t’s a strange fact that just as Elvis Presley fans in Britain hoped to see their hero perform here, but were repeatedly denied the chance, so most of them have never seen a hugely popular American biopic that covers the first half of his astonishing career.
Elvis, as the film was simply called, was broadcast on ABC-TV in the US in February 1979, to great acclaim. But though an edited version of the film had a limited release in British cinemas, and it then briefly appeared as a video title, it was abruptly withdrawn for legal reasons involving music rights. Since then, it has been broadcast on British television infrequently and with little fanfare.
Finally, after more than three decades, in the 75th anniversary of Presley’s birth, Elvis is being released for the first time on DVD and Blu-ray in its unedited form. And what an intriguing piece of work it turns out to be. It was directed by John Carpenter, who already had a huge reputation as a genre director, thanks to his wryly amusing space-travel saga Dark Star (1974); Assault on Precinct 13 (1976), his gritty account of a police station besieged by a gang of delinquents; and Hallowe’en (1978), the first in the successful horror franchise. In Elvis, the title role was played by Kurt Russell, then only 27 and best known as a former child actor. It would be the first of several collaborations between Russell and Carpenter, which included Escape From New York, The Thing, Big Trouble in Little China and Escape From L.A. I well remember the furore caused by Elvis. I had moved to the US the month before it was broadcast, and was struck by how much this TV movie seemed to dominate the media and people’s everyday conversation. It was a sensational ratings hit. Russell’s performance as Presley is terrific. He does not resemble the singer, but evokes his spirit, especially the Elvis of the Fifties, from his early hits on Sun Records, being "sold” to RCA for $35,000, up to his being drafted into the US Army in 1958. Russell captures Presley’s onstage sexual menace, specifically his hip-swivelling dance moves, electrifyingly. It’s no surprise that Russell was rewarded with an Emmy nomination for his performance; it ushered in his film career as a grown-up. On the subject of casting Russell, Carpenter observed at the time: "What’s the point of getting someone who looks like Elvis and can impersonate him? The thing about Kurt is he’s an instinctive actor. I think he understands Elvis. He’s totally convincing.” The film begins in 1969, with Presley about to go on stage for a comeback concert in Las Vegas, after many years without performing live. He’s jittery, moody, and afraid he may be the subject of an assassination attempt. Then it flashes back to Elvis as a boy of 10 in Tupelo, Mississippi, and the very start of his interest in music. While Russell is splendid throughout, the film betrays its origins as an entertainment crafted for a mainstream TV channel with an eye on the concerns of corporate commercial sponsors. It’s a bland retelling of Presley’s story, and the script (by one Anthony Lawrence) sags dismayingly in places. It’s more interesting for what it omits than what it includes. Presley had died only 18 months before Elvis was broadcast, and his legions of fans were still grieving. It’s possible that a tougher, more objective view of his life was felt to be too contentious.