as Tracey Winters Victor French as Vince Hackett Barbara Werle as Sara Ramsey Solomon Sturges as Billy Roy Hackett Lynn Kellogg as Marcie Paul Brinegar as Opie Keetch Harry Landers as Heff Tony Young as Lt. Rivera James Almanzar as Sheriff Ramsey James Sikking as Gunner Background The role of Jess Wade was originally offered to Clint Eastwood, who turned it down. The budget for the movie was estimated at $1.5 million. Working titles for the film included Jack Valentine, Johnny Hang, and Come Hell or Come Sundown. Presley signed up to the project with high hopes after reading the serious, song-free script, but was left disappointed when he arrived for his first day of shooting on July 22, 1968, to find that the script he had originally signed up for had been changed beyond recognition. The original opening scene, which was to feature female nudity, was dropped in favor of a more gentle bar scene. The story of Charro, which was written by Frederick Louis Fox, contained many violent scenes that were dropped from the film altogether. Harry Whittington based his novelization Charro on Fox's story, and included the scenes that Warren deemed too violent for the film. A scene which featured Ina Balin nude climbing from a bath was also removed. Location scenes were shot at Apache Junction and the Apacheland Movie Ranch in Arizona. Reception The film, although successful, was not received as well as Presley's previous films. Many of Presley's fans were put off by the lack of songs, and critics were generally unimpressed with the film as a whole. Despite this, the film made a good profit and Presley received $850,000 for his work. Roger Greenspun of The New York Times wrote of Presley's performance, "He treats his part rather as a minor embarrassment, and he seems determined not to push himself in a role that could have used a stronger personality to fill the lapses in the story and the wide open spaces in the dialogue." Variety wrote that "Presley strolls through a tedious role that would have driven many another actor up the wall ... Even more at fault than Presley, who has occasionally responded in the past to the demands of a good director, is Charles Marquis Warren, who takes credit (or blame?) for the script, the direction, and even part of the production." Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times wrote