Perhaps no other figure defined popular music during the 20th century like Elvis Presley did. From being born a boy growing up in abject poverty in Jim Crow-era Mississippi and listening to plenty of "race" music, to adapting this music to his rural White roots and totally reshaping the American musical landscape of the 1950's, to his extremely sudden death in August 1977, Elvis was an incredible force of nature. But behind the scenes, virtually his every move from 1955 onward was controlled by one Colonel Tom Parker; and many would argue it was Parker's overworking his one and only client that contributed to his addiction to prescription drugs that led to his premature demise at the age of 42. Coming in to tell the story of The King, a story that still lingers on even though two full generations have passed since his death, is Australian director Baz Luhrmann, whose credits included a 1996 rendering of ROMEO AND JULIET, 1992's MOULIN ROUGE, and 2008's AUSTRALIA, with a film whose title needs no explanation: ELVIS.
Filled with cascading montages and split-screen footage that perfectly match The King's rise, Luhrmann's bio-pic stars Austin Butler as the young white Mississippi kid whose love of African-American music and his honest use of it make him a sensation in the South in 1954 and '55. Into this breach steps the mysterious "Colonel" Tom Parker (Tom Hanks), a carnival barker who, at that time, was managing country music legend Hank Snow, but who sees this not-yet-20 year-old truck driver as his meal ticket. Very soon, both Butler and Hanks are joined at the hip as artist and manager, and Butler becomes the biggest music sensation in the South, and eventually the nation, while of course attracting a lot of negative press from white segregationist Southerners and even big-city media for his "lewd" onstage gyrations. Butler absolutely doesn't get what the big deal is about his moves, but Hanks forces him to do a number of rather demeaning things, like going on The Steve Allen Show to sing his big 1956 hit "Hound Dog" to a real-life basset hound dog(!). His two-year stint in the Army, which is interrupted by the tragic death of his mother Gladys (Helen Thomson), results in his coming home to become a cinematic matinee idol-but where virtually all of the films are formulaic, as are the songs. Only in marrying his Army-era girlfriend Priscilla (Olivia DeJonge) and becoming a father with the birth of Lisa Marie does Butler know how far he has fallen
By the time the film reaches 1968, Butler's career is all but in the toilet; but with the help of noted TV producer Steve Binder (Dacre Montgomery), and virtually none from Hanks (who wants it to be strictly a Christmas program), he comes up with the revelatory NBC-TV special that leads to big things beginning in 1969 and his stint in Las Vegas. But the treadmill of one concert after another, plus twice-a-year six-week engagements in Sin City, engineered by Hanks' penchant for gambling his client's money to hell, begin to wear on him, wreck his marriage to DeJonge, and accelerate an addiction to prescription drugs that had begun slowly as far back as 1956. The end of this saga for Butler, of course, comes on August 16, 1977; but Hanks doesn't exactly escape so quietly into the night.
More than a few Elvis-sanctioned documentaries, plus John Carpenter's 1979 made-for-TV film ELVIS (starring Kurt Russell as The King), have been made about him; but there is just something about seeing every possible way of filming put to incredibly energetic (if hypersonic) use by Luhrmann. Butler more than accurately captures Elvis' persona, his vulnerability, his insecurity, and his rage at knowing not only how Hanks is spending his money, but also Hanks' dark past (including his questionable citizenship, which was found to be non-existent several years after Elvis died). DeJonge (as Priscilla) and Thomson (as Gladys) do incredibly good turns in their roles. And Hanks, normally as much a paragon of the Everyman as Jimmy Stewart and Henry Fonda had been in their day, has an equally tough job of portraying The Colonel as anything other than a villain. In truth, "Colonel" Tom Parker was quite the shyster, who worked his client practically to death all because of his addiction to gambling. But in the eyes of Elvis' fans, that one fact alone indeed made Parker into a villain.
However one views Luhrmann's take on The King or The Colonel, ELVIS is a reminder of just how big a deal Elvis Presley was in helping reshape American popular music and popular culture in an era of conformity, and how, even after The Beatles, Michael Jackson, and many others, he still manages to have an impact even into the 21st century. That alone makes ELVIS a big and important film in the year 2022.
Filled with cascading montages and split-screen footage that perfectly match The King's rise, Luhrmann's bio-pic stars Austin Butler as the young white Mississippi kid whose love of African-American music and his honest use of it make him a sensation in the South in 1954 and '55. Into this breach steps the mysterious "Colonel" Tom Parker (Tom Hanks), a carnival barker who, at that time, was managing country music legend Hank Snow, but who sees this not-yet-20 year-old truck driver as his meal ticket. Very soon, both Butler and Hanks are joined at the hip as artist and manager, and Butler becomes the biggest music sensation in the South, and eventually the nation, while of course attracting a lot of negative press from white segregationist Southerners and even big-city media for his "lewd" onstage gyrations. Butler absolutely doesn't get what the big deal is about his moves, but Hanks forces him to do a number of rather demeaning things, like going on The Steve Allen Show to sing his big 1956 hit "Hound Dog" to a real-life basset hound dog(!). His two-year stint in the Army, which is interrupted by the tragic death of his mother Gladys (Helen Thomson), results in his coming home to become a cinematic matinee idol-but where virtually all of the films are formulaic, as are the songs. Only in marrying his Army-era girlfriend Priscilla (Olivia DeJonge) and becoming a father with the birth of Lisa Marie does Butler know how far he has fallen
By the time the film reaches 1968, Butler's career is all but in the toilet; but with the help of noted TV producer Steve Binder (Dacre Montgomery), and virtually none from Hanks (who wants it to be strictly a Christmas program), he comes up with the revelatory NBC-TV special that leads to big things beginning in 1969 and his stint in Las Vegas. But the treadmill of one concert after another, plus twice-a-year six-week engagements in Sin City, engineered by Hanks' penchant for gambling his client's money to hell, begin to wear on him, wreck his marriage to DeJonge, and accelerate an addiction to prescription drugs that had begun slowly as far back as 1956. The end of this saga for Butler, of course, comes on August 16, 1977; but Hanks doesn't exactly escape so quietly into the night.
More than a few Elvis-sanctioned documentaries, plus John Carpenter's 1979 made-for-TV film ELVIS (starring Kurt Russell as The King), have been made about him; but there is just something about seeing every possible way of filming put to incredibly energetic (if hypersonic) use by Luhrmann. Butler more than accurately captures Elvis' persona, his vulnerability, his insecurity, and his rage at knowing not only how Hanks is spending his money, but also Hanks' dark past (including his questionable citizenship, which was found to be non-existent several years after Elvis died). DeJonge (as Priscilla) and Thomson (as Gladys) do incredibly good turns in their roles. And Hanks, normally as much a paragon of the Everyman as Jimmy Stewart and Henry Fonda had been in their day, has an equally tough job of portraying The Colonel as anything other than a villain. In truth, "Colonel" Tom Parker was quite the shyster, who worked his client practically to death all because of his addiction to gambling. But in the eyes of Elvis' fans, that one fact alone indeed made Parker into a villain.
However one views Luhrmann's take on The King or The Colonel, ELVIS is a reminder of just how big a deal Elvis Presley was in helping reshape American popular music and popular culture in an era of conformity, and how, even after The Beatles, Michael Jackson, and many others, he still manages to have an impact even into the 21st century. That alone makes ELVIS a big and important film in the year 2022.