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Elvis The Movie

October 27, 2009 | Video

Shout! Factory is preparing to release to DVD from the Dick Clark Productions vault: the 1979 TV movie Elvis. Under the agreement, Shout! Factory has exclusive U.S. and Canada home entertainment distribution rights. Elvis, directed by John Carpenter, starred Kurt Russell as Elvis Presley in a biopic of the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll. The film also stars Shelly Winters as Elvis’ mother and Pat Hingle as Col. Tom Parker. This release is expected in 2010.

Source:Elvis Unlimited
Dixieland Rocks wrote on October 27, 2009
That's great if it is true. But I'll believe it when I buy it!
Steve V wrote on October 27, 2009
I never cared for this movie. Thought it showed Elvis mostly as an unhappy & depressed person.
elvis197475 wrote on October 27, 2009
this moive got it all wrong. it did put kurt russell on the map got him his first emmy nomination.
Jerome-the-third wrote on October 27, 2009
Just saw the movie recently again. It has some nice scenes but indeed as Steve said that it kind of makes Elvis look like a sad person. On the other hand maybe that's a strength of the movie- focussing on the psychological side of being the greatest star and the downside it has, is a brave choice. I think the ending is great with the spoken part of American Trilogy-capturing Elvis his origin. Minor I think is the overacting of Kurt Russell, the movements, especially while dancing, the talking- sorry now and then too much for me..
Brian Quinn wrote on October 27, 2009
To date no-one has portrayed Elvis with any degree of accuracy, including Kurt Russell. His movements in this film are not very convincing.
Santa Claus wrote on October 27, 2009
It shows Elvis as a sad depressed person? Well, this movie was made with Charlie Hodge as advisor. Maybe that should make us think if that's how Elvis was....
jean michel wrote on October 27, 2009
Don't you think Elvis highly deserves a biopic at the level of "Ray" or "I walk the line" ?
SnOwMan wrote on October 27, 2009
It's a horrible biopic and Mr Goldie Hawn is a bad actor.
burninglove92 wrote on October 27, 2009
anyone think this is highly unaccurate dates are wrong. and come on all the fans will know when elvis' opening night was in 69, and im sure he didnt sing burning love and the wonder of you, because they didnt exist! like following people say it shows elvis has a depressed person. for me i you want to see a good biopic elvis you can't go wrong with this is elvis. it contains real footage and some of his best perfmances. Elvis the movie is nerly 3 hours long and half of it is unaccurate!
GeertFromNl wrote on October 27, 2009
A piece of crap. Release the upgraded version of "Elvis On Tour" instead.
ttwiise wrote on October 27, 2009
They will never make a decent biopic about Elvis as who on earth could play him?
dgirl wrote on October 28, 2009
Any so-called bio pic about Elvis has been horrible in my opinion because it wasnt Elvis. Even This Is Elvis is only good when the real footage is shown. The rest of it is a stinker with phony interviews, bad re-enactments, phony narration etc. How about Elvis On Tour or a DVD anthology instead of this inaccurate piece of garbage?
RonBaker wrote on October 28, 2009
A bio-pic would be difficult to do without the proper actor. "Walk the Line" was good, but the actor, Joaquin Phoenix, didn't really look or sound like Johnny Cash. It was a very popular movie though and extended the reach of Johnny Cash to several generations. "Ray" was incredible. I'm sure there are good actors out there who could portray Elvis...but finding someone who could act and sing like Elvis would be impossible. I think Kurt did a fairly good job with his performance. I think the boy on the tv show "Boone" would have been a great Elvis.
benny scott wrote on October 28, 2009
I have to agree with Steve V and most of the others : this movie isn't good at all. Prefer "This Is Elvis" so much more. Always El.
I am Buffalo-Horn! wrote on October 28, 2009
Yes, the film is very low budget – (The International is represented by a sign stuck over a door in a brick wall & the opening car scenes look like they are shot in a quarry) not to mention being very superficial & full of inaccuracies. I'm not even going to attempt to list the mistakes – just a few of those are listed by folks below. I remember Charlie Hodge bragging about how he'd helped with the 'accuracy' of the script!! Even the more acceptable people around Elvis just don't have a clue... Let's hope they have the sense to mitigate this by at least including both versions of the film on the DVD. The much longer 're-cut' TV version lost quite a lot of the impact of the original film version. "My Happiness" over the graveside scene at Gladys' funeral for instance, is lost in the longer version.
Jerry 79 wrote on October 28, 2009
I did not like it - I don't like the idea of releasing it. Waste of time :-(
MJB63 wrote on October 28, 2009
Elvis the Movie may not be the best but it was the first.Elvis wasn't always happy...and showing him at times as sad is only human.Kurt Russell did his best.And he's always talked positively about Elvis since then.
Cruiser621 wrote on October 28, 2009
Can someone enlighten me as to whether this film featured all those sun songs done by some group that was awesome as to their playing? If so, I'd buy it. I think it is but I'm not sure.
theoldscudder wrote on October 28, 2009
Why such interest in this?
Lefty wrote on October 28, 2009
It's a weird movie, to be sure. Kurt Russell is better at portraying Elvis than many of the impersonators, but that's not saying much. Everything makes it on to DVD eventually, so there's no surprise here. Well, I take that back. It surprises me that this isn't an EPE release. It looks just like the cheap crap they've become famous for.
pasa-ryu wrote on October 30, 2009
i own the rare and deleted vhs copy from he 1980's but it was bad quality and not remastered one bit!-it will be a welcome release to finaly own (hopefully) a remastered dvd version and have the full uncut version too??;time will tell and i think this 1979 movie is a must have dvd for any Elvis fan..i think Kurt Russell did a goo job as acting as Elvis(even tho it was an impersonator Ronnie Mcdowell that sang the vocals in the film)i feel Kurt Russell captured Elvis as a human being and who had his own worries and doubts likje we all have as real people..Elvis always questioned the reason why God chose him and why he became so famous being a southern country boy from Tupelo.I am looking foward to owning this classic "Elvis Movie" on dvd.(i also liked the way the movie ended on a positive note-that Elvis stood up to the challenged of peforming 'live' again..very clever ending that.)