Rock ‘n’ roll icon Elvis Presley made 31 movies between 1956 and 1969, of which 27 were produced in the 1960s. Almost all of Presley’s movies have been box-office smashes that made him, his supervisor and film studios a lot of money. However, these movies have been critically derided, and Presley disdained most of them. After he left Hollywood behind, he said in personal, “It was just that Hollywood’s image of me was wrong, and I knew it and couldn’t say anything about it.”
Elvis Presley is held by guards Carl Sax (left) and Hubi Kearns (proper) as Warden Hugh Sanders prepares to condemn him for creating a jail disturbance in a scene from the 1957 movie ‘Jailhouse Rock.’
When Did Elvis Go to Hollywood?
By 1956, Elvis Presley had turn out to be a musical phenomenon. Amid screaming, adoring followers, he’d ushered in a brand new period of rock ‘n’ roll. He had hit information, and his tv appearances have been rankings bonanzas. Putting Presley in films was the subsequent logical step.
Presley was excited about Hollywood. He’d grown up watching films and, impressed by singers who’d transitioned into movies like Bing Crosby and Dean Martin, dreamed of film stardom. He told Life journal, “I want to become a good actor because you can’t build a whole career on just singing. Look at Frank Sinatra. Until he added acting to singing, he found himself slipping downhill.”
Presley’s first screen test passed off in April 1956. It didn’t display a lot uncooked performing expertise, however that did not preserve his supervisor, Colonel Tom Parker, from touchdown Presley a cope with Paramount Studios. The contract additionally reserved Presley’s proper to work with different film studios.
Presley made his movie debut in Love Me Tender (1956), a Civil War western. He took the job significantly sufficient to memorize your entire script earlier than taking pictures. The film turned a success and was rapidly adopted by different movies, together with Jailhouse Rock (1957).
Elvis singing in ‘G.I. Blues’ (1960)
Elvis Leaves Hollywood for the Army
In 1957, the U.S. Army drafted Presley. He was capable of delay his enlistment to complete King Creole, a movie through which he portrayed a younger singer who should overcome poverty and arranged crime.
Presley was concerned that being away within the military would injury his profession. Parker, his supervisor, reassured the star: “Elvis, you have records that haven’t been released and a movie in the can. We can stretch out the product we have. There’ll be a certain dark period, but that will only double the demand for your records and movies once you get out of the service.”
In March 1958, Presley started serving within the military. In the meantime, his films helped preserve him within the public eye. King Creole was launched in 1958, then was re-released along with Love Me Tender in 1959. And whereas Presley was in Germany, he got the script for his subsequent film, G.I. Blues (1960). Producer Hal Wallis additionally organized for footage to be filmed in Germany—although Presley himself did not movie any scenes.
Elvis on a poster for ‘King Creole’ (1958)
Elvis Returns to Hollywood
After Presley’s discharge in 1960, Parker wanted the star to give attention to films, which supplied the most important paychecks. The solely query was: What form of movies was Presley going to make? He’d acquitted himself well in King Creole. Costar Walter Matthau later said, “He was intelligent enough to understand what a character was and how to play the character simply by being himself through the means of the story.”
For the Nineteen Sixties movie Flaming Star, Presley took on a role that had been written for Marlon Brando and delivered a respectable performance as a half-white, half-Indian man. After making Flaming Star, Presley said, “I’d like to do a little more of a serious role. Because my ambition is to progress as an actor.”
However, Flaming Star was not as profitable as G.I. Blues, which got here out the identical yr. As a outcome, Parker encouraged Presley to give attention to the profitable film formula that referred to as for him to sing in numerous unique areas; this resulted in a huge success with Blue Hawaii (1961).
Elvis Was Disappointed by His Films
Elvis on the set of ‘Girls Girls Girls,’ directed by Richard Thorpe.
Presley was conscious that footage like Girls! Girls! Girls! (1962) weren’t nice cinema and dubbed his movies “travelogues.” He wanted higher roles, however Parker reportedly turned down elements in films comparable to West Side Story and Midnight Cowboy. However, Presley never took performing classes and was maybe not fully targeted on altering the arc of his profession.
Presley continued to seem in formulaic films, for which the studios paid him properly. He earned $500,000 or more per image and a share of the web income. The lackluster Kissin’ Cousins (1963), which starred Presley in twin roles, demonstrated that an Elvis movie would generate profits even when manufacturing was rushed. The film shot in 17 days underneath the aegis of a producer nicknamed “King of the Quickies.”
Though nonetheless a part of the “Elvis genre,” Viva Las Vegas (1964) was a higher-quality affair. However, that shoot ran lengthy, which reduce into the film’s income. After this, Parker pushed for short productions, with simply two or three weeks of filming, as a result of it boosted the underside line. This resulted in footage like Harum Scarum (1965), which exhibitors deemed “Presley’s worst movie yet” (and that was with out the speaking camel that Parker had unsuccessfully tried so as to add to the movie). Still, being seen as a nasty film did not forestall it from being profitable.
Elvis Movies Made Hollywood Money
Presley’s films carried out so properly that they spared the studio Allied Artists from chapter. Producer Wallis additionally stated Presley’s movies have been bankrolling extra “artistic pictures.” Presley didn’t like listening to this, however he needed Hollywood money to fund his way of life.
Hollywood had Presley compromise his artistic integrity in different methods. Though he made a couple of non-film recordings, most of his musical expertise was used to create soundtracks with subpar songs. He stopped giving live performances round 1961. As rock music changed in the 1960s with the Beatles, the Beach Boys and Bob Dylan, Presley’s creativity floundered.
In 1965, Presley met with the Beatles. In one model of their encounter, John Lennon asked, “Why don’t you go back to making rock ‘n’ roll records?” Presley supposedly answered, “It’s my movie schedule. It’s so tight.”
Elvis in ‘Change of Habit’ (1969)
Why Did Elvis Stop Acting?
By 1968, box-office income declined as audiences lastly uninterested in Presley’s low-quality movies. Presley, who’d turn out to be dissatisfied together with his Hollywood profession, told Parker he wished to re-focus on music. In December 1968, Presley’s TV Christmas particular demonstrated the expertise and musical means that had made him a star within the first place.
Change of Habit (1969) was Presley’s last function movie. He was later offered a starring function reverse Barbra Streisand in A Star Is Born (1976), however the half fell by. It’s not sure what precisely went improper; in a single model of the story, Parker undermined his star by making unreasonable calls for.
Presley spent a lot of the Seventies singing to devoted crowds. Yet as the last decade progressed, there have been increasingly cancellations. Presley died on August 16, 1977 on the age of 42. His time spent in Hollywood, good and dangerous, is now one of many methods his legacy lives on.
