Having recently read Peter Guralnick's extraordinary "Careless Love" (the second part of his gold-standard Elvis biography), I was pleased when I saw this was going to be shown on TCM. The film shows Elvis at the very beginning of his Vegas period (August 1970)--that is, soon after his '68 comeback to live performing, but before he was hugely bloated and out of it. The Elvis here is still reasonably fit, in good voice, and enthusiastic as a performer (most of the time). It's amazing--after seeing so many Elvis impersonators and cultural kitsch surrounding the King, I think I've very rarely seen real footage of Elvis singing from this period. He definitely still had it, even if he's not quite at the peak form of the '68 special.
This film was shot by Lucien Ballard ("The Wild Bunch" among others) and looks good. This is definitely the best thing to see if you want to see the rapport the later Elvis had with the audience. The band is probably the best one he had in Vegas--Burton, Tutt, Scheff, etc. Props to TCM for assembling the most useful outtakes from the sessions with the band--a rare chance to see Elvis in the studio, jamming and working out his ideas.
Definitely worth a rental or Tivoing if it comes back on--this is a crucial historical record.
This film was shot by Lucien Ballard ("The Wild Bunch" among others) and looks good. This is definitely the best thing to see if you want to see the rapport the later Elvis had with the audience. The band is probably the best one he had in Vegas--Burton, Tutt, Scheff, etc. Props to TCM for assembling the most useful outtakes from the sessions with the band--a rare chance to see Elvis in the studio, jamming and working out his ideas.
Definitely worth a rental or Tivoing if it comes back on--this is a crucial historical record.