Charro!

(National General Corporation, 1969)

Elvis's first period western in eight years (since 1960's Flaming Star) started production in July 1968. Following work on his NBC TV Special at Burbank Studios, California, Elvis was on location in Arizona playing the role of a reformed outlaw under the direction of Charles Marquis Warren (who also served as writer and producer). Warren was very familiar with the western genre, and was the man responsible for the creation of the Rawhide television series in the late 1950's. Based on the novel of the same name by Harry Whittington, the film went into production under the working title of Come Hell, Come Sundown. Co-stars in the film included Ina Balin, Victor French, James Sikking and Native American gun-expert Rodd Redwing, who had played a minor role in Flaming Star. Another featured player was Paul Brinegar, who had worked on the Rawhide television series for its seven-year run in the role of the surly cook. Location shooting for the production took place in Arizona around the Superstition Mountains area and Apache Junction. Interiors were shot at MGM's Studios in Culver City, California.

The thrust of the story, with Elvis's Jess Wade character being framed for :he theft of a valuable cannon, was well enough set up but the ensuing action simply did not generate enough explosive confrontation in what was designed to be a revenge plot. The film was very poorly edited, with different scenes cut out or shortened, depending on which version you were viewing. The most ridiculous example is the removal of most of the quite brutal branding scene, which was very important to the story. The 16mm library version in the U.K. appears to be the most complete version of the film available.

Unique in the fact that it is the onlv Elvis movie in which he sings no songs, there was of course music composed for the production. There is a title song by Elvis, heard over the credits (written by Mac Davis and Billy Strange) and the accompanying film soundtrack music was composed and conducted by Hugo Montenegro - best known in the U.K. for his 1968 No.1 hit of the haunting theme for another western, The Good, The Bad And The Ugly The title song Charro! was issued on a single in the U.S. as the 'B' side of Memories from the NBC TV Special. The poignant Memories was also written by Mac Davis and Billy Strange.

Charro! was released in the U.S. in April 1969 to fairly indifferent reviews Elvis's performance met with both positive and negative comments from film critics. His move into straight drama was to be commended, in general, but the subject matter was questionable in many opinions. In the U.K. the movie was not screened in cinemas until August 1971 and that was mainly through a fan-based campaign on the back of the success of the MGM documentary Elvis: That's The Way It Is just months before.

This information was produced by the Elvis Presley Film Society in November 2003