Little-remembered fact: Elvis Presley BEGAN shooting Love Me Tender on 8.22.56 and the film OPENED in theatres on 11.15.56 — 11 weeks later. Out of fear, one presumes, that Presley might be a flash in the pan — strike when the iron is hot.

Love Me Tender was previewed, however, sometime in early to mid October, so the actual answer-print turnaround was probably closer to eight or nine weeks. Wiki page: “Test screenings of the film resulted in people being upset at the death of Presley’s character. Attempting to reach a compromise between the death and pleasing his fans, Presley filmed an extra scene and recorded an extra verse to the title track to be played over the end credits.”

Correct me if I’m wrong, but this makes Love Me Tender the new Big Daddy of Fast Hollywood Turnarounds.

Otto Preminger‘s Anatomy of a Murder (’59), which began shooting on 3.23.59 and had its first preview on 6.18.59, is now in second place — a span of 12 and 1/2 weeks between the start of principal and the first-ever public showing. Love Me Tender beats Anatomy by a week and a half.

In third place is Oliver Stone‘s W., which filmed between 5.12.08 and 7.11.08 — two months or eight weeks. The film opened on 10.17.08, or 13 weeks after the finish of principal photography.

Almost as fast was Floyd Mutrux‘s American Hot Wax (’78), a biopic of rock ‘n’ roll disk jockey and promoter Alan Freed. I interviewed Mutrux at a Manhattan junket a couple of weeks prior to the 3.17.78 opening, and as I recall the Paramount-produced film had wrapped as recently as the previous December…something like that.

The filming of Lorene Scafaria‘s Hustlers took 29 days, having begun on 3.22.19 and finished on 4.22 or thereabouts. It opened four months later at the 2019 Toronto Film Festival.

Any other quickie turnarounds that I’m forgetting?