Elvis 2022 Film.

I went to see the new Elvis Presley movie yesterday with my Mum and Steve at The Odeon at Silverlink and the film was really good.

In 1997, Elvis Presley‘s former manager, Colonel Tom Parker, is on his deathbed, obsessed with gambling, and looking back on how he first met the future King of Rock and Roll.

In the early days, Elvis had battled a poverty-ridden childhood with his parents Vernon and Gladys. He finds music to be a salvation, even though he is ridiculed by his peers because of his fascination with the African American music of Memphis’ Beale Street. Parker is a carnival “huckster” who fancies himself a modern-day PT Barnum, playing upon the gullible nature of his audience.

Although Parker is already managing country singer Hank Snow, as soon as he hears Presley on the radio, he seems to be impressed with what he hears and has aspirations of becoming his manager. Parker eventually meets and persuades Elvis to let him take control of his career, which begins a meteoric ascent.

However, not all of the public is impressed with the young entertainer. Many parents fear that his music is corrupting their children, and racist politicians also attack him for his involvement with black musicians. After a violent incident at a concert, Elvis finds himself facing a possible jail term. However, it is implied that Parker persuades the government to draft Elvis into the US Army as a way of avoiding any further legal entanglements. During his time in the service, Elvis discovers that his mother has died of alcoholism.

While stationed in Germany, Elvis meets Priscilla Beaulieu, and upon his discharge, he resumes his career-making concert tours and films while Parker’s control of his life becomes even stronger.

As the Sixties pass him by, Elvis is heartbroken by the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy, wishing to become more politically outspoken in his music while Parker merely wants him to sing frivolous tunes that will be best sellers.

A breaking point between Elvis and Parker occurs when Elvis makes a live television recording of various progressive and political songs for what was originally supposed to be a traditional Christmas showtune broadcast, infuriating all of the network sponsors.

After Parker refuses his request for a world tour and locks him into a long contract to entertain at a Las Vegas hotel, Elvis discovers that Parker had denied his world tour due to him being an illegal Dutch immigrant with no passport, and attempts to fire him, only to be sued by the latter for a huge amount that will leave him broke and destitute. A vicious argument ensues, while afterwards Elvis has to admit that he has no choice but to maintain his management from Parker, although they grow apart and rarely see each other afterwards.

Eventually, Elvis’s life spirals downward. When Priscilla confronts Parker over his abusive treatment of Elvis, Parker humiliates Priscilla by coercing a drugged Elvis to kiss dozens of women on stage while she is helplessly forced to watch.

Frustrated and despondent, Priscilla takes their daughter Lisa Marie and leaves him over his prescription drug addiction, which grows even stronger after she is gone. This results in his death from a heart attack on August 16, 1977, at the age of 42.

Before his passing, Elvis had also expressed to Priscilla that no one will remember him after he is gone. At one of Elvis’s final shows, he is bloated and pale (while the media mocks his appearance and demeanor), singing “Unchained Melody“.

Parker dies old, impoverished and alone.