Metrograph

The least “Elvis Movie” movie that Presley ever made—he sings on screen but once, and only briefly—contains the King’s single finest performance as the brooding Pacer Burton, the son of a Kiowa woman and a white rancher father (Dolores del Rio and John McIntire) who learns definitively that the “tolerance” he’s extended by both his mother’s tribe and the Texas frontiersmen he lives among quickly disappears when tensions flare between the communities. Many wags have made cracks about Presley’s knowledge of the martial arts, but Siegel would have none of it, noting in his autobiography: “When it came to karate, Elvis had few peers. I hired a black-belt stuntman, who was an instructor for the Marines, but when they had their scene, a rough, tough fight, Elvis proved embarrassing: he was twice as fast and twice as good as the Marine instructor.”

Distributor: Walt Disney Studios/20th Century