Elvis (1979)

After the gigantic hit Halloween, John Carpenter decided to try his hand at telling the story of Elvis Presley.  An interesting choice to say the least.  On the Big Trouble in Little China commentary track Carpenter says that he got the job because the producers saw that he did the Halloween theme so he must know about music and therefore Elvis.  It turns out John is a big Elvis fan so it worked out.

The DVD had been sitting on my counter for weeks and I was apprehensive about popping it in because of the 2 h 45 min running time.  Eventually I stopped being a baby and just watched it.  And overall it was good.

When the music starts up the first thing you’ll hear is not Elvis actually but Ronnie McDowell doing an impersonation.  There are a lot of interesting bits in this film in terms of production and this is one of them.  You see, at times McDowell does sound like Elvis, and pretty dead on too mostly when he does the down tempo songs and ballads, but at others he doesn’t sound at all like the guy, more when McDowell attempts the up tempo hits.  I’m sure you’re all asking yourselves, “why didn’t they just use the original Elvis recordings?”  If you want to do that then there are two directions you could go in.  One is you could change the picture to accommodate the recordings you have.  This would mean montages set to the music, shots of recording sessions and TV appearances.  You wouldn’t be able to have Elvis sing anywhere, anytime, in any situation.  Seems kinda restrictive.  Not that you couldn’t make a good movie doing that but you would have to tailor the visual to meet the audio and maybe you don’t quite get the film you wanted to make.  The other route you could go is to combine the original recordings with new ones and use the right one in the appropriate situation but that would sound awkward and sloppy because you’re not gonna fool a lot of people.  They’re gonna know which is the real Elvis and which is the impersonator.  So the only other way to go is to just record select songs again with a new guy, which is what they did here.  And for the most part it works fine.  Like I said, at first it’s a little weird but you get used to it pretty quick.  Doing it this way enabled the filmmakers to do things like have Elvis sing “Good Rockin’ Tonight” under a tree by himself or a short snit bit of “Sweet Caroline” to Lisa Marie.  Since they had total freedom to do shit like that I think they used it very well.  So the fact that there’s no original Elvis didn’t bother me.

Moving on, let’s talk about Kurt Russell.  This was the other reason why I didn’t watch this sucker right when I got it.  I couldn’t imagine Kurt portraying a convincing Elvis and it’s not that I don’t think he’s a good actor.  I think he’s the fuckin’ man but it’s precisely because I know him that I couldn’t picture him in this role.  At first I couldn’t stop thinking, “it’s Kurt fucking Russell” but after like two scenes that faded away and I saw Elvis fucking Presley.  As badass and great as Kurt is as Snake Plissken I think this is the best performance I’ve seen him give.  It’s fucking uncanny how well he plays Elvis.  Ok, sure Kurt may not look like him but he sounds and moves exactly like the man.  I was blown away by how real he played it because we all know the caricature of Elvis and it would’ve been easy to ham it up and throw every cliché in the world in there.  They resisted and what we get is a true depiction.

This film marks the first time Carpenter and Russell worked together so you know Kurt wasn’t cast just because he and John are buddies (like I’m sure if Tim Burton did an Elvis picture he would cast Johnny Depp  because he just can’t do a movie without him).  On the short making-of special that came on the DVD Carpenter says that he recognizes that Russell doesn’t look like Elvis but he cast him because he understands who Elvis is and what he was all about.  That’s really cool man.  Carpenter picked a dude that had the right feel as opposed to the right look which, again, would have been really easy trap to fall into.

As far as story goes this is kind of a tough one.  Just to let you guys know where I’m coming from I like Elvis.  I’m not a mega fan or anything but I do have a bunch of his records and have read a little about his life.  And as far as I could tell this version is very accurate.  The things I knew for sure like how the recording of “That’s All Right” came to be and Elvis bombing at the Grand Ole Opry were all there and the parts in between seemed to fit.  I expected things to be exaggerated or changed for dramatic purposes but I don’t think that was done.  They really tried to create the most realistic portrayal of Elvis’ life.  Now while that’s all well and good and commendable there’s just one small problem with it, Elvis’ story isn’t the most interesting tale out there.  This was the third reason why I put off checking this piece out.  Elvis’ rise wasn’t filled with a ton of heartbreak or crazy ass stories.  It was actually straightforward and no different than your average artist’s rise to fame.  The only real difference is that his happened faster and of course, he became bigger than anyone on the planet.  But the part where he’s playing a lot of shows and working his ass off entertaining crowds every night while his records steadily ascend in popularity and he gets more and more recognition is usually how bands and singers get famous.  Later, once the phenomenon exploded Elvis mostly shuttered himself away in Graceland and switched to making more movies with little music production.  Elvis didn’t lead an off the wall life really.  So if you’re looking for an unbridled sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll saga you won’t find it here.

However, it’s Elvis’ personality that makes up for it.  I was very happy to see that they didn’t turn him into some arrogant rock star asshole because they thought it would be more exciting.  This is faithful to who he was as a human.  Elvis was a sweetheart.  He was just a very good person.  And he was able to remain so because he didn’t have to change who he was in order to sell more records and become famous.  It worked for him to be nice so he stayed nice.  All of the shit they throw in here like Elvis giving away cars like spare change and other expensive gifts is all true.  He was always giving people overwhelming amounts of money or high priced presents.  He didn’t seem to look down on anyone and his mostly joyful outlook on life comes through in this film.  But so does his naiveté which is important.  Elvis wasn’t some shrewd businessman, he was a guy that loved to sing and whenever he performed you could tell he was having the time of his life.  The filmmakers captured that and weren’t afraid to show it.

The dramatic aspects are given equal weight as well so it’s not all sunshine.  And like I said, I don’t think they inflated or downright made up shit about the man to make the movie more palatable but instead worked with the real figure.  His obsession with his mother, yearning to not be so famous and strained romances are all presented in full force.  The problem with Elvis being fucking Elvis is that he couldn’t do much or go anywhere.  He had to surround himself with hired friends and resort to shit like renting out an arcade if he wanted to go somewhere in public.  His struggle to deal with a level of fame that almost no one has to deal with is a key part of the film that Carpenter handles well.

I’ve wondered why there hasn’t been a big budget Hollywood biopic on Elvis yet.  There have been two TV specials, this one and another one done in 2005 (which by the way, looks like the shitty exaggerated, heavily dramatized version of the king’s life that I’ve been saying this picture could’ve easily been), but no attempt at another movie like Ray or some shit.  And this here film may be the reason.  It’s comprehensive, detailed and well executed (alright maybe it was shot a little stiff and that montage at the very end is fuckin’ weird but it’s still well done).  There really doesn’t need to be some blockbuster version out there.  This one has almost everything you need to know about Elvis (well, up until 1969 anyway).

If you’re not that into the king or are only mildly interested in his life then you’ll probably find this to be boring.  But I thought it was great and if you’re an Elvis fan I highly recommend this piece.

From the movie:

The real deal (but keep in mind that since this was for TV Elvis was forced to restrain himself somewhat):