Loving You is a 1957 American musical drama film directed by Hal Kanter and starring Elvis Presley, Lizabeth Scott, and Wendell Corey.

The film was written by Herbert Baker and Hal Kanter, and based on the short story "A Call from Mitch Miller".

Kanter expanded the script after being inspired by Presley's last appearance on the Louisiana Hayride and his manager Colonel Tom Parker's antics.

Composed by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, Presley's single "(Let Me Be Your) Teddy Bear", backed with "Loving You", was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America.

Walter "Tex" Warner (Wendell Corey), a seasoned country and western bandleader past his prime, and his manager and love interest, Glenda Markle (Lizabeth Scott), work for the campaign of Texas gubernatorial candidate Jim Tallman.

With Tex headlining, they start touring throughout Texas, along two other acts: Susan "Susie" Jessup (Dolores Hart) and a singing trio.

Back on the farm, Deke and Susan talk, where she tells him about being fired, after which they are about to kiss, when they are interrupted by her parents, who ask him to sing the song he promised.

Glenda arranges a studio telecast of a concert from Freegate in order to gain publicity; this enables her to convince the town board to allow him to perform.

Elvis Presley plays Deke Rivers (whose real name is Jimmy Tompkins), a deliveryman who is discovered by the manager of a band.

[5] Wendell Corey plays Walter "Tex" Warner, bandleader of the Rough Ridin' Cowboys and the roadshow that Deke joins and revitalizes.

[7] Dolores Hart plays Susan Jessup, a young singer who tours with Tex Warner's band and Deke's love interest.

Following Loving You, she had roles in three other titles in the psychotronic film genre, 1958's High School Hellcats, Hot Car Girl and Frankenstein 1970.

[11] The film was based on the short story "A Call from Mitch Miller",[2] written by Mary Agnes Thompson and published in the June 1956 issue of Good Housekeeping.

[12] In that year, producer Hal Wallis bought the rights for the story to turn it into a vehicle for Presley's first starring role for Paramount Pictures.

Six months before the start of the production, Wallis loaned Presley to 20th Century Fox, where he appeared in his movie debut, the 1956 film Love Me Tender.

Kanter witnessed the reaction from fans, as well as Presley's manager Colonel Tom Parker's handling of the spectacle, both of which he used as an inspiration for the script.

[17] The single "(Let Me Be Your) Teddy Bear" backed with "Loving you" sold over a million copies,[18] and was later certified platinum on March 27, 1992 by the Recording Industry Association of America.

[18] Due to Presley's massive appeal, for the first time, the studio decided to bypass the established first-run theater system.

[20] This new system was dubbed the "Presley Pattern", which consisted of delivering the product to its direct market by cutting the expenses of premieres in downtown theaters, choosing instead local venues for a wider and more profitable release.

[23] Variety wrote a favorable review, noting that Presley "shows improvement as an actor ... being surrounded by a capable crew of performers".

[24] The New York Times criticized his acting: the review opened "For Paramount's 'Loving You', starring America's favorite hound-dog hollerer ... does just about everything, and little else, to prove that it ain't—isn't".

[26] The Michigan Christian Advocate delivered a negative review and called the film "an apologia for Elvis Presley" and considered it "part of the passing American scene" that would "undoubtedly bore many and interest an equal number".

[27] On its review, Monthly Film Bulletin qualified Presley's career as "one of the most puzzling and less agreeable aspects of modern popular music".

the review declared: "Presley adopts a slurred and husky style of delivery and a series of grotesque body gestures to impose on his otherwise innocuous material a suggestive meaning. ...

It remarked the "resourcefulness" of Lizabeth Scott, the "positive acting ability augmented by a fresh prettiness" of Dolores Hart, and the "witty lines and range of expressions" delivered by Wendell Corey.

It concluded: "For all his high-voltage on-stage erotica ... he plays the sullen country boy convincingly ... evincing all the emotion of a well bred head of livestock.