Yeah, there was a theater in my area in the ‘80’s that showed midnight movies - lots of cool films. I don’t recall them showing Elvis but tons of other great ones. There’s extended interviews ‘out there’ done during the filming of EOT that are revelatory and extremely interesting. I think parts of these have been released officially but not sure of the complete versions? I’m posting this while out so not sure if this is the one I’m thinking of / can’t check it but hopefully it is:
I liked that part too. Incidentally, I found this CD a few years ago of The Imperials & Stamps Quartet called The Gospel Side of Elvis. They record some of Elvis' favorite arrangements from back in the day. The highlight of this CD is their recording of "Sweet Spirit". It is co produced by Joe Guercio and Joe Moscheo as well.
I'm really hoping that the rehearsals get a general release in 2022 as part of a 50th anniversary package.
When I started this thread the idea was to discuss all the movies that Elvis made for theatrical release. As Elvis On Tour was the last of these, from my point if view, I think that brings this discussion to a close. However this is an open forum so if anyone would like to discuss any other Elvis related movies here I am more than happy for you to pick up the baton. Having said that, I do have a suggestion for a new thread if someone more knowledgeable than me on the topic is inclined to start it - in anticipation of the forthcoming biopic directed by Baz Luhrman, a discussion about film and TV productions where Elvis was portrayed by different actors might be interesting. As often happens on this forum, I imagine this thread will occasionally be bumped as other people discover it and want to discuss individual films or Elvis' movie career in general. Thank you everyone who has contributed to this discussion each week as I have posted about each film. It has been great that the discussion has remained active and it has been very insightful. Even if this thread is locked at some point in the future, I think our discussion will be an excellent reference guide for anyone who wishes to find our more about Elvis' movie career. This final clip from me from Elvis On Tour seems to be an appropriate one to sign off with as it includes a montage of many of the movies we have discussed.
Thank you @Bink ! I've previously been leery of over half of Elvis' films. I still love my favorite Elvis films but have a new appreciation for those that I had previously snubbed. Elvis was a good actor and with decent roles, that was clear. Even in his worst films, Elvis brought the movie up a couple of notches from what any other actor could have gotten out of it. When compared to many other movies of that time aimed at teens/pre-teens, they were a cut above in terms of quality and content. Although many of his films had roles that Paul Newman couldn't have gotten anything more out of, there was the music. Only Elvis could have made many of those movies work because even the worst film had a good song in it. Elvis could read the phone book aloud to music and make something entertaining out of it. Many of his movies relied too heavily on his ability to make something out of even mediocre songs. Here we are almost 50 years since the last film was released and we're still talking about them. That says a lot.
This has been a wonderful and insightful thread @Bink - thank you for putting it together / running it!
I would recommend, if you haven't, find a copy of This Is Elvis. Something like Anthology, it has tons of historical footage and performances. Telling Elvis story as Elvis himself(actually Ronnie McDowell) and a stand in for the few reenactments. The Blue WB issue is a two disc set including the stereo theatrical release as well as the original full length ABC TV version(mono only unfortunately).
Thank you, it's been a most unexpected and enjoyable thread. I'll finish off by saying that, for an actor, that Elvis guy sure made some great music!
I haven't heard anything about that for a while. International borders have just reopened in Australia, so I guess it might start shooting soon? Or are they already in post-production?
Thank you Bink for this thread, which was entertaining & enlightening. I know that I'm going to get some Elvis DVDs for Christmas & I can't wait to see them.
They are currently in post production and the film is due for release in U.S. on June 24th 2022 after several delays.
Elvis That's The Way It Is Special Edition features The King at his absolute prime as a live performer. His voice, physicality and song repertoire is simply superb. Elvis's month long residency set the stage for what we are now seeing with these monumental residencies by Adele, Lady Gaga, Carrie Underwood, Bruno Mars and Michael Bublé. Elvis On Tour is quite good as a concert documentary, but it could have been so much better if they had chosen to professionally film Elvis's four night (one show in the afternoon) stand at MSG in New York in 1972, where Elvis was far more motivated and looked and sounded better as well. A big shout-out to our superb Thread Starter, @Bink, who has done an outstanding job of navigating us through Elvis's much maligned and often misunderstood movie career. What a joy this thread has been for all of us Elvis fans.
I noted earlier that I saw Elvis On Tour during its original release in a drive-in. I haven't looked too hard but I found no evidence that it got a general release in theaters (except in NYC where there are no drive-ins) - it seems it was just thrown out to drive-ins. I'd like to be proven wrong.
I was too young to remember when it was out originally. Back in the mid 1980s I saw it in an after midnight double feature with TTWII preceding it at a theater. I can remember at the time that the TTWII print looked so much better. The EOT print was in much worse shape. That wasn't uncommon back then since they showed older unrestored cult films. Most of the audience and I were still thrilled to be able to see it on the big screen. Home video was just starting to be a common thing and the chance to see cool old films on a big screen was like magic to me then.
I have that and it's still a favorite. It was the first time that I can remember seeing an Elvis film at the theater. It has some shortcomings. Some of the reenactments are cheesy or inaccurate. It only spends seconds on the importance of gospel music on Elvis throughout his life. On the other hand, it is a great movie to see his impact on the culture. Since it was made in 1981, it is free of a lot of the revisionism that's found in Elvis docs now. They couldn't have gotten away with not facing the events of 1977 head on since they were so fresh in the public's memory. Some folks don't like the overdubs in the soundtrack but I thought they were much better than some of the later fiddling with his music. I loved the edit of Blue Suede Shoes during the 1968 television special segment. The soundtrack album is one of my favorites. The movie version of Mean Woman Blues, the overdubbed songs from The Dorsey Show, Merry Christmas Baby with strings added, the cool edit of Blue Suede Shoes, the previously unreleased version of Always On My Mind, and the overdubbed American Trilogy are all go-to versions that I turn up in the car.
I agree with all of this - I wish it could be done without the reenactments and non-Elvis voice overs, but I guess that without them there would be too many holes in his story.
I've never seen the film/documentary you're referring to ('This is Elvis'), so I'm wondering: What are the overdubs like? I don't mean the sound quality, I guess I'm asking what they did to the songs/performances by overdubbing them?
I couldn't find the Dorsey Show songs but I found Hound Dog from The Milton Berle Show that's on the soundtrack. They basically added more bottom end and punched up drums.
Here's the cool edit of the sit down to stand up show version of "Blue Suede Shoes" from the soundtrack.
Here's the overdubbed out the wazzu version of "An American Trilogy" from the soundtrack. I love to blow the stereo up with this while driving. As a matter of fact, these were on my all time favorite Elvis mixtape back in the day. Since I've posted all of this, I'll post that too. It was the bomb back then!
