Elvis Presley : Elvis Presley - Highest Rated Movies

Elvis Presley - Highest Rated Movies

All of Elvis's movies ranked and rated 1956-1972.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qq2SoX-OwMo

Re: Elvis Presley - Highest Rated Movies

well, several things stand out going through the list and reading the posters.

a very unimposing list of films. Elvis' list makes Crosby's list look really outstanding in comparison.

only three co-stars were given equal (but second) billing after Elvis' special billing in his debut film. Ann-Margret, Nancy Sinatra, and Mary Tyler Moore. This is in contrast to Crosby who insisted on always having an equally billed co-star, and even more with Sinatra or Martin who were quite comfortable ceding top billing in movies to co-stars. But it all ended up with Presley the star of nothing or so-so movies, while Sinatra and Martin got into classics. I think Elvis might have had it in him to be at least as good of an actor as Martin, but Sinatra seems to have been a "natural"--Elvis? Who knows?

You know I disagree a bit on the top of the list, as you asked me earlier, but I would move Jailhouse Rock to the top of his fiction films. I wasn't considering the documentaries, so I won't dispute that. Elvis is of interest as a singer and live performer much more than as an actor. Jailhouse Rock and Viva Las Vegas would be my top fiction films of his mainly because of his musical performances in them (as well as Ann-Margret in Vegas).

Re: Elvis Presley - Highest Rated Movies

I have to disagree with a lot of these rankings. I mean Charro and Change of Habit are far from his worst films. Any Elvis fan would probably place Harum Scarum, Frankie and Johnny or Double Trouble way above them.

You really can't compare Elvis' films to anyone else's anyway. First his dumb manager would rather have Elvis be the star of a crummy film than to be a supporting actor in a good film. Money was always the bottom line. Second, a lot of the films were to promote the soundtrack album and the album to promote the film. Bing and Frank have very, very few soundtrack LPs of their musical films. The only 5b4 ones I can think of are High Society and Pal Joey. Plus to get an album you probably had to have at least 10 -12 songs. I highly doubt either Bing or Frank ever sang such a high number of songs in a film. I'm no expert but the few classical musicals that I've seen probably have 5-6 songs or so. And as you no doubt know his songwriters were no Berlin, Porter or Gershwin but 2nd or 3rd class writers from Hill & Range.

Ah, hell Elvis' dismal film career will be discussed forever but what's the point?


No! That's not true at all, Elvis takes 50% of everything I earn!
Col. Tom Parker

Re: Elvis Presley - Highest Rated Movies

I've been an Elvis fan all my l 5b4 ife collecting magazines, books, singles, LPS, CDs and DVDs on the King. I've seen all these films and one of them had to come last, Charro was the unlucky one. Looking at my files the one good score it had was from Rotten Tomatoes 3.6 out of 5 which translates to 7.2 out of 10 for my purposes, but it still wasn't enough to get it higher than last place after the rating average was calculated. I like the theme song to Charro but the film itself was a substandard spaghetti western wannabe.

The top 3 are by far my favorite movies and my most watched was the concert movie That's The Way It Is, which I've seen well over a hundred times over the years.

Btw I managed to catch some of these films at the cinema after he died in 1977, on double bills from what I remember they included Elvis On Tour, Clambake, King Creole and Follow That Dream.

Good quote from Tom Parker, I hated him during my 'Elvis fandom' years.

Thanks for posting guys.

Re: Elvis Presley - Highest Rated Movies

Hey John, Jailhouse Rock has Elvis most famous musical number, the title song, which is better than the film itself but overall I thought King Creole was the stronger film with a pretty good performance by Elvis. I also liked Walter Matthau as the sleazy villain.

Viva Las Vegas is another favorite of mine, Ann-Margret was stunning in that, pure eye candy.

Re: Elvis Presley - Highest Rated Movies

Top three. King creole, Viva Las Vegas, Flaming Star.
Bottom three. Harum Scarum, Clambake, Paradise Hawaiian Style
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