Elvis: That's the Way It Is

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Elvis: That's the Way It Is
That's the Way It Is.jpg
Cover of special edition DVD
Directed byDenis Sanders
Starring Elvis Presley
Cinematography Lucien Ballard
Edited byHenry Berman
Distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release dates
  • November 1970 (1970-11)(Toronto)
  • November 11, 1970 (1970-11-11)(United States)
Running time
108 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Box office>$1 million

Elvis: That's the Way It Is is a 1970 American documentary film directed by Denis Sanders. The film documents American singer Elvis Presley's Summer Festival in Las Vegas during August 1970. It was his first non-dramatic film since the beginning of his film career in 1956, and the film gives a clear view of Presley's return to live performances after years of making films. The film was released simultaneously with Presley's similarly titled twelfth studio album, That's the Way It Is .

Contents

Overview

The original concept – as devised by technical advisor Colonel Tom Parker – was a closed circuit television presentation of one show, in view of Presley's triumphant return to live performances. The film was ultimately shot with eight Panavision cameras, in 35mm anamorphic format.

Although most of the footage takes place onstage at the International Hotel in Las Vegas, there are several other parts to the film:

Onstage in Las Vegas

The Elvis Summer Festival at the International Hotel began on August 10, 1970, and the MGM film crew was on hand to film this show as well as the evening and midnight performances of August 11, 12 and 13. He sings many well-known songs, including several of those that he had been seen rehearsing earlier in the film. The songs are:

Presley is also seen relaxing in his hotel suite with various members of his entourage. The movie is also intercut with footage of fans offering commentary about what Presley means to them; officials at the International Hotel; and celebrities (including Sammy Davis Jr., Cary Grant, Charo, George Hamilton, Juliet Prowse and Xavier Cugat) arriving for opening night of the show.

Shows/rehearsals

Cast

Reception

The film opened in the week ending November 11, 1970 at the Uptown I theater in Toronto, Canada grossing a mild $9,500 for the week. [1] It expanded to at least 9 cities the following week (including San Francisco, Portland, Denver and San Antonio) grossing $78,950 from the sample cities covered by Variety and placing 25th on their box office chart. [2] [3] [4] Based on the sample cities covered by Variety, it grossed $332,714 from 110 play weeks in 1970. [5] In Japan it grossed $700,000 in its first 6 weeks. [6]

Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune described it as "a carefully managed […] concert designed to promote his future engagements in Nevada." He noted that "fans will be enthralled as Presley sings more than a dozen of his hits" but that "persons hoping to learn about the man after hours will be disappointed." [7]

2001 version

In 2001, a new version of That's the Way it Is was compiled and produced by award-winning producer Rick Schmidlin. The new version eliminated much of the documentary and non-Elvis content of the original in favor of adding additional performances of Elvis rehearsing and in concert. The final film runs 12 minutes shorter than the original, but contains more music, although several performances included in the original film are omitted (most notably the concert performance of "I Just Can't Help Believin'", even though the new version of the film features footage of Presley rehearsing the song and being concerned about remembering its lyrics on stage).

The special edition was released on January 19, 2001, when this new version made its worldwide debut on the cable network, Turner Classic Movies, where it was the most watched film ever and seen by 95% of the audience. This is why the DVD wasn't a big seller.

In August 2007 a two-disc DVD "special edition" was released by Warner/Turner that has both the reworked version plus the original cut. The original, however, has only a mono soundtrack (it was originally mixed in four-track stereo).[ citation needed ] The DVD also includes approximately 35 minutes of additional performances and other footage that was not included in either edition.

A two-disc Special Edition Premium Digibook was released on August 12, 2014. Estimated sales of the DVDs are well over 10 million.

See also

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References

  1. ↑ "'Norway' Neat 12G, Tor'nto; 'McKenzie' Nice $8,300, 'Executioner' Sharp 8G". Variety . November 11, 1970. p. 10 – via Archive.org.
  2. ↑ "50 Top-Grossing Films". Variety . November 25, 1970. p. 11.
  3. ↑ Elvis: That's the Way It Is at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films
  4. ↑ "Picture Grosses". Variety . November 18, 1970. pp. 8–12.
  5. ↑ "U.S. Films Share-of-Market Profile". Variety . May 12, 1971. p. 182.
  6. ↑ "Record-Breaking (advertisement)". Kine Weekly . April 24, 1971. p. 1.
  7. ↑ Siskel, Gene (May 26, 1971). "Taking Off". Chicago Tribune . Chicago, Illinois: Tribune Media Services. p. 7, s. 2.

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