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.
