What price fame? This two-part documentary on the life and times of the King rarely told me something I didn't already know and definitely air-brushed some of his more negative aspects out of the picture, but with extensive use of unseen, at least by me, home movie and behind-the-scenes footage, it was always interesting to watch. I'm a big Elvis fan myself, but I have read Peter Guralnick's definitive two-volume biography "Last Train To Memphis" and "Careless Love" and think it's noticeable that he, amongst many others, didn't get a look-in to offer some counterpoint to the mostly fawning comments by the selected friends, family and celebrities. The latter include the likes of Bruce Springsteen, the late Tom Petty and Emmylou Harris but I'd have preferred to hear from first generation fans like Paul McCartney, Bob Dylan and Keith Richards to name but three, all of whose contributions to music, for my money, exceed those selected in their stead.
Presley's story is told in chronological order, from his humble beginnings driving a truck in his native Tupelo, Mississippi to the fateful day he stepped into Sam Phillips' Sun Studios to cut a disc for his mother. For me, his Sun recordings are still his best but it was obvious that he had to get a proper manager and sign to a national label if he was to get the exposure he needed but once he did, it was world watch-out! At the peak of his early fame, he was rather mysteriously drafted into the U. S. army for two years and by the time he was demobbed, he was being groomed to compete with the new clean-cut college-boy idols of the day like Fabian, Bobby Vee and Frankie Avalon and then, disastrously for his artistic integrity, sent to Hollywood to make a seemingly endless series of formulaic, mediocre musicals with similarly weak soundtracks.
Like every other Elvis documentary I've ever seen, big play is made of his 1968 TV Special which, with his following sessions, at last recording decent material at Stax Studios with soul music producer Chips Moman, put him back on top, but not for long as he was then plunged by his manager, the largely self-serving Colonel Tom Parker, into non-stop touring firstly in Vegas seasons and then moving onto nationwide tours until his early death in 1977.
I appreciated that all of the voiceover commentaries were just that, with no distracting video footage of the speakers, but I still felt that a lot of what I heard was exaggerated if not downright hyperbole. At one point we're told Elvis produced all his own early records which I rather doubt, also that he keenly felt the twin loss by assassinations of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy in 1968, which while they may have informed his obviously heartfelt closing rendition of "If I Can Dream", isn't reflected in any contemporary interview video footage. There's also no sign or even mention of the several women he dated post-Priscilla, which perhaps was the price the production company paid for her own significant involvement. Lastly, it was surely a mistake to omit the world's shock reaction to his death in 1977. The low-point for me however was some so-called expert telling us that Elvis was "unmoored from the Earth experience", whatever that means.
Listen, I think Elvis was undoubtedly the greatest entertainer of the 20th Century but this would-be definitive study (awful title too), I felt lacked balance and would have worked better by adding some shade to the sun-bright background, although I doubt his still millions of adoring fans out there would agree with me.
2 out of 2 found this helpful.
Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
