Flaming Star is a 1960 western film starring Elvis Presley, based on the book Flaming Lance by Clair Huffaker. Critics agreed that Presley gave one of his best acting performances as the mixed-blood "Pacer Burton", a dramatic role. The film was directed by Don Siegel, and had a working title of Black Star. The movie reached #12 on the box office charts. Elvis Presley plays Pacer Burton, the son of a Kiowa mother and a Texas rancher father. His family, including a half-brother, Clint, live a typical life on the Texas frontier. Life becomes anything but typical when a nearby tribe of Kiowa... begin raiding neighboring homesteads. Pacer soon finds himself caught between the two worlds, part of both but belonging to neither. The film rights for Flaming Star had been circulating around Hollywood since 1958 when 20th Century Fox finally decided to cast Presley in the lead role. Originally Frank Sinatra and Marlon Brando were lined up to play the brothers. Presley's previous film, G.I. Blues, had been a success at the box office and had led to one of his best selling albums to that point. However, determined to be taken seriously as an actor, Presley asked for roles with fewer songs.
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| Release date: | December 20, 1960 |
| Directed by: | Don Siegel, Michael D. Moore |
| Runtime: | 101 Minutes |
| Producer: | David Weisbart |
| Editor: | Hugh S. Fowler |
| Music by: | Cyril J. Mockridge, Elvis Presley |
| Cinematography: | Charles G. Clarke |
| Screenplay by: | Clair Huffaker, Nunnally Johnson |
| Genre: | Western |