Thanks for the memories!

It’s an especially fun movie from a director and cast who are clearly having a good time allowing themselves to let loose.

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

Released in 1969, "Charro" stars Elvis as Jess Wade, an ex-outlaw whose former gang seeks to pin the blame on him for stealing a gold cannon from a Mexican shrine. Wade ends up trying to protect the Arizona town that holds one of the gang members in jail from the gang's cannon assault.If nothing else, "Charro" shows that Elvis could've easily been a Western hero in Eastwood's league if he chose to keep with it and got better scripts. Obviously influenced by the rise of the Spaghetti Westerns of the mid-late 60s, this is easily Elvis' best Western of the three he did, the others being 1956' "Love Me Tender" and 1960's "Flaming Star." These prior Westerns had too much of what made Westerns in general laughable before the 60s. There are many exceptions, like "The Last Wagon" from 1956" but -- generally speaking -- the downside of Westerns before the 60s include contrived plot elements, an unrealistic vibe, bad music, white actors playing Natives and dumb Indian dialogue. "Charro" is the least guilty of these sins of Elvis' three Westerns."Charro" has a good first and last act, but a weak mid-section. The score and Arizona locations are great, the cast too, but the movie's hampered by the lame second act and a TV-production vibe.The movie runs 98 minutes and was shot in Apache Junction and Gold Canyon, Arizona, with further studio work done in California.GRADE: Borderline C+/B- (or 5.5/10)

the fans know the story...Elvis wanted to make a real WEstern, no songs. he got it with CHARRO...which could have *used* 2-3! What an embarrassment.what went wrong? we know the Director/Writer tried to make a Western with Elvis Presley but was forced to do an Elvis Presley Western.hate to say it, friends...it was Elvis...not that he didn't act well...he didn't act, didn't emote. I'm a big fan but this time I felt sorry for his co-stars, esp. Ina Balin. She plays the Angie Dickinson part.maybe I gotta sit thru it again. I've seen VIVA LAS VEGAS, TICKLE ME, JAILHOUSE ROCK, KING CREOLE, BLUE HAWAII, FOLLOW THAT DREAM many times..this one, maybe 1.5 times. right now, I gotta say, it's awful. along with PARADISE, HAWAIIAN STYLE I can say they shoulda shelved it.

Not very convincing western, with standard acting from its cast, "Charro!" has a constant homoerotic undercurrent that has been overlooked by almost everybody, not to mention the incestuous tone of the relationship between two villainous brothers. Its real problem is the credibility of the situation (and I do not know much about ballistics), related to a valuable historic cannon that has been stolen from the Mexican army. Presley is framed as the thief and he must clear his name. In the cast, Solomon Sturges (son of famous director Preston Sturges), maybe not a bad actor, overdoes all the scenes he is in (no wonder he had a brief career); Tony Young does a clichéd Latino impersonation, and Ina Balin is as misused as usual.

When I first saw Elvis in the film as the bearded desperado Jess Wade, I thought Wow! - what if his career had taken a turn like, say, Clint Eastwood's. Elvis Presley as Rowdy Yates on 'Rawhide'. Back when Elvis was lean and good looking, the independent wrangler approach might have taken him into spaghetti Westerns, and since he could also sing, one can only imagine the possibilities.As it is, Presley provides a fairly competent presence to his character in "Charro!", but as the film wears on, so does he. Though arguably one of his better films, it seems like the thrill is gone at a time in his career when 'The King' was attempting a major comeback. The bearded face does indeed create an amazing transformation of the Elvis persona, and is one of the highlights of the picture. It doesn't go far enough though; without achieving that flat out Lee Van Cleef mean, and matched against an adversary who's also less than sheer malevolence, the movie loses much of it's potential.The film's finale in fact seems to blow up as quickly as one of those cannon fired dynamite packets. When Vince Hackett (Victor French) falls apart and simply gives up, what the heck happened to Gunner (James Sikking) and Mody (Charles H. Gray)? I mean, they just disappeared! Then, as the town re-groups and Jess prepares for the trip to Mexico, Mrs. Ramsey (Barbara Werle) plants a kiss on him, when in just the prior scene she was ready to beat the snot out of him, blaming him for her husband's death! How exactly did the reconciliation take place?Even with the disconnects, it was cool seeing Paul Brinegar once again as Doc Opie (there's that 'Rawhide' connection again). Ina Balin, looking radiant and very much like a high school sweetheart of mine, doesn't have much to do here as Presley's romantic interest, but even that seems wasted by the end of the story. Do you think he ever sent for her?If for no other reason, "Charro!" is worth seeing for a non characteristic look at Elvis Presley in a role that would have served much better at the beginning of his career than near it's end. But that's a whole other conversation. I wonder how Clint would have been in "Jailhouse Rock".