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King Creole

King Creole

Drama · Music · Crime · 1958

Delinquent Danny Fisher flunks out of high school, quits his job as a nightclub busboy, and one night gets the chance to perform. Success is imminent and local crime boss Maxie Fields wants to hire him to perform at The Blue Shade. Danny declines, but Fields won't take no for an answer.

Movie details

King Creole

“A STORY PULSING WITH THE HEARTBEAT OF TODAY'S YOUTH!”

1958 Drama · Music · Crime 1h 56m

Critical arithmetic

The consensus, allegedly.

IMDb

7.0 / 10

7K votes

Rotten Tomatoes

96 %

Tomatometer

TMDB

6.4 / 10

Community rating

External scores via OMDb · CC BY-NC 4.0. Values normalized for display; availability varies by title.

Delinquent Danny Fisher flunks out of high school, quits his job as a nightclub busboy, and one night gets the chance to perform. Success is imminent and local crime boss Maxie Fields wants to hire him to perform at The Blue Shade. Danny declines, but Fields won't take no for an answer.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over King Creole?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

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Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Michael Curtiz

Written by

Herbert Baker · Michael V. Gazzo

Elvis Presley

Elvis Presley

Danny Fisher

Carolyn Jones

Carolyn Jones

Ronnie

Walter Matthau

Walter Matthau

Maxie Fields

Dolores Hart

Dolores Hart

Nellie

Dean Jagger

Dean Jagger

Mr. Fisher

Liliane Montevecchi

Liliane Montevecchi

Forty Nina

Vic Morrow

Vic Morrow

Shark

Court is in session

Put King Creole on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Prestige Tourist

“Sincerity is not manipulation.”

The film risks embarrassment to make emotion communal, and that openness is harder than fashionable detachment.

The prosecution The Adrenaline Seeker

“The strings are showing.”

Every cue tells you exactly what to feel and when, leaving sentiment to do the work character should have done.