‘King Creole’ showed how good Elvis could have been

By Al Bieber on December 4, 2021.

LETHBRIDGE HERALDabeeber@lethbridgeherald.com

After watching the Hollywood Suite channels of older movies on preview during Christmas for a few seasons, I ended up buying the package.
It’s a really affordable cost for the four channels plus On Demand movies where you can view featured ones at your leisure.
Being a guy who is in online fantasy sports pools, running two hockey teams and a football team right now and a baseball squad in summer, much of my screen time at night is spent on the phone checking scores and deciding on roster changes.
Fantasy sports is a time-consuming endeavour that requires a lot of effort if you want to win and I do. I’m the reigning league champion in our football pool and I finished second in the most recent baseball and hockey seasons. After a dismal start to the season, I’ve won six straight in fantasy football and have moved up from the basement into third spot.
But focusing on sports can be as exhausting as long days at work so I also like to relax by watching movies when I get a chance.
And as I’ve written before, Hollywood Suite has everything I could possibly want. Lately, I’ve been turning my attention to the old classics from the 1940s to ’50s after getting my fill of ’80s and ’90s films.
And this week, I caught the old Elvis Presley vehicle “King Creole.” I can take or leave most Presley movies, my favourite by far being “Viva Las Vegas” from 1964, Part of that, I’m sure, is due to the fact I love Las Vegas and I’ll watch anything with that city in it.
‘King Creole’ caught my attention because this 1958 movie, which also starred Walter Matthau, Carolyn Jones and Dolores Hart who a few years later left Hollywood to become a nun, was the only Presley movie I hadn’t seen.
And it was pretty fascinating. Yes, it was a musical with Elvis’ trademark moves and catchy tunes but it had an interesting storyline. I did a Google search on it afterward that Elvis considered his role of Danny Fisher to be one of his favourites. And I can see why – he did show some dramatic chops and it makes a person wonder what type of career he could have had if somebody had offered him the chance to take on some serious roles. He definitely had the potential to be more than a matinee idol. Matthau, as a gangster, was also really impressive.
We’ll never know how good Elvis could have been unfortunately because The King is long gone but “King Creole” did actually do him some justice. It’s a fitting tribute to what could have been.
Some of the other worthy entries now on the ’70s station where I found “King Creole” include ‘Catch-22,” “The Hustler,” ‘Badlands,” “California Split” which is awesome, “Network,” “The French Connection, “Taxi Driver,” and 1970’s “Watermelon Man” – a tale about racism which is still relevant decades later. In fact “Watermelon Man,” with the late, great Godfrey Cambridge is one of the movies of any genre of any time period I would recommend to anyone. It also stars the great Estelle Parsons.
It’s funny, touching, sad and irreverent and it’s a shame Cambridge died only a few short years later. He had a special comic touch and should have been one of the great comics we talk about to this day.
Like Elvis, he could have done so much more and made so many more memorable films. It’s a real shame we lost them both way too soon. If you get a chance, you won’t be disappointed checking out “King Creole” or “Watermelon Man” – they are both deserving of a view or two.
QUICK NOTE: As of Thursday, only about 30 tickets were available for each of the April Johnny Reid shows at the Yates Centre. If any are left this morning, fans would be wise to snap them up quickly.

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