Road to Graceland

This is the kind of film you'll be debating a year after you see it. Harvey Keitel at his best.

The film should have been nominated somewhere.

This is a truly adult film with no easy answers, but with fascinating people involved in a plot worth your close attention.

Damn fine movie. Will keep you guessing all the way till the end, and perhaps you'll choose not to believe anyways. I was glued to this movie from start to finish, the King will always live on in peoples memories won't he.

Pure enchantment and intrigue... enter this movie to witness Harvey Keitel stand up for the spirit, if not the flesh, of Elvis. Johnathon Schaech (as Byron Gruman) portrays a grieving husband traveling east who picks up the hitch-hiking Keitel, who claims to be Elvis making his way back to Graceland to reveal his 20-year plot to disappear. Little known to Byron, Elvis has a hidden agenda, and at every turn produces magic from all those who surround him. His true identity and intentions drag you into the plot and you teeter on not believing, and wanting to believe. Bridget Fonda enters as a Marilyn Monroe impersonator, and she and Byron both pursue the enigma of Elvis, all the way to the real Graceland. In the end, it is the journey, not the destination that matters, and Keitel produces an unforgettable character true to our images of the real Elvis... and yet... this movie is not about Elvis, it is about the heart, and dreams, and hope. The charm of this movie will linger with you (however improbable), as in "Local Hero", "Cinema Paradiso", or "The Swimmer" (Burt Lancaster), or even "One Special Christmas", or "Field of Dreams". Don't miss this performance, it's on my list of "must see at least once".

With only the sketchiest details beforehand, I expected nothing more than a flimsy "Elvis lives" flick (Then why was I watching? Good question). But this picture has a great deal to say about dealing with pain and loss brought on by reality, about finding one's own identity, about emotional interaction.

Perhaps it tries to say too much. There are loose ends, a too-heavy reliance on coincidence, and an idecision as to whether blind fate or human dynamics controls the course of one's existence. So be it. A quasi-philosophical approach to human destiny featuring Elvis and Marilyn? I'll take it.

Harvey Keitel was so badly miscast as any sort of Elvis that I was at first appalled by his having been chosen for the part (Did they need some sort of "name" in the credits?) But by the time the picture's themes began to emerge, it made a great deal of sense for someone totally impossible as Elvis to be playing the role. The story justified it. The character wasn't Elvis.....but he was.....but he really wasn't.

If you found some or all of what I did in this movie, you will enjoy Clint Eastwood's "Bronco Billy."

i found out about this movie from a book written by gail giorgio called "elvis undercover" i highly recommend reading this book, and then watching the movie. the movie is executive produced by priscilla presley and elvis presley enterprises. the book suggests that elvis presley is actually in this movie in disguise. a scene at the very end shows a bum in a train car all alone, if you look closely at the features it is uncanny! another scene in the casino with another disguise sort of a kenny rogers look, but again the features of the face are very familiar! elvis was a master of disguises as the book tells you. i read the book in two days and have watched the movie and am convinced that there is a strong message in this movie!! especially note the fact that the name "jon burrows" is used in the movie which is documented to be one of the alias names of elvis during his years as an entertainer and after? WORTH WATCHING!!!