Flaming Star, IMO a minor classic

[stuart.uk]

Spolier Alert

Possibly if Flaming Star had been a success at the box office the film career of star Elvis Presley might taken a different turn.

Flaming Star was IMO a minor classic that deserves to be thought of as such. It was directed by Don Seigel, who went on to make John Wayne's last film The Shootist. The film was originally written more Marlon Brando in mind.

The film I felt made a good job in showing the madness of racial intolorence. Elvis' half-breed Indian Pacer Burton was on the face of it a respected member of the town community, but when the Indians went on the war path he became a figure of hate, even though he'd done nothing wrong. His mother, Delores Del Rio, was killed by a wounded white man and his father, John McIntire later murdered by renigade Indians.

My favourite scene in the film showed the madness of racial intolerence. After Pacer's mother had been mortally wounded, he and brother Clint, played by Steve Forrest rode into town to get a Doctor. The town refused to oblige, so Pacer kidnappes the Doctor's daughter at gunpoint, forcing him to go with them. What was crazy about that was Pacer told the little girl 'You know I'd never hurt you' The young girl knew and trusted him, but the hatred of the town's community was such they couldn't see that, even though many of them had known Pacer his whole life.

One possible weakness is that Elvis didn't have any romantic interest (unlike Jean Peters in the similiar Broken Lance with Robert Wagner ), but maybe that's the point. He tells his brother's girl friend Barbara Eden, who was the one person that was supportive toward his family, that he felt her predjudiece toward him the worst, possibly suggesting a romance between them might have been seen by her as inappropriate.

[mrsl]

I completely agree with your very first statement regarding this film Stuart. Even many hardy Elvis fans were unaware when this film was released that he was in it, that's how badly it was advertised, if at all. Elvis showed quite a bit of talent in many of his movies such as Wild in the Country, King Creole, and even his very first adventure in Love Me Tender.

It was a criminal shame that the Colonel had him so tied up, and only let him do those silly little teen age things he did, but they were all money and the colonel knew it, then he siphoned most of the money off so there was very little left when Elvis died.

Anne