King Creole

King Creole is not only a great Elvis Presly movie, it's a great movie period. Elvis is simply terrific as hard-edged Danny Fisher, a street wise punk who hits it big time as a singer in a flashy New Orléans club, run by sleazy Matthau. The overall look of the film is excellent, it's fast paced and gritty, moody and athmospheric, and directed by the same man who brought us Casablanca. The dialouge is good and seems authentic enough, Presley is excellent and Matthau is great (as always). Plus, the songs are good. 9 out of 10.

Adapted from the book "A Stone for Danny Fisher", Elvis Presley plays a rebellious kid with a wimp of a father (Dean Jagger) who quits school and takes up singing at a night club in New Orleans, only to get mixed up with a group of thugs (headed by Vic Morrow) and their crime boss (Walter Matthau). Elvis considered this melodrama his best film and I happen to agree. It's nicely photographed in noirish black and white and directed by Michael Curtiz, featuring Elvis' most cultivated performance. It's a good story too, complimented by good actors in their roles. Walter Matthau is ideal as Maxie the heavy, who practically owns the whole town. Carolyn Jones is properly pitiful as his pathetic tramp, and Vic Morrow does well as the lead hoodlum who caters to Matthau. The songs Presley sings fit nicely into the action and are pleasant, though I don't believe any of them were signature biggies for Presley outside of, possibly, "Hard Headed Woman," and "King Creole" itself. It's a real shame that the best hit rocker, "Hard Headed Woman," is really given a raw deal as we only get to hear the end of it within the movie. The best music performance is Elvis' rendition of "Trouble" as he dominates the nightclub stage with authority and toughness while fearlessly singing it at Maxie. *** out of ****

I've heard it said that this was Elvis' favourite of his own films. And no wonder. It's about the only film he ever did that allowed him to be an actor. And let's remember, Elvis had no formal acting training, and sure, the film is, as usual, peppered with great Elvis numbers and no-one doubts his talent there.

If only the Colonel had chosen to exploit the acting side a little more, perhaps we would have a lot more memorable stuff like this to remember than some of the later films, such as.....er.....er....well, there you go, I don't remember any. Perhaps Elvis would have been a lot more proud too.

Anyway, alongside Elvis is a wonderful Carolyn "Morticia Adams" Jones and a fairly early Walter Matthau, showing us that he didn't just make us laugh in his movies, but he was able to impress us with dramatic roles also.

It's fair to say you've got a temper and it shows, but this time you're in a film that has some go, a great director takes your talent, a performance with great extent, after the reel flickers by, engagement grows. As Ronnie grabs your eye and you then flunk, to be expected of a 1950s punk, joining a gang you rob a store, this life is not within your core, then you land a job to realise your funk. But there's demand for all the wares that you present, and Maxie Fields' the kind of guy that holds resent, there are tricks and treachery, lives are lost, there's not much glee, in the end there's satisfaction and content.

Not the worst Elvis film you'll encounter.

I had an epiphany tonight. 'King Creole' is a better film than 'Jailhouse Rock'. 'Jailhouse' may contain King's best acting but 'King Creole' is his best film. Why? I would say King's acting is only slightly less convincing in 'Creole' but two things make it a better film: the cast and the story. 'King Creole' boasts the finest cast by far of any Presley film. Only Ann-Margret is sexier than Carolyn Jones, Vic Morrow has that ferocious mouth, Dean Jagger is almost perfect as the beaten father and Walter Matthau is deliciously vile. Harold Robbins' novel 'A Stone for Danny Fisher' is gritty and at times hard to read. Although the screenplay (co-written by 'Frankie Five-Angels', Michael V. Gazzo) is quite a bit more tame it is still tough. Think about it: King plays a character who kills a man in an alley with a switchblade. Here he is not 'Jailhouse Rock's amoral Vince Everett. Instead he is, at times, IMmoral. Forget all you think you know about the icon, Elvis Presley, and watch his eyes when, as Danny Fisher, he tells his father 'you go to school. I'm goin' out to make a buck'. If you don't see it, if you don't see IT, you're just not looking.