A documentary about Elvis Presley press conferences

[jurasic1968]

So maybe one day this can be done. An Impossible Dream?

[jurasic1968]

Once again: in New York on June 9 1972 press conference Elvis was in great form. So why not show him as he was a smart man, not just a hillbilly cat???

[Jaime1234]

I still live rent free in some members¿ minds. What a delight to know that they are still the same bunch. .

[Jaime1234]

So maybe one day this can be done. An Impossible Dream?

Not impossible. It was a great idea and it still is, partcularly since you nor anyone I know best in this forum has even made a single mention that it could be a financial success. Every little interesting thing about Elvis counts, and your idea is fabulous.

[ForeverElvis]

Let’s say you make a 55 min doc for Prime video on the 1972 NYC press conference. You have 15-20 min of press conference footage. Thats all. You can’t show any concert footage, professional or 8mm, or home movies.
Your documentary is on the press conference only.

What do you fill the balance of the 55 mins with? That’s 35 mins.

[jurasic1968]

I was not talking only about the NY press conference, but all the filmed press conferences. Enough material from 1956 to 1972.

[ForeverElvis]

I was not talking only about the NY press conference, but all the filmed press conferences. Enough material from 1956 to 1972.

Yes, I understand that.
But, and I’m repeating myself here, just putting all the film of the press conferences together isn’t a documentary, it’s a film of Elvis’s press conferences edited together.

A documentary has a point of view, a beginning,middle and end. It needs to tell us something about the meaning in Elvis’s answers and what they tell us about the time in which he lived, and about the subject himself. To accomplish that you’d have to focus in on one presser, ideally the most famous one. That’s why I included only one in my question.

To be able to do that in an hour or even 90 mins there would have had to be substance in his answers, and there isn’t. He was purposely vague.

[Alan_K]

He was purposely vague.

So were most of the repetative questions - and they came first

Wouldn't that be a basis for a documentry?
The theme being how one of the most influential people in modern times never said anything of any substance, and yet still managed to be so influential - and or - putting to rest the "Elvis seldom gave interviews" or "in a rare interview" tag often given to Elvis a little unfairly.

What about the interviews he gave for Rolling Stone or to Ray Connolly on Aug 4th '69?

A breakdown of how formulaic his interviews and press conferences were could easily be demonstrated in 30 seconds using differrent interviewers asking the same question and showing no one seemed to want to give him a challenging question.
Except, "What's your opinion of war protesters and would you today refuse to be drafted" (can't recall exact words) but this was a time Elvis said what his game play was.

You don't need every inteview he did to show case this.
There's nothing new for the fans in content.
It'd be of no interest to non fans.

It might make an intersting one off viewing on YouTube for Elvis fans if it was editted right and the purpose was clear. Not worth the time though in my opinion.
Did someone say he didn't do an interview in 1973? Tom Moffat in Hawaii?

Elvis talks to the media. Is that a better way of putting it?
1975 and 1977 could then be included.

[jurasic1968]

Thanks. You are right, Alan.

[drjohncarpenter]

So maybe one day this can be done. An Impossible Dream?

It's an impossible dream.

It's not a subject that can be creatively or financially made into a viable documentary. It's far too narrow, and far too insubstantive.

[jurasic1968]

We will wait and see.

[ForeverElvis]

We will wait and see.

1972
The Vietnam war was raging. America’s involvement still divided the country. Protests against the war still had thousands in the streets.

While Elvis was touring in April:

April 15–20. May. New waves of protests across the country.

April 17. Militant anti-ROTC demonstration at the University of Maryland in College Park, Maryland, as 800 National Guardsmen are ordered onto the campus.

April 22. Mass anti-war demonstrations sponsored by National Peace Action Coalition, People's Coalition for Peace and Justice, and other organizations attracted an estimated 100,000 people in New York City, 12,000 in Los Angeles, 25,000 in San Francisco, and other cities around the U.S. and world.

Every night on the news was film footage from journalists in the war zone, not censored, showing the average American something they’d not seen before - the true carnage of war with the dead and dying US Soldier. It traumatized many, it traumatized a nation.

Imagine the documentary you’re proposing showing these images to provide context of the time period that the 1972 press conference took place in.

Now imagine this 1972 Q&A edited in next to these images; “ Mr. Presley, what is your opinion of war protesters and would you today refuse to be drafted?“ “Ah, I’m just an entertainer and I’d rather not say.”

Elvis would look like an idiot, not expressing an opinion about the most important subject of the time.

And …..that’s why there won’t be a documentary- there is nothing substantial in his answers.

This is just one example.

[Alan_K]

And that’s why they won’t be a documentary- there is nothing substantial in his answers.

This is just one example.

But isn't that a case for a story in itself?

Elvis Presley, the most influential entertainer of the latter half of last century said.....nothing of any substance.

Could anyone else be both things again?

[jurasic1968]

No. It's a contradiction.

[TheKingOfMusicEP]

There was no press conference in 1973 though.

[TheKingOfMusicEP]

I think the New York press conference from June 1972 had enough material and Elvis was up for the event. Houston in February 1970 was also a good one.

But, there’s nothing in his answers you could build a documentary around.

What would the documentary be about?

They could name it: Elvis Presley - I'm Just An Entertainer


They could start it with a performance of "These Men With Broken Hearts" and follow it with "walk a mile in my shoes" and at the very end put "If I can dream".
Filling it up with some qoutes of him.
Also do not forget "In The Ghetto".