Flaming Star

Screenwriter Lem Dobbs sums up the significance of Elvis’ performance in Flaming Star (1960) quite succinctly as “the path not taken.” Rather than coast by on his good looks and a rousing theme song, Presley was determined to change the course of his acting career in this his first movie role after returning from the Army. Playing the “half-breed” younger son in a frontier family, the character of Pacer Burton afforded him the opportunity to actually emote alongside his fellow actors rather than just shake his hips. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the sort of performance audience’s had in mind for the King of Rock n’ Roll.

Directed by Don Siegel, one of the few noteworthy directors Presley ever worked with, Flaming Star deals with the uncomfortable issue of racism packaged in a comfortable western format. The Burton family’s idyllic Texas range life is torn apart when a savage attack by a Kiowa Indian tribe upon their neighbors stirs up bad blood. Pacer and his full-blooded Kiowa mother are lumped in with the enemy, while his white father and half-brother have their loyalties called into question. And as the Indian rampage continues, the Burton’s get more and more of the blame.

Far more simplistic than John Ford’s The Searchers but mining the same sort of thematic material, Siegel’s film also brings to mind the Communist finger pointing of his earlier Invasion of the Body Snatchers. But those comparisons probably only serve to point out the narrative complexities that Flaming Star lacks. What it does have is Presley’s natural charisma, good looks and surprising athleticism to distract from its less embellished aspects.

Co-starring a stiff Steve Forrest and the lovely Barbara Eden (I Dream of Jeannie), Presley holds his own against a cast of recognizable faces. His real showcase comes during an emotional breakdown that forces him to choose between families – his blood or his heritage. It’s the sort of Method acting Elvis had never attempted before and was never allowed to try again after the film quietly disappeared at the box office (followed in quick succession by his other “serious” film, Wild in the Country).

Siegel interjects some surprising moments of violence and captures the scrubby scenery with an eye for its natural production value. But he’s working with characters that are flatter than the screen they’re projected on and a plot that moves them around in haphazard fashion. Flaming Star is far from Presley’s worst film, but it’s also far from his most entertaining. It’s a fascinating curiosity culled from the movie career of a performer who seemed to have all the natural skills, but no professional support.

This theory is posited eloquently in the liner notes by Julie Kirgo in Twilight Time’s new 3000-copy limited edition Blu-ray, which also includes a very “Elvis-centric” commentary by the aforementioned Lem Dobbs and Nick Redman along with an isolated score track and theatrical trailer. The transfer is another superlative presentation, boasting bright colors and a terrific amount of detail.