King Creole

Before his handlers convinced him to settle for the safety of a screen franchise, the young Elvis Presley harbored riskier dreams as an actor, not just a star. This 1958 drama, his fourth feature outing, hints at the underlying seriousness of that goal. Presley plays Danny Fisher, a New Orleans teenager struggling to graduate from high school while working in a sleazy French Quarter club to support his family. He s also characterized as a troubled youth with a dangerous temper and feelings of shame and resentment toward his meek, unemployed father (Dean Jagger). When Danny s gift for singing provides him with a potential career break (and the requisite excuse for Elvis s production numbers), his involvement with a ruthless gangster (Walter Matthau) and his sultry, alcoholic moll (Carolyn Jones) soon threatens both his future and his family. That story line, with Danny torn between a budding romance with a good waitress (Dolores Hart) and the bad moll, Ronnie (Jones), proves as effective as it is predictable, hardly surprising given its source in an early Harold Robbins bestseller. But King Creole also boasts an impressive production pedigree (including the team behind no less a classic than Casablanca, producer Hal Wallis and director Michael Curtiz), and the supporting cast helps elicit one of Presley s most emotional performances. Jones in particular rises above her role s inherent clichés, her self-loathing and sexuality both palpable. Presley, still a few years away from the more sanitized image that would be integral to those franchise features, is young enough to be a credible teen, but more crucially he makes his rage and yearning largely convincing. Ironically, the dramatic sparks prove all the more welcome in light of the largely forgettable music, which variously plunders Chicago blues (Trouble, a knock-off of Hoochie Coochie Man) and unconvincingly crosses Presley s Memphis rock with Crescent City jazz (Dixieland Rock), all to far less effect than Presley s two preceding movies, Jailhouse Rock and Loving You. --Sam Sutherland

Actually 4 and 1/2 Stars, But... - I can t give that rating on Amazon. Anyway, as a lover of EP s music, and at the time only his music, I was so so so very hesitant to ever give a film of his the smallest chance, because of all the negative things I had heard. I didn t want a bad film to ruin the image that the music had created in my mind. So it was 35 years of just music, nothing else. Then this past April 2004 I was able to make a ",pilgrimage", to Memphis, specifically Graceland. While talking with an employee in one of the giftshops, she convinced me to give certain films a try, and King Creole was the one she recommended I start with. She was kind enough to also recommend a few that I must avoid at all costs, namely Girls, Girls, Girls. If I could meet this Graceland employee again, I would thank her several times over. King Creole is a quality film that has an actual, and quasi-believable, plot. It has Elvis at his most handsome, and in black and white, that comes through even more. He gives a commendable performance, and his costars carry their weight in the film well also, esp the beautiful Carolyn Jones. I would classify King Creole as a good overall film, and in the Elvis realm, I would consider it a great film. I think it is his best.

Reel Elvis - This is more like it. A great movie, well directed and acted by all concerned. Elvis is fantasic. He looks great, looks enthused and is enjoying working with a great cast and crew. This is just the type of movie he should have been doing but, as is known, went on to make the likes of Girls, Girls, Girls and, God help us, Speedway. The songs are good, the story is good, it looks like money was spent on it. What a pity his stint in the Army more or less ruined his movie career. This is highly recommended along with Flaming Star and Wild in the Country.

good elvis flick - I would rank this as one of the better elvis films along with ",love me tender", and ",jailhouse rock", also recommend ",loving you",

Not just a great Elvis movie by any means - This is a great movie, it just so happens that Elvis Presley is the leading man, and it just so happens that Elvis Presley turned this movie into a masterpiece. The other reviewers here have it right about the usual perception of Elvis movies. To the doubters, I suggest you find Elvis own words about his movie career if you think he was under any illusion about his later works. ",The only thing worse than watching a bad movie is being in one...", he would later say, among much worse things that I couldn t print here. Elvis ACTS in this movie. Elvis brings out emotion, angst...an intangible quality also. He is intriguing, one wants to figure him out and help him. The movie engages you to be there for this Danny Fisher guy. He seems like a nice enough kid, he s just getting mixed up with some bad seeds. Also, shot in magnificently beautiful, well-rendered black and white - it s very artistic in it s depiction. As far as the plot goes, there is enough about that printed already. If you want to see Elvis act, than this is your movie. Also recommend Loving You, Jailhouse Rock, and the half-forgotten diamond Flaming Star . Elvis could act when he wanted to. I sort of admire him for that, as I am also the kind of person who can t put 100% into something I don t believe in. Elvis believed in this picture, believe in it too. Buy it and I promise you won t be sorry, and you ll watch many times.

Elvis...The Actor !!! - Finally Elvis really acts in this film,and you can tell he enjoys it.Great cast of actors and classic music.To bad he was given such bad scripts and songs later on.

King Creole