This month marks the 64th anniversary of the official premiere of Elvis Presley’s musical comedy, Follow That Dream, at the Marion Theatre in Ocala in 1962.
Although the film officially debuted in Ocala on April 11, 1962, the movie began filming on July 11, 1961.
The film follows the Kwimper family, a group of vagabonds traveling through Florida who decide to invoke homesteading laws to claim squatter’s rights on an unopened section of a new highway.
The Kwimpers’ “pioneering spirit” eventually wins over the governor and a local judge, allowing the family to maintain their new home.
Filming locations spanned Marion, Citrus, and Levy counties, including the former Commercial Bank and Trust Company, located at 117 East Silver Springs Boulevard.
During the filming session at the bank in Ocala, a 10-year-old Gainesville resident named Tom Petty had a life-altering encounter with Presley.
Petty’s uncle, Earl Jernigan, was working on the movie set and invited the young Petty and his family to watch the production.
Petty later recounted being “dumbstruck” by Presley’s “supernatural presence.” Despite having no previous interest in music, Petty left the set “hooked” on rock ‘n’ roll, a spark that eventually led to a Hall of Fame career with over 80 million records sold worldwide.
This historic meeting was recently commemorated by the Ocala City Council with the approval of a historical marker to be installed at the northwest corner of State Road 40 and Osceola Road.
In addition to the bank scene in Ocala, the production utilized the 1912 Citrus County Old Courthouse in Inverness for courtroom sequences.
The movie was based on Richard P. Powell’s 1959 novel, Pioneer, Go Home! While the original title was considered, the film was ultimately named Follow That Dream because songwriters reportedly struggled to find a rhyme for the word “pioneer.”
Upon its release, Follow That Dream proved to be a commercial hit.
It reached #5 on the Variety weekly Box Office Survey and remained on the charts for three weeks. By the end of 1962, it ranked as the #33 top-grossing movie of the year.
Do you have any memories of the filming or the local premiere of “Follow That Dream” in Ocala? Share your thoughts in a comment or a letter to the editor.