This is Elvis (1982)
Grade: 76
Released some five years after his death, "This is Elvis" attempts to explain the rise and fall of Elvis Presley. Part documentary and part dramatization, actual footage of Elvis (from home movies, press conferences, and performances) is mixed with re-enactments featuring four actors portraying Elvis at various ages. (One of them, Johnny Harra, was a professional Elvis imitator.) The Elvisian narration was by Ray Donner, who in 1961 had a top twenty pop hit covering Elvis' "The Girl of My Best Friend".
Presley was born Southern 'white trash'. A powerful, emotive singer with good looks, he was became by far the most successful recording artist of the 1950s. A stint in the Army changed his image from dangerous rebel to mainstream entertainer. He starred in a series of movies that became worse and worse, then resurrected his career with a television special leading to a series of concert tours. He married and divorced Priscilla Presley. His health deteriorated, perhaps due to his ballooning waistline and addiction to prescription pills. He died at age 42. He remains famous today, not so much for his performances, but for the tragedy of his late career.
"This is Elvis" achieves its ambitious goal of covering the whole of Elvis' career, with the dramatic recreations plausibly explaining how he felt at each turn. The film does not shy from exploring Elvis' weaknesses: his philandering, his insecurity, vanity and reclusiveness, and his decline into an overweight, confused pill junkie. If anything, the negative is stressed too strongly. While his cultural impact comes across, as does his ability as an entertainer, this film will not in itself convince anybody that Elvis was the greatest American singer (which he probably was). Also, the frequent interchanging of fake and real Elvii becomes distracting.
kollers@mpsi.net http://members.tripod.com/~Brian_Koller/movies.html
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