Elvis Presley: Classic Or Dud?

Along with Jail House Rock, I was okay with King Creole, based on the novel A Stone For Danny Fisher, and the Western Blazing Star, directed by the always-screenworthy Don Siegel, who also directed several Clint Eastwood movies (and Invasion of the Body Snatchers)---but for Elvis-as-Elvis, I'd go right to the docs Elvis: That's The Way It Is, Elvis On Tour, and This Is Elvis, where, in imdb's nutshell,

The life and career of Elvis Presley are chronicled in home movies, concert footage, and dramatizations. Subjects include early performances, army service, Ed Sullivan Show appearance, marriage, 1968 comeback, health decline and death.

I quite liked "Elvis: The Searcher", which HBO put out in 2018.

wasn’t the Kurt Russell biopic kind of good?

Early John Carpenter film!

I think I saw part of it on TV and did think it was good, ditto Elvis and The Beauty Queen--- wiki sez:

Don Johnson stars as Elvis Presley in this made-for-TV true story about Elvis's love affair with Linda Thompson (Stephanie Zimbalist), a young beauty pageant contestant who was his live-in girlfriend and traveling companion for four of the last five years of his life.[1] The story begins with their first meeting and traces their years together when Thompson tried to keep Presley off drugs in the last years of his career.[2]

Production
Seven songs were recorded for the soundtrack in Nashville, Tennessee, with country singer Ronnie McDowell providing the vocals.[1] The band that backed Ronnie McDowell was The Glass Hammer, a Nashville-based band. The Glass Hammer consisted of Joe Meador: Guitar, Don Lee: Lead Guitar, Bill Conn: Keyboards and Horns, Larry Leath: Bass, and Rick Judkins: Drums.

Reception
People Magazine said, "Don Johnson is praiseworthy as the King, but did Elvis really lounge around in tight leather pants and metal-studded capes?"[3]

The Chicago Tribune, reviewing the movie after Johnson became famous for Miami Vice, said, "Every time Don Johnson delivers a line you find yourself rolling onto the floor as you howl with laughter."[4]

Just saw this film.

1: think Austin Butler terrific as Elvis - especially in his speech and shy facial expressions.

2: too much Colonel Parker, who's played as 1-D Machiavellian villain, saying "my boy" every minute, with no moral nuance. Even Hanks, who's been compelling in other things, must have become bored or embarrassed by this lengthy, one-note performance.

3: not very keen on 'modernisation' of the music (including C21 rap during the film, etc) - I can see some point in it, but feel it's more a lazy tic from the director. Would say on balance: keep that stuff for the final credits if you must, and during the film try to show us how exciting the actual Elvis sounds were (if they were, as making a movie about them implies).

his bandmate going "hit 'em with the wiggle" as he's bombing on stage, sending the crowd into an immediate frenzy might actually be one of the funniest scenes I've seen in a theater

so many incredible howlers but i think my favorite was when tom hanks says he’s getting death threats and it cuts to elvis looking at a picture of himself that someone wrote “i am going to kill you elvis” on

— largest rodent (@capybaroness) July 5, 2022

his bandmate going "hit 'em with the wiggle" as he's bombing on stage, sending the crowd into an immediate frenzy might actually be one of the funniest scenes I've seen in a theater

Hank Snow popping veins from seeing panties getting thrown onstage... Like I said, I was really hoping Baz would put his foot through the floorboard the whole way.

The Elvis Presley Shop has a lot of things I'd never heard of, on different "brands," whatever the label of original release---this is presented by FTD, Follow That Dream, and def. an area of his musical activity I'm into, having "I Feel Like A Stranger In My Own Home Town" on Reggie Young's Guitar Session Star anth, for instance:

Following on from the success of FTD's classic album versions of From Elvis In Memphis and Back In Memphis, FTD presents the remaining recordings from his legendary sessions at American Sound in Memphis recorded in1969. Finally, these great tracks are issued as a stand-alone album with unreleased outtakes, un-dubbed versions and instrumentals. Elvis At American Sound Studio completes the 69 Memphis trilogy, and fittingly gets the FTD classic album treatment to complement the other two releases.

But that's just the intro---now dig this:

To celebrate FTD's 20th Anniversary, from FTD the release of 'Elvis: American Sound 1969' a 5-CD set that's part of FTD's new 'Sessions' series, includes a 28-page booklet with rare photos and memorabilia.

Elvis' pivotal Year of 1969 celebrated with Elvis: American Sound 1969 featuring over 90 tracks of rare and unreleased material from Elvis' 1969 legendary American Sound Studio sessions, including 'In The Ghetto' and 'Suspicious Minds'.

IIRC, Follow That Dream is a label administered by the Dutch Fan Club, who've basically been given the keys to the vault and have been way ahead of the industry curve re: Full Session releases and copyright dumps. RCA uses them as kind of a farm team, frequently cherry-picking FTD releases for their own less-exhaustive, later in the day archive collections.

#Elvis the movie is lots of fun & has to be seen on the big screen. Perfect match of director & subject. Too long & thematically weird of course -- but beautiful cast, music, spectacle, design; genius in all depts. Does what cinema should: improve on reality. https://t.co/wkN0konj1w

— Whit Stillman (@WhitStillman) July 3, 2022

I agree with Whit that the music and design elements were boffo. The exterior Vegas shots for instance.

Does 'boffo' mean good?

In that case I disagree, because I thought the 'modernisation' of the music was, on balance, a bad thing (if predictable from this director).

I enjoyed the music, even the modernized parts. I can understand why he did it, he didn't want this to seem like a dusty period piece. I thought the use of hip hop production touches for instance was not overused.

It just seems insane to make a movie about Elvis while also implicitly saying that you don’t think Elvis’ music holds up without sweetening (not even for an audience that paid to see an Elvis movie.) It’s Elvis ffs it’s loud sexual rock music with guitars, it’s not some confusing obscurity that audiences need to have it explained to them why people found it exciting.

Elvis's biggest hit in the last 40 years = a 'dance remix' of 'A Little Less Conversation', so I can see why they also went down that route for the movie. Also think One Eye Open is, sadly, wildly over-estimating the public tolerance for ANY pop music that's getting on for 70 years old.

Elvis's biggest hit in the last 40 years

tbf he has had some health setbacks that have prevented him from releasing much new material

I like that version. I believe it became a big gigantic hit because it was used for a sneaker ad during the World Cup or Euro. I have mixed feelings about all the songs being truncated and/or modernized. I don't really care for it but sort of see why they did it.

If Elvis was still alive, he totally would have done a duo album w/Jay-Z under the name 'El Prez' in the 2000s.

"I got 99 problems, but a hound dog ain't one, babe"

re the music for the movie i think it also has a lot to do w Elvis’ estate being deeply fixated on making elvis “current” and Baz is kinda up for anything in that regard

Thumbs up: the "Suspicious Minds" goofy-adlib makes it to the screen
Thumbs down: Bones Howe but no Chips Moman? Guess they couldn't afford the screentime to go to that "funky, funky studio."

I agree with poster One Eye Open.

If the argument is "yes, but that wouldn't be so popular or commercial" - sure, I can agree. But I think that One Eye Open and I think it would be, on balance, a better film about Elvis.

What really would have gotten my goat is if they had done "Sweet Caroline" with the recently interpolated baseball stadium chant.

Isn't ludicrous overstatement Luhrmann's trademark?

RIght. Which is somewhat at cross-purposes with Elvis's perfectly orchestrated overstatement.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEpUx6uIeXI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGQytB3wQMs

Just noticed the backing singers (Is it the Sweet Inspirations here?) trying to follow what he is doing in the beginning. So cool.

At about 1:56.

Sweet Inspirations plus Kathy Westmoreland.

Considering he looks tired and off his face, and he's reading from a piece of paper, that's a spectacularly good lead vocal too

Yes, exactly.

The movie ends with a more extreme version of that, which I think was discussed upthread already.

Wait, one of the Sweet Inspirations was married to Jerry Schilling? Where was that in the movie?

At times I thought - is this the recorded vocal? They're very similar!

Is that thing punched in or sweetened at all? It’s kind of amazing.

Also, is it really in fact the first live performance? That tour started two weeks prior.

"We're going to spring a new song on you. We don't know it too well but... if we goof it up just bear with us we'll get it right. It may take a little while but we'll get it right."

Guralnick says he didn't even want to record it!

Bonus points if someone can tell me what artist released a version before Elvis did.

"That's new and we've never done it on stage before so if we goof it up, I'm sorry."

Even if he is fudging a bit because he is embarrassed about reading off the paper and it is not actually the very first performance it’s still amazing.

Bonus points if someone can tell me what artist released a version before Elvis did.

Arthur Alexander!

I know him as June.

another example of how Elvis had some of the greatest drummers in the biz

Elvis himself was kind of a virtual drummer.