Predictably, a TV movie
dramatizing Elvis Presley’s eventful life emerged not long after the King’s
August 1977 death. In February 1979, ABC broadcast Elvis, starring former Disney child star Kurt Russell and directed
by, of all people, John Carpenter, whose breakthrough film Halloween (1978) had been completed but not yet released at the
time he shot this gun-for-hire project. A sanitized overview of the title
character’s life through 1969, when Presley completed a major comeback by
returning to the live concert stage, Elvis
doesn’t reveal much that casual fans don’t already know about the subject
matter—Elvis was sweet on his mama, Gladys (Shelley Winters); he fell hard for
a young woman named Priscilla (Season Hubley); and he gave his manager, Col.
Tom Parker (Pat Hingle), too much leeway—but the story unfolds smoothly.
Key
events depicted onscreen include Elvis’ childhood fixation on his stillborn
twin brother, the singer’s excitement at scoring his first recording contract,
Elvis’ bumpy transition to acting, and the King’s descent into isolation and
paranoia once he reached unimaginable heights of fame. Because this project
treats Presley’s image gingerly, there’s no Fat Elvis excess, and a scene of
the King shooting a television is about as deep as the filmmakers go into
depicting Presley’s eccentricities. Despite its homogenized vibe, the movie
boasts an energetic, Emmy-nominated performance by Russell, whose boyish
persona captures young Elvis’ aw-shucks appeal. That Russell mostly overcomes
the distraction of the dark eyeliner he wears throughout the picture—as well as
the inevitable problems of imitating Elvis’ iconic sneerin’-and-struttin’
persona—speaks well to the sincerity of his work.
Acquitting himself fairly
well, Carpenter complements the project’s workmanlike storytelling with a
minimalistic shooting style, and whenever he lets fly with a lengthy master
shot or a slick tracking move, he does a lot to maintain the flow of his
actors’ performances. Most of the time, however, one must struggle to spot
signs of Carpenter’s distinctive cinematic style. That said, it’s interesting
to watch Elvis and realize how
quickly Carpenter and Russell locked into each other’s frequencies, because
just a short time later they embarked on a great run with Escape from New York (1981), The
Thing (1982), and Big Trouble in Little
China (1986).
Incidentally, this project was a family affair for Russell,
because his dad, Whit Russell, plays Elvis’ father, and Russell later married
his onscreen bride, Hubley. (They divorced in 1983.) As for the film’s
accuracy, Priscilla Presley reportedly vetted the script, which might be why Elvis often feels like a hero-overcomes-adversity
hagiography with musical numbers. (Instead of the vocals from Presley’s
original recordings, singer Ronnie McDowell’s voice is heard on the soundtrack
whenever Russell lip-syncs.) FYI, a truncated version of Elvis was released theatrically overseas, though the original
two-and-a-half-hour cut that was broadcast on ABC is still widely available.
Elvis:
GROOVY