Flaming Star (1960) Review- By Michael J. Carlisle

Title: Flaming Star
Year: 1960
Director: Don Seigel
Country: US
Language: English

Despite being a critical failure, Elvis Presley's previous feature GI Blues was a tremendous commercial success and had resulted to one of his best selling albums at that point in time. During the making of Flaming Star there grew a struggle between Elvis and his manager and his manager Colonel Tom Parker. Elvis wanted to be a serious actor and Parker wanted to cash in on the "juve" genre Presley inadvertently was creating. This picture is one of few which would go Elvis' way.

Elvis portrays Pacer Burton. The son of a white rancher (John McIntire) and his beautiful Kiowa Indian wife (Dolores DelRio). When fighting breaks out between the settlers and natives, Pacer tries to act as a peace maker, but is pulled towards the violence. 

The plot is disturbingly familiar. It is very reminiscent of Dances With Wolves, Ferngully, Avatar, The Last Samurai, Lawrence of Arabia etc. It's essentially a white-guilt film that has been done to death throughout the history of cinema. Lacking any subtlety, I was surprised to find how gripping the screenplay was. Even though cavemen could probably understand where this film is going, it does a great job at building suspense and increasing tension throughout the run-time. 

This western takes its place and time very seriously. Despite being an Elvis vehicle, there exists only one musical number in the picture and it is used in a very sincere fashion. Flaming Star was a step forward for Elvis, but in the end the film delivered a body blow to his aspirations of becoming a good actor. GI Blues was released the same year, only four weeks earlier, and made MUCH more money. Solidifying to Hollywood execs that Elvis didn't belong in drama. 

Unfortunately the success of his comedy musical meant that Elvis' aspirations to be a Brando-like actor would dissipate. Wild in the Country was already in the works, but after that there would be no more of this “serious actor” stuff. A shame, because I do believe Elvis had great potential.