It's fair to say you've got a temper and it shows, but this time you're in a film that has some go, a great director takes your talent, a performance with great extent, after the reel flickers by, engagement grows. As Ronnie grabs your eye and you then flunk, to be expected of a 1950s punk, joining a gang you rob a store, this life is not within your core, then you land a job to realise your funk. But there's demand for all the wares that you present, and Maxie Fields' the kind of guy that holds resent, there are tricks and treachery, lives are lost, there's not much glee, in the end there's satisfaction and content.

Not the worst Elvis film you'll encounter.

If LOVING YOU (1957) seemed to me at times to play like a lighter version of A FACE IN THE CROWD (1957), this reminded me of another Elia Kazan masterpiece, ON THE WATERFRONT (1954) which is quite appropriate since this is one of Elvis Presley’s better and most popular vehicles and one of the few with genuinely talented Hollywood craftsmen behind them.

This was one of the earliest film adaptations of Harold Robbins novels – the most notable of which would prove to be THE CARPETBAGGERS (1964), THE ADVENTURERS (1970) and THE BETSY (1978; which I have on VHS but have yet to watch) – but, Hollywood being Hollywood, it had its Chicago setting relocated to New Orleans; the screenplay was co-scripted by Michael V. Gazzo who was then still fresh from the Broadway success of A HATFUL OF RAIN (later filmed by Fred Zinnemann in 1957) but is nowadays perhaps best-known for his Oscar-nominated performance in THE GODFATHER PART II (1974).

Elvis is backed by a rather stellar cast: once again, lovely Dolores Hart is featured as his love interest – when he’s not being ensnared by long-suffering gangster’s moll Carolyn Jones, which doesn’t sit at all well with vicious kingpin Walter Matthau (effectively cast as the sleek heavy of the piece); the older generation is represented by Dean Jagger, appearing as Elvis’ submissive pharmacist father and Paul Stewart playing the owner of the “King Creole” establishment (who eventually hitches up with Presley’s older sister) and the only one who’s unafraid to stand up to Matthau’s control of the territory and who signs up “busboy”/failed graduate Elvis when he’s revealed to be a talented singer. Other cast members making notable contributions are Vic Morrow as Matthau’s chief lackey/thug and an uncredited Gavin Gordon as Jagger’s bossy superior.

At almost two hours, the film is slightly overlong but the meatier-than-usual plot line, the tawdry atmosphere of the Deep South (vividly-captured through exemplary noir-ish lighting by Russell Harlan), the star’s own instinctive performance (clearly modeled after his Method-trained heroes Marlon Brando and James Dean), dazzling musical interludes (whose sheer power remains undimmed) and occasional bouts of violence keep one watching. It is said that KING CREOLE was also Elvis’ favorite among his own movies and, having now watched it myself, I can easily understand why.

I can't believe that I have over 4,500 reviews on IMDb thus far and this is my first for an Elvis film. I watched lots of his films as a kid, when they would air them on TV during the school holidays, but haven't seen any since I started reviewing. I remembered King Creole as being one of the best and figured it would be a good place to start over...

Directed by seasoned pro Michael Curtiz (Casablanca and White Christmas), King Creole is a gritty affair, unlike Elvis's later, candy-coloured, family-friendly cinematic offerings. Combining hard-edged drama, violence and tragedy with sexually charged musical numbers (just watch those women swoon), and with Presley exuding rebelliousness with every shake of his hip, King Creole is a masterpiece of the misunderstood youth genre, its star giving a perfectly nuanced, iconic performance to rival James Dean at his best.

When Danny Fisher (Presley) fails to graduate from high-school for a second time, he graduates from the school of hard knocks instead, at first falling in with a gang of youths led by hoodlum Shark (Vic Morrow), but later becoming mixed up with gangster Maxie Fields (Walter Matthau), who wants him to quit his singing job at Charlie LeGrand's bar King Creole to come and work for him - and Maxie doesn't take no for an answer. Pushed to the limits over an incident involving his father, Danny loses his cool and gives Maxie a well-earned pasting, which leads to him being hunted by Maxie's men all over town; sexy floozy Ronnie (Carolyn Jones) tries to help Danny, but puts herself in the firing line in doing so.

It's not often that not one of a cast puts a foot wrong, but everyone here is excellent, with particularly memorable turns from Morrow and Matthau, who are both delightfully loathesome, and from Jones (better known as TV's Morticia Adams) as the tart with a heart. But this is Elvis's show, and the king has never been better: tough, sensitive, hot-headed, well-meaning, reckless, and, of course, cooler than Fonzie in a deep freeze, no more so than when he is belting out the film's numerous songs, all of which are great.

9/10. He's not called 'the king' for nothing.