Frankie and Johnny (1966 film)

Infobox Movie
name = Frankie and Johnny


imdb_id = 0060429
producer = Edward Small
director = Frederick De Cordova
Herbert S. Greene (Ass't)
writer = Nat Perrin (story) & Alex Gottlieb
starring = Elvis Presley
Donna Douglas
Harry Morgan
music = Fred Karger
cinematography = Jacques R. Marquette
editing = Grant Whytock
distributor = United Artists
released = March 31, 1966
runtime = 87 min.
language = English
preceded by = "Harum Scarum"
followed by = "Paradise, Hawaiian Style"

"Frankie and Johnny" is a 1966 musical starring Elvis Presley as a riverboat gambler. The role of "Frankie" was played by Donna Douglas, star of the hit television series, "The Beverly Hillbillies". Elvis gambles with his luck as he goes for a lucky redhead, Nellie Bly, instead of his beautiful blonde, Frankie.

Plot

Johnny and his girlfriend Frankie are riverboat singers on a Mississippi riverboat which includes a gambling casino. Johnny is a gambler who is down on his luck and in debt.

Johnny and his friend Cully, a musician and composer, visit a gypsy camp to get his fortune told. A gypsy lady reads some tea leaves, and tells Johnny that he will soon meet a red haired woman that will bring him luck.

Back on the riverboat, Johnny and Cully meet Nelly Bly, their boss Clint Braden's on-again, off-again girlfriend who has just come to visit. Nelly suprises her boyfriend Braden who is in the middle of seducing another singer on the riverboat, Mitzi. Bly has red hair, and so Johnny persuades her to touch his chips for luck. After he wins, Johnny is convinced that the gypsy was correct.

When Frankie finds out, she is jealous, as is Johnny's boss. Frankie and Johnny perform a bit of musical theatre where Frankie shoots Johnny for dancing with Nelly Bly, while singing Cully's new song. A Broadway recruiter sees the riverboat show, and buys the rights to the new song, and suggests that Frankie and Johnny should work on Broadway.

Landing in New Orleans, the cast of the musical show and the crew of the riverboat attend a masked ball. Frankie, Nelly and Mitzi all rent the same Madame Pompadour costume.

Johnny has decided that he wants to use the luck of redhead Nelly to win more money, contrary to the wishes of his girlfriend Frankie. However, being masked and in costume, Frankie and Nelly switch places and Johnny takes Frankie with him to the roulette wheel. Johnny wins ten thousand dollars, but when he kisses the woman he believes is Nelly, he discovers he is really kissing his girlfriend Frankie. Frankie is furious, and throws the ten thousand dollars out the window to the crowd on the street.

Blackie, the boss Braden's assistant, hears Braden drunkenly complaining about how he has lost Bly to Johnny, so Blackie switches the blank in Frankie's stage gun for a real bullet. The boss tries to prevent the impending disaster, but arrives at the theatre too late. Frankie has shot Johnny with a real bullet, and Frankie believes she has killed Johnny. Frankie forgives Johnny for his gambling as he is laying on the stage. Johnny then stands up, apparently unhurt. Johnny was saved because he was wearing his lucky medallion that Frankie had given him, and the bullet had struck the medallion.

Primary cast

*Elvis Presley : Johnny
*Donna Douglas : Frankie
*Harry Morgan : Cully
*Sue Ane Langdon : Mitzi
*Nancy Kovack : Nellie Bly
*Audrey Christie : Peg
*Anthony Eisley : Clint Braden
*Robert Strauss : Blackie
*Joyce Jameson : Abigail

oundtrack

Infobox Album
Name = Frankie and Johnny
Type = Soundtrack
Longtype =
Artist = Elvis Presley


Released = March 1, 1966
Recorded = May 12 to 15, 1965
Genre = Film soundtrack
Length =
Label =
Producer =
Reviews =
Last album = "Harum Scarum"
(1965)
This album = "Frankie and Johnny"
(1966)
Next album = "Paradise, Hawaiian Style"
(1966)

Recorded May 12 to 15, 1965 at Radio Recorders in Hollywood, California, the music album with the same title as the film was released in March 1966.

Recording musicians

*Elvis Presley - vocals
*The Mello Men - background vocals
*Scotty Moore, Tiny Timbrell - guitar
*Charlie McCoy - harmonica & guitar
*Bob Moore - bass
*D.J. Fontana, Buddy Harman - drums
*Larry Muhoberac - piano
*George Worth - trumpet
*Richard Noel - trombone
*Gus Bivona - saxophone
*John Johnson, Robert Corwin - tuba

Tracks (songwriter)

Side 1:
#"Frankie And Johnny" - (Jimmie Rodgers, Ben Weisman, Sid Wayne, Fred Karger)
#"Come Along" - (David Hess)
#"Petunia The Gardener's Daughter" - (Sid Tepper & Roy C. Bennett)
#"Chesay" - (Ben Weisman, Sid Wayne, Fred Karger)
#"What Every Woman Lives For" - (Doc Pomus & Mort Shuman)
#"Look Out Broadway" - (Fred Wise & Randy Starr)

Side 2:
#"Beginner's Luck" - (Sid Tepper & Roy C. Bennett)
#"Down By The Riverside/When The Saints Go Marchin' In" - (Bill Grant, Bernie Baum, Florence Kaye/Traditional)
#"Shout It Out" - (Bill Grant, Bernie Baum, Florence Kaye)
#"Hard Luck" - (Ben Weisman & Sid Wayne)
#"Please Don't Stop Loving Me" - (Joe Byers)
#"Everybody Come Aboard" - (Bill Grant, Bernie Baum, Florence Kaye)

Infobox Album
Name = Frankie & Johnny
Type = soundtrack
Longtype = (reissue)
Artist = Elvis Presley


Released = November, 1976
Recorded =
Genre = Film soundtrack
Length =
Label = Pickwick Records
Producer =
Reviews =
Last album = "From Elvis Presley Boulevard, Memphis, Tennessee" (1976)
This album = "Frankie and Johnny" (1976)
Next album = "Welcome to My World" (1977)

oundtrack reissue

In November 1976, Pickwick Records reissued the soundtrack album with a new cover showing a 1970s-era image of Presley. The order of the songs was changed and some songs from the original album were omitted; the title was also modified to "Frankie & Johnny". The front cover does not indicate that this is a reissued soundtrack album; it was the only soundtrack to be reissued in this way.

ide One

#"Frankie and Johnny"
#"Come Along"
#"What Every Woman Lives For"
#"Hard Luck"
#"Please Don't Stop Loving Me"

ide Two

#"Down By The Riverside / When The Saints Go Marching In"
#"Petunia The Gardeners Daughter"
#"Beginner's Luck"
#"Shout It Out"

External links

* [http://www.elvispresley.com.au/ For Elvis Fans Only] Website decitated to Elvis Presley's Movies.

ee also

*List of Elvis Presley films
*Elvis Presley discography
*imdb title|id=0060429|title=Frankie and Johnny

References

* [http://www.sergent.com.au/elvis/1976.html Frankie and Johnny - Sergent.com.au]