FLAMING STAR
– A Challenging Role for Presley –
(Part 2)
By Mariusz Ogieglo
The inclusion of Elvis in the cast of the new film did not arouse the same enthusiasm among everyone. Nunnally Johnson, upon learning that “his script would be used as a tool to promote Presley “, withdrew from further participation in the project and left the team. At the same time, he stipulated that he would not consent to any changes in the text he had prepared.
The sudden resignation of the popular screenwriter affected both the filmmakers, who had to postpone the start of filming several times for various reasons, and Presley himself (although it seems the latter was affected much more), who was counting on cooperation and the opportunity to improve his acting skills alongside such a well-known and experienced filmmaker.
Ultimately, Johnson’s duties, including making necessary changes to the script, were agreed to by Clair Huffaker. ” It took me two weeks to rewrite the script and only ten weeks to write the book,” the author of the literary original told the Los Angeles Times. ” I hate to say it, but the revised script was a better story than my original (described in the book, author’s note) .”
However, work on a new version of the script was not made any easier by the constant pressure and suggestions from Colonel Parker and the record company executives, who wanted to weave as many songs into it as possible and turn the film into a “joyful musical” at all costs. What’s more, the people at RCA even assumed that Elvis should sing at least (!) ten new songs in it.
The whole commotion was watched with attention and slight disbelief by the film’s director, then forty-eight-year-old Don Siegel, who had already won two Oscars for short films – “Star In The Night” from 1945 and the documentary “Hitler Lives” from the same year (although in this case the director’s name was not included in the credits), as well as a dozen or so high-profile feature films, including the 1952 western “The Duel At Silver Creek” and the science-fiction horror “Invasion Of The Body Snatchers”, shot four years later.
” Why Elvis? ” he finally began to ask. The answer from the film’s producer, David Weisbart, seemed to say it all and put the matter to rest. ” Because he’s a big box office star ,” he explained. ” You don’t think he can do it? ” To that answer, Siegel suggested only that the filmmakers should focus on a serious script rewrite. ” Presley is certainly not Brando, but then again, Brando is not Presley ,” the producer summed up the conversation.
In addition to an experienced director and a producer valued in the industry (Weisbart produced, among others, “Rabel Without Case” starring James Dean), the studio made sure that the new production also included many popular and recognized actors and actresses of the time.
The role of Clint Burton, Presley Pacer’s brother, was given to Golden Globe * winner Steve Forrest (although the role was originally intended for Fess Parker). Born in September 1925, the American film and television actor made his big-screen debut in the action-adventure drama, Crash Dive, directed by Archibald L. Mayo (also known as Archie Mayo).
The role of Sam Burton – the doyen of the Burton family – was played by John Herrick McIntire. A true Hollywood veteran who began his adventure with cinema in the second half of the 1940s (he had previously worked in radio), appearing in the comedy-drama “The Hucksters” from 1947. By 1960, i.e. until he met Elvis, he had appeared in over twenty films! He played mainly supporting roles and episodes in them, but the list of titles in which his name appeared is truly impressive.
The actor could be seen in such cult productions as “The Asphalt Jungle” with Marilyn Monroe in the main role, “Winchester ’73”, “Apache” (Polish title “Ostatnia walki Apacha”) with Burt Lancaster and Charles Bronson and finally “Psycho” – Alfred Hitchcock’s psychological thriller.
Rodolfo Perez Acosta (sometimes credited as Rudolph Acosta) had an equally rich body of work as McIntire. He was a Mexican-American character actor who gave a brilliant performance as the Indian chief, Buffalo Horn, in Presley’s sixth film.
The cast of the new 20th Century Fox production also included the name of LQ Jones (actually Justice Ellis McQueen Jr), who had already appeared alongside Elvis four years earlier, in his film debut, “Love Me Tender”. ” The problem was that you couldn’t go anywhere with him (Elvis, author’s note) ,” the actor recalled in an interview for the Commercial Appeal. ” There was a risk of gouging out an eye or ripping your clothes from girls who tried to hit on him. So we spent time at his or my apartment. He liked to sit and talk. Interestingly, Elvis didn’t like the style in which he sang. He considered himself a good guitarist. He wasn’t, but when we sat down together he played the guitar and everyone around him sang .”
Jones also remembered Elvis’s penchant for giving various, often random people, often very expensive gifts. ” You had to be really careful because he gave everything away! ” said the Tom Howard impersonator. ” If you liked something, no matter how expensive it was, he immediately tried to give it to you .”
According to the actor, Presley’s willingness to share stemmed largely from the fact that the singer grew up in extreme poverty and understood what it was like to have nothing. “ ‘Elvis, what is this madness?’ ” he recalled his conversation with Elvis Jones after learning that he had bought seven Cadillacs at once! “ ‘Are you an idiot or what?’ ‘No,’ he replied. ‘When I was a kid and we had no money, I promised myself that if I ever got rich, I would buy a Cadillac for every day of the week.’ And so he did .”
When listing the male cast of another film starring Presley, one cannot forget Ford Rainey – a talented American film, television and stage actor who perfectly played the role of Dr. Phillips in the upcoming western. A doctor internally torn between loyalty to the Hippocratic Oath and the desire to help a dying woman – the mother of Pacer and Clint, and loyalty to the town’s inhabitants harassed by the Kiowa Indians.
The remaining male roles were played by such stars as Karl Swenson (known from such films as “North To Alaska”, Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Birds” and “Judgmnet at Nuremberg”. He was also a star of the series “Little House Of The Prairie”), Richard Jaeckel, Monte Burkhart, Douglas Dick, Henry Amargo, Larry Chance, Roy Jenson and Tom Reese.
As in most of Presley’s later films, the singer’s closest associates were also seen on screen. In this particular case, the role of one of the Indians was given to Red West. ” I liked his first films ,” Presley’s longtime friend Todd Slaughter of the British Elvis Fan Club explained. ” ‘Blue Hawaii,’ ‘GIBlues,’ ‘Flaming Star’ – those in particular. I could count on the fingers of one hand the ones that were really good. The rest were things that were thrown at him with no other intention than to make money. Forget about the bad songs. The bad scripts. Those who saw ‘Wild In The Country’ and those films I mentioned earlier know that (Elvis, author’s note) he had talent and if he had just a little training he could have done even better in a lot of other things. “
- Steve Forrest won a Golden Globe for “New Promising Actor of the Year” for his role in the 1953 film “So Big”
Information written and provided by Mariusz Ogieglo. EP Promised Land (Poland) http://www.elvispromisedland.pl/
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