What about This is Elvis SE?

[Bill B]

No, Ken, I just had a feeling of "deja vu". Jerry could say very interesting things from his book (I like it a lot), how he witnessed Elvis on July 1972 interview. How he tried to emulate Elvis speaking about Jailhouse Rock movie song and dance sequence and Elvis replied "We just did it". Because Presley was so frustrated back then about his movie career. The best thing of the Zimmy doc was including Bruce to be a narrator. And Red West. I like especially the last part of documentary, the MSG Never Been to Spain clip, the alternative version of Trilogy, and, most of all, the great idea in the end to present Elvis singing If I Can Dream on a small TV set.This is also what I think that Springsteen can be the only voiceover on This is Elvis new edition. Priscilla said nothing new, really, in the Zimmy documentary. He protected Elvis's image when, one time, she said: "Elvis took only prescription drugs". She was not with him from early 1972 on and obviously said that just for protect him.

It don't help that Jerry's voice is low and monotone and never any passion as well as Priscilla's. And yes the film was fine but did contain quite a few error's and facts that were plain wrong. I have seen it twice and burnt it to a disc but I doubt I will ever go back to it again..

[Tony C]

OK, but do you like Elvis sing 30 seconds of Hound Dog in The Searcher? Nothing about The Ed Sullivan Shows? Only If I I can Dream showed completely? Insane.How can this documentary be liked from some people which are not fans of Elvis Presley? Listening to Odetta and other unknown singers today?

Unknown to you maybe, not to me.

[drjohncarpenter]

It don't help that Jerry's voice is low and monotone and never any passion as well as Priscilla's. And yes the film was fine but did contain quite a few error's and facts that were plain wrong. I have seen it twice and burnt it to a disc but I doubt I will ever go back to it again..

Exactly which facts were "plain wrong" in the HBO film? You say that there are "quite a few." Please share.

[Bill B]

It don't help that Jerry's voice is low and monotone and never any passion as well as Priscilla's. And yes the film was fine but did contain quite a few error's and facts that were plain wrong. I have seen it twice and burnt it to a disc but I doubt I will ever go back to it again..

Exactly which facts were "plain wrong" in the HBO film? You say that there are "quite a few." Please share.

OK,1. Elvis and Binder and company watching Robert Kennedy get shot in binders office at 4 pm when it in fact happened just after midnight.
2.Implying that in 76 Elvis could have went to Chips Moman's studio when in fact it was closed for years.
3.Using the wrong time frame to make a point as in movie soundtracks and Elvis disgust for doing them.
4. Leaving out the person that discovered Elvis, Marion Keisker.
More to come.. don't take it so personal, The Searcher was fine, But I know quite a few people that seen it that were not blown away by it, Mainly part 1 which did drag and could have gotten to the point way faster and could have used a little more Elvis, I think too many of us deemed it great before actually seeing it, not hard to do after seeing how great the trailer for it was.

[brian]

As I recall Tony Brown said that about Elvis not wanting to go to Chips Moman's studio he wanted to record at Graceland. Tony Brown likely meant Elvis didn't want to go to American studios which had moved to Nashville. He didn't want to go to American studios in Nashville he wanted to stay home. Not an error.

[Dan_T]

Playing a 1958 re-recording of Lawdy Miss Clawdy then Elvis' 1956 cover was poor research and makes no real sense. Just like other Documentaries have used a 1965 TV performance of Big Mamma Thornton singing Hound Dog and passing it off as 1953.

On 2nd viewing I found a lot of it pretentious, the best bits were, obviously, Elvis himself. I had an uncomfortable feeling even, seems like they were trying to appease the "cultural appropriation" crowd/controversy a bit too much. A let down for me on the whole.

[JEFF d]

how about... how idk a special edition of The Searcher featuring say Linda Thompson to give her memories after 1972... someone who was actually there(after 1972) unlike Priscilla

JEFF d
EP fan

[Bill B]

how about... how idk a special edition of The Searcher featuring say Linda Thompson to give her memories after 1972... someone who was actually there(after 1972) unlike Priscilla

JEFF d
EP fan

I agree, It felt at times like Elvis By The Presleys again.

[rjm]

It don't help that Jerry's voice is low and monotone and never any passion as well as Priscilla's. And yes the film was fine but did contain quite a few error's and facts that were plain wrong. I have seen it twice and burnt it to a disc but I doubt I will ever go back to it again..

Exactly which facts were "plain wrong" in the HBO film? You say that there are "quite a few." Please share.

One. Only one.

Sam Phillips says that as Elvis was getting up the courage to enter the studio, he, Sam saw Elvis driving his "truck" back and forth, back and forth.

That is impossible. He did not yet drive a truck, and if Sam remembered his beat up old Lincoln, and what it looked like so as to remember it, he completely forgot. I don't really know what he's remembering.

Other than that, I can't really think of anything. Yes, they left Marion out, but that's an omission. Otherwise, they nailed it.

rjm
P.S. -- And with Marion, the oft-cited tale of his words offer nothing illuminating and new. It's something even the most casual of music fans have likely heard plenty of times. "I don't sound like nobody." That has been rehashed quite a bit, and it makes the boy look arrogant when that clearly was not his intention.

[rjm]

Boring old clips? It was his legacy on TV from January 1956 on to the end. The wonderful Too Much Monkey business clip is very, very good.

Well, boring to those of us who are overly familiar with them. Whereas in The Searcher, we see Hound Dog on Milton Berle through D.J. Fontana's eyes! All three musicians are staring intently at him and they all have no idea what he's going to need them to do next. I never thought of it that way! It puts you in their shoes as they just try to keep up. Because he's uncontrollable at that point and "it was every man for himself." See?

Many ARE the same clips, but they are not the old clips as we saw them. They live again in the moment!

rjm

[jurasic1968]

Not Hound Dog. And not including Jailhouse Rock, Don't be Cruel, Readdy Teddy, Love Me, Love Me Tender, King Creole, Mean Woman Blues, Got a Lot O' Livin' to Do, Stuck on You, Can't Help Falling in Love, Return to Sender, Crying in the Chapel, In the Ghetto (to name a few) was a mistake.

[jurasic1968]

To me, one of the most passionate moments of Elvis ever was in the second Ed Sullivan Show at the end of Love Me. A surrealistic sequence, a song did with such force from A to Z, I dare to say. How the filmmakers omitted this one it's a mystery to me.

[Bill B]

To me, one of the most passionate moments of Elvis ever was in the second Ed Sullivan Show at the end of Love Me. A surrealistic sequence, a song did with such force from A to Z, I dare to say. How the filmmakers omitted this one it's a mystery to me.

I would have liked to have seen Don't be Cruel from the 2nd Ed Sullivan show since we have seen the Jan 57 one so often on other specials. The crowd was going crazy and Elvis did a good job on it

[drjohncarpenter]

Exactly which facts were "plain wrong" in the HBO film? You say that there are "quite a few." Please share.

OK,1. Elvis and Binder and company watching Robert Kennedy get shot in binders office at 4 pm when it in fact happened just after midnight.
2.Implying that in 76 Elvis could have went to Chips Moman's studio when in fact it was closed for years.
3.Using the wrong time frame to make a point as in movie soundtracks and Elvis disgust for doing them.
4. Leaving out the person that discovered Elvis, Marion Keisker.
More to come.. don't take it so personal, The Searcher was fine, But I know quite a few people that seen it that were not blown away by it, Mainly part 1 which did drag and could have gotten to the point way faster and could have used a little more Elvis, I think too many of us deemed it great before actually seeing it, not hard to do after seeing how great the trailer for it was.

Four. That's far from "quite a few."

And your list is, frankly, not even one comprised of "plain wrong" facts.

Just this time, I'll address what you wrote.


1 - The memory is related by Chris Bearde, and it's not a mistake by the writer. The point is that Bobby Kennedy's shooting occurred after midnight as June 4 became June 5, but he lay mortally wounded for the next 26+ hours, and the TV had the story going on every channel for every single minute of the crisis. Bearde is clearly talking about "the shooting" as a news story they were all paying attention to on the afternoon of June 5. Everyone was hoping Kennedy would somehow pull through.


2 - Not sure who makes the implication but it is valid. After 1972 Chips Moman left Memphis, true, but he continued to actively write, perform, and produce, first in Atlanta and then Nashville, people like Ronnie Milsap, Merle Haggard, Tammy Wynette, Roy Orbison, and more. His 1976 co-writing and production on Waylon Jennings' "Luckenbach, Texas" became country music's second platinum-selling single.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luckenbach,_Texas_(Back_to_the_Basics_of_Love)

Of course Elvis could have worked in the studio with Chips in 1976.


3 - Wrong time frame? Do you understand that a documentary may use whatever means to tell the story? It's not a textbook on film.


4 - The omission of Marion in the story is unfortunate, but not a "plain wrong" fact. There is no statement that says she had nothing to do with the story, any more than there is no statement that Felton Jarvis had nothing to do with the story. The HBO made some hard choices in their film, and this may be the only one I truly dislike.


I had a feeling your statement was without merit, but I appreciate your reply anyway. Perhaps you are trying too hard to find reasons to dislike this new film, and that is a real shame.

One. Only one.

Sam Phillips says that as Elvis was getting up the courage to enter the studio, he, Sam saw Elvis driving his "truck" back and forth, back and forth.

That is impossible. He did not yet drive a truck, and if Sam remembered his beat up old Lincoln, and what it looked like so as to remember it, he completely forgot. I don't really know what he's remembering.

I don't see that as an incorrect fact by the HBO team. They cannot erase the words in an interview. The greater point was more important. And, in fact, Elvis worked as a delivery man for Crown Electric from April to October 1954, so Sam could've seen him driving by during that period. He's just conflating the "first visit" story with that memory. And all the evidence indicates Phillips was not there in July 1953, and not impressed at all in January 1954.

[Bilbo Baggins]

Boring old clips? It was his legacy on TV from January 1956 on to the end. The wonderful Too Much Monkey business clip is very, very good.

Well, boring to those of us who are overly familiar with them. Whereas in The Searcher, we see Hound Dog on Milton Berle through D.J. Fontana's eyes! All three musicians are staring intently at him and they all have no idea what he's going to need them to do next. I never thought of it that way! It puts you in their shoes as they just try to keep up. Because he's uncontrollable at that point and "it was every man for himself." See?

Many ARE the same clips, but they are not the old clips as we saw them. They live again in the moment!

rjm

Yes, you are right. Good observation! They really were watching him. Nice to see it in that different perspective. By the way... you see it also happen with James Burton and Ronny Tutt in the seventies. And that's the quality of this guy named Elvis... he performed the way he wanted to. At least in the time periods when he was on top of it.

To show us Elvis in a slightly different and authentic way is the strength of the film.

[Rido]

I have ambivalent feelings about This Is Elvis-on the one hand when I saw it in the theater in 1981 I really enjoyed it,but on home video it didn’t make the same impact.The dramatic recreations of certain events and the(absurd,to me)voice narration by Ral Donner made it less than enjoyable.Its one film on Elvis not in my library.

[brian]

Andrew Solt directed a movie about John Lennon a few years later and in that movie he would use Lennon's own words to narrate the film. It was what he probably would have done with Elvis except unlike Lennon he wasn't interviewed as much and when he was he wasn't as elaborate in his answers. So Andrew Solt used Ral Donner and Elvis impersonators to tell the story. It's supposed to be Elvis narrating his own life story. A suspension of disbelief is needed to see the movie. I enjoyed it. The film also had a nice selection of songs. I don't want just clips of Elvis that's wasn't the point. Not everything needs to be redone.

[Bill B]

Andrew Solt directed a movie about John Lennon a few years later and in that movie he would use Lennon's own words to narrate the film. It was what he probably would have done with Elvis except unlike Lennon he wasn't interviewed as much and when he was he wasn't as elaborate in his answers. So Andrew Solt used Ral Donner and Elvis impersonators to tell the story. It's supposed to be Elvis narrating his own life story. A suspension of disbelief is needed to see the movie. I enjoyed it. The film also had a nice selection of songs. I don't want just clips of Elvis that's wasn't the point. Not everything needs to be redone.

I agree, Elvis did not give enough interviews and certainly not in-depth ones, The most he time he ever sat for a real interview was 62 and again in 72 and not much was really revealed. There was quite the bit of interviews with John Lennon and some pretty revealing ones at that which also made The Beatles Anthology possible without having anybody speak for him.

[jurasic1968]

Elvis did also the Houston 1970 press conference, he was very good there in his answers.

[EPA4368]

Elvis did also the Houston 1970 press conference, he was very good there in his answers.

I thought not only Elvis did well with his answers, but overall, he was in high spirits. IMO, it was his last interview showing him that way.

[jurasic1968]

So, we have interviews from the 50's, the 1962 Shearer one, the July 1972 one and the Houston and New York press conferences. I think these are enough to use Elvis' voice speaking about himself in a new documentary.There are transcripts of July 1969 press conference and from June 1968. These can be used, let's say, by Bruce Springsteen to read them.

[Bill B]

Elvis did also the Houston 1970 press conference, he was very good there in his answers.

Good point, I can't believe I forgot about that.. And also the various print interviews. Good points.

[brian]

It still wouldn't be enough to re-do an entire film in that way. Andrew Solt had Ral Donner (As Elvis) talking about his relationship with Priscilla, the British invasion, his comeback and other things. The real life interviews Elvis did there isn't audio of Elvis talking about those things. With John Lennon he was interviewed and spoke about Yoko Ono, The Beatles, the breakup of the Beatles, specific songs, specific record sessions, His musical influences, His family etc. If you were to try to make a film based around the audio and video interviews Elvis did it wouldn't be as in depth and have as much substance.

[King Volcano]

Boring old clips? It was his legacy on TV from January 1956 on to the end. The wonderful Too Much Monkey business clip is very, very good.

Well, boring to those of us who are overly familiar with them. Whereas in The Searcher, we see Hound Dog on Milton Berle through D.J. Fontana's eyes! All three musicians are staring intently at him and they all have no idea what he's going to need them to do next. I never thought of it that way! It puts you in their shoes as they just try to keep up. Because he's uncontrollable at that point and "it was every man for himself." See?

Many ARE the same clips, but they are not the old clips as we saw them. They live again in the moment!

rjm

Yes, you are right. Good observation! They really were watching him. Nice to see it in that different perspective. By the way... you see it also happen with James Burton and Ronny Tutt in the seventies. And that's the quality of this guy named Elvis... he performed the way he wanted to. At least in the time periods when he was on top of it.

That’s what Bilbo’s interesting post made me think of too: for example the MSG footage with Tutt’s eyes intently on Presley, I love that. Often there’s real interest and insight to be had watching how band members or performers watch each other. Bilbo’s post also made me think of (English fringe act) Joy Division, where other members would keep their eyes on their singer and friend Ian Curtis for other, darker reasons, to make sure he was doing OK (he suffered from epilepsy).

[jetblack]

So, we have interviews from the 50's, the 1962 Shearer one, the July 1972 one and the Houston and New York press conferences. I think these are enough to use Elvis' voice speaking about himself in a new documentary.There are transcripts of July 1969 press conference and from June 1968. These can be used, let's say, by Bruce Springsteen to read them.

There are also various interviews from the army days and also what Elvis said on stage, like the short life story monologue he gave audiences in 1969.

Andy