Le Roman d'Elvis

This is a great movie, too bad it's not on VHS or DVD. Russell does the best impersonation of Elvis Presley I ever saw & I saw them all. :) This movie doesn't go into the last years of his life, but we don't really want to remember Elvis all bloated, we want to remember him like this movie portrayed him as.

Directed by John Carpenter and starring KURT RUSSELL, this 1979 TV Special ELVIS is a great slice of tv and cultural history. Despite its corniest and inaccurate moments, each scene is a template for years of biographical cinema to come. From a 40 year standpoint, this movie is enjoyable, cute, surrealistically funny, and a quick, comic book bootleg of the story of ELVIS. These days, some may include ELVIS in a TWIN PEAKS fest, as this viewer is somehow certain that David Lynch himself is a fan of this film.

"Elvis" is an absorbing biopic,mostly thanks to Kurt Russel's terrific portrayal and a well-chosen music sometimes anachronistic ("until it's time for you to go" which can be heard during Elvis AND Priscilla's romance was actually recorded in 1972) Shelley Winters is the prefect choice for Elvis' s mom ;Elvis is not shown as an uneducated moron ,but as a smart young man of taste -he hates the movies he makes:some may remember he was considered for the part of Tony in "west side story".His readings show a personality preoccupied with spiritual longings.

A biopic to be recommended,but nothing is told about Elvis' reaction to the changing music world of the sixties .

Elvis is often,on the other hand,haunted by gloomy thoughts about his late twin brother.

Kurt Russell played Elvis very well, he didn't over do the voice like those bad vegas impersonators either! This movie had so much depth to it that it doesn't matter if your an Elvis Presley fan or not. Although chances are after seeing it, you will be.

Elvis Presley was probably the most beloved entertainer of the twentieth century, and one of our most tragic figures. People have talked about Elvis as an ignorant hick who couldn't handle sucess. Lets face it, people who grow up barefoot poor and suddenly become the greatest entertainer in the world don't grow on trees. Someone with the wisdom of Solomon and the patience of Job couldn't deal with that kind of meteoric rise to fame! Elvis was a case of too much too soon. Kurt Russell had been in a film with Elvis when he was a child actor and this movie was probably the first one made of his life. It was released in February of 1979 a year and a half after Elvis's death. Its hard to believe that John Carpenter directed it, I always think of him for Halloween and Escape From New York, he did a great job I think. Kurt Russell looked enough like Elvis to pass muster with me, but he did more then that, he captured Elvis's soul and made him a flesh and blood character, not the one that you read about in The National Enquirer. I remember what I liked most about this film was its sensitive portrait of Elvis and his mother. It was said that there was never a more devoted son and Shelly Winters did a great job as Gladys and the scenes of Elvis at her deathbed and when she passed away are heartbreaking. People who knew him said that he was never the same afterwards. I have always wondered that if his mother had lived that he would have had a lot of the problems that he did that eventually led to his death at the age of 42.