I have not watched it in awhile and will have to do so next time it comes on. During that time, I was a steady reader of TV Guide and they has a rumors section. One of the rumors that I read before this came out was that Charro was supposed to be the first of a series of dramatic oriented movies and the first of a series of TV movies that Elvis Presley was going to do.
Since it was done right after the Christmas special, that was a time when Elvis and Colonel Parker were fighting about a lot of things and Elvis even tried to fire Parker and get a lawyer to do it. His father talked him out of going that route because Vernon Presley has had bad experiences with lawyers and did not trust them. Parker threatened to keep Presley tied up in court for years it he tried to fire him.
The director of the Christmas special was encouraging Elvis to do this since Elvis's movie career was slowing down and Elvis desperately wanted to be a dramatic actor and break out of the musical/beach movies. He was sick of doing the same movie and part over and over again.
As we have seen, there are times when an actor has to make dramatic changes in his/her career to save it and Elvis may have felt it was now or never, no pun intended. Since Parker was obviously afraid of losing control of his meal ticket, it would not surprise me that he may have sabotaged the project. As noted in another post, Elvis did not like the way the movie had been rewritten from the way he first saw it. Charles Marquis Warren brought the project to Elvis and he lobbied hard for the part since Clint Eastwood had turned it down. As noted, it had the look of a TV movie because it may have been intended to be a TV movie and a number of Warren's stock company from Rawhide and Gunsmoke were in it so that enforces my opinion that it was supposed to be a TV movie. Give it to Parker, he was a smart old carnie and maybe had it released to theaters knowing it would not be as successful. Soon after, he got Presley locked into a contract that had him performing in Las Vegas and the grueling tour schedule that eventually killed him. Thus Parker had control again of the one he called "The boy". Too bad it did not go on TV because it could have been a success and would have maybe jump started Elvis career and given him the confidence to take control of his career and maybe buy Parker out. We will never know.
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