THE SEARCHER - I've seen it and I liked it, but . . .

[Jukebox]

Well, I enjoyed my complimentary viewing of Elvis Presley: The Searcher in Graceland's state-of-the-art theater at The Guest House on Saturday afternoon. I'll simply start out by saying that I liked it, but I'm afraid it's not going to satisfy every Elvis fan to the fullest.

I personally give it 4 out of 5 stars... very good, but not excellent.

The following are things of interest that I made note of as the movie played . . .

Positives:
1. All interviews or voice-overs were done without showing the faces of those speaking.

2. Commentary from Red West was scattered throughout the documentary, which means that Priscilla obviously thought enough of his firsthand accounts to include him in the documentary. There was nothing mentioned about the book Elvis-What Happened? ... a positive for sure.

3. I liked the way they went from the 1950s to the '68 Comeback Special with some effective splicing... especially with the song "That's All Right".

4. The '68 Comeback Special was sort of a centerpiece of the documentary.

5. Albums that were highlighted in a positive light were...
Elvis Presley ; Peace In The Valley (EP) ; Elvis Is Back! ; His Hand In Mine ; How Great Thou Art ; From Elvis In Memphis

6. Some color home movies of Sam Phillips at play from the 1950s were shown... at a beach and such.

7. Some of Elvis' 1950s voice-overs were new to my ears, which was a pleasant surprise!

Both versions of "Lonely Man" were used back-to-back in the movie. It started out with the master recording lasting about a minute +
and then they smoothly transitioned with a splice to the solo version lasting about another 1 minute or so.

They showed some unreleased footage from the Elvis On Tour mock sessions/rehearsals... "Burning Love" and "Separate Way".

They used some unreleased close-up footage (from his chest up) in very good condition of Elvis performing "An American Trilogy" from 1973 (or '74) showing mostly the second half of the performance. The footage might have been from Las Vegas in August or early September 1973...
Freeze at the 1:53 mark to see the footage I'm referring to (with red scarf) >> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qULBo4iPV8M

Negatives:
1. The producer lead the unknowing viewer to believe that Graceland was the first house/home that Elvis bought. There was no mention of the Audubon Drive house in east Memphis. While the narrator was talking about Elvis' purchase of Graceland, they were actually showing several photos from the Audubon Drive home. Any knowing Elvis fan would quickly pick up on that.

2. It was stated in the movie that Elvis never played a concert outside of the United States. No mention of Canada 1957.

3. In the early section of Part 2, they made reference to Flaming Star and Wild In The Country as movies that "lost money". I don't think that's accurate. They may not have been the box office successes that G.I. Blues and Blue Hawaii were, but "money losers"? I don't think so.
They showed a quick image of a Flaming Star poster (bare chested Elvis holding a rifle) and had that screen-lettered as "Wild In The Country".
They then quickly showed an image of a Wild In the Country poster (image of Elvis about to kiss Hope Lange) as "Flaming Star".

4. They made the mistake of only saying that Colonel Parker wanted a Christmas song included in the 1968 NBC-TV Special. In truth, which they didn't hit on, was that Colonel Parker originally wanted the entire show to be a Christmas special. I was disappointed with their oversight on that crucial issue. It was during a segment focused on what a tough/unreasonable manager Parker could often be.

5. In Part 2 when making reference to the Aloha From Hawaii tv special, they only showed footage from the rehearsal show... "You Gave Me a Mountain" was highlighted, but the entire performance wasn't shown.

If my memory serves me correctly the only songs they played in their entirety without any interruptions from voice-overs were "Crawfish" in Part 1, and "Hurt" & "If I Can Dream" near the end of Part 2. I suppose the forthcoming 3-cd set is for complete songs.

One disappointment was that they only showed about 4 seconds of Elvis with Sam Phillips in Memphis from 1961.

Of great significance...

The focus of the documentary by the producers was to attempt to give an honest overview and evaluation of Elvis' musical career.
They clearly wanted the viewers to know that Elvis' artistic decline in the mid-1960s was not due to lack of talent, but due to some awkward/poor decision-making by him and his manager Colonel Tom Parker. One thing they made clear near the beginning of Part 2 (1960) was that Elvis was now in uncharted territory concerning what direction a rock-n-roller's career should take in order to keep him on top after being away in the military for almost 2 years.

They also wanted the viewers to know that his decline in the mid-1970s wasn't from lack of talent on his part. Therefore, I feel that they did the right thing by letting it be known that Elvis' addiction to prescription medication played a major role in his personal outlook & unconventional decision-making during the last few years of his life.

[WalterHaleJnr]

thanks for the feedback. Said it before I personally wouldn't be interested and while i appreciated your balanced review , i'm afraid i still am not interested in viewing if/when it gets screened in Oz (for reasons i stated before both here and FECC).

Did they use commentary from Elvis himself (thru interviews, concert monologues)? If so in what context? How much of the voice overs came from musicians? Any one of them stood out in your opinion? It's good that the producers opted to use voice overs for a change.

[Mountain Mist]

Thank you, Jukebox.

Roughly, of course, how many people were invited to the Viewing?

Were you all invited to attend a Before or After party with Priscilla, Marian Cocke, and Letetia Henley Kirk?

[Rickeap]

thanks for the update, i'll check this out

[Mojo Filter]

Many thanks for your review.

Unfortunately, I won't see til it's in DVD form. Til then, I won't be able to comment and give my views. Suffice to say, still can't wait to see it no matter what views i read or hear.

Interesting you mention home movie footage of Sam Phillips - be nice to see.

[Ben]

That footage of An American Trilogy is from 28 April 1973 AS. Funnily enough, there's no audio circulating from that show.

[John]

Thanks Jukebox for the review. Glad you enjoyed it.

[Colin B]

...1. All interviews or voice-overs were done without showing the faces of those speaking....

Are there subtitles indicating who is talking ?

[cadillac-elvis]

Well, I enjoyed my complimentary viewing of Elvis Presley: The Searcher in Graceland's state-of-the-art theater at The Guest House on Saturday afternoon. I'll simply start out by saying that I liked it, but I'm afraid it's not going to satisfy every Elvis fan to the fullest.

I personally give it 4 out of 5 stars... very good, but not excellent.

The following are things of interest that I made note of as the movie played . . .

Positives:
1. All interviews or voice-overs were done without showing the faces of those speaking.

2. Commentary from Red West was scattered throughout the documentary, which means that Priscilla obviously thought enough of his firsthand accounts to include him in the documentary. There was nothing mentioned about the book Elvis-What Happened? ... a positive for sure.

3. I liked the way they went from the 1950s to the '68 Comeback Special with some effective splicing... especially with the song "That's All Right".

4. The '68 Comeback Special was sort of a centerpiece of the documentary.

5. Albums that were highlighted in a positive light were...
Elvis Presley ; Peace In The Valley (EP) ; Elvis Is Back! ; His Hand In Mine ; How Great Thou Art ; From Elvis In Memphis

6. Some color home movies of Sam Phillips at play from the 1950s were shown... at a beach and such.

Both versions of "Lonely Man" were used back-to-back in the movie. It started out with the master recording lasting about a minute +
and then they smoothly transitioned with a splice to the solo version lasting about another 1 minute or so.

They showed some unreleased footage from the Elvis On Tour mock sessions/rehearsals... "Burning Love" and "Separate Way".

They used some unreleased close-up footage (from his chest up) in very good condition of Elvis performing "An American Trilogy" from 1973 (or '74) showing mostly the second half of the performance. The footage might have been from Las Vegas in August or early September 1973...
Freeze at the 1:53 mark to see the footage I'm referring to (with red scarf) >> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qULBo4iPV8M

Negatives:
1. The producer lead the unknowing viewer to believe that Graceland was the first house/home that Elvis bought. There was no mention of the Audubon Drive house in east Memphis. While the narrator was talking about Elvis' purchase of Graceland, they were actually showing several photos from the Audubon Drive home. Any knowing Elvis fan would quickly pick up on that.

2. It was stated in the movie that Elvis never played a concert outside of the United States. No mention of Canada 1957.

3. In the early section of Part 2, they made reference to Flaming Star and Wild In The Country as movies that "lost money". I don't think that's accurate. They may not have been the box office successes that G.I. Blues and Blue Hawaii were, but "money losers"? I don't think so.
They showed a quick image of a Flaming Star poster (bare chested Elvis holding a rifle) and had that screen-lettered as "Wild In The Country".
They then quickly showed an image of a Wild In the Country poster (image of Elvis about to kiss Hope Lange) as "Flaming Star".

4. They made the mistake of only saying that Colonel Parker wanted a Christmas song included in the 1968 NBC-TV Special. In truth, which they didn't hit on, was that Colonel Parker originally wanted the entire show to be a Christmas special. I was disappointed with their oversight on that crucial issue. It was during a segment focused on what a tough/unreasonable manager Parker could often be.

5. In Part 2 when making reference to the Aloha From Hawaii tv special, they only showed footage from the rehearsal show... "You Gave Me a Mountain" was highlighted, but the entire performance wasn't shown.

If my memory serves me correctly the only songs they played in their entirety without any interruptions from voice-overs were near the end of Part 2... "Hurt" and "If I Can Dream". I suppose the forthcoming 3-cd set is for complete songs.

One disappointment was that they only showed about 4 seconds of Elvis with Sam Phillips in Memphis from 1961.

If anyone has questions, I'll try my best to answer what I can about the documentary.

Well, that does sound dissapointing but very expected.

Not to worry they will be another one in 10 years.

[Mojo Filter]

I'm not a member of any other forums, but this morning i've been scouring other forums to get any other updates on this Documentary and getting others' views and what's being said, just to get an overall perspective of this HBO doc.

All in all, it's sounds like a winner in regards to Elvis and his music and how is story is being told to the viewer.

One interesting quote i read is that in the course of the film not even Priscilla can answer why Elvis placed so much trust in his manager and allowed him to put him through so much stuff that Elvis was unhappy with. So judging by that alone, seems that this film is of a serious nature and gaving the viewers a good perspective of artist and manager relationship.

[TonyS]

As good as it sounds those negatives have already spoilt my enjoyment of what I will eventually view. I just can't understand how they can't get these things correct, damn it !

[KEV]

By JACOB KNIGHT
Mar. 17, 2018

"The image is one thing. A human being is another."

We never see any of the interview subjects in Elvis Presley: The Searcher, despite most of them being pop music luminaries. The voices of Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty, Stax Records' David Porter, Sun Records' Sam Phillips, Priscilla Presley, and even archival audio clippings from the King himself float over a continuous, free-flowing montage of footage – taken from home movies, concert recordings, media appearances, and feature films – like ghosts, commenting on a great God they're still attempting to make complete sense of.

We're transfixed by the image of Elvis, as the visuals proceed in chronological order. The legendary performer evolves from wild, churchgoing Mississippi youth, to uncontainable Memphis rockabilly stage presence, to GI Joe stationed in Germany, to kitschy cinema star, to black-clad '68 Special comeback kid, to a faded neo-opera singer – belly bloated with bad food, guilt and regret – his manager milking every last dime from the King’s body before his heart gives out in August of '77. Elvis was our loneliest American enigma, a human being who transcended race and economics, only to get eaten alive by the "father" he trusted his career to. The King is dead, but we're still mesmerized by his otherworldly persona over forty years later, barely comprehending the human being who inhabited the icon.

The Searcher doesn't seem to care about your own opinions on Elvis. Director Thom Zimney is completely unconcerned with whether you think he's one of the greatest rock-and-roll stars of all time, or perhaps one of the first true culture vultures: eating up black spirituals and then combining them with country and western tunes to create a whole new sonic beast. The movie's made up its mind regarding Elvis’ place in history, anointing him perhaps the greatest American artist to ever grace the stage with his talents.

Part of this blatant hero worship has to do with Presley's estate giving the picture its full support (after all, Graceland's never going to have a hit piece’s back). Instead, The Searcher is asking what it meant to be a hero to 50,000,000 Elvis fans. Based on Presley’s own words – plus the examinations of those like Petty and Springsteen, who obviously looked to the King as a premiere influence – Zimney is examining what Gospel, Soul, R&B, Country/Western and even Pop Music meant to a Southern white man who grew up dirt poor, practically without a father, and possibly without a future beyond music.

Broken up into two parts – as The Searcher runs just shy of three-and-a-half hours – Zimny takes his time, trying to fill in as much background on Presley as he can before the artist recorded those early tracks with Sam Phillips in Memphis' Sun Records studios. He lets us soak in the boyhood melancholy of his father going to prison, and Elvis' subsequent undying devotion to his mother, Gladys Presley. There’s those early shows, where Elvis was a "wild animal" on stage, his hips signaling their own sexual revolution as pearl-clutchers gasped in panic. TV hosts attempted to humiliate Elvis by turning Presley's persona into a novelty act to which they could condescend, many in the white establishment not wanting this underclass young man to bring "black music" to the masses. However, Elvis was such a force of nature that not even racist '50s regional broadcasts could subdue his swinging intensity.

Along comes Colonel Tom Parker, causing Presley to break from Sun Records, as the professional carnival barker promised national fame and "merchandising" to the future King. But this is where the understanding of Presley's choices becomes murky. Not even Priscilla Presley can offer up a cogent response as to why Elvis put so much trust into the man who would essentially work evil magic to undo his unruly youthful image. First, he insisted no special accommodations be made for Elvis when he was drafted and sent to Germany, opting instead to record a wealth of material that was released (and profited from) while the singer was overseas. After that, Parker continuously negotiated contracts with movie studios that transformed the rock legend into little more than a poppy OST maven, tarnishing his status as a disobedient sex symbol.

Even when Elvis flexes and strains to come back following the completion of his service duty – his '68 TV Special viewed as a real “make or break” moment for the artist’s career – the Colonel is always lurking in the background: a devil looking to take down this Patron Saint of Rock. By the time Parker's pushing him through a grueling '70s touring process – hundreds of dates forcing the King to increase his intake of uppers and downers just to get by while his body puffed and swelled – The Searcher is clearly positing that Elvis was, in fact, not a human being to the person he arguably put the greatest amount of faith in. For Colonel Tom Parker, the musician was a cash machine: an image being utilized to make this enterprising monster rich.

The Searcher tries to bring as wide a comprehensive lens to the King as possible, and for the most part succeeds in spades. It’s only when Zimney attempts to contextualize his music – in a very similar fashion to the way Ezra Edelman did with OJ Simpson's rise and fall in Made In America – that the picture lacks ever so slightly. The Searchertouches on what a white man creating a new sound out of black culture during the beginnings/height of the Civil Rights Movement meant to America as a whole, but never dives deep enough to really deliver a substantial analysis. Perhaps an eight-hour cut – which this writer would gladly sit through – could offer an interrogation of that nature. Still, it's difficult to fault a documentary this ambitiously spellbinding, as we're invited into the soul of a legend, in the hopes of letting us feel and appreciate its fabric, while simultaneously seeing where the grueling taxations of fame caused it to split at the seams.

[KEV]

The above ... like the part that he would have like it longer to get the TRUTH over (parker etc)

Other side - thinks the music side of the Doc"s were not quite there.


Whats your view on the above JUKEBOX!?.

[Mountain Mist]

HBO.jpg

Letetia Tish Henley Kirk, Lowell Hays.


Jim Syke's photo from Facebook.

[Mojo Filter]

HBO.jpg

Letetia Tish Henley Kirk, Lowell Hays.


Jim Syke's photo from Facebook.

With no mention of drugs (not in a serious way) and no mention of jewellery must've upset these two guests. Lol