Customer Reviews

Elvis By the Presleys

5 star:		(29)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

First thought: What a stunning contrast to that tacky made-for-TV movie.

Second thought: Wow, I sure hope they'll make this one available on DVD.

Third thought: Gotta buy this!

I was especially moved by the outtakes, shown in this production, that had been dropped from the original specials. Priscilla's warm, intelligent, and engaging, as usual; both she and Lisa Marie are forthright about the darker side of life with Elvis without stooping to talk-show sensationalism.

We've waited a long, long time for a documentary like this.

after reading many of the reviews of the documentary, and especially the dvd set, i'm amazed at the negative comments. what will make these people happy? here, i give you my thoughts on what i saw in it. keep in mind, i just finished watching it and some of this is the wine talkin!

Priscilla (who is amazingly beautiful and seems to be aging at a rate of one year to every seven of our years!) is engaging and very forthcoming about her obvious affection for ol' 'E'. this portrait is more honest, and filled with less bias than any documentary so far. after Albert Goldman's turd of a book and everyone else who attacked, mocked and caricatured Elvis after his death, it's nice to find an intimate, mainly cheese-free study of who he was by the people who really loved him.

i liked him before this documentary and i like him even more now.

in no way, does the family portray Elvis as perfect, nor do they crucify him as an indulgent brat. he comes off as someone who became caught up in something bigger than himself and did the best he could to exist in that wild place without complaining. sure, Elvis could probably be an ass at times, but who isn't? sure, he was fairly incapable of personal intimacy...but i didn't see any hatred from Priscilla. in fact, with time, it seems she understands why he was this way and accepts him for it. i don't feel she was self-serving in any way. i also felt honored to hear things from HER personal perspective. I read, 'Elvis and Me' when it came out and i believe the wounds were still fresh back then. i didn't get the impression that there was any Presley propaganda or dirty laundry in what Cilla had to say here.

Elvis had control over Elvis' life and no one else. Pricilla did a damn fine job with herself and she must be a pretty good egg to be standing by Elvis the way she has. the Presley estate belongs to Lisa, not Pricilla. i really don't get the impression that money is her motivating factor with this show.

Pricilla's parents btw, are some of the coolest people i've ever seen. i'm certain they had a large impact on Elvis' life and it's obvious they felt for him as a son. i was glad to spend time with them as well as Cilla's sister. i'm sure you will too. these are people who experienced the crazyness from a distance and if they had something negative to say, i believe they would've said it.

through the eyes of the documentary subjects (granted everyone under the Elvis sun wasn't included), i feel i understand Elvis a little better. frankly, i don't want to hear every filthy detail of his life. this show does a wonderful job in breaking down the many facets of Elvis' life and giving you some insight into how they made up who he was.

sure it's a cliche to describe Elvis as a respectful, humble southern boy. after watching this you believe it. in fact, much of this is what i believe led to his downfall. you get the impression that Elvis' career decisions were not necessarily his own and he didn't speak up out of respect, trust and loyalty for the Colonel and the companies to which he was contracted. as horrible as the 60s movies and soundtracks were, you get the impression that Elvis did what he was told as a professional and did his complaining at home...and he suffered for it.

it's easy today, to laugh at Elvis and say he should have taken more control of his career. i believe the documentary shows that Elvis was incapable of disloyalty and i like him for it. i just read that Russell Crowe is making a settlement for 11 million dollars with a room service attendant in a New York hotel. apparently, the phone didn't work well enough for Crowe and this poor, minimum wage schmuck had the phone tossed at his head. the only reason Crowe is settling the case is due to US work permits being pulled. wot an ass. now, Elvis may have been a primadonna, but i sincerely doubt he would have engaged in such behaviour with people less fortunate than him. in fact, the one's he may have tortured are the one's he loved...and that's something Elvis didn't invent.

from the documentary, you get the impression that Elvis was a good guy that tortured himself as much as he delighted in his life's gifts. you see that these extreme emotions are what may have led to his early death. his talent was his savior and his downfall. all that remains is the record of his talent. i tend to rate Elvis on his highs rather than his lows.

finally, it's the crafting of the documentary itself. its just damn fun...period. yes, there's a great deal of footage that you've seen before as other reviewers have mentioned. however, they fail to see the pure craft in which the filmmakers use that footage. most of the edits are absolutely tounge-in-cheek. that's the point! example: the shot of Elvis leaving the Lisa Marie and "I Believe in the Man in the Sky" song clip...it's fun! that's the point! Elvis + Flying Machine = Man/Sky...get it? i like that the film is light and not pretentious or in corny glorification of Elvis. i feel it's more akin to home movie night with the Presley's and you're invited. i work in television myself, and from that point of view, these filmmakers did a consciously good job.

in the end, it's up to the individual viewer to decide. if you're thinking about picking this DVD up, in this reviewer's opinion, get it! it's fun, it's honest and it's sitting down with people you like sharing stories about a good guy who happened to be one of the most influential people of the twentieth century. the DVD did it's job for me!

I have never been a fan of Elvis. Not that I didn't like him, I was just neutral and didn't grow up with his music. I happened to be home the night this special aired on tv...there was not much else on, so I tuned in. WOW. I was very impressed with him as a person - particularly the spiritual side and his devotion to family and friends: the gifts for people who were with him from the get-go, his knowledge of all gospel music...and then, the performances!!! I have always been a fan of rock music, and John Lennon in particular. He revered Elvis and now I see why. Even the "fat Elvis" segments, which I thought might be eliminated by the family, showed a powerful musician, with a great big SOUL. I thought that Priscilla Presley was the perfect narrator...she knew him over many of the years, with a close relationship continuing after their marriage dissolved. After I saw this documentary, I was anxious to rave about it to all my friends, be they Elvis fans or not...It was a perfect portrait of an artist, who may have or may not have known he had a gift for the world.

Too often what has been eclipsed by the image of Elvis Presley parodies and the spectacle of his over-the-top jump suits and the stories of excesses, was Elvis the showman and Elvis the person. This show provided irrefutable evidence of both. Even in his later days, when he was clearly no longer in his physical prime, Elvis could put over a song like few others. And the home movies fleshed out (no pun intended) the man behind the sequins. This special is no less of a 'comeback' than the 1968 television show. It restored Elvis' rightful place in the pantheon of popular music - and as a human being.

One cannot question, and can only thank Priscilla and Lisa Marie for allowing us to see their personal photos and films, as well as for those amazing performances again.

Rest in peace, King of Rock and Roll

I've read alot of books on Elvis' life and seen quite a few of documentaries on him and I have to say that "Elvis By The Presleys" ranks as one of the best I've seen. I never really took a liking to Priscilla and us Elvis fans know what went on with her, but, I have to give her the thumbs up on what she, as well as family & friends, did from the heart.
I would of liked to see & hear more from Lisa Marie in the documentary but I'm sure for her own reasons she kept it few and simple. As it is, you can tell it was very hard for her to talk about "that day".
And I LOVED IT when every, I mean every time they showed Elvis, HE LOOKED DAMN GOOD!!!! The was never one shot of him that was unflattering. Made me fall in love with him all over again!!!
I highly recommended "Elvis By The Presley". It will certainly touch you.
LONG LIVE THE LEGACY!!!

I JUST WATACHED THIS SHOW, NEVER HAVE I SEEN ANYTHING MORE TOUCHING THAN THE FAMILY OF ELVIS TALKING ABOUT HIS LIFE, HOW HARD IT MUST OF BEEN FOR THEM, IT BROUGHT TEARS TO ME AND MY HUSBAND, THE FINAL BREAKDOWN WAS WHEN LISA SAID THATS ENOUGH U CAN STOP NOW.. WONDERFUL SHOW MAMAJAEHN

Don`t be bitter. Lisa was a child when Elvis crossed over, who else but her mother, Priscilla, to take over the estate? She saved Graceland & a lot of Elvis` popularity & legacy is being carried on because of the excellent decisions she made. She`s not perfect, Elvis wasn`t perfect...In her place, I don`t know what I would have done. Nobody does. Let the past go, so Elvis can live. He loved Priscilla until his last breath on this earth, so give her a little breathing room. I thought it was the best Elvis Special ever. No bad pictures, outtake footage never seen before, he looked fantastic. Home movies were great. It showed a happy relaxed Elvis with his family. They touched on everything, including his search to find himself, why the Colonel had such a hold on him, why he was forced to do the bad movies, after such a great start with Loving you, Jailhouse Rock, King Creole & Wild in the Country. It showed his decline with dignity, his daughters reaction brought tears to my eyes. Enjoy it for the great documentary it is & don`t judge. Elvis lives & always will.....that`s all we have to know & cherish the fact that we still have him in all his glory to cherish, hopefully for as long as we walk this imperfect world.

I've been an Elvis fan for my entire life, I still listen to his CDs, and I can't even tell you how many books I've read about him over the years (from the reviled Albert Goldman hit-piece to Peter Guralnick's outstanding work), so I wasn't in a hurry to see ELVIS BY THE PRESLEYS because everything about it looked a fluff piece.

But this is NOT a fluff piece of Presley propaganda.

Everyone is surprisingly open and honest about a lot of their lives with Elvis, and the portrait that emerges from an already-researched-to-death life of the king of rock-n-roll manages to be fresh and fascinating to even the most jaded fan. The home movies and photos are extensive, the memories shared by everyone (especially Priscilla, Lisa Marie and Jerry Schilling) are open and unflinching, the details of a life so hidden from the public during Elvis' reign are interesting and enlightening.

Be sure to check out the bonus materials on the second disc. Jerry Schilling offers more details about Elvis' meeting with President Richard Nixon (even clips from an interview with Nixon is featured!) and talks about how Elvis gave all the cash he had with him to a soldier he meets on a plane coming home from Vietnam.

The king still manages to charm from beyond the grave.

There is probably no single entertainer in our American culture that has been profiled more in recordings, TV specials, books, etc. than Elvis Presley, the undisputed King of Rock And Roll. In fact, the amount of Elvis literature over the years would probably fill an entire bookstore. Much of it, of course, is quite tawdry and has almost always focused more on the King's many eccentricities than the fact he had a life and that he touched millions.

But ELVIS BY THE PRESLEYS is a different matter altogether. For this time around, we get to a much deeper side of Elvis through the people that knew him best, including former Memphis Mafia member Jerry Schilling, and most especially Elvis' wife Priscilla and daughter Lisa Marie. All here testify to the kind of person that the press constantly ignored while he was alive, and still do even close to twenty-eight years after his untimely demise at age 42. Through home movie footage of him, and the time he met his future wife Priscilla while stationed in Germany during his Army years, we see Elvis still as the King until the bitter end, but also the human being he always tried to be first and foremost.

We see his explosive entry onto the American scene in the mid-1950s. We witness his return from Army life. We witness his struggle with all the formulaic B-movies the Colonel forced him to make in the 1960s at the expense of making real recordings or far superior films. We see his extraordinary comeback of 1968. And at the end, of course, we see a very unhealthy-looking Elvis in the late spring of 1977 nevertheless giving everything he has left in him onstage, putting his own stamp on "My Way."

Both Priscilla and Lisa Marie are very candid but unsensationalistic in the way they describe the problems Elvis had, both with the Colonel's often questionable business decisions (made at the expense of Elvis' health and creativity) and his struggle with prescription medication, a struggle that he sadly lost. But they also hold Elvis in the highest regard, as a great husband and father, and a tireless giver who never stopped giving and who never stopped caring. I had the utmost respect for Elvis before, as the greatest pop music icon America has ever had. After ELVIS BY THE PRESLEYS, I have an even greater respect for him as a human being. It is high time that the world know the human being that the King really was.

This is the documentary about Elvis I was waiting for during the last years. Not the familiair story, films and photo's (witch are also very good) but a look behind the scenes. A lot of private footage and not only some long time interviews. Any Elvis fan will like this DVD, I can assure you that. In my opinion it's the best documentary since THIS IS ELVIS.
And for now... let's wait for ON TOUR and '77 IN CONCERT... keep on hoping...