Elvis Presley's 17th feature film, Girl Happy is a 1965 musical romantic comedy directed by Boris Sagal.
Rusty Wells (Presley) and his band want to go to Fort Lauderdale for spring break. When it seems like their boss, Big Frank (Harold J Stone), won't let them go, he learns his daughter, Valerie (Shelley Fabares) intends to go to the same place. He worries that she'll get in trouble, so he enlists Rusty and his band to take care of her. Many hijinks ensue as the quartet juggle fulfilling their promise to Frank and attempting to have a good time with various bikini-clad beauties.
Tropes:
- Boyfriend-Blocking Dad: Big Frank is horrified at the prospect of Valerie spending spring break at Fort Lauderdale at the mercy of "30,000 sex-starved boys" (Rusty's words), so he enlists Rusty to watch over her.
- Disguised in Drag: Rusty digs his way into jail to get Valerie out, but she's already been bailed out by her father by the time he's in and he can't get back out since his friends made the hole cave in under the impression they'd be doing him a favor. The other girls still in jail decide to put Rusty in a dress so he can get out with them without the cops noticing something amiss.
- Distant Duet: "Spring Fever" is sung by Rusty and his band on one end, and Valerie and her friends on another. They're on different roads on the way to Fort Lauderdale.
- Foreign-Language Tirade: Romano goes on a tirade in his native Italian after the hotel's manager tells him to get out of Valerie's room.
- Gilligan Cut:
- Rusty thinks Big Frank will be understanding of him and his band going down to Fort Lauderdale for spring break. Cut to Big Frank arguing with Valerie over the phone about going to Fort Lauderdale for spring break.
- A series of cuts, one after the other, all on the same subject:
- Rusty tells the band he'll watch over Valerie on his own while the three can go enjoy themselves without worrying. They don't know he's fallen in love with her and it's mutual, so they lament that he'll have a week of "solid misery"; cut to Rusty enjoying himself while water-skiing with Valerie.
- The band hang out on the beach with three beauties, saying Rusty is going through living torture; cut to Rusty riding a motorcycle with Valerie.
- The band are having a picnic with their dates but are no longer enjoying themselves because they think Rusty is suffering; cut to Rusty dancing with Valerie at a beach party.
- The band are no longer paying attention to their dates and are talking about how they're going to make it up to Rusty for what he's going through; cut to Rusty riding a boat with Valerie and serenading her.
- Interrupted Intimacy: Much of the film consists of Rusty and his band being unable to get any because their first priority is making sure Valerie doesn't get any.
- Latin Lover: Smooth-talking, oversexed, Italian Romano charms the heck out of Valerie and poses a threat to Rusty's mission of keeping her away from untoward attentions.
- Nerds Are Virgins: The only guy Rusty trusts Valerie to be with (before he falls for her) is a nerd, being under the impression the nerd won't try anything and will instead take her to a library or something.
- She Cleans Up Nicely: Rusty and his band think Valerie is nothing special at first because they see a klutz in unimpressive clothes. She changes their mind in a matter of minutes when she strips down to her bikini.
