Flaming Star (1961)
West Texas in the years after the Civil War is an uneasy meeting ground of two cultures, one white, the other native American. Elvis Presley portrays Pacer Burton. The son of a white rancher (John McIntire) and his beautiful Kiowa Indian wife (Dolores Del R?o). When fighting breaks out between the settlers and natives, Pacer tries to act as a peace maker, but the "flaming star of death" pulls him irrevocably into the deadly violence.
CHOOSE!... Between your white father and your Kiowa mother !
Clint Burton: If shooting starts I'll live long enough to kill you.
Janss Conejo Ranch, Thousand Oaks, California, USA
Delle, Utah, USA
Lonerock, Utah, USA
Skull Valley, Utah, USA
Thousand Oaks, California, USA
Elvis Presley was inducted into the Los Angeles Indian Tribal Council by Native American Wah-Nee-Ota after portraying the son of an Indian and a white settler in this film.
Barbara Steele walked off the picture on the third day of shooting after an argument with director Don Siegel. The studio threatened to sue her, and she told to go ahead because she wasn't coming back. They never did. She was then replaced by Barbara Eden.
The original title for this movie was "Black Star". Elvis Presley even recorded a song by that name. After the title was changed he re-recorded the song, using the same words and melody but changing the word "black" to "flaming". The song "Black Star" was unreleased for years, until it appeared on the Presley boxed set "Collectors Gold" in 1991.
Elvis Presley had another song in the film, "Summer Kisses, Winter Tears", which was cut after preview audiences laughed at the staging (Presley singing to the Indians around a campfire, accompanied by a chief on war drums). A studio version of the tune was recorded, but the original "Indian" version was resurrected only recently on the German "Elvis: Double Features" CD collection.
Andy Warhol's famous diptych of Elvis Presley as a cowboy came from a shot in this movie.
Continuity
When Sam Burton is hit by three Indian arrows in his back, the Indian warrior who shot the last arrow into his victim approaches the dying man in order to take his scalp. Sam lies with the front of his body to the ground, the three arrows protruding out of his back. The Indian reaches Sam, turns him around, and is shot by Sam who uses his last bit of strength to kill his murderer. To achieve this goal, he has to lift his right arm to fire his colt on the Indian brave, which reveals that the three arrows are gone.
When the 2 strangers arrive at the cabin where only Pacer and his mother Neddy are present, one of the strangers is standing by the table, but immediately in the next shot is standing by the mother, some 6 feet away.