Elvis plays a singer with an addiction to gambling and of course he is surrounded by a string of beautiful women such as his singer/dancer partner and girlfriend Donna Douglas as well as Nancy Kovack, Joyce Jameson and I cannot forget to include the great Sue Ane Langdon who plays the bubbly and ditzy rebound girlfriend to a tee.

This was a light yet very satisfying Elvis feature film that has stood the test of time for over fifty (50) years and I would definitely want it included in his franchise collection if one is ever released.

Great song and dance numbers and a decent plot as well. A classic Elvis Presley franchise film with great songs, dance, action and plenty of attractive women that I would be more than happy to gamble on.

A pleaseing 7 out of 10 IMDB rating

Seen 50 years after its premiere, this 1966 movie musical seems like something that Mickey and Judy would have done in 1943, that Doris Day and Gordan MacRae would have done in 1950, and that Gordon would have turned down in 1956 for a reunion with Shirley Jones. It's a period song and dance musical set aboard a show boat seems instantly dated, and Elvis seems way ahead of it in time period. It's all about the issues between singing gambler Elvis, his long suffering girlfriend Donna Douglas and the threats of a gypsy prediction. I wish that they had predicted that co-star Harry Morgan wouldn't sing, and proved to be right. No such luck.

If I look at this as one of the many non MGM musicals of the early 1950's, I could have tolerated the simplistic atmosphere that was out of step in 1966. Even the traditional musical films of that time had modern elements; the ones here had been in use in the mid to late 1930's. The only difference is that when Elvis sings (and shows off his lacquered hair),you're transferred out of the era of the setting of the story and right back into a dress- up party in 1966.

With Audrey Christie as Morgan's nagging wife (making them a copycat version of "Show Boat's" Captain Andy and Party),Nancy Kovack as Nellie Bly (the threatening redhead) and Sue Ann Langdon as ditsy Mitzi, this takes the legend of Frankie and Johnny to cheeky level, with Kovack attractive, but seemingly a bit long in the tooth to be the femme fatale. Robert Strauss adds another cad to his list of villains. As Frankie, Donna Douglas grows some claws every time Kovack is around, almost making you forget that she's the ingenue on a popular sitcom. For me, the only way to not dismiss this was to look past the silliness and enjoy the production numbers, the only one other than "Viva Las Vegas" to feature them. The title song is a little nasal for my taste, but a few takes on traditional American music made a huge difference.

I never realized before tonight when I watch Frankie and Johnny again why I never liked this movie that much. It had all the great elements, Elvis Presley, Donna Douglas, sidekicks. The right jokes. But frankly I think the direction was terrible. The characters are flat, there's no depth to them. Donna Douglas doesn't have enough close-ups especially in the love scenes. In fact they made her the flattest character in the whole scene, despite her figure. The timing was terrible, the characters did not jump out of the screen at you and be bigger than life. In fact Langdon was the only one who felt three dimensional. Everyone else just seemed like they were playing a part, a senseless part that went nowhere. If a movie is made right the viewers can feel like they're right in the middle of the scene, middle of the movie, even farfetched plots. In the river boat scene of The secret Life of Walter Mitty with Danny Kaye seemed more real, more sentimental, more realistic characters in the extremely short segment than this whole Frankie and Johnny movie. Frankie and Johnny seem flat and no tempo. Even the music was unenthusiastic. Donna Douglas, as beautiful as she is in this, her character seems to be an afterthought. Although her singing was dubbed, which is not surprising, her voice seared unrealistic as well and very stilted. Too bad they couldn't do a better job for these two exceptional handsome and beautiful actors.