Elvis films - your thoughts?

[minze]

i was too young to have seen his movies in the theater. his early films were pretty good because he "became" the character, but in his later films, Elvis was the character, so basically all i could see was Elvis, not the character. and he had that weird Captain Marvel Jr looking thing going on with his hair in the late 1960s.

they should do remakes of the worst films ie Harem Scarem to try and make them good, a creative challenge. the scene with the bells and the assassins always cracks me up 'cause it's so ridiculous. "Follow that Dream," is my favorite. He's super cute and funny in that.

[Yin Yang]

i was too young to have seen his movies in the theater. his early films were pretty good because he "became" the character, but in his later films, Elvis was the character, so basically all i could see was Elvis, not the character. and he had that weird Captain Marvel Jr looking thing going on with his hair in the late 1960s.

they should do remakes of the worst films ie Harem Scarem to try and make them good, a creative challenge. the scene with the bells and the assassins always cracks me up 'cause it's so ridiculous. "Follow that Dream," is my favorite. He's super cute and funny in that.

I have seen all movies in the theatre while growing up.
At the time it was great fun to check the newspaper on thursday to see where in the local cinemas there would be an Elvis movie shown.
Sometimes I had to travel to a small town near my home town."Loving you" and "King Creole" I saw in 1969 and 1970 or 1971 at the DeMontfort Hall in Leicester and at Versailles, France.
Seeing the movies was great fun. When you entered the cinema, Elvis music was playing. The ballads, not the rock and roll!
Unfortunately unlike other actors who changed into their role, it was always "Elvis", no matter what screen name was used.
But you went to see and hear Elvis. 3 to 4 times a year, what more could you want?
When videotape came onto the market I paid a lot of money for VHS tapes of movies shown on TV in the U.K.
I made quite a few people rich!
From 2000 onwards there came DVD. The first ones were expensive, later on they got lower selling prices. Now you can get a movie for € 5,00 to € 10,00.
I imported my Elvis movie DVD's from the USA to avoid those horrible subtitles. Needed to buy a regiofree DVD-player but these are available from supermarkets at very low prices. I have 2 spares!
Since it seems by contract all outtakes are destroyed right after a movie was edited, there is no chance we get different takes or camera angles.
Exception being the music documentaries "That's the way it is" and "Elvis on tour". There must be quite a few hours of officially unseen footage, although unofficially it has "escaped".

[minze]

yeah, seems like elvis had fun making the films, and i think he said as much. i have fun watching them too. most films today are appalling with explicit sex and violence. i feel dirty watching even some of the PG rated ones.

i'm wondering though if elvis's movies contributed to the "demoralization" of america, the first stage of what yuri bezmenov claimed was an intentional ideological subversion of the united states. the goal being the erosion of values, moral relativism, and the inability to distinguish right from wrong. there was nothing overtly rated R sexual in elvis films (i guess all that was in his personal life sheesh). and it was funny how elvis and his costar backed away to change clothes after spilling something on their backsides in "Double Trouble," baby steps toward the hard-core stuff. Today, they'd probably just strip and f**k.

but i think elvis was a true rags to riches story, unlike some modern celebrities who are basically puppets for whoever is controlling america. and i think a lot of the controversy and drama surrounding elvis resulted from attempts to control him, as his natural influence on the public was powerful and tremendous.

whatever "IT" is, he had it, and i just love watching and listening to him. i love to hear him say "OK" hahaha. it's so cute. and i love that he sang gospel and carried a Bible.

[TheKingForever]

Over the years I have only seen approx 10 of the movies.
I had all of them on DVD but not anymore as only Bluray is good enough now.
That said I have all the Bluray titles available but have only seen King Creole and
Blue Hawaii in tbe last decade or so

[N880EAP]

This topic is born from a conversation between Glyn and myself on another thread.

I said in response to a comment from Glyn:

Now, as for the films, I grew up with them and have so many fond memories of most of them.

My late mother liked them, my grandmother, long gone, liked them. My children liked them and my grandchildren like some of the songs from them. My three cousins that I grew up with, two of whom are now no longer with us, liked them.

In the 60s I began dating and went out with some lovely girls, and saw 3-4 Elvis films with girls who liked him. Did we notice how embarrassing some were? No. It was just harmless entertainment. In bad times, watching the odd Elvis film took my mind off the crap that was going on. As a child, as a teenager, as an adult, now as an old man, there's always been something of value in an Elvis film, no matter how small. It's all about perspective. I doubt I've seen any of them more than 6-7 times at the most. In fact most of them I've probably only seen 3-4 times. I take them at face value. It's just entertainment, and I'm glad we've got them.

I further added:

I agree that he could, and should have made more dramatic films. We know he was capable, and yes his talent was wasted, but we have what we have.

I guess that if someone became a fan later, say after the movie years, do they have a very different view of the films? They wouldn't have had the experience of seeing them in a cinema when they first came out.

So what are your memories of Elvis films? Did you first see them at the cinema, or later when they were being shown on TV, or maybe on video, or even DVD?

Let us know, please.

I saw my first Elvis movies ever on TV as a kid. Enjoyed them very much. Never knew "Our Guy" was so diverse in his career (at that time as a new fan). Later on, thru the years, eventually picked up many more on VHS and then on DVD. I believe I own them all (combining both formats).

Some songs/soundtracks are hard to bear as stand alone content apart from the films. I have gotta be in the right mood to rewatch certain movies and usually when I do it's because I want to see a certain portion/song/scene/etc. A handful of them, I can rewatch in their entirety though.



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Thanks Richard. I don't think he was a dreadful actor. Working with those scripts has to have been hard. There are a few films that stand apart from the dross.

The thing is, you can be a good actor in a lousy film. Elvis was a bad actor in lousy films, which just made everything worse. Everyone goes on about Jailhouse Rock and King Creole, and how if he'd only carried on making those kinds of films then he'd have been winning Oscars, but he's bad in those too. The films are a bit better, that's all. As a young fan I liked watching them because how else could I see him? But once I knew what real films and real actors were, I much preferred to stick to the records and the concerts.

I did watch Blue Hawaii a couple of years ago after buying an HD copy on Apple, and it was as bad as I remembered. Love the soundtrack, obviously, as I do with all the other films.

We have to agree to disagree. He may not have been an Oscar winner ever, but I think he could act. He needed a strong director, in the same way that he needed a good producer when it came to his records.

Blue Hawaii is a lightweight film but to me is as good as any Doris Day/Rock Hudson film from that era. Follow That Dream is a lovely comedy. Wild In The Country is good, as is Flaming Star.

There are moments from the other films, but imagine having to act in PHS, or Tickle Me, or, well most of the 60s things. Kiss the girl, fight the bloke, drive a car, fly a plane......

Very much agree with John on the above.


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I like them all now, because they are all we have left of our hero. What's the alternative? Nothing. So, that being said, I'm glad they exist.
(But, boy, what a waste of talent it sometimes was though.)

[N880EAP]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Bw8HKaReVI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nun3jzrKLpE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Muen_Fy8FiI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5sTeb8gf2A



THANKS for the (pure) entertainment E!