KING CREOLE (1958) **1/2 Elvis had a lot of heart, and getting in fights every night for looking like a sissy as he barnstormed Texas in the mid-50s (see Waylon Jennings' great autobiography) taught him more than a little bit about the ambiguities of street ethics. Maybe he wasn't more than a good actor, but his charisma would have made him a compelling figure while teaching protozoan biology. Walter Matthau is very good as the king of New Orleans street crime. He's just the opposite: he had the charisma of a brown hat but was an extremely versatile performer up and down the silent surly type spectrum. The shots of New Orleans are great; every film should have a few minutes of St. Mark's Cathedral rising above Jackson Square.
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