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Hot Shots And Cool Clips, Volume 2

By ElvisNews.com/ Lex, April 20, 2007 | Video
Recently released is the second volume of “Hot Shots And Cool Clips”, and although it seems to be sold out already, I’d still like to ask the question “is it worth buying?”

Design

There is not much that can be called design; the DVD cover is plain with some basic information. There is no booklet and the disc itself is nothing special either. The menus of the DVD are decorated with some great shots of our man, but especially the main menu leaves something to be desired.

Content

The documentary as it is called opens with some great footage of the court in Memphis, in October 1956, when Elvis had to appear because he had beaten up that poor gas station guy. The idea of using Elvis’ own voice from interviews is nice, but it works not perfectly throughout the disc.

The second chapter focuses on Elvis’ appearance in Detroit, 1957. I wonder why we get shots from the stadium for so long… pretty boring! And the irritating country rock tune doesn’t make it better. Finally it is time for Elvis to show up. I’m pretty sure it is indeed the man himself, based upon the posture and movements… but that is all. No way can you recognize his facial expressions and such. Still it is fun to have seen some unknown 50s material.

Next up is some color footage of Graceland in 1957. It is that short the producer decided to repeat it in slow motion. Well, what can I say? Not something to buy a DVD for?
The army induction material coming up next claims it has unseen parts… I still didn’t see them. As far as I concern it was nothing more than I have seen before.

In the footage of the premiere of G.I. Blues in Los Angeles the only thing I saw of Elvis was his name. More 1960 in more footage with Bobby Darin, it’s fun to have and it looks like something when the same part is repeated three times.
We are invited to enjoy Colonel Parker’s birthday party in 1964 (nice year by the way), but it seems Elvis wasn’t… so we get a couple of minutes of elderly people. Great!

Jaycees Award stuff… finally… the real thing in color! Again it turned out to be disappointing. Not much new Elvis material, and I couldn’t care less for the speeches of the other outstanding young men.
The extra show in New York (in the Hilton) offers not much new, but at least it is still fun to watch every now and then… but didn’t I have 99% of it already on other discs?
The opening night stuff of MSG is great of course, but again… not much new, if any. And an irritating country tune is back again.

The footage of the Chicago shows later that June in 1972 is really great – if not for that sound in the background. It is by far the most interesting material on this disc, and almost five minutes!! After the credits there’s some footage of Parker getting rid of his merchandise.

Conclusion

While the back of the DVD claims “it is a must for every fan”, I’d say something different. Unless you have really nothing better to do with your money… stay away from it. There is not much Elvis on it, and certainly not much new. My wife even asked me if I still had the receipt, so we can return it.
The positive thing is that I am reminded why I stayed away from those discs the last couple of years. Now I’m pretty sure I will stay away from them forever unless Turner/ MGM decides to do something with “On Tour” or some more with “That’s The Way It Is”. At least I seem to have answered the question...

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Steve V wrote on April 20, 2007
Thanks! I kind of figured as much. These types of dvds are way over priced and dont offer much except the hype.
mature_elvis_fan75 wrote on April 21, 2007
I sure do have more things to spend my money on,,theres madison sqare garden concert footage on the budget dvd rare moments with the king that you can get for about $5 us,the rest to me isnt worth the price and that goes for the other volume as well as other concert footage dvd's such as elvis the colonel & me,these dvd's are all wayyy over priced,theres lots of great elvis stuff to choose from,but theres also alot of stuff thats out there,that doesnt give much value for the price!
Tupelo wrote on April 21, 2007
Too bad I already bought it, it is really a disappointment, don't waste your money on this.
Wiebe wrote on April 22, 2007
I am not disappointed. I love the new footage of '71 though only a few seconds, at least it's in good quality. In the 4 second clip where you see him from the front during his speech you can see how much he already looked like in Elvis On Tour, so shortly after TTWII. I have never seen so much of the footage of MSQ and this in great quality. I love the bit from the press conference where they ask Vernon a question and Elvis and his dad answer together. And of course the Chicago stuff is fantastic, even though I wish it was longer. I'm sure there is more but they didn't put all of it in. So in short I think there are some great little (short) pearls on it. The stuff from the 50ies and 60ies is in bad quality. I 'm happy with the quality of the 70ies stuff, since most of the DVD's you buy on the net are in sh*t quality, at least with an official release like this you know you get decent quality.
memphis-bell31 wrote on April 28, 2007
this release made me sad! met joe in 2001 he played us some stuff . EXPECTED MORE !!! not worth the money. SORRY JOE
2kisses&3scarfs wrote on May 29, 2007
What a waste of money! I'm sorry I bought this one. Definitely not one of Joe Tunzi's better releases.
Harvey Alexander wrote on June 06, 2007
Why doesn't Mr. Tunzi tell us exactly what will be on Volume 3? I'll tell you why: because it will be nothing special but he'll hype it up for the 30th anniversary. It is supposed to come out on August 1st but you can bet your bottom dollar it will be delayed and no one will get to see it until it's offered to dealers and fans in Memphis during Elvis Week. They'll buy it 'blind' and then find out it's just as crappy as Volume 2.