Themes: Race Relations, Culture Clash, White People Among Indians
Main Cast: Elvis Presley, Steve Forrest, Barbara Eden, Rodopho (Rudy) Acosta, Dolores Del Rio, John McIntire, Karl Swenson
Release Year: 1960
Country: US
Run Time: 101 minutes
Plot
Tensely directed by Don Siegel, Flaming Star is the grittiest of Elvis Presley's post-Army films. Elvis plays Pacer Burton, a half-breed youth in the old West, torn between loyalty to the whites, as represented by his father (John McIntyre), and the Indians, represented by his mother (Dolores Del Rio). A series of brutal Kiowa raids, and the subsequent reprisals by the white settlers, sorely test Pacer's fortitude. Though offered moral support from his loved ones, Pacer is forced to work things out himself. The film was based on a novel by Clair Huffaker. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
Flaming Star is a surprisingly ambitious, if ultimately unsatisfying, Western flick. Nunnally Johnson and Clair Huffaker's screenplay attempts to take a serious look at the conflict between white settlers and Native Americans, and it deserves points for not branding either side as entirely right or wrong, all good or all evil. At the same time, it isn't able to rise above certain melodramatic clichés (or mechanical plot turns) in its dissection of this difficult issue, and lacks the breadth and scope that could imbue the issue with a greater context and deeper meaning. Part of this is due to the casting. Elvis Presley's performance is adequate, but what is called for is something that is elemental and commanding; the character must embody the conflict that is the central core of the movie, and Presley can only indicate this quality, not live or express it. Similarly, Steve Forrest is also good, but lacking in size. Not having to carry such a burden, the supporting cast comes across better, especially Dolores Del Rio, whose turn as the mother is affecting and nuanced. Don Siegel's direction only occasionally achieves the poetry for which the film aims, but it's taut and effective. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
Richard Jaeckel - Angus Pierce; Ford Rainey - Doc Phillips; Anne Benton - Dorothy Howard; L.Q. Jones - Tom Howard; Douglas Dick - Will Howard; Tom Reese - Jute; Marian Goldina - Ph' Sha Knay; Monte Burkhart - Ben Ford; Ted Jacques - Hornsby; Perry Lopez - Two Moons; Henry Amargo - Brave (uncredited); Barbara Beaird - Dottie Phillips; Joe Brooks; Virginia Christine - Mrs. Phillips; Rodd Redwing - Indian Brave; The Jordanaires - Vocal Accompaniment; Ray Beltram - Indian; Guy Way; Tom Allen
Credit
Duncan Cramer - Art Director, Walter M. Simonds - Art Director, Josephine Earl - Choreography, Adele Balkan - Costume Designer, Don Siegel - Director, Hugh S. Fowler - Editor, Cyril Mockridge - Composer (Music Score), Charles G. Clarke - Cinematographer, David Weisbart - Producer, G.W. Berntsen - Set Designer, Walter Scott - Set Designer, Nunnally Johnson - Screenwriter, Clair Huffaker - Screenwriter, Clair Huffaker - Book Author
Flaming Star is a 1960western film starring Elvis Presley, based on the book Flaming Lance (1958) by Clair Huffaker. A dramatic role, it is said that Elvis Presley gave one of his best acting performances as the mixed-blood "Pacer Burton." The film's working title was Black Star. It was directed by Don Siegel.
Elvis Presley plays Pacer Burton, the son of a Kiowa mother and a Texas rancher father. Along with his half-brother, Clint, the four of them live a typical life on the Texas frontier. Life soon 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.
The soundtrack was not released as an album as the film contains only two songs; only "Flaming Star" was released on an EP entitled Elvis By Request - Flaming Star to coincide with the film's release. Two other songs, "Britches" and "Summer Kisses, Winter Tears", were originally scheduled to be part of the movie but in the end were not included. "Summer Kisses" was released on the Elvis by Request EP and would later appear on the compilation album Elvis for Everyone five years later. "Britches" and "Cane and a High Starched Collar" (the second song to actually be included in the film) would not be released until after Presley's death as part of RCA Records' A Legendary Performer series. An early version of "Flaming Star", using the film's working title, "Black Star", was also recorded and not released until the 1990s.
Flaming Star was the first Presley film not to have a full soundtrack release in either LP or EP form (although the Elvis by Request release come close). This would happen again in 1961 with Wild in the Country, and become standard procedure for Presley's later films, beginning with Stay Away, Joe.
This was Elvis' first non-musical film role. It did not perform as well at the box office as his musicals, leading Colonel Tom Parker to decree that Presley would perform only in musicals from here on. Elvis wouldn't release another non-musical film until 1969's Charro! -- another western.
The role of Pacer was originally written for Marlon Brando, whilst Frank Sinatra was suggested for the role of the elder brother.
The original female lead was English actress Barbara Steele who was replaced with Barbara Eden during filming
This movie's publicity still of Elvis was used by Andy Warhol to create several silkscreens: "Double Elvis", "Triple Elvis", and "Elvis 11 Times".
