Premiering tomorrow night.
I feel like I’ve been waiting for a documentary like this on Elvis.
My review of Elvis Presley: The Searcher is now up at Rogerebert.com.
-
-
FOLLOW ME ON INSTAGRAM
Review: HBO’s 2-part documentary Elvis Presley: The Searcher (2018)
This entry was posted in Movies and tagged documentary, Elvis Presley, reviews. Bookmark the permalink.
From the first promo I saw for this on HBO, months ago, my first thought has been, “What will Sheila think of this?,” and I’m very happy to learn that you love it, and that we will, too. Can’t wait.
I can’t wait to hear your thoughts.
Someone on FB said to me “I heard it glossed over his personal issues” – which is kind of the thing that drives me crazy in Elvis-conversation. No it doesn’t “gloss over” his personal issues. His personal issues have been WELL COVERED. Seriously, it’s not like anyone’s trying to HIDE anything. Everyone knows literally everything about Elvis’ “personal issues.”
What this doc does is focus on the music – what he wanted to do with it, what he cared about, what drove him, what hurt him. It doesn’t ignore the drugs, the weight gain … but it’s definitely not the focus. The focus – the organizing principle – is his music. And THAT – at this point – is radical. and long overdue.
But don’t let me tell you what to think! :) Would love to hear your response once you’ve seen it.
I canNOT stop thinking about it. I watched both parts last night and was RIVETED. I was 18 when he died, and he had just always been there, you know? He didn’t have the cool factor of the British Invasion bands, or the cachet of the up-and-coming Southern rockers in the early seventies—he was just omnipresent. And, it must be said, to me and my friends in 1977, he was a pathetic sort of figure. I mean, all we really knew were the Christmas standards, the gospel recordings that were trotted out by the ‘old folks’ (i.e. anyone over 30), and the standards we’d heard our entire lives. And Vegas!Elvis, of course.
Now, I can’t stop thinking of how this documentary presented Elvis’s story as such a missed opportunity. I’m grateful we got as much as we did from him, but I will forever resent Col. Parker and Elvis himself for allowing that kind of repressive control over his career to flourish. I can easily imagine him evolving into a respected and accomplished actor, performing material worthy of his talent, if not for the leash he was kept on. It’s heartbreaking. I had no idea.
It was doubly heartbreaking hearing Tom Petty speak with such awe and reverence about this man, who was clearly such a huge influence on Petty’s life and career. I loved every second of it, and it’s going to be a while before I can regain any kind of objectivity when it comes to Elvis’s legacy. I’m still curious about his and his mother’s weirdly close relationship, why she died (she looked very obviously unwell in the footage of her with Elvis just before he shipped out to Basic Training,) and how, exactly, that super-tight bond existed when his father was, after all, present in the family…just my weirdly specific area of interest.
Anyway, I loved it and think it’s an extremely important historical record of, as one of the commenters said, a true American original—someone uniquely American whom we could all be immensely proud to have produced, supported and revered.
I’m so glad to hear your thoughts about it!
// I’m still curious about his and his mother’s weirdly close relationship //
I don’t think it was “weirdly” close. Elvis was a twin, his twin was dead at birth. She couldn’t have any more children after that. Elvis was like a miracle to her. The poverty they lived in created the tightest of bonds. She hovered over him, he must live, he must survive. He felt that burden. It was a huge motivating force for him – to make good so his mother didn’t have to work so hard any more.
There’s a whole book about their relationship and it’s one of the best books written about Elvis (even though it stops when she died in 1958). Can’t recommend it highly enough. It’s a real Southern book, of family trees and ancestral lineages. The author, Elaine Dundy, did intense research into Elvis’ background – and it’s stuff all biographers from then on out relied on.
It’s a wonderful book. It’s called Elvis and Gladys.
I highly recommend it. It might sound gossipy but it is just the opposite. I think – along with Dave Marsh’s book (and of course Peter Guralnick’s bio) – it’s one of the best books about Elvis. Those would be the top 3 for me.
And I have some differing thoughts on the Colonel. By the 70s? Yes. Out of touch. And many of his decisions isolated Elvis. And don’t even get me started on the fact that Elvis couldn’t tour because the Colonel wasn’t a US citizen and hadn’t told anyone that. UGH.
But without the Colonel’s genius of promotion in the 50s, there might not even have BEEN an Elvis in the first place. And Elvis knew that.
Elvis – for all his rebelliousness sexually and musically – was quite obedient. He had respect for authority figures. “Yes, sir,” “no, sir” “ma’am” – his mama raised him right. The Colonel was the ultimate authority figure – but also: Elvis knew the Colonel took him to the next level. Elvis was a regional phenomenon only until the Colonel came along. Elvis was loyal and true. The contract he had with the Colonel was insane – I think it was 50/50 – !!! – but to grub over money was just not in Elvis’ nature. As long as he had enough to buy all the cars he wanted, whatever, let the Colonel take it, he earned it. That was Elvis’ somewhat naive attitude – and yet it’s also what made him Elvis.
I so agree with you that this is an important historical record – LONG overdue.
He is a major major figure.
and also in re: the Colonel:
By the 70s? For sure: the man was no longer helping Elvis. He was actively hurting him. And Elvis by that point was too weak to do anything about it – if he could have just hung on a couple more years, the Betty Ford Clinic would be created then. The movie business was changing – music for sure was changing – Elvis’ final albums move into some really interesting territory (I disagree with everyone who says the 70s had no good music. I disagree STRONGLY) – and I am confident eventually the relationship would have broken up, or morphed into something more modern and equitable.
But Elvis was pretty out of it.
I’ve always felt that the Colonel nixing him doing the Star is Born remake with Barbra Streisand (Elvis was her first choice) was the thing that “beat” Elvis. Jerry Schilling, his dear friend, thinks so too. Elvis was too good and too nice – he couldn’t tell this man, this Colonel, who had done so much for him to go fuck himself. He should have though. By that point, he should have.
I am SO downloading Elvis & Gladys!
(I was once married to a man, born to his mother in 1957, when she was 41, after she’d suffered a stillbirth some years previously–her “miracle baby.” The marriage was a Glaring Mistake, and I still have traumatic associations from my encounter with extreme mama/son closeness, so it could all be me. Or mostly me.) It would’ve been interesting to have seen what might have transpired if she’d lived long enough to see the Priscilla relationship bloom.
I heard the commenters’ unanimous agreement that the Colonel was a master promoter, and I totally get that money isn’t what mattered to Elvis. It’s the lost FILM opportunities I mourn. We’ll never know which roles he might’ve played, if he hadn’t been stuck in those contracts throughout the sixties. A movie = a hit single = the revenue stream continued uninterrupted. Safe but lazy, and I could FEEL the frustration rolling off of Elvis from those old stills from production. The regret that tinged Petty’s voice as he haltingly pronounced the music as “pretty bad” that came from those films…I’m still sad about it. I feel as if I’ve been personally robbed, which is ridiculous, since I wouldn’t have if I hadn’t seen this remarkable documentary.
This should be REQUIRED VIEWING for all fine arts majors in secondary education everywhere.
Also: everyone needs a Jerry Schilling, and I wish I could find the comfort in gospel music that Elvis did. And I thought he sounded GLORIOUS in that snippet of recording from the Jungle Room session we heard—wowza! Six months before he died, but still in total control of his instrument/craft—amazing!
One last thing: I was born and raised in Waco, Texas, where Elvis played more than once, and even stayed for a time…he was briefly at Ft Hood, Texas, right down the road, while in the Army, too.
You cannot imagine the pure, shattering grief on display in Waco, Texas for at least a solid month following his death. I mean, John Lennon was murdered four years later, and hardly anyone out and about in town even blinked. For Elvis, grown women wept behind cash registers at their jobs. For us teenagers, it was downright shocking
Phenomenon.
Sarah – wow, the memories of women mourning in Waco – powerful!!
I resist seeing Elvis’ career as a “missed opportunity” – I did this whole series of posts called “I Refuse to Be Sad About Elvis.” Even the movies – I love a lot of those movies. They are their own thing. and there are a lot of good songs! Yes, of course, Elvis hated doing those movies. And the music critics hated that he was in Hollywood, and the film people ignored him. I understand the attitude of The Searcher – it is the common attitude out there, and there’s a lot of truth in it. He didn’t tour in the 60s, he recorded the gospel albums, the Beatles came and went, the Stones, etc. and he was doing movies like Girl Happy.
But … I love Girl Happy. There are only two movies I think are true duds.
Now yes, Elvis hated doing them, but I don’t feel like I’m betraying him by liking them. They need to be evaluated in a singular way – and he needs to be evaluated as a singular figure.
I tried to do so here in my essay for Film Comment:
https://www.filmcomment.com/blog/tcm-diary-elvis-actor/
This is the hill I have planned to die on. Ha!
Of course I am mournful he didn’t live – I think he would have found new life in movies once the studio system collapsed for good (as it did around his ears) – and the new independent movies coming up – plus new filmmakers like Jim Jarmusch and Quentin Tarantino whose guiding stars of inspiration were – among other things – Elvis.
But I still think Elvis is special as an actor – in a way uniquely his own. He may not have valued it, but that’s not MY problem. :)
Oh, and the Jungle Room sessions are incredible.
When I’ve visited the Jungle Room I always stand there, and picture him – in that room – singing Hurt. Or Danny Boy. Or I’m Still Here.
and my mind is BLOWN. One time I was actually on a tour all by myself. It was Dec. 27th, I think? I don’t know why nobody else was at Graceland that day – but since you guide yourself through the house and the grounds, I could stay as long as I wanted, I wasn’t holding up the crowds behind me.
It was amazing.
As a longtime fan, I’ve been waiting for this documentary a very long time. And I agree with you…what’s the point of making a documentary into a scurrilous investigation into his ‘personal issues’? It’s LONG past time to have a serious, intelligent documentary of the man, his talent, the world that produced him and how he affected it. And people who are trying to argue that he wasn’t a true ‘artist” are missing the point entirely. I say he was an artist, in every way that mattered.
I wish people weren’t so close-minded. I am always willing to learn something new. And I have my own prejudices and biases – but I hope it’s not a completely shut door (outside of feeling like, you know, Hitler was evil, etc. I’m pretty firm on stuff like that).
I got pushback on my piece last year about Elvis as an actor – “I can’t go there with you on that” intoned some film-critic-bro, and I was like, “Well, maybe open your mind to the possibility. That’s what I am asking people to do. How long has it been since you’ve seen an Elvis movie? Have you seen the three I wrote about here? How about watching them and trying to watch through my eyes, and see if anything shifts for you?”
Like, isn’t this the FUN of cultural commentary?
I don’t know. I am so turned off by close-mindedness.
It’s really hurt Elvis. Not with his fan base – which is indestructible – but in the wider culture.
// It’s LONG past time to have a serious, intelligent documentary of the man, his talent, the world that produced him and how he affected it. //
This is exactly right. This documentary, in my opinion, does that. I don’t miss the “personal” stuff at all. someone (I think it may have been Springsteen? but maybe not) – said that all of Elvis’ REALLY personal stuff was in his music. He was most at home onstage. He had to “act” when he was OFF stage. A true performer. and so all of the obsession with his eccentricities and failures or flaws is just … avoiding the elephant in the room, which is THE MUSIC.
I am looking forward to seeing this again – now that the review is filed. The first time through I had to take notes and all that. Now I can just soak it up.
I look forward to hearing what you think about it.
Sheila!
I just saw this is happening in a little clip this morning and also immediately thought, Does Sheila O’Malley know about this?! And rushed over here. Oh, OF course! She’s reviewing it! hahaha! I don’t have HBO so I guess I have to wait, damn it! I didn’t want to read any other reviews. But that Warren Zanes quote is killer, yes! Also I heard a little of Springsteen saying something, like, he was TRYING to act normal at home, on stage was who he really was. It looks pretty fantastic to me.
Great review. I can’t wait to see this.
P.S. as if it was a little preview before I heard about this this morning, at a little quiet reading last night I couldn’t decide what music to put on and just blasted Elvis to start, it put everyone in a great mood!
Regina – isn’t that Warren Zanes quote just wonderful? This is the kind of service the HBO doc does – because Elvis’ music is so rarely discussed anymore. He’s either taken for granted, dismissed, or outright pilloried. We need more thoughtful analysis like that. From people who know what they’re talking about.
We knew he was in love with us and we with him. How I have longed for this documentary which treats his brilliance, artistry and mastery of his craft with well-deserved respect. (Such a relief that they excluded tabloid fodder!)
From the thrilling, exalted heights to heartbreaking “might-have-beens” this film adds much to the canon.
Thank you for your excellent review!
Peggy – You’re welcome! It was my pleasure to review it.
I so agree. I have longed for such a documentary too. It’s really long overdue – but I’m so glad we have it now!
Sheila, I’m a longtime reader, a serious film lover, and a fellow Elvis fan, and I want to thank you for this review, and, even more, for all that you have done, over the years, to thoughtfully write about Elvis, the man, and the artist.
The comment section under your “Searcher” review has been, and still is, quite lively and contentious! I and others have been trying to explain and defend the artistry of Elvis to people who still, even now, see him as little more than a white cipher who copied black musical forms, and/or as a washed-up has-been who did nothing good at all, musically, in the ’70s (yes, there were some very rough times, of course, but there were also some great recordings and concerts in that decade!)… but alas, it seems that no matter what I write, many people still buy into false, or at best, incomplete, cultural narratives about him. I do what I can to counter the misinformation and misconceptions though.
Thanks for being vocal about your appreciation of Elvis! You are an encouragement to other fans (such as this one) who are sometimes discouraged when very vocal people don’t seem to “get” him or even care to take the time to try to “get” him!
Christopher – it’s taken me a while to get to responding to this – thank you so much for your thoughts – I so appreciate it. Like you, Elvis means a lot to me – for many different reasons – and I think he’s an extremely worthy topic of serious consideration. ARTISTICALLY. That’s what’s so often missing – and it’s outrageous. It would be like only talking about Judy Garland’s diet pills and not talking about her extraordinary voice and performances.
The Searcher is a serious piece of work – I really look forward to seeing it again. The first time I was taking notes for my review – so I look forward to just going back and absorbing it all.
I never read comments sections – well, except on my own site. :) So I was wondering what was going on over there. Thank you for participating over there and putting up the good fight. There are many who are completely closed off. I’ve run into them on Twitter when I post about Elvis. All I can do is keep writing about what I love, and keep trying to express why I love it. This stuff really MATTERS – especially with huge cultural figures who provoke such complicated reactions.
At any rate, he’s a very important figure and he deserves far better commentary – I totally agree.
Thanks again!! TCB!!