Charro! is a 1969 Western film starring Elvis Presley. It was among his final films, and his only role that didn’t feature the star singing on-screen (Flaming Star was not a musical, but he did sing one song onscreen), but Elvis does do the off-screen singing of the main title theme. Presley also sported a stubble beard, in contrast to being clean-shaven in all his other films. Co-starring with Elvis were Ina Balin and Victor French. It was also the only Elvis film released to theaters by National General Pictures. The film made a profit, but wasn’t a runaway success, and remains one of Presley’s least-seen films despite it being among his best in terms of a ‘straight’ (non-musical) acting performance.
Charro! was released to DVD for the first time in the summer of 2007. It marked the very first time that an uncut release of the film was presented to the retail market, and in its’ original wide-screen letterbox format. This DVD version underwent an extensive remastering process to restore the original 35mm filmprint quality. Previous VHS issues of the film, notably the 1990 Warner Home Video release, were of an inferior standard, mainly due to poor picture quality and minor edits throughout the movie. An oddity concerning Charro! is the film’s classification. Despite containing violence and partial nudity, it was released with an MPAA G rating, even though other Presley films from the 1968-69 period carry PG ratings. These latter releases are somewhat less ‘adult’ than Charro!.
Soundtrack
The soundtrack songs were recorded in November 1968 at Samuel Goldwyn Studios in Los Angeles, California. As Charro! was not a musical, only the title track was used in the film and released in conjunction with the movie (it appears on the B-side of the single “Memories”); a second song recorded for but not used in the film, “Let’s Forget About the Stars” appeared on the compilation album Let’s Be Friends in 1970). It is sometimes listed erroneously (such as in Elvis: The Illustrated Record by Roy Carr and Mick Farren) as a soundtrack recording from the later Presley film, Change of Habit.
Recording musicians
- Elvis Presley (vocals)
- The Jordanaires (background vocals)
- Tommy Tedesco, Ralph Grasso, Howard Roberts (guitar)
- Pete Drake (steel guitar)
- Larry Knetchal, Charles Berghofer (bass)
- Don Randi (piano)
- Emile Radocchia (percussion)
- Carl O’Brien (drums)
Tracks (songwriter)
- Charro – (Mac Davis & Billy Strange)
- Let’s Forget About The Stars – (A.L. Owens)
Trivia
- This movie was scheduled to be episode 421 of the movie mocking show Mystery Science Theater 3000, however the rights fell through and it was replaced by Monster A Go-Go.
- This is the only film in which Elvis sports a beard.
Cast
- Elvis Presley : Jess Wade
- Ina Balin : Tracey Winters
- Victor French : Vince Hackett
- Barbara Werle : Mrs. Sara Ramsey
- Solomon Sturges : Billy Roy Hackett
