Jailhouse Rock is a 1957 American musical drama film directed by Richard Thorpe and starring Elvis Presley.

The release was also somewhat overshadowed by the tragic highway death of leading lady Judy Tyler shortly after the film's completion.

In 2004, Jailhouse Rock was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress, who deemed it "culturally, aesthetically or historically significant.

"[2][3] Construction worker Vince Everett accidentally kills a drunken man in a brawl and is sentenced to between a minimum of one to a maximum of ten years in the state penitentiary.

His cellmate, washed-up country singer Hunk Houghton, incarcerated for bank robbery, teaches Vince some guitar chords.

To avoid a similar misfortune, Vince convinces Peggy to form their own label, which they name Laurel Records, and hire attorney Mr. Shores to oversee the business.

At a party, Hunk, who has been granted parole, persuades Vince to give him a part in the show in an effort to revive his own music career.

Vince signs a movie deal, and the studio head asks him to spend the day with his conceited costar Sherry Wilson for publicity purposes.

He allowed studio head Benny Thau and William Morris Agency president Abe Lastfogel to select the cast.

[25] During the performance, one of Presley's dental caps detached and became lodged in his lung, and he spent a night in the hospital[17][24][25] before filming resumed the next day.

[20][27][28] Before production began, rock-and-roll songwriting partners Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller were commissioned to create the film's soundtrack, but they did not send any material to MGM for months.

In April 1957, the studio summoned the writers to New York and Jean Aberbach, director of the Hill & Range music publishing company, confronted them demanding to see the songs.

Four hours later, Leiber and Stoller had written "I Want to Be Free", "Treat Me Nice", "(You're So Square) Baby I Don't Care", and "Jailhouse Rock".

[31] The following songs in the film were performed by Presley unless otherwise noted:[32] Jailhouse Rock premiered on October 17, 1957, at Loews State Theater in Memphis.

Female lead Judy Tyler had been killed in an automobile accident soon before the film's release,[33] and a devastated Presley did not attend the premiere.

[33] Jailhouse Rock earned mixed, largely negative, reviews upon release, although critical opinion has tended to be more favorable over time.

Some contemporary critics found it scandalous because it portrayed Vince Everett as an antiheroic character,[36][37] presented a convict as a hero, used the word "hell" as a profanity and included a scene with Presley in bed with Tyler.

"[38] The New York Times criticized Guy Trosper for writing a screenplay in which the secondary characters were "forced to hang on to the hero's flying mane and ego for the entire picture."

Time panned his onstage personality,[40] while The Miami News compared the film with horror pictures and wrote, "Only Elvis Presley and his 'Jailhouse Rock' can keep pace with the movie debut of this 'personality,' the records show.

Louise Boyca of The Schenectady Gazette wrote that "it's dear Elvis that gets the soft focus camera and the arty photography."

"[49] Mark Deming, also of AllRovi, wrote that Jailhouse Rock was "one of [Presley's] few vehicles which really caught his raw, sexy energy and sneering charisma on film.

[52] In 2004, Jailhouse Rock was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry, as it was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.