I watched Loving You last night. Whereas Love Me Tender was very much an ensemble performance, Loving You seems to me to be the first "Elvis" movie - his persona is front and centre of the movie. Sure, another singer could have played the part but it would have a very different movie. What strikes me is that it set the template for movies made by other pop and rock singers at the beginning of their career, in the way it tells the story of the birth of a star. I am reminded of Barbra Streisand's Funny Girl, Prince in Purple Rain and Beyonce in Dreamgirls. I am sure there are plenty of others. In fact Elvis' next movie is a classic birth of a star story too. The dvd I have of Loving You, which I think is the version currently most readily available, is not in wide-screen. And it's interesting that Loving You doesn't seem to appear in the many movie boxsets that are often released. I think it is ready for a reissue.
I first watched Love Me Tender in 1997 which made me 6. There was an Elvis marathon on TCM for years on 16th Aug and I first saw it then. My granddad and I watched him all day and night. That's my introduction to Elvis and 24 years later my bank balance is a lot worse for it. But LMT is a film I could watch every week and enjoy it. In fact, out of all 33 films I can't think of any I don't get enjoyment out of. They may not be award winners but they did what they said they would do and that's give us enjoyment.
We have the best ones available on bluray now but I wish we would get Loving You,Blue Hawaii and original version of Thats The Way It Is in HD as well.
I ran a small film club in college, that essentially turned into a "Boozn' Elvis Film Club" And we watched a good chunk of his 60's films, each time trying to find a campier film. "Clambake" and "Live a Little, Love a Little." are some of the most outrageous plots I have ever sat through, and i genuinely have really warm feelings towards Elvis film career ( not that I would have, had I been alive during the 60's.)
Loving You is a fantastic film, and it’s a shame the proposed Blu-ray release was cancelled - visually the movie is striking so a nice transfer to Blu would have been a pleasure to watch. Super-strong soundtrack as well. I love this scene:
You beat me to the punch posting this great scene from Loving You. This movie represents the archetype of what a rock 'n' roll bio movie should be like for decades to come. As Shawn says, it also has a great soundtrack to go along with a very good movie. Elvis is off the a great start with his first two movies and his next two movies, Jailhouse Rock and King Creole, are arguably two of his best dramatic movies ever and they both are accompanied by very fine music soundtracks as well.
Loving You is simply fantastic--maybe not his best film of the 50's, but it's my hands-down favorite from this period.
Jailhouse Rock Year of release: 1957 Studio: MGM Director: Richard Thorpe Plot: Vince Everett (Elvis) is jailed for manslaughter. While in jail he develops a passion for singing. After he is paroled he pursues a career in the music business. Songs: Young and Beautiful I Want To Be Free Don't Leave Me Now Treat Me Nice Jailhouse Rock (You're So Square) Baby I Don't Care Trailer:
Jailhouse Rock has to rate in the top ten of Elvis Presley movies. I would easily say one of his top three dramatic movies. The soundtrack is just terrific with almost all songs written by Leiber & Stoller. It also features two of Elvis's most iconic on screen moments, both highlighted in the fine trailer posted above. Elvis's own choreography made the tile song a prototype for the modern music video. Elvis also had one of his proudest moments in the recording studio for the soundtrack when bassist Bill Black became frustrated with the throbbing bass intro on (Your'e So Square) Baby I Don't Care, when he threw his instrument down on the floor and walked out of the studio. Elvis picked it up with a laugh and preceded to play the bass part for the record. So Elvis's much maligned movie career is off to a really fine start, with three movies that he could be very proud of and some great soundtrack material as well. It only gets better with the next movie, King Creole, arguably his finest dramatic role on film, also with quite possibly his greatest soundtrack recording ever.
"Jailhouse Rock" is my personal favorite Elvis movie: it's his darkest role, the black and white fits the film perfectly and the cast was well chosen. I would also say that the soundtrack is among his very best (BABY I DON'T CARE, TREAT ME NICE and the title song are just timeless), perhaps only second to "King Creole". So, in my opinion, Classic Elvis.
I have always considered Jailhouse Rock to be one of Elvis' essential movies and have watched it several times. So it was a pleasure watching it again today. The dvd I watched was the so-called Deluxe Edition, although apart from a couple of bonus features doesn't seem to add anything that would necessarily make it deluxe! However the movie was beautifully restored, had 5.1 audio and was in wide-screen. Anyway here's another clip:
That looks stunning! Loving You is the movie I most want to see on the big screen, the visual impact would be great to experience. Jailhouse Rock always seems to be the one at the revival theaters.
I’m not a fan of the 5.1 Dolby TrueHD audio or the Dolby Digital 5.1 mix on this set and although the original mono is on there, it’s lossy - this it a pet peeve of mine, especially when there is plenty of space on the disc for a lossless mono option. The disc has the original aspect ratio of 2.40:1 which is nice, and the picture quality is probably the best we can expect,
Same here. Plus, the 5.1 remix has a mistake early on where the underscore music for the upcoming scene is heard before it should in the scene before—it’s in the first 5 minutes from what I recall (I think it’s after getting the paycheck and then to then into the Bar) on the first BD.
It's funny: I had Clambake on VHS as a kid and watched the heck out of it. Now I think it's borderline deranged. Oh well.... That his pre army films are mostly ok to good (especially as a time capsula) goes without saying, but I'll always argue in favour of Stay Away Joe. Despite its horribly racist depiction of indigenous people, at least it's shot in real locations, actually manages to be occasionally funny, and shows the first signs of his comeback. I really like his singing on the title track, All I Needed Was The Rain and, yes, Dominic.
