Elvis and Hollywood: The Pet Rebel

His second feature, ‘Loving You’ (1957), had already presented him at a crossroads between musical styles: Elvis rocker who worked at a gas station before being discovered by the director of a country band. In a denim jacket or a floral cowboy shirt, but always with an acoustic guitar in hand, Presley began to rave about himself in front of the cameras. Profits doubled: ‘Loving you’ was released in the United States on July 9, 1957, and eight days before the self-titled album was releasedwith seven songs written specifically for the movie – for example, the title song of the movie, like the work of the great rock’n’roll duo Leiber & Stoller – and five songs that have nothing to do with it.

In the footsteps of James Dean

But it would be the third and fourth movies that would define it better. Obsession with being the closest thing to James Dean. They were solid movies in every way. Inside prison rock (1957) portrayed a headstrong young man who saves himself by singing in prison. ‘The neighborhood is against me’ (1958), in this case another troubled young man who finds himself playing at venues on Bourbon Street in New Orleans.

just three years ago, ‘Seed of Evil’ (1955) had caused a stir by Richard Brooks by showing conflicts at a public school and putting on the groundbreaking ’24 Hours of Rock’ performance of Bill Haley and his Comets. Elvis didn’t want to be left behind. He was a rebellious legend. But after Hollywood made the character profitable, would succumb to the designs of the American conservative leagues.

a good american

The misfit and destructive Elvis did not last long. Executives at Paramount tamed his image between what was going on with the studio that hired him and Colonel Parker.. Parker wanted Elvis to return as a decent American after two years of military service in Germany. In musicals and cinematography.

Presley wanted to make films in which he acted and did not sing. He failed: the writers always managed to get him to sing a song. But in a way, the promoted change didn’t go bad for him. The first thing you do when you graduate ‘fire star’ (1960), a western about racism, in which he plays a Kiowa Indian woman and the mulatto son of a white rancher. Your best job.

Then there was everything: a jolly comedy set in the city that would become its golden cage, ‘Rendezvous in Vegas’ (1964); tapes in exotic places like ‘Love in Hawaii’ (1961)—in any case, one of his best ballads, ‘I Can’t Help Fall in Love’–, ‘Idol of Acapulco’ (1963) and ‘Hawaiian paradise’ (1966); movies starring boxer –‘canvas floor’ (1962)–, gambler singers –‘Frankie and Johnny’ (1966)–, racing driver –‘Speedway’ (1968), with Nancy Sinatra and even a Western outlaw ‘charro’ (1969).

celluloid family

It drenched the cinematic streaming family. ex-wife, Priscilla PresleyHe would play alongside Leslie Nielsen in the ‘Hold it any way you can’ saga, and the couple’s granddaughter, ryley keoughhe handles it: the series ‘Mad Max: Fury on the road’, ‘The girlfriend experience’ or ‘Jack’s house’.

Elvis has been subjected to the strict law of the ‘biopic’ along with dozens of documentaries. Before Baz Luhrmann, John Carpenter shot the dark and sober ‘Elvis’ (1979) for television with Kurt Russell.. Questions of luck: In his last movie as an actor, ‘Change of Habit’ (1969), Presley played a doctor named John Carpenter!

Another area where the cinema is overflowing is the cinema. Presley impersonators: Weird comedies like ‘Elvis from Space’ (2020); romantic tape ‘Honeymoon for Three’ (1992), with Nicolas Cage Lynch has already shown she’s a big fan of Elvis in ‘Wild at Heart’ – delighting herself with acrobats Flying Elvis or ‘The Kings of Crime’ (2001), in which Russell once again wears sequined suits. Rey’s cast to play a copycat who plots a Las Vegas casino heist alongside Kevin Costner.