Laikals The greatest movie ever made..!

Iseerphia All that we are seeing on the screen is happening with real people, real action sequences in the background, forcing the eye to watch as if we were there.

Robert Joyner The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

Ezmae Chang This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

bruce smirnoff Never understood his music, hated his movies and never even liked the mocking of him by the media. I went my whole life thinking this TILL one night (2003) this came on cable and I happened to watch it...Thank god I did, now I can't get enough!! I finally got it, he was perhaps the greatest entertainer of all time. (Non- band) They say before him only Jolson evoked that kind of energy during a live show. This film captures him at his best, the other live shows, (black leather, Hawaii, 50 shows 50 days) do not and can make a person cry when seeing what he did to himself and how tragic it all was. The way he always had time to shake hands and acknowledge other people is poignant, the film captures this and his kid-like affection to his buddies, and band-mates and back-up singers. I can watch it over and over and only love it more and more.

wadechurton That low rating is not so much a comment on the quality of the documentary, but how depressed the whole movie makes me feel after watching it. Just two years after his triumphant leather-clad Comeback, here is Elvis at the beginning of his fossilisation into the white-suited self-parody he became during the 1970s. The superior 2001 re-edit makes the horror even keener, when at first Elvis and the band are seen at length rehearsing in an charmingly informal atmosphere (musically the movie peaks with the excellent "Little Sister"/"Get Back" medley). Next come the seven (!) backing singers, the middle-aged, middle class audience and the tacky Vegas ambiance, and by the end Elvis is slamming through a set which dispatches his 1950s hits with obscene haste in order to concentrate on the schmaltzy ballads and overblown bombast. He was dead just seven years later. If only he'd done the '68 Special and then fired Colonel Tom, booted the freeloading Memphis Mafia to the kerb and hired a hotshot young manager with some good ideas. There was a big rock'n'roll revival just around the corner and Europe (especially the UK) would have been Elvis' for the taking. Imagine if he'd survived to receive the same sort of multi-generational accord Johnny Cash did during the 1990s. Ah, if only. The 30-something Elvis of 1970's "That's The Way It Is" was a little wider in the face but still lean and vital and capable of so much more. Watching this movie is like seeing Elvis shrug, smile and wave goodbye as he turns to walk down a long, dark tunnel...

johno-21 Here's Elvis performing live at the International Hotel in Las Vegas over a period of six nights in 1970. He jokes and stumbles through abbreviated versions of his classics from the 50's and early 60's but gets serious and turns in great performances of songs that would be his concert staples for the rest of his career including Suspecious Minds, In The Ghetto and The wonder of You. He's backed by famed guitarist James Burton and a band that includes Chip young, Ronnie Tutt, David Briggs, Jerry Carrigan, Norbert Putnam and John Wilkerson with an orchestra led by Eddie Hinton and vocals by The Sweet Inspirations and Millie Kirkham and The Imperials Quartet. Besides the concert footage taken over six consecutive nights at the hotels are also rehearsal footage from MGM studios in Culver City, California. Celebrities in the audience that came out for the shows include Cary grant, Sammy Davis Jr. and George Hamilton. Elvis' Memphis Mafia stalwarts Joe Esposito, sonny West and Red West are here too. There's even a brief overhead shot of Col. Parker. Denis Sanders who directed this documentary had a sporadic career as a screenwriter and filmmaker of feature films, television and documentaries. He followed this the next year with his second music documentary called Soul to Soul which featured some of the great R&B acts of the time. These two films were definitely the highlight of his career. They got a big name cinematographer to do the photography in Lucien Ballard. He had been a Hollywood cinematographer since the 30's and had filmed Presley in roustabout. He was involved in a string of feature film hits in the 60's with The son's of Katie Elder, The Wild Bunch, Nevada Smith, The Getaway and True Grit. This is a must for any Elvis fan and even for non-fans it serves as a fairly good documentary of Elvis in peak physical form and having a fun and energetic time as a performer. White high collared jump suits with sequence and kung fu jump kicks are all here on a Vegas stage. He's comfortable in his element. The film originally ran at 107 minutes when it debuted in theaters in December of 1970. It's not a great concert film and not very imaginatively filmed or edited but since Elvis is such a legend it's worth a look. I would give it a 7.0 out of 10.

muerco 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.