A Review Worthy of Its Subject

Above, Elvis Presley in the U.S. Army.

One of the best reviews I've seen so far on the HBO documentary, "Elvis Presley: The Searcher" has been posted at The Times-Gazette by Gary Abernathy.

His review is titled, "Finally, a documentary worthy of its subject".

It begins with:

“Elvis Presley: The Searcher,” showing now on HBO, is a new two-part, three-hour documentary directed by Thom Zimny that stands apart because it focuses on what made Elvis popular to begin with – his talent, his performance style and his music. 

It foregoes the more outlandish aspects of Elvis’ life that typically provide fodder for Elvis biopics – peanut butter and banana sandwiches, the 1970 spur-of-the-moment visit to President Nixon, shooting out television sets – in favor of the influences and career decisions that made Elvis explode onto the scene in the 1950s, and the lasting talent that embedded him forever into the cultural landscape. 

Countless biographical movies and documentaries have been made about Elvis. The best of the bunch to date was the first one, the 1979 made-for-TV movie “Elvis,” starring Kurt Russell, produced by Dick Clark and directed by John Carpenter. It has finally been eclipsed. 

Society is so far removed from the 1950s that it is almost impossible to understand now the shock value of Elvis’ arrival into living rooms across America on TV shows hosted by Milton Berle, Steve Allen and, most famously, Ed Sullivan. The clips have been repeated so often that they lose their impact. “Elvis Presley: The Searcher” comes as close as possible to reminding us what a tsunami Elvis created.

One can consider this review also worthy of its subject.

To read more, go here.