Elvis Presley on Film . . . Well, Maybe
33 films that don’t star ‘The King’ himself, but are about Tupelo, Mississippi’s greatest son and Memphis, Tennessee’s greatest resident
Elvis Presley may have died 48 years ago on August 16, 1977, as he transitioned into the rock ’n’ roll ether to party alongside Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, and Kurt Cobain at “Club 27,” just south of the right foot of God; however, when it comes to the film industry: you can check out anytime you like, but you can never leave . . . in spite of the famous, last words of KWKH’s Horace Lee Logan about Elvis leaving the building.
So, before we get started . . .
This essay on “Elvis Movies” — featuring 33 films, yes: there are that many — isn’t about the movies that starred the real Elvis, such as Love Me Tender, Change of Habit, and so on. No, even his three, glorious, processed-shot racing flicks Viva Las Vegas, Spinout, and Speedway make the cut. No, we’re not covering any of the wealth of theatrical, television, and direct-to-video documentaries on Elvis. No films starring biographical films Kurt Russell or Don Johnson, either.
This essay on Elvis is concerned with the speculative flicks, the films using the myth and legend of Elvis as plot fodder, and the historical sidebars to his career.
The titles for each of the films on this list are hyperlinked to their respective Letterboxd pages, offering theatrical one-sheets and streaming options.
Along the way we’ll toss in some interesting Elvis-inspired artworks and songs about The King.
1. New Gladiators (1974/documentary)
New Gladiators was a film believed a myth; a film mentioned in passing in the many tomes on Elvis Presley and martial arts history books; a film that Elvis produced — but no one ever saw. It was believed the 16mm-shot film was an unfinished project, the reels lost amid the many legal skirmishes after Elvis’s death in August 1977.
At the time, with Bruce Lee’s Enter the Dragon (1973) igniting a new, worldwide interest in karate, the film’s concept of chronicling the world tour of the U.S. Karate team — a team which starred Ron Marchini — was presented to Elvis’s karate instructor, Ed Parker. Initially, Elvis, who bankrolled the production — who got the karate bug while practicing karate during his duty years in the United States Army — was to serve as the film’s host and narrator. But due to his Las Vegas entertainment commitments and ongoing medical issues, he was only able to make a brief appearances in the film for practice and demonstration sessions, and presenting Professional Karate Association middleweight champ Bill “Superfoot” Wallace when’s he promoted from a 3rd to 4th Degree Black Belt.
Contrary to opinion: Elvis did not write or direct the film, and was only a “producer” in the financial sense of the word. The film was shot by cinematographer Allen Daviau, who would earn five Oscar nominations as “Best Cinematographer” (E.T :The Extra-Terrestrial, The Color Purple, Empire of the Sun, Avalon, and Bugsy). Producer and editor Isaac Florentine became a director in his own right, with the Undisputed martial arts franchise.
The film was discovered amid other Elvis personal items stored in a West Hollywood, California, storage facility in 2001; the 16mm footage was restored and released in August 2002 to commemorate the 25th anniversary of Elvis’s death. It has since been reissued — with more Elvis karate footage not related to the original film — in 2009, then again in 2022.
Next up: Elvis is alive and well . . . in a North Carolina drive-in.
2. Living Legend: The King of Rock ‘n Roll (1980/drama)
Self-made North Carolina drive-in filmmaker Earl Owensby co-stars in this vanity project alongside Elvis’s ex-fiancee Ginger Alden in the ersatz tale of Eli Caufield: the King of Rock & Roll. As with the real King: Eli rules supreme on stage, but in private he’s a mess, as he spirals with declining health issues and an escalating prescription medication addiction.
Don’t be too amazed by Earl’s vocals: he’s lip-syncing the legendary Roy Orbison. Director Worth Keeter and screenwriter Thom McIntyre were determined to make Ginger Alden a star: they guided her in her next starring role in Lady Grey (1980), itself a tale about a small town girl’s rise to stardom in the rough n’ tumble country music world.
Next up: Elvis receives a fan’s love letter.
3. To Elvis, with Love, aka Touched by Love (1980/drama)
This Elvis flick — alongside A Little Romance — incessantly running on U.S cable television via HBO started many a young man’s lifelong crush with actress Diane Lane in an early teen role. The film, based on the real-life reminiscences of Lena Canada (from her book To Elvis, with Love), is a very sweet, well-made family-friendly film.
The late Deborah Raffin co-stars stars as a young nurse determined to reach Lane’s unresponsive, teenage cerebral palsy patient by encouraging her to write to her favorite rock singer, Elvis Presley.
No, Elvis doesn’t show up.
The critics were cruel in their response: Deborah Raffin was nominated for both, a Golden Globe Award for “Best Actress in a Motion Picture Drama,” as well as a Golden Raspberry for “Worst Actress” for her performance. The film’s second Razzie nod came courtesy of Hesper Anderson’s screenplay; she fared better with her next theatrical work, Children of a Lesser God.
Director Gus Trikonis escaped the Razzie curse and helmed the low-budget, drive-in hick-flicks Nashville Girl, Moonshine County Express, and Take This Job and Shove It, as well as a real Elvis movie with Don Johnson as The King, in the TV Movie, Elvis and the Beauty Queen (1981).
Next up: Here comes the Elvis kooks n’ weirdos.
4. Mondo Elvis (1984/documentary)
Okay, so this entry is a “documentary,” but it does deal with the “fantasies” of The King’s fans.
Do you have a hankering to learn more about the fans who can’t give up the “ghost” . . . to go along with your Peanut Butter and ‘Nana sandwiches? Well, here’s your chance to meet an eclectic bunch of talking heads and memorabilia collectors who explain how The King touched their lives . . . just a little too deeply.
Next up: Elvis schools two lads . . . on the art of motorcycle racing.
5. Eat the Peach (1986/drama)
Would you believe Elvis serving as the inspiration for motorcycle stuntmen?
So goes this Irish comedy — with its title derived from the T.S Elliot poem “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufock” — about two unemployed lads who, after watching Elvis Presley’s 1964 opus Roustabout, hatch a plan to change their fortunes by becoming motorcycle stuntmen.
If you’re a fan of Bill Foresyth’s early ’80s comedies Comfort and Joy and Gregory’s Girl from across the pond — both which incessantly spun on the U.S pay cable television network HBO back in the day — you’ll enjoy this Elvis-inspired comedy also adopted by the U.S cable channel.
Next up: Elvis is kidnapped!
6. Heartbreak Hotel (1988/comedy)
First Elvis inspires motorcycle stuntmen in Eat the Peach, now he’s kidnapped . . . in a tale written and directed by a pre-Home Alone Christopher Columbus, in his follow up to Adventures in Babysitting.
Charlie Schlatter (of U.S television’s Diagnosis Murder) is Johnny Wolfe: He kidnaps Elvis (David Keith from thew worldwide box-office hit, An Officer and a Gentleman) from a 1972 concert in Cleveland with the purpose of taking him home to meet his mother: a sickly, obsessed Elvis fan.
The casting twist: Tuesday Weld stars as the mother . . . and she starred with the real Elvis in 1961’s Wild in the Country. The always reliable television and film actor David Keith — while he doesn’t exactly look like The King — he’s nonetheless fun to watch as he channels Elvis.
Next up: The “ghost” of Elvis appears in a Memphis hotel.
7. Mystery Train (1989/drama)
This Jim Jarmusch multi-character study takes place in The Arcade: a rundown Memphis hotel. Its occupants are foreigner travelers fascinated with all thing Americana — especially Elvis.
The stories include a Japanese couple who visit Graceland, but are split on their fandom of Carl Perkins vs. Elvis. There’s an Italian widow who meets a stranger who tries to sell her a comb — that belonged to a hitchhiking Elvis. Finally, Joe Strummer of the Clash is an Elvis-loving, side-burned crook who goes into hiding after a liquor story robber gone bad.
Next up: Elvis, he takes up . . . sky diving?
8. Honeymoon in Vegas (1992/comedy)
Film historian Andrew Bergman, who brought Marlon Brando back to the screen in The Freshman, scores as writer and director — courtesy of James Caan, Nicolas Cage, Pat Morita, and Sarah Jessica Parker bringing their A-games to the tables.
When Cage’s private eye loses $65,000 in a Las Vegas poker game, he’s quickly mixed up with Caan’s professional gambler and assisted by Morita’s ne’er-do-well taxi driver to beat the debt.
So, when does The King show up?
In one of cinema’s classic movie scenes: Cage gets mixed up with — and jumps in full El regalia — the Utah chapter of “The Flying Elvises”: a skydiving team of Elvis impersonators. Cage, needless to say, garnered a well-deserved, “Best Actor in a Motion Picture” nod at the Golden Globes.
Next up: The King leaves Vegas for Providence, Rhode Island.
9. It’s a Complex World (1992/comedy)
Jeff Burgess is the manager of a Providence rock club, The Heartbreak Hotel. A disappointment to his ex-CIA agent father running for the Presidency, Dad feels his son’s rock club will negatively affect the presidential campaign: so he hires revolutionaries to stage a terrorist bombing at the club.
As the terrorists close in, a biker gang (headed by U.S. wrestling legend Captain Lou Albano) trashes the club. So, Elvis isn’t going to let his namesake be destroyed: he calls a Beatles tribute band appearing at the club — from beyond the grave, natch — to help Jeff fight off the villains. Yes, the movie is a crazy, stupid (and not very good) as it sounds.
Since it is set in a rock club: Blues rockers NRBQ ) show up for a few tunes, in addition to the New England bands Beat Legend and the Young Adults.
Next up: Elvis reappears in a comic book store.
10. True Romance (1993/action)
Christian Slater stars in this post-Reservoir Dogs Quentin Tarentino script directed by Tony Scott.
A comic book store clerk falls for the wrong girl, which leads him to becoming a “murderer” pursued by the mob. During those times o’ trouble: Slater turns to the ghost of Elvis (a very impressive Val Kilmer; remembering he also channeled Jim Morrison in The Doors) for some friendly advice.
Oh, yeah, Slater later crosses paths with The King in 3000 Miles to Graceland.
Next up: Elvis learns a few dance steps from some kid.
11. Forrest Gump (1994/drama)
Yeah, the ’60s greatest hits compilation soundtrack is cool . . . and maybe the film-on-whole is a little nostalgia-evoking heavy handed . . . but at least we know, finally, where The King picked up those dance moves that earned him the name “Elvis the Pelvis.”
That’s Peter Dobson turning in a brief, fun turn as Elvis; he brings it back, again, in a larger role with Protecting the King.
Next up: Yikes! The King’s mummified remains . . . return.
12. Frankenstein Sings: The Movie, aka Monster Mash: The Movie (1995/comedy)
Alec Sokolow and Joel Cohen, the creative team behind this musical comedy, made this in the same year as their Pixar Animation game changer, Toy Story. They’d also produce two Garfield movies and Evan Almighty; their earlier work, the 1988 televangelist spoof, Pass the Ammo, became a oft-ran pay cable favorite.
The “comedy” here is an amalgamate of Bobby “Boris” Pickett’s early ’60s novelty hit, “Monster Mash,” and an adaption of the late ’60s horror-stage musical, I’m Sorry the Bridge is Out, You’ll Have to Spend the Night.
Yes, that’s the real Pickett starring as Dr. Frankenstein alongside U.S television actress Candace Cameron, best know for her work on the series, Full House.
So, what’s this all have to do with Elvis?
Well, a young couple stranded on Halloween Night seeks refuge in the mansion of Dr. Frankenstein. As luck would have it, the good Doctor is throwing a party with his Monster, the Wolfman, and his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Dracula — and a mummified Elvis — as his invited guests. And the blood of a virgin (Cameron, natch) is needed to fully restore The King to life.
Next up: Elvis returns as a vampire.
13. Rockabilly Vampire (1997/comedy)
The fact that Troma Studios — who specializes in and is proud of their special style of cinema schlock — takes on Elvis should serve as a warning.
A writer with an obsession for ’50s culture goes on a quest to prove that Elvis is still alive and well. When she finds the King: he’s a side-burned vampire that wants the pretty writer to be his new ‘Cilla.
Next up: Elvis scarfs snack cakes at rural grocery stores.
14. Elvis Is Alive! (1998/comedy)
Subtitled: I Swear I Saw Him Eating Ding Dongs Outside the Piggly Wiggly’s . . . well, if you though Rockabilly Vampire was a rough stream of it. Not even the comedic stylings of Fred Willard as an Elvis impersonator helps this ersatz Saturday Night Live skit that goes on too long.
Our raison d’etre is This is Spinal Tap: A down-on-his-luck filmmaker has no choice but to write and direct a film about, well . . . the people who swear they’ve seen Elvis Presley . . . even though he’s been dead since 1977.
So, our faux-Marty Di Bergi travel’s America’s back roads interviewing an eclectic group of people, searching for the “truth”: Is The King still alive?
Next up: Elvis puts down the Ding Dongs . . . to become a federal agent?
15. Elvis Meets Nixon (1998/comedy)
Allan Arkush. That’s all you have to say and I am all in, as the man behind Rock ‘n Roll High School starring the Ramones directs this satirical rock ’n’ roll tale making a big “What If?” guess as to what happened during the infamous 1970 meeting between The King (looks sort-of-close but a still great, over-the-top Rick Peters) and the President (a very funny Bob Gunton: an antithesis of his role as the sadistic warden in The Shawshank Redemption; he also portrayed Nixon in a Watergate recreation for U.S television, ABC Network’s Nightline).
Elvis, guilt-tripped by an anti-war activist for contributing to the nation’s counterculture upheavals by influencing the Beatles, decides to correct that wrong by writing the President to become a Federal Drug agent. Comic events ensues as El makes his way from Memphis to California to Washington as both men realizes they are in the same boat: they’re losing popularity with the people and desperately want to stay on top.
Under Arkush’s directorial hand this tongue-in-cheek biography-meets-mockumentary is a lot of fun — and what film wouldn’t be so when television takler Dick Cavett, musician Graham Nash, and Tony Curtis show up as themselves for an injection of realism?
This is lot more enjoyable than Elvis & Nixon, the later, dry-as-a-bone box office dramatic bomb that misses the mark on the absurdity of these two egos being in the same room.
Next up: Elvis is off to drift across American . . . and back to Graceland.
16. Finding Graceland (1998/drama)
Johnathon Schaech (of the terrific rock flick, That Thing You Do!) is an aspiring singer who lost his girlfriend in a car crash: one that he caused, while on his way to Nashville. Harvey Keitel appears as an eccentric drifter — and former Elvis impersonator — who also lost his wife in a tragic accident: on the August 17, 1977, the same day The King of rock n’ roll died.
To cope with his loss, Keitel drifts aimless across the country — believing he is Elvis Presley. While attempting to drive away from the painful memories of the past in his beat up Cadillac, Schaech picks up the hitchhiking Elvis “on his way home” to Graceland. The duo soon ends up in Las Vegas where Schaech begins a romance with a Marilyn Monroe look-alike and Keitel makes his return to the stage as The King.
So, how good is this film?
Priscilla Presley enjoyed the script so much, she signed on as Executive Producer. So, yes, there’s a lot of heart on that screen and Keitel is magnetic.
Priscilla, if you’re keeping track, she also produced her own biographical movie, Elvis and Me, as well as two TV documentaries: Elvis: The Tribute and Elvis Presley: The Searcher, as well two Elvis TV series: one a full, cancelled series, with the other a mini-series.
Parts of Finding Graceland ended up a direct-to-DVD “What If?” doc, Elvis Found Alive.
Next up: Elvis becomes the real “King” of a nuked-out America.
17. Six-String Samurai (1998/action)
The year is 1957: America is a laid waste after a Russian nuclear strike. Only Las Vegas survives and Elvis rules the country — with the kids of America adopting The King’s rockabilly style and love of the martial arts.
When The King dies after 40 years of rule . . . and the samurai warrior musicians he begets begin their fight as heir to the King’s throne. Armed with a samurai sword in one hand and a guitar in the other, a Buddy Holly-lookalike appears from the wasteland using his rock ’n’ roll and martial art skills to save the day.
This combination of kung fu ’n’ roll — call it a sushi-western meets the Wizard of Oz, if you will — stars real life martial arts expert Jeffrey Falcon: a veteran of numerous Hong Kong action films who also scripted, as the “Six String Samurai.”
While absolutely entertaining in its bonkers approach to, well, everything it tosses on-screen, the then very-hip Slamdance Festival buzz wasn’t enough: this bombed at the box office with a less than $200,000 take against its meager, $2 million budget. Criminal.
Next up: Elvis’s death is short lived. He’s reanimated, once again.
18. Rock ’n’ Roll Frankenstein (1999/comedy)
As if Frankenstein Sings . . . The Movie wasn’t enough to satiate our need for Elvis and Universal monsters cross-pollination.
Bernie Stein (yuk, yuk) is a washed up music agent desperate for a new musical talent to put him back on top. As luck would have it: Bernie’s coroner-employed nephew, Frankie Stein (ugh, ugh) developed a rejuvenation process that reanimates dead body parts. So Bernie decides that, instead of looking for new talent: he’ll create his own “ultimate rock star” by using the remains of rock’s greatest legends.
So,recruiting Iggy: a burnt out roadie with a fetish for desecrating graves to acquire the legendary body parts, Dr. Stein constructs a rock star with Keith Moon’s legs, Jimi Hendrix’s hands, Elvis’s head, and Jim Morrison’s penis. Unfortunately, a stoned Iggy cultivates the sexual organ of Liberace, as well. Now Bernie’s newest star is confused by his sexual identity — as the “Liberace” side of the monster begins to assert itself and overpower the influence of its other, sexually-renowned body parts. Bernie’s monster then goes on a killing spree as a result of its sexual confusion.
If it sounds like it wants to be The Rocky Horror Picture Show. . . .
Next up: Elvis is off to rob Las Vegas.
19. 3000 Miles to Graceland (2001/action-comedy)
Do you want to see Kurt Russell — who was Elvis in the John Carpenter-made TV movie, Elvis — portray The King, again (well, sort of), alongside Kevin Costner’s interpretation?
Well, here it is, as some ex-cons of the Ocean’s 11-variety plan to rob a Vegas casino during an “Elvis Convention.” Not only did this clear less than $19 million against an $87 million budget, it swept the award nods (but won, none) at the Golden Raspberry and Stinkers Bad Movie Awards . . . but it’s not that bad.
Next up: Elvis meets another President of the United States.
20. Bubba Ho-Tep (2002/horror-comedy)
Leave it to Don Coscarelli of Phantasm fame and Bruce Campbell of The Evil Dead franchise to channel Elvis Presley . . . and a black “JFK” taking residence in a nursing home to battle an Egyptian vampire-mummy that sucks old people’s souls.
The source material, a novella of the same name, appears in the pages of the anthology The King Is Dead: Tales of Elvis Post-Mortem written by Joe. R. Lansdale.
As for the long-teased and awaited sequel, Bubba Nosferatu: Curse of the She-Vampires . . . well, that’s never going to a happen . . . but look Dynamite Entertainment’s four-issue crossover-miniseries of Army of Darkness/Bubba Ho-Tep that continues the tale with Campbell’s Ash Williams teaming with Elvis.
Next up: Elvis battles a female serial killer . . . of Elvis impersonators.
21. Elvis Has Left the Building (2005/comedy)
Director Joel Zwick and actor John Corbett follow up their hit, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, with this Elvis-inspired comedy that’s not a docudrama about Horace Lee Logan: the disc jockey who first uttered those famous words . . . it’s the comic misadventure of Harmony: the cosmetics saleswoman.
Supernatural forces are at play in the life of Harmony (Kim Basinger): a cosmetics saleswoman who believes her life is eerily entwined with the King — ever since her birth at one of his concerts. So, while on the road selling her lipsticks, she accidentally kills a few Elvis impersonators — and receives the attention of the Feds.
Along the way, Harmony falls for an advertising executive (Corbett) on the way to an Elvis convention in Las Vegas, where the real Elvis (Gil McKinney of U.S television’s ER and Friday Night Lights) shows up.
As for some Horace Lee Logan trivia: He produced and hosted the country music radio program Louisiana Hayride — in which Elvis debuted in October 1954 — on KWKH: a 50,000-watt superstation broadcasting from Shreveport, Louisiana reaching a mind boggling 28 states.
Next up: The King lives again . . . via the life of one of his impersonators.
22. Eddie Presley (2007/drama)
We’ve seen the adventures of Elvis impersonators in Finding Graceland and 3000 Miles to Graceland. This time out, noted horror film director Jeff Burr, known for the Pumpkinhead, The Stepfather, Puppet Master, and Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchises, changes genre gears to direct and produce this story about a down-and-out Tempe, Arizona, security guard who moonlights as an Elvis impersonator.
Duane Whitaker, he of the redneck rape scene in Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction, wrote and starred in the original, one-act play on which the film is based. Whitaker is quite good in his ersatz-Elvis role.
This lumbered around the festival circuits and was hard-to-find, but since found wider exposure on DVD in later years.
Next up: The King meets his stepbrother.
23. Protecting the King (2007/docudrama)
David Edward Stanley, Elvis’s real life stepbrother, writes and directs this tale about his job protecting The King of Rock & Roll, as his bodyguard, starting at the tender age of 16.
Peter Dobson, who also portrayed Elvis in Forrest Gump, stars here, as the same. Keep those eyes open for the always welcomed, but now, sadly late Tom Sizemore, and Dey Young, who broke many a male hearts in Rock ’n’ Roll High School.
Next up: Elvis keeps on truckin’ . . . right to a street near The Heartbreak Hotel.
24. Lonely Street (2009/drama)
In a casting twist of fate: Robert Patrick (the liquid metal “Terminator” in Terminator 2) played Elvis’s father Vernon in the U.S. television mini-series, Elvis: The Early Years (2005). This time, Patrick may or may not be “The King,” living in seclusion under an assumed name, “Mr. Aaron.”
Hounded by a tabloid reporter ready to ready to tell the world that “Elvis Lives,” Mr. Aaron (remembering Aaron was Elvis’s dead twin brother) hires a bumbling private eye to keep his secret. Yes. Patrick as Elvis is a stretch, but he makes it work, as a great actor, always does.
Next up: Elvis has actually been living in Simi Valley, California.
25. Elvis Found Alive (2012/drama)
Skilled documentary-cum-mockumentarian Joe Gilbert crafts an entertaining “What If?” tale that ties up all the loose ends regarding the facts and fictions, the myths and legends, the theories and conspiracies concerning all things Elvis . . . from the lips of Jon Burrows, aka Elvis Aaron Presley, himself.
Is this This Is Spinal Tap-version of The King’s life more enjoyable than watching Tom Hanks going “Oscar” as Col. Tom Parker? Oh, you bet your grilled Peanut Butter and ‘Nana sandwiches and a bag o’ chips. This is a fun flick.
Next up: Elvis’s real life brother Aaron . . . never died.
26. The Identical (2014/drama)
Do we really need a Christian-based inspirational film based on Elvis . . . if his brother, Aaron, never died?
Well, here it is: Twin brothers are unknowingly separated at birth: One of them, Drexel Hemsley, becomes an iconic rock ’n’ roll star; the other, Ryan Wade, born Dexter Hemsley, struggles in poverty as he battles his adopted preacher-father (portrayed by Ray Liotta) in his discovery of music vs. a life in the ministry.
Yes, we needed this movie: Elvis going ’70 prog-rock — since he never “died”— is an interesting plot twist with engaging, original songs.
Next up: Elvis is alive and well in Kalamazoo, Michigan.
27. Elvis Lives! (2015/comedy)
While indie actor Jonathan Nation may not look like Elvis — and neither did Harvey Keitel in Finding Graceland, for that matter — but Nation shines as a past-his-prime Elvis finding redemption as a secret agent for the FBI.
As with Joe Gilbert’s previous mock-document, Elvis Found Alive, noted U.S cable television Lifetime and Hallmark Channel scribe and Z-Nation staff writer Delondra Mesa intelligently speculates as to Elvis’s mob ties, faking his death . . . and building a new life in Kalamazoo, Michigan.
Next up: Elvis is alive and well in Alabama, Well, sort of.
28. Orion: The Man Who Would Be King (2015/documentary)
The idea of a “phantom” Elvis birthed in the fictionalized pages of Gail Brewer Giorgio’s novel, Orion. Published prior to Presley’s August 1977 death — with a somewhat analogous tale to Jim Morrison’s alleged The Bank of America of Louisiana tome (and predating P.F Kluge’s similarly-styled, 1980 novel, Eddie and the Cruisers) — Giorgio’s novel concerned an Elvis-styled singer who faked his death to escape fame.
Then Shelby Singleton, the then owner of Sun Records, Elvis Presley’s old recording home, pinched from Giorgio’s book (Giorgio was not complicit in Singleton’s marketing scheme) and created an Elvis doppelganger: Orion, and hired Alabama-born singer Jimmy Ellis to fill those blue suede shoes.
The film tells Ellis’s real life story in the music business.
Next up: Elvis and Nixon are back.
29. Elvis & Nixon (2016/comedy-drama)
Sorry, Kev. Most Elvis fans will rewind to the more passionate, Allan Arkush’s Elvis Meets Nixon from 1998.
Kevin Spacey is either pure Golden Raspberry slicing-ham as Nixon, or brilliant (depending on critical opines), but the always-reliable Michael Shannon as The King — while he doesn’t look like him, as with Harvey Keitel in Finding Graceland — he swings for the fences.
This film depends on if you’d rather an indie flick — like Elvis Meets Nixon — or prefer a big-budgeted major studio movie for the night’s viewing.
Next up: Elvis’s car has a tale to tell.
30. The King (2018/documentary)
Okay, we are breaking ranks with this second documentary that takes an inspired approach: Forty years after The King’s death, director Eugene Jarecki sets off across American in Elvis’s 1963 Rolls-Royce Phantom V to explore a life — and how that life affected Americans — via archive footage and interview insights. This is a really fine, unique work from the filmmaker who gave us the insightful, The Trails of Henry Kissinger (2002).
Next up: Elvis as a twelve-year-old kid.
31. Rolling Elvis (2019/comedy)
A delightful, Columbia-imported, coming-of-age comedy that reminds of Bill Forsyth’s quirky, Scottish-made films from the ’80s, such as Gregory’s Girl — and remembering he made his own “Elvis” movie with Eat the Peach.
Set in 1985, an Elvis aficionado convinces her child to enter the school’s talent show as Elvis Presley — as a punishment and alternative for expulsion for his perpetual school truancy.
Next up: Elvis goes sci-fi.
32. Elvis from Outer Space (2020/comedy)
While not as enjoyable in all of the aspects that made Bubba Ho-Tep — with Elvis in a horror/sci-fi romp saving humanity from an ancient Egyptian mummy —a fun, repeat watch, this quirky independent film certainly piles on the absurdities in equal measure to explain The King’s 1977 death as a cover up for his abduction by aliens from Alpha Centauri.
Homesick, the aliens cut a deal with a double-crossing CIA agent for Elvis to return to Earth. He splits. Now a fugitive on the run, the King searches for his daughter Lisa Marie and lost love Linda Thompson — under the cover of a Las Vegas Elvis convention.
The caveat: This is a CGI-reboot for the Tubi-streaming age of a forgotten Memphis Rising: Elvis Lives, released in 2011.
And it all comes full circle to Austin Butler killing it as Elvis.
33. Elvis (2022/drama)
Baz Luhrmann — the Australian filmmaker who wowed international audiences with the worldwide, hit romantic comedy, Strictly Ballroom (1992), along with the Leonardo DiCaprio-starring William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet (1996), and the Golden Globe Award-winning Moulin Rouge! (2001) — writes and direct this biographical drama (that’s either 10-star-loved or one-star hated with no middle ground) starring Tom Hanks as Col. Tom Parker and ex-child/teen star Austin Butler as Elvis.
Fans know Butler from U.S television’s Disney Channel’s Hannah Montana and Nickelodeon’s iCarly and Zoey 101; he was “Tex Watson” in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Also in the running for Elvis: Harry Styles of the boy band, One Direction.
The Rest of the Best with Elvis
Elvis: The ’68 Comeback Special (1968/TV Special)
Elvis: That’s the Way It Is (1970/documentary)
Elvis on Tour (1972/concert film)
Elvis (1979/TV docudrama) Stars Kurt Russell as The King
Elvis and the Beauty Queen (1981/TV docudrama) Stars Don Johnson of television’s Miami Vice as The King
This Is Elvis (1981/documentary)
Elvis and Me (1988/TV docudrama) Dale Midkiff stars as The King
Elvis: The Miniseries, aka Elvis: The Early Years in its overseas theatrical life, (2005/TV docudrama) Star’s British actor Jonathan Rhys Meyers as The King
An “Elvis-ism: Music Inspired by Elvis Presley” playlist comprised of indie-released and vanity-press albums discovered in thrift stores and garage sales by ThriftStoreVinyl YouTube.
