Elvis

No one has changed the American music scene quite like Elvis. Elvis is a 1979 film about the famed entertainer starring Kurt Russell and was directed by John Carpenter. The film begins with Elvis at his boyhood home growing up under the watchful eyes of his parents (played by Kurt Russell's father Bing Russell and Shelly Winters). From there the film follows Elvis life. We follow Elvis through the years of being destitute in a small backwater town wanting to become famous to get him out of this place. We then see him singing and then he is picked up by Sun Records, which was Elvis real life first record company. Very quickly Elvis becomes an overnight sensation with the viewing public. We see the raving fan girls, we see the famous gyration of his hips and of course the switch over to the RCA record labels. However change is again on the rise as when a call goes out for all men to go serve for the Vietnam War Elvis proudly goes and enlists in the army in order to serve his country and as a way to get other young men to do the same.

However this film also documents some of the more darker moments of Elvis life as well. One of these darker aspects is Elvis's habit of shooting out television sets when a show came on that he didn't like. Another thing is the death of Elvis's mother, which as can seen in the film really affected him. However, probably one of the darkest aspects is Elvis's sadness over the death of his twin brother. Though he did not remember his brother, as he died when Elvis was a baby, Elvis still carried that weight of him being the one who survived and his brother had died. Also documented are Elvis in the films. Elvis did not enjoy his film career and it shows in this movie. It gets to the point that Elvis is wondering what he has done in his life. He wonders what he should do and where is he going to go afterwards.

However, the film ends on a high note, with Elvis at a comeback concert in Las Vegas. The fans cheer and Elvis smiles as he is quite happy to be singing and being there for his fans.