Baz Luhrmann resurrects the King in a dazzling, high-octane celebration of his Las Vegas heyday
By James Verniere/Boston Movie News
From its bedazzled opening credits, Baz Luhrmann’s “EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert” (get it?), is the work of an idolator. After all, this is the guy who made “Elvis,” a 2022 feature film that was nominated for eight Academy Awards. This documentary is not a “warts and all” portrait of the “King of Rock ‘n’ Roll.” It’s a giddy celebration, a carefully stage-managed recreation of what made the King such a seismic event in the history of American pop culture. The drugs, the gluttony, the girdles, the guns, the fat and slovenly, Nixon-toadying Elvis are gone.
What’s left is the Elvis everyone worshipped: the slim, handsome, sexy artist who, to the chagrin of some critics and many self-appointed protectors of the morals of America’s about-to-explode youth-quake, took blues and gospel, traditional Black musical forms, and transformed them into something white audiences could enjoy without the Black performers and all they represented. Some have accused Elvis of cultural appropriation, and they are right.
Although the film offers a short look at Elvis’ early years, its primary focus is the time Elvis spent performing in residence at the new International Hotel in Las Vegas. We see black-and-white images of Elvis: being drafted in 1957, being shorn like Samson, being fitted for his uniform, and posing on a tank in Germany. We are reminded of his bond with his mother, who dies when he is a young man, and his manager, the inscrutable, perhaps diabolical Colonel Tom Parker.
But the bulk of the footage is a concert film. Elvis, together with his TCB (“Taking Care of Business”) Band, legendary lead guitarist James Burton, bass player Jerry Scheff, Larry Muhoberac on keyboards, and Ron Tutt on drums. Also on stage at the International are backup singers and horn players. In the audience are such Elvis fans as Cary Grant and Sammy Davis Jr. Sartorially, Elvis resembles a cross between Liberace and a Marvel superhero with chunky metal belts, perhaps inspired by boxing, rings on all fingers, skin-tight jumpsuits, chains, tassels, and a toreador-like mini-cape that he deploys like bat wings. He spins, shakes and thrusts his arms and legs as if practicing his favorite sport: karate. The “gyrating” for which he was condemned by many early in his career has become de rigueur. The crowds love it. The girls who screamed at the sight of it when he was starting out have grown up. Now, even their grandmothers burn for him (my mother faithfully took my brother, sisters and me to the drive-in to see his films). Luhrmann includes the black-and-white “Jailhouse Rock” sequence from the 1957 MGM film of the same name, choreographed by the groundbreaking Alex Romero. It was a stunning precursor of the modern music video.
Elvis was considered washed-up by many after the Beatles-led British Invasion of the 1960s and the parade of formulaic, musically inferior, mostly Paramount and MGM pop movies in which Presley appeared. But his NBC-TV “’68 Comeback Special,” which is included by Luhrmann, dispelled a lot of that talk. The International Hotel residency lasted from ’69 to ’76.
Luhrmann found much of the “lost” footage he uses in 68 boxes of 35mm and 8mm film stored in a Warner Bros. archive vault in a Kansas salt mine while researching “Elvis.” In other words, this Elvis-loving Aussie filmmaker stumbled across a treasure trove of Elvis-ania and turned it into a second film. Much of the material was reportedly discarded or unused footage, some of it silent, from the 1970 MGM documentary “Elvis: That’s the Way It Is” and the 1972 MGM follow-up doc “Elvis on Tour.”
Also unearthed by Luhrmann is previously unheard audio of Elvis speaking about his life. Where’s Priscilla? Gone, baby, gone (mostly). Among the songs we hear in “EPiC” are Elvis classics “Blue Moon,” “Are You Lonesome Tonight?” “Burning Love,” and “Suspicious Minds.” Elvis also covers Beatles’ songs, “Yesterday” included, along with the Phil Spector-produced Righteous Brothers’ hit “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling” and Simon and Garfunkel’s “Bridge Over Troubled Water.” As usual, Elvis also performs gospel standards such as “Oh Happy Day.” The “King” likes to build from slow to faster and faster, like he’s racing an engine. He died in 1977, one year after ending his residency. He is a bit of a cut-up on stage, often corny, if not lame. But he was also a god. Viva Elvis.
‘EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert’
Rating: PG-13, smoking and profanity
Cast: Elvis Presley, James Burton. Jerry Scheff, Ron Tutt
Director: Baz Luhrmann
Running time: 96 minutes
Where to Watch: In theaters
Grade: A-
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