At first this Elvis Presley feature felt like a breath of fresh air, as it's a costume piece set aboard an old-time riverboat where Elvis plays an irresponsible and compulsive gambler named Johnny. Donna Douglas (best known as Elly May from "The Beverly Hillbillies") is his cutesy girlfriend and singing partner Frankie, and they perform as a duet on the boat (Douglas is unconvincingly dubbed). Harry Morgan of M*A*S*H fame plays Johnny's older mentor (he gets to sing too - uggghhh) who visits a gypsy fortune teller with Elvis to learn that a redhead (Nancy Kovack) will soon arrive to change his luck. Fate turns out to come true, but it creates a love triangle in the bargain. Once you get past the fancy costumes, this is fairly standard Elvis stuff. The stage songs aren't outstanding by any means, but they do fit nicely with the "showtime" feel of the proceedings. ** out of ****
Review of Frankie and Johnny
