Frankie and Johnny is one of those Elvis movies and soundtrack which divides the Elvis fan base almost right down the middle. Taking the movie itself first, it would be the first and only time in which Elvis would be presented with anything even closely resembling a proper, old fashioned Hollywood style musical, and not a stereotypical Elvis Presley vehicle, in which he plays a race car driver / lifeguard / diver / etc etc.
That it sits chronologically in the middle of the mid 60’s poor run of movies, in terms of quality, also perhaps tars the film with that same brush, but like any movie it should be taken on it’s own individual merits.
The 1966 MGM movie sits alone in the Elvis movie catalogue, and all in all is far from a bad movie, which in fact in TV magazines usually receives a favourable review in their listings. The movie catches the steamboat era quite well and is a colourful enjoyable flick if taken in the spirit in which it was intended, and that is as a period piece attempting to catch the atmosphere found aboard the river showboats of the 1860’s. In addition, and unlike most other Elvis movies where Elvis would burst into song totally out of context, the musical numbers are in the main properly staged, featuring production numbers and in most cases these fit into the plot perfectly.
Bearing in mind the musical content of the “Frankie and Johnny” album, it would have fitted better as a proper movie soundtrack album which just happened to feature Elvis on it especially as the soundtrack contained duets, triplets and production numbers. Additionally the movie is a period piece and many of the songs are intended to replicate the style of performance seen on the very showboats depicted in the movie during the late 1890's. Very few of the songs themselves make any sense outside the movie and those which are capable of standing on their own, \"Frankie and Johnny\", \"Please Don't Stop Loving Me\" or \"Come Along\" could possibly have been fillers on regular studio albums.
Songs like \"Petunia, The Gardeners Daughter\" are often derided but it is supposed to be bad, so much so that Elvis made negative noises about having to record it an all to rare thing for his own good throughout the latter Hollywood years.
Shane Brown explains about the song perfectly in his book “Reconsider Baby” :
“It goes without saying that songs such as “Petunia the Gardener’s Daughter”, “Look Out Broadway” and “Everybody Come Aboard” don’t necessarily work well on record, but these vaudeville/show boat style numbers are actually rather fun pastiches of the real thing, and Elvis and his fellow performers manage to provide appealing vocals. There is some fun wordplay here, particularly in “petunia the Gardener’s Daughter”, and the lyrics to “Look Out Broadway” are rather amusing too. Unsuccessful as they are on record, they do come off better when seen within the context of the film.”
One of the highlights of the movie was the “production number”, and one of very few that actually appeared within an Elvis movie, and at seven minutes is the longest song in any of Elvis’ films. It is well presented and well directed, and is unlike anything else in any other Elvis movie. The song not only featured the vocals of the movie’s star, but also of co-stars Donna Douglas and Sue Ane Langdon, and was recorded in seven parts before bit of these parts were selected to make the final composite. An official release of the production number did not appear until 2003.
No doubt the movie will continue to divide opinion for years to come, but there are far poorer movies made by Elvis, and far better ones too it should be added, but in my honest opinion there are much worse ways to spend an hour and a half or so that watching “Frankie and Johnny”.
As with all of these videos, to get the most out of the re-edited audio, I highly recommend you use ear /headphones and turn the volume up as much as you dare!
