ELVIS

US, 1979, 163 minutes, Colour.
Kurt Russell, Shelley Winters, Bing Russell, Season Hubley, Melody Anderson, Pat Hingle.
Directed by John Carpenter.

Elvis is a television movie released a year and a half after his death. It was an early film in terms of the Elvis industry. There have been an infinite number of Elvis impersonators, some good, some bad. Satires have included Honeymoon in Vegas – with an invasion of impersonators, including Nicolas Cage. Bubba Ho-Tep? with an Elvis impersonator in an institution. Elvis Has Left the Building is a comedy where Kim Basinger has the capacity for causing the death of any Elvis impersonator that she encounters.

That said, however, Kurt Russell does a very good impersonation but gives some depth to the characterisation of the King. Shelley Winters is excellent as his mother. Season Hubley portrays Priscilla Presley.

The film covers his career, his origins, the influence of Colonel Tom Parker (Pat Hingle) and his father (Bing Russell). The meteoric rise to fame was too much in many ways for Elvis. The reception by fans, the drugs, alcohol and women all took their toll.

It is surprising to find that this film was directed by John Carpenter who at this time had made Assault on Precinct 13 and had just made Halloween. By and large, John Carpenter’s films tended to be either horror or high-powered dramas. Kurt Russell starred for him in Escape from New York, Big Trouble in Little China and Escape from LA. (Kurt Russell had appeared uncredited as a child with Elvis in It Happened at the World’s Fair, 1963.)

1. For whom was the film made? For world-wide audiences, for Elvis Presley fans? For the television audience? For theatre audiences around the world? The impact on Americans? Non-Americans?

2. The style of this biography? As geared towards those who know something about Presley, for those who admire him, for the home audience? The avoiding of more controversial issues in his life - especially his last years?

3. The importance of the Las Vegas introduction, the threat to Presley's career, his style in his middle age? The tenseness of his comeback, relationship with his wife. with his friends? The mood that this created for the flashbacks? The basic show-business biography structure with flashback and then the story? How did this create interest in Elvis Presley?

4. The film as a memento of him, as a tribute to him rather than as a biography?

5. The atmosphere of the 1940s in the South, Elvis and his talking to his dead brother, the importance of this communing with his twin, his need for a sense of completion? People ridiculing him and his fights? The love for his mother and her spoiling him? The atmosphere of the South, poverty, Elvis' place in his family? The religious atmosphere and the scene of the singing on the porch? How well did this sketch in the background of Elvis Presley's childhood?

6. How well did the film make the transition to the 1950s? Elvis, school, the atmosphere of the 1950s and the transition from home 'outside the town to life in the town itself? Cars, schools, clothes? Elvis as shy? His capacity for music, playing? The admiration of the girls? His friends, cars, truck? Elvis as a 'type' of the 50s, the question of his future? Truck-driver?

7. The Importance of his music and his skill? The fact that he had a talent, a new style? The record for his mother and the alertness of the secretary and the company in backing him? The importance of the concert and the realisation that he could make an impact on an audience? Now did this influence his life, relationship with his girlfriend, family?

8. Shelley Winters' performance as Mrs. Presley? Her love for him, her continued presence, spoiling him? The importance of the dead twin? Having faith in his success? Elvis and the various presents for his mother, the lavish home? Her following him around on tour and the preparations to go to Germany? The importance of her illness in the semi-trailer, in the hospital, the impact of her death and its effect on Elvis? The funeral?

9. The contrast with Elvis' father being in the background while his wife was alive, his love for his son, his coming into more prominence after his wife's death? The bond between father and son - especially after his return from Germany, as his career grew?

10. Elvis' relationship to his friends, the group, their going to Nashville? The effect of the rejection and yet the going to further concerts? The presence of Colonel Tom Parker and his sense of Elvis being a success?

11. How well did the film indicate the Colonel's influence on Elvis, arranging his career and his success? Elvis' dependence on the Colonel? How well did the film indicate the success of Elvis' career ? the number of records, the Gold Records, the brief glimpse of Elvis’ early films and his learning to act, his concerts?

12. The importance of his military service and his acceptance of this, his worry about his being away from the public? The atmosphere of Germany, the German music and the contrast with his singing and yet his popularity in Germany? His comeback after his military service?

13. The importance of the encounter with Priscilla? How attractive a girl, her watching him sing and feeling for him? Her age, her father's lack of approval, the marriage? The birth of the child? The distance growing between the two, her attempts to hold the marriage together, her saying that she would not be to blame if the marriage broke, her presence at the Las Vegas comeback? The subsequent history of the marriage?

14. Elvis' bonds with the group, their friendship, his moodiness and distancing them? Their loyalty to him?

15, Elvis as celebrity, moody, staying with his friends, neglecting his wife. his love for his daughter? e.g. in the telephone call from Las Vegas? His dissatisfaction with the films that he made? His upset when people broke copyright on his music?

16. Why did he absent himself from the public eye, the need for a comeback? The risk after failure In Las Vegas? The build-up to the Las Vegas night, the TV commentaries, the press, the telephone to his daughter? The going out on stage and the rapturous reception?

17. The choice of songs played throughout the film? The range of Presley’s music over 15 years? The quality of Kurt Russell's impersonation of Presley as a man. his singing style, his gyrations? How well did Russell capture the Presley atmosphere? The summary in the collage at the end?

18. What picture of Elvis Presley emerged from this film? A portrait, an understanding of a person, show business, a show business phenomenon of the mid-20th. century in the United States?