The ultimate site about the king of the analogue age
In March 1966 the 20th motion picture of Elvis Presley hit the cinemas of North America and Canada. It generated rental fees of 2.8 million USD, so the public paid 5.6 million USD for tickets. In the present the studio would have received 42 million USD, the box office gross would have been 84 million USD. How do I get to these figures? You'll be surprised, I used the factor 15. Back in 1966 a critic wrote, that "Frankie And Johnny" was dying all over the country. Obviously it wasn't all that bad, but United Artist certainly had expected more when they signed the king.The German audience had to wait until April 28, 1966. This time the studio didn't make up a different name, in Germany the movie was also called "Frankie And Johnny". But to me the German poster looks way better than the original one.
In the 19th century the gambler and singer Johnny (Elvis) works on a casino boat. After a gipsy told him a red head would end his string of bad luck Johnny starts a flirt with Nelly Blye. Of course his girlfriend Frankie isn't all that amused and so is his boss, because Nelly is his former girl.
Edward Small (producer), Frederick De Cordova (director), Alex Gottlieb (script, after a story by Nat Perrin), Fred Karger (music), Jacques Marquette (camera), Grant Whytock (editor).
Elvis Presley (Johnny), Donna Douglas (Frankie), Nancy Kovack (Nellie Bly), Sue Ane Langdon (Mitzi), Anthony Eisley (Braden), Harry Morgan (Cully), Audrey Christie (Pog) and The Earl Barton Dancers & Wilda Taylor.The German voice of Elvis was dubbed by Rainer Brandt.
In December 1964 Elvis signed a two picture deal with United Artists. In total the king was to receive 1.3 million USD, which would be 19.5 million USD today if we use the factor 15. The first project was a remake of "Frankie And Johnny", a movie from the 1930s in which Chester Morris had starred as Johnny. In contrast to MGM's latest Presley flick United Artist put more effort in the backdrops and costumes and the songs were better, too. But still they spent not too much time on the production and wrapped it up between May 24th and June 23rd, 1965.
Hal Wallis had complained about Elvis' looks as early as 1963, but now the star was obviously a little overweight. If Mr. Presley had been a rugular guy nobody would have cared because he still wasn't fat by any means. But unfortunately his job was to be the gorgeous, slim and slender ladykiller and so it was expected of him to look nothing but great whenever he set a foot in a movie studio. The management of United Artist surely didn't appreciate what they saw and Colonel Parker even had the art department of RCA Victor putting the head from an older photo on the body of a recent shot, because he thought his clients' face looked too pudgy.
In March 1966 RCA Victor released a single and a longplayer. Ten years later Pickwick issued a budget version of the soundtrack. Combined the records sold 4.5 million units. A tap on the covers leads to the reviews.
Explosive Media released a digital hd version of "Frankie And Johnny" in early 2018. For a short review tap on the cover.
The movie is solid entertainment, no better or worse than most of the Presley films released by Paramount or MGM. But by 1966 this kind of product was somewhat outdated.
Movie Posters (C) United Artits, DVD Cover (C) Explosive Media, Record Cover (C) RCA Victor and Pickwick