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*[http://movies.elvispresley.com.au/flaming_star.shtml Movie review] by [http://www.elvispresley.com.au/ For Elvis Fans Only]
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*[http://apolloguide.com/mov_fullrev.asp?CID=4386&Specific=5168 Review] by Rachel Sanders at [https://web.archive.org/web/20070901013017/http://www.apolloguide.com/index.shtml Apollo Movie Guide].
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20071010170204/http://apolloguide.com/mov_fullrev.asp?CID=4386&Specific=5168 Review] by Rachel Sanders at [https://web.archive.org/web/20070901013017/http://www.apolloguide.com/index.shtml Apollo Movie Guide].


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Revision as of 06:36, 20 December 2017

For the song, see Flaming Star (song). For the EP, see Elvis by Request: Flaming Star and 3 Other Great Songs. For other uses, see Flaming Star (disambiguation).

Flaming Star
Film poster
Directed byDon Siegel
Written byClair Huffaker (novel)
Clair Huffaker
Nunnally Johnson
Produced byDavid Weisbart
StarringElvis Presley
Barbara Eden
Dolores del Río
CinematographyCharles G. Clarke
Edited byHugh S. Fowler
Music byCyril J. Mockridge
Distributed by20th Century Fox
Release date
  • December 20, 1960 (1960-12-20)
Running time
92 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$1.7 million[1]
Box office$2 million (US/ Canada)[2]

Flaming Star is a 1960 Western film starring Elvis Presley and Barbara Eden, based on the book Flaming Lance (1958) by Clair Huffaker. Critics agreed that Presley gave one of his best acting performances as the mixed-blood "Pacer Burton", a dramatic role. The film was directed by Don Siegel and had a working title of Black Star. The movie reached No. 12 on the box office charts.

It was filmed in Utah, Los Angeles and in Wildwood Regional Park in Thousand Oaks, California. A road near Wildwood in Thousand Oaks has been named after the movie: Flaming Star Avenue.[3]

Synopsis

Elvis Presley plays Pacer Burton, the son of a Kiowa mother and a Texan father working as a rancher. His family, including a half-brother, Clint, live a typical life on the Texan frontier. Life becomes anything but typical when a nearby tribe of Kiowa begin raiding neighboring homesteads. Pacer soon finds himself caught between the two worlds, part of both but belonging to neither.

Primary cast

Production

Parts of the film were shot in Delle, Lonerock, and Skull Valley in Utah. Filming also took place at Conejo Ranch in Thousand Oaks, California.[4]

Background

The film rights for Flaming Star had been circulating around Hollywood since 1958 when 20th Century Fox finally decided to cast Presley in the lead role.[5] Originally Frank Sinatra and Marlon Brando were lined up to play the brothers.[5] The executive producer was Buddy Adler, but he died a week before the start of filming, his duties taken by David Weisbart.

Presley's previous film, G.I. Blues (1960), had been a success at the box office and had led to one of his best selling albums to that point.[6] However, determined to be taken seriously as an actor, Presley asked for roles with fewer songs.[5] Flaming Star was initially to include four songs, but after Presley demanded two of the songs be removed, it ended up with only the title song and a short number at the opening birthday party scene.[5]

Barbara Steele, a British actress originally signed to play the love interest, was replaced during filming by Barbara Eden after studio executives decided that Steele's accent was too pronounced.[5] (Steele claims she quit.[7])

The film was released only one month after G.I. Blues but did not achieve the same degree of box office success, reaching number 12 on the Variety box office survey for the year.[5] Presley's next film, Wild in the Country (1961), also failed to impress fans or critics, and Colonel Tom Parker used this to persuade Presley that his audience didn't want to see him in straight acting roles.[5] This led to musical-comedies such as Blue Hawaii (1961) and Kid Galahad (1962), which set the precedent for most of his roles for the rest of his career. No longer would Presley be considered a serious actor.

Publicity stills of Elvis from the film were used by Andy Warhol to create several silkscreens, among them "Double Elvis", (many of which exist, one of them in particular selling for $37 million in 2013 at Sotheby's), "Triple Elvis", of which two are said to exist, one fetching $81.9 million in 2014 at Christie's, "Eight Elvises", which sold privately in late 2008 for $100 million and of which only one copy exists, several single Elvises and "Elvis 11 Times".

Soundtrack

Main article: Elvis by Request: Flaming Star and 3 Other Great Songs

See also

References

  1. ^ Solomon, Aubrey. Twentieth Century Fox: A Corporate and Financial History (The Scarecrow Filmmakers Series). Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, 1989. ISBN 978-0-8108-4244-1. p. 252
  2. ^ Solomon, p. 228. Please note figures are rentals accruing to distributors.
  3. ^ Bidwell, Carol A. (1989). The Conejo Valley: Old and New Frontiers. Windsor Publications. Page 82. ISBN 9780897812993.
  4. ^ D'Arc, James V. (2010). When Hollywood came to town: a history of moviemaking in Utah (1st ed.). Layton, Utah: Gibbs Smith. ISBN 9781423605874.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g Victor, Adam, The Elvis Encyclopaedia, p.167
  6. ^ Victor, Adam, The Elvis Encyclopaedia, p.190
  7. ^ "Reluctant Scream Queen: A Conversation with Barbara Steele - Confessions of a Pop Culture Addict". popcultureaddict.com.
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