"Don't fight now, you hear? Someday I'm going to buy you a house and Cadillacs." - Jonathan Rhys Meyers as a youthful Elvis making a promise to his mother and father
Elvis: The Miniseries DVD Review
By Casey Richards
Throughout his career on the silver screen, superstar Elvis Presley starred in several accomplished classics (King Creole, Jailhouse Rock, Viva Las Vegas) and an even greater number of bland piffles (Roustabout, Change of Habit, Kid Galahad). Onscreen portrayals of Elvis have been just as mixed (Elvis and the Beauty Queen, Heartbreak Hotel). With the 2005 miniseries Elvis, Presley and his fans finally have an exemplary biopic of which they can be proud.
Part one introduces Jonathan Rhys Meyers (The Tudors) as high schooler Elvis Presley living a hardscrabble life with his parents Gladys (Camryn Manheim, The Practice) and Vernon (Robert Patrick, Terminator 2: Judgment Day) in a Memphis housing project. Elvis' dream is to become a singer, a pursuit that his practical father does not support. Elvis persists, though, taking the money he earns as a truck driver to Sun Studios and records a single for his beloved Mama. It takes a while, but Sun owner Sam Phillips (Tim Guinee) finally realizes that Elvis could be a goldmine. Soon, Elvis' version of "Blue Moon of Kentucky" is burning up the airwaves and Elvis is making appearances on the Grand Ole Opry and Louisiana Hayride under the management of Phillips. Elvis soon catches the eye of promoter Colonel Tom Parker (Randy Quaid, The Brotherhood of Poland, NH) who buys out Elvis' contract.
With his career on the rise, Gladys begins to worry about her son's health and well-being. Critics are proclaiming that his provocative dance moves are immoral. She also notes that the Colonel would "sell the paint off his own mama's house" and may not have her son's best interests at heart. Elvis tries to appease Gladys by buying her a huge mansion, dubbed Graceland. His star continues to rise, but everything is threatened at the end of part one when he is drafted into the Army.
Part two begins with one of the great tragedies in Elvis' life-Gladys' death. He also meets and falls in love with a then-fourteen year-old Priscilla Beaulieu (Antonia Bernath) while serving in Germany. As the years skip by, Elvis returns to the U.S., has a love/hate relationship with Viva Las Vegas co-star Ann-Margret (Rose McGowan, Charmed), buys cars for his pals and even strangers, and has an existential crisis because of the junky projects the Colonel has booked him into. Then the Colonel makes a deal for a Christmas special to be directed by Steve Binder (Jack Noseworthy). Sensing Elvis' unhappiness, Binder colludes with the superstar to change the scope of the special. What has become known as The '68 Comeback Special was born.
Although fictionalized, Elvis hews pretty closely to the actual story. It is extremely entertaining. Its main flaw is that the miniseries ends with the Comeback Special, leaving the remaining ten years of Elvis' life to be summed up in an onscreen graphic.
Elvis is uniformly well acted. Rhys Meyers, a Golden Globe winner for "Best Actor in a Miniseries" and Emmy nominee, makes a dynamic Elvis. Manheim was also an Emmy nominee for her indelible portrait of Gladys. Patrick is just as good as Vernon. Emmy nominee Quaid brings showman Colonel Parker to life with a subtly unplaceable dialect that reflects the carny's mysterious past. Even the smallest of roles is vividly cast. The miniseries itself was also nominated for an Emmy.
The miniseries greatly benefits from the participation of the Presley Estate and the use of the original master recordings. Both lend an air of authenticity, even if Rhys Meyers doesn't quite have lip-syncing down pat.
Both halves of Elvis: The Miniseries are included on a single DVD. The DVD is housed in an Elvis-appropriate gold keepcase which features photos of Rhys Meyers dressed in Elvis' gold lamé suit (on the front and on the DVD itself) and as a youthful Elvis on the back cover. The design is striking and bold. The keepcase slides into a cardboard outer sleeve which is flocked to resemble avelvet Elvis painting. The effect isn't perfect, but overall it's a winner.
Viewers can watch the entire miniseries or choose individual scenes from a scene selection menu. A brochure (see below) in the keepcase lists the chapter names. There is only one flaw-the brochure starts the chapter numbers anew for the second half, but when watching the miniseries, the main title sequence of part two is actually chapter twenty-one.
