Details

Release year: 1962

Storyline

A family of ragtag vagabonds sets up a makeshift home on a Florida beach after becoming marooned there, prompting an uptight local bureaucrat to attempt to evict them.

Top credits

Directors

Gordon Douglas

Writers

Cast

Elvis Presley — Toby Kwimper
Arthur O'Connell — Pop Kwimper
Anne Helm — Holly Jones
Joanna Moore — Alisha Claypoole

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Did you know

• The courtroom scene was filmed in the Citrus County Courthouse in nearby Inverness, Florida. When the courthouse was restored and made into the Old Courthouse Heritage Museum during the 1990s, photographs of the courtroom were scarce, since courtroom photography was not allowed there for many years. With permission from MGM, still photographs of the film were used as reference to recreate the look of the courtroom. As of 2009, the only known visual record of the original courtroom interior is that which is in Follow That Dream (1962).

• Singer/songwriter Tom Petty claims that he first became obsessed with rock and roll after meeting Elvis Presley and watching him act and sing during the making of this movie. Petty's uncle was a crew member working on the film.

• The novel the movie is based on, "Pioneer, Go Home!," is based on a true story. After World War II, author Richard Powell moved to Fort Myers, Florida. Powell learned that the state had just built a bridge to Pine Island. The fill used to build the bridge inadvertently created a tract of land that did not exist on maps but now is known as Matlacha. A group of squatters moved onto the land, building shacks and starting small businesses; eventually, the state granted property titles to the squatters. Matlacha has a total area of 0.69 square miles, of which 70% is water. As of the 2010 census, the population is 677.