Watch Elvis For Free

So much average

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

Finally after many years watched this original TV movie from 1979 I believe made from NBC simply called "Elvis" and the performance from Kurt Russell was top notch. The film is directed by John Carpenter which was a very early work from him it was just shortly after his 1978 classic "Halloween".Anyway the movie tells of the king's humble start in Mississippi of being poor and growing up living with this parents and his love of music at an early age. Slowly but surely Elvis would rise thru the charts and ranks of life as after striking a record deal he buys a mansion in Memphis for his family. Then the king is drafted into the army where he meets his first love Priscilla, you also see the tragedy that the king experienced from losing his mother Gladys to his disappointment of not getting to become a movie star and that hurt Elvis a great deal.The film is laced well with Elvis songs and Kurt does a pretty good job of carrying those tunes and his look, voice, and actions are real like as the king. Good film that shows the rise of a legend from a humble start and it shows the pain that Elvis experienced with stardom oh yes sorrow is found.

I saw this movie when I was 14, im 45 now the one thing I found out is in this movie Elvis brings his parents(Vernon and Gladis) to the home he just bought and excitedly tells his daddy that its called Graceland and he thinks hell keep that name!!! I have since learned thats not true, thats not the way it happened, actually Elvis was in Hollywood filming the early scenes of Loving You when Vernon and Gladis Presley found the house that was to be Graceland, Elvis had a break in filming and went back to Memphis and looked at the house and liked it, caurse it needed work done to it in his opinion but he went ahead and bought it, yes he kept the name Graceland but Vernon and Gladis were the ones that came across it!

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.

Sure, this is not the greatest "made-for-tv" movie ever (I've seen alot worse), and yes, at times the lip-sync is "out-of-sync", but still, this movie is worth a shot. Good luck trying to find it at the local video store, I looked high and dry with no luck, finally had to buckle down and buy it on e-bay. Not a huge Elvis fan, so the many alleged inaccuracies in the movie really didn't bother me that much. I am, however, a big Kurt Russell fan and that is what is important here.......Kurt Russell's impersonation of Elvis is perfect.....from the intonation in his voice to his moves on stage, no one has ever portrayed The King better. I've always felt Kurt Russell was an under-rated/appreciated actor....well, this flick proves he is a very capable actor. Thank ya.......thank ya very much.