King Creole

• Year: 1958
• Country: USA
• Director: Michael Curtiz
• Starring: Elvis Presley, Carolyn Jones, Walter Matthau

Elvis gets the Michael Curtiz treatment, and the results are quite frankly disappointing. Elvis’ pa wants Elvis to study, but you see, Elvis has a gift: he can sing. Study he will not. He gets involved with hoodlums and also starts singing at the popular nightclub King Creole. Meanwhile, Walter Matthau is a gangster who owns a competing club and wants Elvis to sing there. Nice setting in New Orleans with inventive set pieces and of course, great musical numbers. But it’s kinda boring and could have used a 30 minute trim – the focus on the crime element of the story is too much and adds unneeded weight to a film that could and should have been much lighter entertainment. What’s cool though is you get to see Walter Matthau smash and break a small table over Elvis’ head. That’s got to count for something. Either way, not a bad film but certainly not Jailhouse Rock, either.