"Elvis" (2022) Directed by Baz Luhrmann

I was too young for any of Elvis Presley’s many periods of international fame and was a mere toddler when the unfairly and much maligned “Fat Elvis” met a broken hearted final demise in 1977 at the criminally youthful age of just 42. From “Elvis The Pelvis” and the threat to the Establishment that the exciting young man from Memphis was in the 1950’s through the enforced military service in Germany of the 1960’s and the re-birth of a more rounded and “All American Boy” figure the Establishment and his fans could love, they are all on display here in a somewhat warts and all telling of someone I’ve grown up with but whom I always saw as the most outwardly happy man but who was clearly incredibly unhappy on the inside away from a stage he craved. The parallels with the life of Muhammad Ali are starkly apparent: the outsider and threat to an established order who is so radically fresh, different and absolutely adored by a vast public, cut down in their prime, curtailed and rounded before being approved of, acceptable, then absorbed as a more agreeable, and non-threatening part of an established life.

I lived through the final years of “The King”, or the “Comeback Years” as they were/are known, and I grew up with Elvis Presley due to the complete obsessional love my youngest sister had for the greatest of all showmen. As is shown in such a pinprick and sharp focus in the film, Elvis was an industry, a commodity, a brand and (deep breath everyone) a slave, and long after that dreadful smear on humanity had been outlawed as well as long before such things as being a singer songwriter could be deemed an industry and a brand from which merchandise could be sold in the gazillion. My dear youngest sister had everything, everything that could possibly be construed as memorabilia back in the day, from pictures, tapes and records through to ashtrays, calendars and mirrored clocks with the face of The King. This aspect, amongst many others, is my main reasoning for describing this telling of his life as warts and all as well as showcasing the brilliance of the broken hearted human being behind the brand image, and an industrial brand so cruelly and selfishly exploited.

The above opening paragraphs are taken from my original spoiler free review of "Elvis" penned and published on 4th July 2022 to my Medium blog site and available to read in full and for free (please also consider subscribing for free too!) via my Substack blog site and my original article linked immediately below:

https://ramblingmusings666.substack.com/p/elvis-2022-68cc96c801ff

This spoiler free review is also contained within volume 2 of my 7 volumes of "essential film reviews collection" (£4.99 per volume) however all 7 volumes are free to read should you have an Amazon Kindle "Unlimited" package:

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