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King Creole

King Creole

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Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Elvis Presley's personal favorite film role
Review: "King Creole" from 1958,(the same year Elvis Presley was inducted into the U.S.Army),is a good drama with a few good musical numbers thrown in. Shot in glorious black&white and produced by Hal Wallis,who produced some of Mr. Presley's biggest hits("Loving You" from 1957,"Blue Hawaii" from 1961,"Girls!Girls! Girls!" from 1962) and directed by Michael Curtiz(the classic "Casablanca"),the story takes place in New Orleans and Elvis stars as Danny Fisher,a disillusioned high school drop out with designs on being a singer.Danny gets a job at the night club "King Creole". The picture features a fine supporting cast including the late,great Walter Matthau,very effective as a sleazy gangster,Carolyn Jones as the gangster's kept woman,Dean Jagger as Danny's father,Vic Morrow as a hoodlum and one of the gangster's henchman and Dolores Hart as Danny's girlfriend,(Ms. Hart after making several movies left acting and decided to become a nun in the mid '60's).Elvis's top ten hit single from this movie was "Hard Headed Woman".Also, "Trouble" was a well known number.Elvis Presley had said in interviews that of all the 30 odd pictures he had made Danny Fisher in "King Creole" was his personal favorite film role.And,Mr. Presley added that he hated most of the rest of the pictures he had made.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: "King Creole" clearly defines Elvis' early movie career.
Review: "King Creole" is right up there with "Jailhouse Rock" and "Loving You". The director, Michael Curtiz, was reluctant at first to do this picture. He thought Elvis wasn't going to obey him and be rebellious. He, of course, was wrong, and Elvis was there at Curtiz' every command. Curtiz later thought that Elvis really was going to make it in Hollywood. Neatly crafted story originally intended for James Dean. This picture was saved even though James Dean died. The story was based on the novel "A Stone for Danny Fisher". If you're an Elvis fan, I highly recommend "King Creole." You'll love it!

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Elvis Presley's personal favorite film role
Review: "King Creole" from 1958,(the same year Elvis Presley was inducted into the U.S.Army),is a good drama with a few good musical numbers thrown in. Shot in glorious black&white and produced by Hal Wallis,who produced some of Mr. Presley's biggest hits("Loving You" from 1957,"Blue Hawaii" from 1961,"Girls!Girls! Girls!" from 1962) and directed by Michael Curtiz(the classic "Casablanca"),the story takes place in New Orleans and Elvis stars as Danny Fisher,a disillusioned high school drop out with designs on being a singer.Danny gets a job at the night club "King Creole". The picture features a fine supporting cast including the late,great Walter Matthau,very effective as a sleazy gangster,Carolyn Jones as the gangster's kept woman,Dean Jagger as Danny's father,Vic Morrow as a hoodlum and one of the gangster's henchman and Dolores Hart as Danny's girlfriend,(Ms. Hart after making several movies left acting and decided to become a nun in the mid '60's).Elvis's top ten hit single from this movie was "Hard Headed Woman".Also, "Trouble" was a well known number.Elvis Presley had said in interviews that of all the 30 odd pictures he had made Danny Fisher in "King Creole" was his personal favorite film role.And,Mr. Presley added that he hated most of the rest of the pictures he had made.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: One Of Elvis' Best...
Review: "King Creole" was only one of a handful of movies that Elvis did that really showed his acting ability. A great supporting cast and songs that actually fit the scenes, showed that Elvis had what it took to be a great dramatic actor. This movie is a must see. You won't regret watching it!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Elvis - The Best of the Best
Review: As an avid Elvis fan I have to rate King Creole as the finest of all the Elvis movies. Elvis plays a juvenile delinquent on the verge between good and bad. When his father is hurt he chooses the bad in what he thinks will benefit his dad. Wrong.

Here Elvis showed he had the makings of a real actor. With a great back up cast this movie is a real must see.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: The King of Elvis flicks
Review: Even the stuffy New York Times praised Elvis Presley's performance in "King Creole," and why not? Everything clicks in this adaptation of Harold Robbins' novel, "A Stone for Danny Fisher." For once, Elvis has a good script, a terrific supporting cast, a first class director, and a role worthy of an actor which he shows himself to be while also singing an album's worth of outstanding songs. He's not the surly creep of "Jailhouse Rock," nor is he the bloated beach boy of most of his 60's movies. He's a good kid whose boredom with school and disappointment with his homelife leads him to explore life on the wrong side of the tracks where he encounters a switchblade flinging Vic Morrow, a sleazy Walter Matthau, and a beautiful but been around Carolyn Jones. Along the way, he also performs brilliant, knockout musical numbers like "New Orleans," "Trouble," "Dixieland Rock," and the amusing "Lover Doll" (no "Old MacDonald's Farm" in this movie). It all adds up to the King's best film, one of the few in which he wore his crown with honor.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: The King of Elvis flicks
Review: Even the stuffy New York Times praised Elvis Presley's performance in "King Creole," and why not? Everything clicks in this adaptation of Harold Robbins' novel, "A Stone for Danny Fisher." For once, Elvis has a good script, a terrific supporting cast, a first class director, and a role worthy of an actor which he shows himself to be while also singing an album's worth of outstanding songs. He's not the surly creep of "Jailhouse Rock," nor is he the bloated beach boy of most of his 60's movies. He's a good kid whose boredom with school and disappointment with his homelife leads him to explore life on the wrong side of the tracks where he encounters a switchblade flinging Vic Morrow, a sleazy Walter Matthau, and a beautiful but been around Carolyn Jones. Along the way, he also performs brilliant, knockout musical numbers like "New Orleans," "Trouble," "Dixieland Rock," and the amusing "Lover Doll" (no "Old MacDonald's Farm" in this movie). It all adds up to the King's best film, one of the few in which he wore his crown with honor.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Elvis...The Actor !!!
Review: 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.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Elvis' Favorite Film
Review: He said it himself. This was Elvis' favorite film he starred in. There were several, of course, and with much more acclaim and popularity, ie. "Viva Las Vegas". But Elvis was particularily proud of his work in this film. In my personal opinion, the Elvis film were no more than attempts to boost his rock star image. He was, much like singer-actors/actresses today, vainly aspiring for film fame as Madonna has done. It is best for some to remain singers and not try their hand at acting. Elvis was not a bad actor, but his films tend to be a variation of the same theme- he sings, he falls in love, he gets into trouble. It was the 50's and 60's after all- in which beach settings, rock'n'roll and camp was quite popular. Elvis was merely giving the audience of his time what they wanted.

In King Creole, Elvis plays a young graduate who works in a jazz club in the French Quarter of New Orleans. He has problems with his father, he is torn between the love of his high school sweetheart who is "the good girl" and his ganster friends' wife, the seductive "bad girl" played by Carolyn Jones. Carolyn Jones was a lesser known 50's and 60's actress, most famous for her portrayal of Morticia Addams in the comedy sitcom "The Addams Family" which ran from 1965 to 1965. But Carolyn Jones was a great actress, able to portray a mobster's wife, a troubled woman, a vixen, a beat nick, and many other personages. She was also in other tv shows, the cult classic "Batman" in which she played the villanious Marsha Queen of Diamonds and, in her older age in the Dynasty-style soap opera of 1982 "Dynasty".

Elvis and Carolyn Jones chemistry is what makes this film work. It is quite impressive in its treatment of supposed "real" problems, especially for a young man growign up in this time. Rock and roll and nostalgia abound in this must have classic for fans of Elvis and Carolyn Jones.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: AMAZING
Review: I absolutely love this movie. It really shows Elvis's acting ability which was of course largely ignored by critics. Even if you're not an Elvis fan, you should see this one!


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