habit (1969)

Best movie of this year hands down!

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

Elvis Presley was a hugely influential performer with one of the most distinctive singing voices of anybody. He embarked on a film career consisting of 33 films from 1956 to 1969, films that did well at the box-office but mostly panned critically (especially his later films) and while he was a highly charismatic performer he was never considered a great actor.'Change of Habit' was one of his last films, well his last proper film not counting his 1970s documentary films. He has certainly done much better, that have been cited numerous times in my previous Elvis film reviews, but for a later Elvis effort it's not bad, faring significantly better than most later-period films of his where one can really understand why they are so disliked.There are flaws certainly. The script is very weak, the humour can be unfunny (apart from some sporadically amusing moments) and it often feels tired and stilted, parts are tastelessly questionable too. The story has some intriguing elements, but it can be a case of trying to do too much and not knowing what to do with it or who to target it towards. The songs are few, and other than catchy "Rubberneckin" they are not memorable or particularly great and the music score can be unfitting. The film also feels too unresolved at the end.However, 'Change of Habit' is better looking than many of the later Elvis films made on the cheap, it's nicely photographed. The story is a more serious and darker change of pace for Elvis, isn't dull and there are some very intriguing elements that are quite daring for an Elvis film.Regarding Elvis himself, he looks and sounds great, looks involved and has a relaxed confidence. Mary Tyler matches him well, and the supporting cast are excellent. The direction is competent enough if at times not particularly distinguished.In summary, a mixed bag but watchable enough. 5/10 Bethany Cox

What better way to celebrate what would have been Elvis Presley's 82nd birthday than by enjoying his final film? It was an admirable end to his acting career and an appealing overture to THE MARY TYLER MOORE SHOW, boasting as it does both MTM and Ed Asner. It's as if the baton were being passed from the 1960s to the 1970s.Co-stars Mary Tyler Moore, Jane Elliot, and Barbara McNair were all good, with MTM really surprising me in a role far from Laura Petrie and Mary Richards. Jane Elliot was the breakout star for me, very impressive as the idealistic Barbara. Soon after this movie she was cast as Daphne in "The Guru" episode of THE MOD SQUAD where she actually played a Velma-like character who nonetheless steals the show. Barbara McNair was the weak link, never clicking with the others, partly because her character was dispatched to house calls. Her acting was wooden, her face a stone mask rarely brightened with a smile or any expression. I found forced and unconvincing her big scene announcing amnesty on debts to The Banker. Speaking of whom, Robert Emhardt, who played the kindly cook in Elvis' 1962 movie KID GALAHAD, was very effective as the neighborhood kingpin. More than just a loan shark, he implies to the naïve and oblivious Sister Barbara that she shouldn't be prostituting in his turf. It was a testimony to the film's commitment to harsh reality that The Banker, while bruised, isn't broken, and will be back shaking down the locals the next day.The film was unflinching in its portrayal of ghetto idleness (and how that is indeed the devil's workshop), fatherlessness and abandonment, exploitation, mental illness, and violence. The attempted rape scene, for example, was especially harrowing for a G-rated movie! And no easy solutions are offered, just a little light in the darkness provided by Carpenter and company. Also realistic and controversial was the film's portrayal of the Roman Catholic Church, caught between its past and its post-Vatican II future. I don't see the Church recommending this movie to boost vocations! Regis Toomey was very good in his thankless role of curmudgeonly Fr. Gibbons, an old school priest who simply locks the church's doors against the outside world. Sister Michelle's suggesting people-pleasing reforms like a folk mass seem innovative and idealistic, but almost fifty years later the erosion of tradition, politicization, and balkanization within the Church in the wake of Vatican II make her suggestions appear like an invitation to step out onto a slippery slope. Sister Barbara's peace signs and grocery store sit-in aptly reflect the real world agitation of rogue priests like the Berrigan Brothers.Another actor in a thankless, blink-and-you'll-miss-him role was Richard Carlson as Bishop Finley. A decade earlier Carlson was headlining feature films like THE CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON and starring in his own series, MACKENZIE'S RAIDERS. Now he was reduced to one measly scene. Fame is fleeting. And certainly Elvis knew this and perhaps he feared it would be his fate as well, since his screen time was reduced in both this film and its predecessor, THE TROUBLE WITH GIRLS.Some reviewers have challenged the believability of Tennessee-native Dr. John Carpenter coming to the ghetto of New York City to practice medicine in a free clinic. But Carpenter explains the reason to Michelle after the football game, saying he had a war buddy from Washington Street who saved his life and later died half a world away (presumably Vietnam). Carpenter felt it only right to dedicate a few years of his life to paying back a debt to his friend. I liked that reason, and I also liked the subtle religious symbolism implied by it. Carpenter isn't planning on serving there indefinitely, but--like that other Carpenter--would minister among the poor only for a season.What I challenge is the believability of the nuns taking a vow of silence not to reveal they are nuns while on this assignment, especially as it necessarily results in deception and dishonesty (and to his credit Carpenter calls out Michelle for that). It makes no sense except as an obvious plot device to set up the star-crossed romance and the big reveal at the end. And speaking of revealing, what was with the gratuitous and unseemly stripping scene near the beginning? That was a savory bone tossed to nun fetishists but a turn-off to anyone with any respect for the cloth. And why would these nuns on a short assignment order an upright piano for their apartment? Again, just to set up the jam session of "pagan music" with Elvis that outraged the distaff Statler and Waldorf leaning out of their windows to weigh in on the passing scene.Sisters Michelle, Barbara, and Irene were chosen for this experimental assignment, sent into the mixed-up world with the hope they wouldn't be mixed-up by that world. Since all three end up suffering some degree of confusion and crisis, I suspected they were selected for the assignment because they were determined to be at-risk for staying in the Church. And in the end one has quit and it's strongly implied Michelle will be leaving as well, with Mother Joseph's blessing (judging by her knowing smile when John comes to call at the convent). The closing scene says it all, with Michelle sitting in the folk mass looking from John to Jesus to... mother and child.This was a fine movie for Elvis to close out his acting career. He again showed his abundant abilities and evidenced enduring appeal. And the music was uniformly excellent, from the under-appreciated title song (an upbeat complement to "In the Ghetto") to "Have a Happy" (which atones for the treacly "Confidence" of CLAMBAKE), and on through the rousing closing number "Let Us Pray." Elvis went out on the proverbial high note.

1969 was more than a change of habit but a change of direction for Elvis. Years of formula musicals drained all the interest & passion Elvis had early on. Charro is a decent western showing Elvis the actor but Change Of Habit is a religious drama, social commentary & a musical, the combination doesn't work. It's a good serious attempt but the songs get in the way & don't fit. Elvis never really sinks his teeth & gets deep into his role & he just skims & glides on the surface. Not for a moment is he convincing as a doctor who has to break into a song because he's Elvis Presley.....what a coincidence. It's a movie that should've never been made. For his last 2 films Charro is the quality movie.

Change Of Habit marked the farewell big screen performance of Elvis Presley who plays a doctor practicing medicine in a ghetto clinic who gets the help of three new female aides at his practice. Mary Tyler Moore, Jane Elliott, and Barbara McNair are his new help and they're all quite beautiful. And they're all quite committed to being nuns.I can understand the need for the idea that the women be accepted for themselves first, but why keep it a secret from Presley? And of course Elvis starts getting romantic notions about Mary and can't understand why she keeps putting him off. The answer is there would really be no movie.Despite the silly premise Change Of Habit was a good film for Presley to end his screen career. The latter half of his output of films were distinctly inferior to the first half, but this one broke a trend. And it also gave him a late career hit with Rubbernecking. One thing about those latter films, the good songs had pretty much dried up, this was a pleasant exception.As he did with all of Elvis's movies, Colonel Tom Parker provided him with a fine supporting cast with folks like Regis Toomey as the local parish priest, Richard Carlson as the bishop, Ed Asner as a police lieutenant and Robert Emhardt as the neighborhood loan shark, known to one and all as 'the banker'. I cannot forget Doro Merande and Ruth McDivitt as a pair of old biddies who provide a Greek Chorus commentary on the comings and goings of everybody in the neighborhood. Dana Carvey must have seen this film and was inspired to create his Church Lady character on SNL.All and all a really good film for Elvis to have ended his big screen career with.