King Creole (1958)

User Rating:

6.7/10   

Director:

Michael Curtiz

Writers:

Harold Robbins (novel)
Herbert Baker (writer) ...

Release Date:

2 July 1958 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Musical

Plot:

Having flunked graduation for a second time and needing cash to support his crabby (and thus unemployed) father...

Plot Keywords:

Nightclub | Delinquent | Crime Boss | High School | Young Love

Cast

Elvis Presley	...	Danny Fisher
Carolyn Jones	...	Ronnie
Walter Matthau	...	Maxie Fields
Dolores Hart	...	Nellie
Dean Jagger	...	Mr. Fisher
Liliane Montevecchi	...	Forty Nina
Vic Morrow	...	Shark
Paul Stewart	...	Charlie LeGrand
Jan Shepard	...	Mimi Fisher
Brian G. Hutton	...	Sal (as Brian Hutton)
Jack Grinnage	...	Dummy
Dick Winslow	...	Eddie Burton
Raymond Bailey	...	Mr. Evans
Gavin Gordon	...	Mr. Primont - Druggist
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Leon Tyler	...	Drug Clerk (scenes deleted)

Also Known As:

Danny (USA) (working title)
Sing, You Sinners (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated PG for violence and sensuality.

Runtime:

116 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

4-Track Stereo (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Iceland:L | Australia:PG | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | UK:PG | USA:PG | West Germany:16

Filming Locations:

New Orleans, Louisiana, USA

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Trivia:

Originally titled A Stone for Danny Fisher. It is, loosely based on the best selling 1952 novel by Harold Robbins. Elvis Presley recorded a song called "Danny" ("Lonely Blue Boy"). It was later recorded by Conway Twitty in 1960 and charted #6 US Pop. Elvis' original version of the song was scrapped when the title of the film was changed. Elvis' recording wouldn't be released for 20 years.

Goofs:

Continuity: Throughout most of the scene near the end of the film, in which the injured Danny recovers consciousness in Ronnie's cabin, his slashed arm is seen to be tightly bandaged - presumably Ronnie's first-aid handiwork. However, in one shot, the bandages are hanging loosely from his arm.

Quotes:

Ralph: You're a pretty fancy performer, ain't ya kid?
Danny Fisher: Now you know what I do for an encore.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Elvis at the Movies (2002) (V)

Soundtrack:

Crawfish

"And He Goes By The Name of King Creole"

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.