Elvis Presley, it turns out, is still a box-office draw. Baz Luhrmann’s “Elvis” is officially a hit, moving not only movie tickets but lots the King’s greatest hits albums too.
Like most of Luhrmann’s films, this one is getting mixed reviews, based mostly on whether the reviewer likes or dislikes Luhrmann’s frenetic directing style. Even the pans praise Austin Butler as Elvis; even the plaudits pan Tom Hanks, in a fake nose and a fat suit, as “Colonel” Tom Parker. Those concerned with historical accuracy, though, are disappointed that Luhrmann devotes lots of the film’s two and a half hours to the visual glitz of his Las Vegas comeback, at the expense of the aural excitement of his Sun Studio beginnings (maybe we’ll see that in the four-hour version Luhrmann confirmed exists).
The story of the record that broke Elvis out of obscurity is well-known to his devoted fans, but how many of them are still around? Arthur “Big Boy” Crudup recorded this song in 1946; Elvis, at the conclusion of an otherwise disappointing Sun Records recording session with Scotty Moore and Bill Black in 1954, broke into it at a quickened tempo. Studio owner Sam Phillips* got it onto vinyl and Presley’s career was underway. Some people think it’s the first rock ‘n’ roll record, even though it has no drums. According to reviews I’ve read, Luhrmann dispatches this tale with a couple of quick cuts.
Here’s Crudup’s original, in its 78 rpm album pressing.
