Orion: The Man Who Would Be King

Greetings again from the darkness. "Believe it or not". That's the catchphrase that Ripley's used for its books, TV shows and museums, and it could just as easily describe this latest from award-winning documentarian Jeanie Finlay (The Great Hip Hop Hoax, 2013). When Elvis Presley died in 1977, legions of his emotionally distraught fans refused to believe he had truly left the building forever. This is the crazy story of how one music industry huckster cashed in on the opportunity by taking advantage of talented nice guy who just wanted to sing.

If you can play golf like (pre-scandal) Tiger Woods or throw a fastball like Nolan Ryan, then you have a chance to create a name for yourself. However, if you sing like Elvis (and even favor him physically), your music options are mostly relegated to being a sideshow act as an impersonator. That option was twisted a bit in 1979 by music producer Shelby Singleton, who had purchased Sun Records from Sam Phillips and relocated it to Nashville. Singleton contracted with Jimmy Ellis, a nice young man from rural Alabama whose singing voice was eerily similar to that of Elvis. But rather than impersonate Elvis, Ellis donned a bedazzled eye mask and assumed the public stage name of Orion – the title and character of Gail Brewer-Giorgo's novel that explored what might have happened if Elvis had faked his own death to escape the claws of celebrity. Orion became a fantasy experience for those Elvis fans who wanted to believe their King was still alive.

Ms. Finlay's film exposes yet another example of how cruel the music industry can be. Talent is no guarantee of success. Mr. Ellis definitely had talent, but his ambition and trusting nature allowed him to be exploited (along with Ms. Brewer-Giorgo) by Singleton, who paid him no royalties despite a hand full of charting singles, and some albums that found a market. To her credit, the filmmaker doesn't dwell on the ugliness, instead using archival audio interview from Ellis (and plenty of his songs) and numerous talking head interviews from his son and those who were associated with the time period, to create a biography of a man who just wanted to sing and live a good life. Ellis may not have been The King, but he was the kind of guy it seems we would all like to call a friend … and listen to him sing as often as possible.

ORION tells the story of Jimmy Ellis - an unknown singer plucked from obscurity, and thrust into the spotlight as part of a crazy scheme that had him masquerade as Elvis back from the grave.

I went into this not knowing who Orion was. I feel like if I had know, I probably would have enjoyed it more, because I could learn about a musician that mattered to me. But I was never convinced at any point that he was someone important or worth really knowing about.

Was it interesting that his voice was just like that of Elvis? Sure. But where did this get him? He is not even the most famous Elvis impersonator. I understand the argument that if Elvis never existed, then Orion would have been huge. But is that true? Was Elvis a voice or more than that?

As I sat watching "Orion: The Man Who Would Be King", I kept wondering if this film was a mockumentary...a fake documentary about a person that never actually existed. So I checked and it turns out he was definitely a real semi-celebrity and his albums are still available through Amazon! Funny...but I never heard about this guy before seeing this documentary.

This film is about a guy named Jimmy Ellis a guy who sounded remarkably like Elvis when he sang. Because of this and an obscure book about a singer named 'Orion", a sleazy promoter got a great idea to put a mask on Jimmy, have him grow his hair like Elvis and then let people THINK he was Elvis and Elvis had actually NOT died. Now they never, ever said he was Elvis...but they certainly did a lot to imply it and let people believe it because they wanted to. Now this never resulted in mega-stardom for Ellis (his highest charting song was #63) but he had a steady stream of super-devoted fans. The only trouble is, Jimmy didn't want to be a faux Elvis...he wanted folks to like him for himself. So what's next? Well, I won't say other than the story is pretty sad...and something you certainly don't NEED to see. Mildly interesting and not much more.

I haven't heard about Orion before but to be fair I know almost nothing about Elvis either. Just that he was super popular in the 60's-70's. But having heard about the idea that "Elvis is still alive" I was curious to see this documentary.

It is an interesting story about an artist Jimmy Ellis whose beautiful voice and singing talent still kept him from being famous because he sounded too much like Elvis. But as Elvis died a producer used this similarity to promote him even though he had to hide who he is.

This was pretty interesting to see how the marketing was thought out. How this most likely has contributed big time to the whole idea that Elvis didn't really die. And also how it affected Jimmy Ellis. On one hand he sure benefited from it as it has drawn Elvis fans to him. But at the same time one can see that he wasn't happy with it as he deserved his individual fame.

Lots of interviews and footage from the past. Would recommend to watch it