King Creole

Posted by Patria Henriques on Monday, August 5, 2024

The picture is based on Harold Robbins' novel, A Stone for Danny Fisher, but the locale has been switched to New Orleans, to Bourbon Street and to an indigenous cafe called the King Creole. Elvis Presley is a high school youth who is prevented from graduation by his attempts to take care of his weakwilled father and the density of his school teachers. He gets involved in a minor theft but thereafter goes straight when given a chance to perform in Paul Stewart's Vieux Carre saloon. His brief fling at crime returns to haunt him when the local crime boss (Walter Matthau) decrees that Presley shall leave Stewart and come sing for him.

The picture is based on Harold Robbins’ novel, A Stone for Danny Fisher, but the locale has been switched to New Orleans, to Bourbon Street and to an indigenous cafe called the King Creole. Elvis Presley is a high school youth who is prevented from graduation by his attempts to take care of his weakwilled father and the density of his school teachers. He gets involved in a minor theft but thereafter goes straight when given a chance to perform in Paul Stewart’s Vieux Carre saloon. His brief fling at crime returns to haunt him when the local crime boss (Walter Matthau) decrees that Presley shall leave Stewart and come sing for him.

Essentially a musical, since Presley sings 13 new songs, including a title number, film runs a little long and the premise that Matthau would launch a minor crime wave just to get one performer for his club is a little shaky.

Popular on Variety

Presley shows himself to be a surprisingly sympathetic and believable actor on occasion. He also does some very pleasant, soft and melodious, singing. Carolyn Jones contributes a strong and bitter portrait of a good girl gone wrong, moving and pathetic.

Jump to Comments

King Creole

  • Production: Paramount. Director Michael Curtiz; Producer Hal B. Wallis; Screenplay Michael V. Gazzo, Herbert Baker; Camera Russell Harlan; Editor Warren Low; Music Walter Scharf (arr.); Art Director Hal Pereira, J. MacMillan Johnson
  • Crew: (B&W) Available on VHS, DVD. Extract of a review from 1958. Running time: 116 MIN.
  • With: Elvis Presley Carolyn Jones Walter Matthau Dolores Hart Dean Jagger Vic Morrow

More from Variety

Most Popular

Must Read

Sign Up for Variety Newsletters

By providing your information, you agree to our Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy.We use vendors that may also process your information to help provide our services. // This site is protected by reCAPTCHA Enterprise and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Variety Confidential

A Variety and iHeartRadio Podcast

ncG1vNJzZmiukae2psDYZ5qopV9mhnaDjp%2BgpaVfp7K3tcSwqmijmaO0bq%2FRnqalnV1mf3F8k2pwamhoZA%3D%3D

CATALOG
    FEATURED TAGS