jakeem Posted January 4, 2015 Share Posted January 4, 2015 I loved Elvis movies when I was a kid, and I suppose I still do. Strange as it may seem, the King of Rock 'n' Roll would have turned 80 on January 8, 2015, if he had lived. What are your favorite Elvis movies? I always believed the Western "Flaming Star" (1960), in which he played the son of a white rancher (John McIntire) and a Native American woman (Delores del Rio), contains some of Presley's best work. I also like "King Creole" (1958), which was one of the last movies directed by the great Michael Curtiz. But my No. 1 Elvis movie is "It Happened at the World's Fair" (1963), which was released after Seattle drew the world's attention because of the 1962 exposition there that produced the famous Space Needle. One of the reasons I've always appreciated the romantic comedy is this fateful meeting between Elvis' character, itinerant pilot Mike Edwards, and a kid he selects at random for a favor. The boy was played by an uncredited 10-year-old Kurt Russell: Maybe it was fate or the planets were eerily aligned at the time, but a grown-up Russell went on to portray Presley in John Carpenter's 1979 made-for-television movie "Elvis." The production, which originally aired on ABC on February 11, 1979, came out on top in a network sweeps showdown. It beat CBS' telecast of "Gone with the Wind" and NBC's showing of the 1975 Jack Nicholson hit "One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest." Russell, whose singing voice as Elvis was provided by country artist Ronnie MacDowell, nailed his performance as the King. He received an Emmy nomination for his work, and eventually appeared as one of many Elvis impersonators in "3000 Miles to Graceland" (2001). Here's a clip of the TV-movie's final moments: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jakeem Posted January 4, 2015 Author Share Posted January 4, 2015 Russell later did an Elvis tribute for Turner Classic Movies, which you may have seen during breaks between scheduled films: "It Happened at the World's Fair" is one of eight Elvis movies that willl be telecast by TCM on Thursday, January 8th. It all begins at 5:30 a.m. Eastern time with a showing of "Jailhouse Rock" (1957). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DownGoesFrazier Posted January 4, 2015 Share Posted January 4, 2015 Russell later did an Elvis tribute for Turner Classic Movies, which you may have seen during breaks between scheduled films: "It Happened at the World's Fair" is one of eight Elvis movies that willl be telecast by TCM on Thursday, January 8th. It all begins at 5:30 a.m. Eastern time with a showing of "Jailhouse Rock" (1957). My tribute will include taking a shotgun and shooting up my TV set. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LsDoorMat Posted January 4, 2015 Share Posted January 4, 2015 I really hate Elvis' movies with two exceptions - Jailhouse Rock and Love Me Tender. All of the others were so formulaic. Elvis was a great entertainer but he never was an actor - never pretended to be one. Elvis movies were made to squeeze every dollar that could be squeezed out of Elvis' tremendous personal appeal, not to be admired as cinema fifty and sixty years later. Maybe I'm a little bitter about this because Elvis' birthday is the day after mine and so I have always had to endure some day long tribute consisting of these extremely dismal movies the very day after my birthday. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jakeem Posted January 4, 2015 Author Share Posted January 4, 2015 I really hate Elvis' movies with two exceptions - Jailhouse Rock and Love Me Tender. All of the others were so formulaic. Elvis was a great entertainer but he never was an actor - never pretended to be one. Elvis movies were made to squeeze every dollar that could be squeezed out of Elvis' tremendous personal appeal, not to be admired as cinema fifty and sixty years later. Maybe I'm a little bitter about this because Elvis' birthday is the day after mine and so I have always had to endure some day long tribute consisting of these extremely dismal movies the very day after my birthday. I can understand the birthday clash syndrome because mine is close to Elvis', too. But I also like what Gary Busey's character says at the end of "D.C. Cab" (1983): Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hamradio Posted January 4, 2015 Share Posted January 4, 2015 I loved Elvis movies when I was a kid, and I suppose I still do. Strange as it may seem, the King of Rock 'n' Roll would have turned 80 on January 8, 2015, if he had lived. What are your favorite Elvis movies? I always believed the Western "Flaming Star" (1960), in which he played the son of a white rancher (John McIntire) and a Native American woman (Delores del Rio), contains some of Presley's best work. I also like "King Creole" (1958), which was one of the last movies directed by the great Michael Curtiz. But my No. 1 Elvis movie is "It Happened at the World's Fair" (1963), which was released after Seattle drew the world's attention because of the 1962 exposition there that produced the famous Space Needle. One of the reasons I've always appreciated the romantic comedy is this fateful meeting between Elvis' character, itinerant pilot Mike Edwards, and a kid he selects at random for a favor. The boy was played by an uncredited 10-year-old Kurt Russell: Maybe it was fate or the planets were eerily aligned at the time, but a grown-up Russell went on to portray Presley in John Carpenter's 1979 made-for-television movie "Elvis." The production, which originally aired on ABC on February 11, 1979, came out on top in a network sweeps showdown. It beat CBS' telecast of "Gone with the Wind" and NBC's showing of the 1975 Jack Nicholson hit "One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest." Russell, whose singing voice as Elvis was provided by country artist Ronnie MacDowell, nailed his performance as the King. He received an Emmy nomination for his work, and eventually appeared as one of many Elvis impersonators in "3000 Miles to Graceland" (2001). Here's a clip of the TV-movie's final moments: I wonder if this how Elvis would look, being 80 if he had lived I'm nothing but and old hounddog. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jakeem Posted January 4, 2015 Author Share Posted January 4, 2015 I wonder if this how Elvis would look, being 80 if he had lived I'm nothing but and old hounddog. Probably not. The reason: Too many fried peanut butter and banana sandwiches. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jakeem Posted January 4, 2015 Author Share Posted January 4, 2015 My tribute will include taking a shotgun and shooting up my TV set. Like this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hamradio Posted January 4, 2015 Share Posted January 4, 2015 Like this? Some recent movie releases will be expensive (TV wise). Thank god for the OFF button. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
speedracer5 Posted January 4, 2015 Share Posted January 4, 2015 There's always the episode of The Simpsons when Bart and Lisa, tired of the declining quality of "The Itchy and Scratchy Show" decide to write their own episode. The episode, which takes place in a barbershop depicts Itchy (the mouse) cutting Scratchy's (the cat) hair. Itchy ends up pouring a box of flesh-eating ants on Scratchy's head, reducing it to a skull. Itchy raises the barber chair up and up, sending Scratchy's head through the ceiling and through Elvis's (who apparently lives above Itchy's barbershop) TV. Elvis says "Eh, this show a'int no good" and shoots Scratchy's skull through his TV screen. This gag was produced in the 90s during all the "Elvis is still alive" rumors that were floating around. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
midnight08 Posted January 5, 2015 Share Posted January 5, 2015 I liked Elvis's early movies from "Love Me Tender" to "Blue Hawaii". All his future movies were basically the same formula and became downright silly. But this wasn't Elvis's fault; he wanted better roles to prove himself as an actor but he had to abide by his contract with the producers of those silly movies. They were making money on them so they had no need to change them. Thank goodness we have his movies such as "Flaming Star" where he proved his acting ability in a dramatic role. It's unfortunate that TCM has scheduled all his silly formula movies from the mid and late 1960's to celebrate his 80th birthday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DownGoesFrazier Posted January 5, 2015 Share Posted January 5, 2015 I wonder if this how Elvis would look, being 80 if he had lived I'm nothing but and old hounddog. He would have made the elderly Marlon Brando look like an anorexic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sepiatone Posted January 5, 2015 Share Posted January 5, 2015 Well, thankfully, nobody said he was TURNING 80 this year! Sepiatone Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
noah80 Posted January 5, 2015 Share Posted January 5, 2015 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DownGoesFrazier Posted January 5, 2015 Share Posted January 5, 2015 Well, thankfully, nobody said he was TURNING 80 this year! Sepiatone Elvis with the swiveling pelvis would have long since needed a hip replacement. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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