Frankie and Johnny

Frankie and Johnny  The saga of Frankie And Johnny gets a lighter telling in this Elvis Presley film. Elvis plays an entertainer on a Mississippi riverboat circa the turn of the last century with a real gambling problem. His partner in the act is Donna Douglas late of the Beverly Hillbillies who would only marry him if he gives up his ways. Want to bet on the chances that that would happen?

Donna and the King work for Anthony Eisley whose number one girl Nancy Kovack, the infamous Nellie Bly has returned and an old gypsy said that a redhead would bring Elvis fabulous good luck. But that causes problems with both Eisley and Douglas.

A few new numbers were written for the film, but Frankie And Johnny has mostly traditional ballads of the era such as Down By The Riverside and When The Saints Go Marching In. All done in a New Orleans Dixieland style, most agreeable with Presley.

Some others in the cast are Harry Morgan as Elvis’s accompanist, Audrey Christie as Morgan’s wife, Robert Strauss as Eisley’s dimwitted bouncer, and Sue Ane Langdon who spends the entire film absolutely plastered. Watching her complain about not being able to get and hold a man all I could think is that if she drew a sober breath once in a while she might have a chance.

Fans of the King should like this one.

Good fun for Elvis fans, Donna Douglas fans