By this time Elvis Presley was a big movie box office name due in no small measure to the astute management of Colonel Tom Parker. I have no doubt that the Colonel got him Michael Curtiz as a director and a top flight supporting cast consisting of Oscar winners like Dean Jagger as the King's father and Walter Matthau as the villain of the piece. And other such outstanding players as Carolyn Jones, Vic Morrow, Paul Stewart, and Dolores Hart.
Presley steps into James Dean territory here, had he lived I'm sure Dean would have played the part of Danny Fisher in what would have been a non-musical story or one where Dean's singing would have been dubbed. Danny Fisher is just the kind of troubled youth searching for himself that Dean excelled with in East of Eden and Rebel Without a Cause. In fact in the relationship between Presley and Jagger you can see a lot of the dynamics of Dean's and Jim Backus in Rebel Without a Cause.
Elvis has had to go to work because his father has been unable to hold down a job ever since the death of his wife. So's Elvis's sister, Jan Shepard, also had to work. He gets a break in Walter Matthau's club with an impromptu audition, but it's rival owner Paul Stewart who hires Elvis. That sets the stage for a lot of the action to come.
For those who are used to seeing Walter Matthau as the lovable grouch starting from The Odd Couple it would surprise many to learn most of his early roles were bad guys. He's an exceptionally nasty bad guy in King Creole.
The title song became one of Elvis's early best sellers and it is also the name of the club Matthau owns in the New Orleans French Quarter. Presley has some other good numbers in this film as well.
Some other reviewers have mentioned that Elvis should have done more dramatic stuff like King Creole. Maybe he should have, who knows. But I think the point should be made is that first and foremost Elvis was a singing icon, not an acting one. As were the idols of former generations Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra. I don't think Elvis was willing to push himself as player in the same way they were. Neither Crosby or Sinatra also had a manager with as tight a control over them creatively as Colonel Tom Parker. Both Crosby and Sinatra got Oscars, but it was for parts that they knew they could handle and went after, especially Sinatra. Maybe Elvis in the words of another icon, knew his limitations or the Colonel did.
King Creole also was one of the first of Harold Robbins's novels to be made into a film. Yet it's never thought of as a Robbins film like The Carpetbaggers or The Betsy. It's an Elvis film, first and foremost.
And that's good enough for fans of the King and others.
Presley steps into James Dean territory here, had he lived I'm sure Dean would have played the part of Danny Fisher in what would have been a non-musical story or one where Dean's singing would have been dubbed. Danny Fisher is just the kind of troubled youth searching for himself that Dean excelled with in East of Eden and Rebel Without a Cause. In fact in the relationship between Presley and Jagger you can see a lot of the dynamics of Dean's and Jim Backus in Rebel Without a Cause.
Elvis has had to go to work because his father has been unable to hold down a job ever since the death of his wife. So's Elvis's sister, Jan Shepard, also had to work. He gets a break in Walter Matthau's club with an impromptu audition, but it's rival owner Paul Stewart who hires Elvis. That sets the stage for a lot of the action to come.
For those who are used to seeing Walter Matthau as the lovable grouch starting from The Odd Couple it would surprise many to learn most of his early roles were bad guys. He's an exceptionally nasty bad guy in King Creole.
The title song became one of Elvis's early best sellers and it is also the name of the club Matthau owns in the New Orleans French Quarter. Presley has some other good numbers in this film as well.
Some other reviewers have mentioned that Elvis should have done more dramatic stuff like King Creole. Maybe he should have, who knows. But I think the point should be made is that first and foremost Elvis was a singing icon, not an acting one. As were the idols of former generations Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra. I don't think Elvis was willing to push himself as player in the same way they were. Neither Crosby or Sinatra also had a manager with as tight a control over them creatively as Colonel Tom Parker. Both Crosby and Sinatra got Oscars, but it was for parts that they knew they could handle and went after, especially Sinatra. Maybe Elvis in the words of another icon, knew his limitations or the Colonel did.
King Creole also was one of the first of Harold Robbins's novels to be made into a film. Yet it's never thought of as a Robbins film like The Carpetbaggers or The Betsy. It's an Elvis film, first and foremost.
And that's good enough for fans of the King and others.