Charro! (1969) - Region 2 PAL Anamorphic Widescreen, English audio & subtitles

I wanted to see Elvis in a movie where he didn't have to sing. Wish he had done more love all his work.

The version I bought is a Spanish one and the quality is fine (of the print). As to the quality of the actual movie....I was only 6 when this came out and somehow had let it pass me by. I decided to give it a go and was fairly disappointed.Judging by the other reviewers I'm going against the grain here - but, IMHO, there are about 50 actors in his movie and Elvis is a better actor than at least 49 of them. I've never seen so much over acting, wooden acting, just generally really hamming it up - I thought the cast were poor and there's lots of scenes of the camera panning back and forth to pick up people saying nothing, but giving each other meaningful looks. Without giving the whole plot away there's a scene towards the end where a man is "distressed" by someone who's just been killed and he expresses this by screwing his face up and pushing his fists into his eyes like a 2 year old about to have a tantrum. Not what I'd call great acting.The female lead (Miss Tracey) was, without wishing to be cruel, all teeth and nose - the picture on the cover made her look far more attractive as most of the time she looked pretty pinch faced, tired and a lot older than Elvis (unusual for a love interest for him).I also thought the dialogue was poor - and I'm not sure whether it's just because it was 1969 or whether it was just a bad script. For example - Vince is barking orders at his bunch of outlaws in the Mexican desert and he tells them to fire the cannon in half an hour and then follows that up with something like "that's 30 minutes exactly, mind". I'm not sure how they were supposed to time this as none of them had any sort of visible timepiece on them.I also don't understand why it's called Charro! and wonder whether that was tagged on at some point to make the film title / title song of more interest? In the first 5 minutes Jess rides into town and goes into a bar and the barman called him Charro and he says he's to call him Jess. That's the ONLY time anyone calls him that and, for me, it felt like a shoved in scene to tie up a loose end (over then name).Are there any positives? Yes, Elvis.He'd slimmed down for the '68 Special and so he's lean and bearded and looks fantastic. Those piercing blue eyes... He did a good job of portraying a character and the only weak spot for me was the shots of him breaking in a wild horse. It's clearly a stunt man in the long shots and the ones of Elvis close up look a bit odd as the ropes he's using as reins seem to keep going loose.Perhaps I'm being a bit picky - I think the problem is whenever I see an Elvis film (which isn't often as I find them mostly cringeworthy) it just makes me sad that so much potential talent went to waste - with better direction and a mentor he could have gone so far. Then I think about the dog catcher and get mad.If you're an Elvis fan and you want to give this a go I'd suggest you fast forward through the scenes without Elvis in....you won't be missing much and you'll just see the great parts.

Just buy it just because its Elvis Presley

lovely film

Charro, Elvis Presley`s 29th feature film gave Elvis a rare late opportunity in 1968 to demonstrate his acting potential and he clearly rose to the challenge.A strong supporting cast and a reasonable story line. This is the only film to feature Elvis with a beard. Capturing the spaghetti western genre popular at the time the soundtrack was scored by Hugo Montenegro and the theme song was composed by MacDavis and Strange who wrote a string of strong film songs for Elvis in the late 60s.Thankfully Let`s Forget About The Stars was cut from the film. Although a passable song this film would have suffered from the insertion of any songs.Back in 1969 when the film was released Elvis` new image shocked and surprised fans and critics alike-`A new kind of man, a new kind of role!` as the hype went. The film captures the emerging new Elvis as showcased in the 1968 NBC TV Special and his return to live performing in Las Vegas in 1969. For this reason alone the film does have an historical significance.What a pity that nobody valued it enough to remaster it prior to its release on DVD. The audio and video quality is the poorest I have ever seen and spoiled my viewing pleasure. For this reason I award the product only 3 stars.

Everything you read about this film is true.Elvis wanted to star in a gritty adult film a cowboy film would have been just the job.Unfortunately his managers completely rewrote the script and the film ended up being rather sad.Elvis was brilliant and he carried off the film despite the fact that he had been double crossed in real life not just on the screen.

Good film and different for Elvis in a serious role with no songs.One of his last movies.Worth watching even if not an Elvis fan.

I did like this film which wasn't that unlike Flaming Star where Elvis is a cowboy. This film to me lacked something however. I felt the acting was stilted and the dialogue amateur. If you like Westerns this film is ok.