Stars: Elvis Presley, Steve Forrest, Barbara Eden, Dolores Del Rio

Director: Don Siegel

Summary: An Indian half-breed (played by Elvis) finds his loyalties divided when his mother's tribe goes on the warpath against his father's folk, the Texas frontiersmen. Based on a novel by Clair Huffaker. Includes the song 'Jailhouse Rock'.

Elvis Presley stars as Pacer Burton, son of a white father (John McIntire) and Native American mother (Dolores del Rio) who finds his loyalties tested in a war of attrition between a fierce Indian tribe, the Kiowas, and a group of racist white settlers on the Texas frontier in 1870. Although his parents attempt to remain outside the fray, his father is eventually killed in an Indian attack on the settlement. A white man, enraged over the Indian attacks, kills Pacer's mother. Shunned by white society after the Indian attacks, Pacer elects to fight on the side of the Kiowas while his brother, Clint (Steve Forrest), stays with the settlers. When Clint rides into the Kiowa camp alone and kills their chief to avenge his father's murder, Pacer fights off the entire tribe to protect his brother, and Clint barely escapes with his life. After Pacer's girl, Roslyn Pierce (Barbara Eden), has tended to Clint's severe wounds, she's unsuccessful in trying to stop him from going off to try to save his brother's life. Presley gives his finest performance as the sensitive Pacer, supported by an excellent cast in what is likely his best film. The strong, uncompromising script on the tragic cost of racism is superbly directed by Don Siegel.

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Elvis: Films That Rockcontains three of the King's early screen efforts: Love Me Tender(1956), Flaming Star(1960) and Wild in the Country(1961). It's pointless to suggest that they aren't among Elvis's best movies (you'll have to look elsewhere for King Creoleand Jailhouse Rock, which probably are), partly because any fan's going to want them all anyway, but also because all three are interesting in their different ways. Love Me Tender, made in black and white in 1956, was Presley's first stab at acting, and this story of a family split by the American Civil War--one brother goes off to fight, the other doesn't--sees him short on screentime and being upstaged by pretty much everyone else. That said, it was a reasonably brave move for Presley to begin his movie career by dealing with this kind of subject matter, however sentimentalised.

Four years later, Flaming Startook the steer by the horns with Presley portraying a young man of mixed parentage caught up in the ethnic conflict between Native Americans and the white race. Again, a brave choice of subject; this was a landmark movie insofar as it showed Presley certainly had enough acting ability to create a credible parallel career along the lines of, say, Sinatra. It wasn't to be, though, as even then his talents were being manipulated by others, which is why all his later movies--even the best ones--were little more than advertisements for his records. Wild in the Country, from the following year, saw Presley as a young tearaway who finds redemption in his talent for writing. It's pure melodrama, but the moralising is kept under control. This is a nice little collection, all in all, and an essential for any fan.

On the DVD:Elvis: Films That Rockpresents the three pictures in positively radiant transfers, which are absolutely gunge-free and make the very best of the beautifully stylised lighting and cinematography of the period, while the classic Cinemascope presentations translate perfectly into widescreen. Special features include trailers for all three movies. --Roger Thomas

Main Language:	English
Region:	Region 2
Year:	1960
Release Date:	August 1, 2005
Runtime:	88 minutes
Certification:
Catalogue Number:	0117301009
Label:	Studio Classics
Keywords:	Music, Star, Films, Flaming, Shows, Performing, Musicals, Arts
Genre:	Music/Performing Arts