All language subtitles for Reinventing.Elvis.The.68.Comeback.2023.720p.WEBRip.x264.AAC-[YTS.MX]

Downloaded from
YTS.MX

Official YIFY movies site:
YTS.MX

♪ MTV ♪

All right. Hold it, fellas,
while we do this.

Just a moment.
- Standing by.

All right,
places everyone, please.

Don't roll tape yet, please.

Quiet, please.

You wanna get
the slate here?

Roll.

All right, here we go.

Welcome to NBC

and "The Elvis Presley
Special."

I've got an audience
now that we put together.

I've got my whole
camera crew ready to go.

We're getting
ready to roll tape.

We have Bob Finkel,
our executive producer,

going to do a warm up
for the audience.

Ladies and gentlemen,
Mr. Elvis Presley.

And then, next thing I know,
he's announcing Elvis,

and there's no Elvis.

My stage manager called me
and said,

"Uh-oh.
We're in trouble, Steve.

You've gotta go see Elvis
in the makeup room."

Elvis asked everybody
in the makeup room to leave

'cause he has something
really important

he wants to talk to me about.

He looks at me and he said,
"Steve, I hate to do this,

but I'm not going out there.
I can't."

And I said,
"What are you talking about?"

He said "My mind is a blank.

I can't go out there.
I'll embarrass myself."

I was stunned.

Elvis and I had been working
so closely together.

By the late 1960s,
he had become irrelevant.

I was hired to
direct and produce

a TV special that
would help resurrect

his once great career.

Along the way, we had
a few obstacles to overcome.

Most created by Elvis's
notorious manager,

Colonel Tom Parker.

Now, everything we were
working so hard to achieve

felt like it was
about to fall apart.

I said, "Elvis,
I haven't asked you

to do anything that you didn't
wanna do on this special.

I'm not asking you this time.

I'm telling you, you have got
to go out there."

I turned my back on him,
I walked out,

and I went
to the control room,

freaking out, saying,
"He's not going to come."

I think all artists go through
a real period of insecurity

when they're asked to perform
in front of audiences.

I certainly feel that
as a director.

Every time I went in to direct
anything, I was wondering,

am I a fraud?

It's just human nature.

This was having
Elvis walk out there cold

after not performing for years
in front of a live audience.

He was scared to death.

And walked up to
the control room

not knowing if he was
going to actually come out.

And then, one of
my cameramen said,

"Steve, look at camera four."

All right.
All righty.

Here's Elvis.

Here we go, buddy.

Come look at this.

- OK.

Well, good night.

And then, it was
that old vaudeville thing

of get the hook.

I couldn't get him
off the stage.

♪ You got me peepin'
you got me hiding ♪

♪ You got me peep,
hide, hide, peep ♪

♪ Any way you wanna roll ♪

♪ Yeah, yeah, yeah ♪

♪ You got me doin' what you ♪

♪ Baby, what do you want me
to do? ♪

♪ We're goin' up, ahh, ahh ♪

♪ We're goin' down ♪

♪ We're goin' up,
down, down, up ♪

♪ Any way you wanna
let it roll ♪

♪ Yeah, yeah, yeah ♪

♪ You got me doin'
what you want me ♪

♪ Baby, what do
you want me to do? ♪

I think he knew that this
special was going to be

his make or break special.

Aw, yeah!

- All right!
- Yeah!

To see Elvis come out
in a leather suit

looking cooler than anybody's
ever looked, right,

and singing with such passion,

it's so cool to see,

especially in the context
of where he was

in his career at the time.

You have Elvis
performing in a way

that you hadn't seen
him perform in a decade.

As soon as he starts
singing, he's just,

right back in the groove.

And it's a killer performance.

You could see his
antenna go on--ding--

and he was just there.

And after that,
he never looked back.

For many reasons,
I was really excited

about this sequence.

It wasn't easy to get
Elvis or the Colonel

to agree to even do it.

In fact, nothing about
this production was easy.

♪ Yeah, yeah, yeah ♪

♪ You got me doin' what
you what you want me ♪

♪ Baby, what do
you want me to do? ♪

♪ You got me doing
what you want me ♪

♪ Baby, what do
you want me to do? ♪

- You got it!

♪ When I look out my window ♪

♪ Many sights to see ♪

♪ And when I look
in my window ♪

♪ So many
different people to be ♪

In the 1960s, the bigotry
in the South is heinous,

the politicians are heinous.

All through the Southern zone,

it's still colored-only
restrooms, water fountains,

but also, the seeds of the
Civil Rights Movement

in the air.

And then, cities on fire.

Riots going on,

Vietnam with napalm
and chemicals,

wounded soldiers,

protesting in the streets.

That became the beginning
of this great divide,

and that divide kept growing.

It really tore
the country apart.

♪ Yeah ♪

♪ Must be the season
of the witch ♪

When you look at the
Elvis movies of that time

and contrast that with what's
going on in the real world,

it's almost as if Elvis is
living in a parallel universe.

And then The Beatles
came along

just at the time the movies
were so dreadful,

and all of a sudden,
Elvis looked old hat.

What do you think of the
comment that you're nothing,

but a bunch of British
Elvis Presleys?

It's not true!
It's not true!

- Oh!

Part of what's bittersweet
about Elvis in the late '60s

is that in
a certain sense, he's--

everyone knows who he is

and everyone regards him
as a godfather

of this rock and roll thing
that's happening,

but at the same time,
he's a little bit

on the outside looking in.

And so Elvis is
trying to figure out,

like, how do I relate to
this thing that's happening?

If The Beatles
are the new thing,

does that mean
I'm the old thing?

I think, on some level,
he had to have felt threatened

because The Beatles
put out a movie,

and it's called "The Citizen
Kane of jukebox musicals."

No one was saying that about
any of the Elvis movies.

And now, the Spinal Twist.

The Spinal Twist!

Now, back to the Lotus.

Can we go someplace and talk?

Sure, come on.

And you think of
not just The Beatles,

but all the other acts
that came in their wake--

the British Invasion,
and Dylan,

and the later groups
in the '60s.

Elvis was a music fan,
and we know he had records

by a lot of those artists.

He was listening
to that stuff.

And I think
as the decade went on,

he could see the music industry
passing him by.

Singer presents "Elvis,"

starring Elvis Presley
in his first TV special.

His first personal performance
on TV in nearly 10 years.

There were a lot of
factors that came together

in having the special happen.

It began when Elvis's manager,
Colonel Parker,

is trying to cut
another movie deal.

And he liked to get his
million dollar deal,

and he couldn't get one
because no one wanted

to put up a million dollars
for an Elvis movie--

not anymore.

Finally, he gets a deal
with NBC

where they will
put up the money

for a movie and a TV special.

So that's why
we have the special

because his film career had
gone so far below the water

that Parker realized,
we need something

so I can save face and get
my million dollar deal.

Welcome to NBC, and
"The Elvis Presley Special."

You can do better than that.

I'm gonna say
it all over again.

I wanna really hear something.

Anybody have to go
to the bathroom?

Welcome to NBC, and
"The Elvis Presley Special!"

My father was Bob Finkel,

and he was reaching
the pinnacle of his career

as a musical variety
special producer.

His style was very hands-on.

He was a classy guy, he was
smart, and he was innovative.

Tom Sarnoff, who was the
head of NBC at the time,

called in my dad and said,
"I wanna do this show,

and I want you to do it."

My father said, "I can't
direct this and produce it,

"but I'll come on as
executive producer,

and let me find somebody."

And he had been noticing
the career of kind of

a young guy in town.

His name was Steve Binder.

I'm in my office,
and the telephone rings.

It's Bob Finkel.

And he said, "Look, Steve,
we may be doing

"an Elvis Presley special,
and I would like you

to produce it and direct it."

I was not a fan
of Elvis Presley.

To tell you the truth,
I was a West Coast guy.

I was into The Beach Boys,
Jan and Dean,

and The Fifth Dimension,
all those West Coast acts.

But what really sold me

was meeting Elvis Presley
in person.

The first time that Elvis
and I met was at my office.

And the first question
out of Elvis's mouth is,

"Steve, what do you
think of my career?"

And I said, "Truthfully, I
think it's in the toilet."

And there was this moment.

Elvis just stared at me.

I couldn't tell
if he was hurt, angry

or how he was going
to respond.

Then Elvis burst out laughing.

And he said,
"Finally, somebody's

talking truth to me."

The 1950s was the
advent of the nuclear age,

and it became a mad race
for nuclear supremacy.

The Cold War dug in quickly.

And this battle between the
United States and the USSR

provided a consensus
here at home.

You might have different
views on different issues,

but we all hated
Russia together.

There was a new consciousness
of a generation in the 1950s.

There's gotta be
more to life than just

wanting to have bigger
bombs than the Russians.

♪ Now, the bellhop's
tears keep flowin' ♪

♪ And the desk clerk's
dressed in black ♪

♪ Well, they've been so
long on Lonely Street ♪

♪ They'll never,
never look back ♪

♪ And they're so lonely, baby ♪

♪ Well, they're so lonely ♪

♪ They're so lonely,
they pray to die ♪

I see him as somebody
who was a pioneer

and smashing up
some of the conformity

of the Eisenhower '50s.

There was something
about him,

an aura, that he created,

and it made him one
of the revolutionary figures

of Cold War America.

♪ If your baby leaves you and
you've got to tale to tell ♪

♪ Well, just take
a walk down Lonely Street ♪

♪ To Heartbreak Hotel ♪

♪ Where you'll be
so lonely, baby ♪

♪ Well, you'll be lonely ♪

♪ You'll be so lonely
you could die ♪

♪ Well ♪

No artist ever exploded
on the national scene

with the volcanic impact
of Elvis Presley.

I always say to people
who weren't alive

when this happened in 1956,

you cannot imagine
the way the world changed.

Changed the way we think,
the way we felt,

changed the youth culture.

It brought about
the whole focus

on teenagers who had music
and films

to separate themselves
from their parents.

It was as if we went from
black and white to Technicolor.

That's where
I actually got my--

my style of singing from,
was rhythm and blues

and gospel mixed
with country and Western.

He had all these influences.

We know he drew on R
and gospel and country,

but he fused them into
something else in a way

that no one had done before.

He was innovative.

Part of what made that
Elvis explosion so influential

is that moment of fusion.

That detonation,
that sense of a Big Bang

of things coming together.

He's a spark that
creates this explosion.

There's a part of Elvis
that gets on stage

and people
go absolutely crazy.

That kind of frenzy is
something that nowadays,

you see in hip-hop.

The idea that there's gonna
be someone who emerges

from youth culture,
who captures

everyone's imagination,
whom parents hate.

Elvis was emerging in
mainstream celebrity culture.

He was an outlaw
hitting the stages.

And yet, nobody knew what
to do with him because

he was so likable
and so lovable.

Not everybody loved
Elvis Presley

when he first
came on the scene.

Some people thought
he really was a threat

to the National Security.

When he played Louisville
in November of 1956,

the police filmed
the show for the FBI.

When he played Jacksonville, Florida,

Judge Marion Gooding
sat in the audience

just daring him
to be lascivious.

The PGA, the YMCA, or
somebody, they thought I was--

And they said, "Man,
he's gotta be crazy."

So, they--

the police came out,
and they filmed the show.

So I couldn't move,
I had to stand still.

The only thing I moved was
my little finger like that.

♪ You ain't nothin'
but a hound dog ♪

♪ Cryin' all the time ♪

You know, for the whole show.

People don't realize that

for a white person
to be singing songs

that were African-American
compositions

that came deep
from Black culture,

Elvis was seen as
betraying the white race

to a lot of bigots
in the South.

You could burn his records,

you can hang them in effigy,

you could flip him off,

you could say he's a
communist, say he's a radical,

but you still had Elvis.

He was a kind of prince
of that particular moment

in American life.

Elvis matters because he's
the king of rock and roll.

I think the reason
Elvis matters,

there are two sides to this.

there are two sides to this.
One, there's just
Elvis the performer

One, there's just
Elvis the performer

and the great music he did.

But in a sense, now, maybe
even the greater legacy

is the influence he had

because he inspired
so many people

that went on to do
music that inspire

the next generation and so on.

♪ Well, since my baby left ♪

♪ I found a new place
to dwell ♪

♪ It's down at the
end of Lonely Street ♪

♪ It's Heartbreak Hotel ♪

♪ And I'll be, I'll
be so lonely, baby ♪

♪ I'll be so lonely, yeah ♪

♪ I'll be so lonely,
I could die ♪

For me, it was the music
and his voice.

It's just absolutely amazing.

When he opened his mouth
to sing, you know,

all you could say was,
"That's Elvis."

He was original.

I mean, he's one
of those artists

that 100 years from now,

they're still gonna be
talking about Elvis.

He's influenced everybody.

I mean, I'm talking
about rappers,

I'm talking about
country singers,

I'm talking about everybody.

I mean, we're all
influenced by Elvis.

We might not know it,
but we are.

I'm from Dominican Republic,

and I'm supposed to be
listening to salsa,

bachata, merengue, like--

Then, here you go,
I'm introduced to Elvis.

What made Elvis' sound
unique is, it was like,

this is how I see it.

I think he was Dominican
in the other life

because the way he moved
while he was playing his songs

and that African feel, that's
what really resonated to me.

With the soul and the spirit
of what Elvis used to do,

it's like he created
something that never existed.

Elvis's music, I felt it.

I didn't see it.
I felt it.

And that's what I apply
in my music at all times.

When I'm creating,
when I'm songwriting,

when I'm producing, I make sure
that my heart is there, first.

♪ Well, it's one
for the money ♪

♪ Two for show ♪

♪ Three to get ready now,
go, cat, go ♪

♪ But don't you step on
my blue suede shoes ♪

♪ Well, you can do anything but
lay off my blue suede shoes ♪

Most people's idea of Elvis
is the caricature of Elvis.

Right, they know the jumpsuit,
they know the sideburns.

They don't necessarily
know how, I think, great

Elvis was as a performer
and as a singer.

Because I've obviously
borrowed a lot from Elvis.

I've studied him my
whole life, and there's

a lot that I just kind of
instinctually now,

you know, I kinda go back
to some of those Elvis-isms,

you know,
and try to steal some of that.

'Cause it's great.
It was him feeling the music,

and that's how I approach it.

I mean, always, my goal is
to feel music like Elvis did.

♪ Yeah, blue, blue,
the blue suede shoes ♪

♪ Blue, blue,
the blue suede shoes ♪

♪ Blue, blue, the blue
suede shoes ♪

♪ Blue, blue,
the blue suede shoes ♪

♪ Well, you can do anything,
but lay off ♪

♪ Of my blue suede shoes ♪

Oh!

Whoo!

The sensational adventure

of the notorious Reno Brothers

and the girl they fought over.

Starring Richard Egan
as Vance Reno,

Debra Paget as Cathy,

and introducing
Elvis Presley as Clint Reno.

Elvis did four movies
before going in the Army.

The first one, he's really
more of a secondary player.

He's not even the lead.

The other three,
is a lead character.

And they always made
him a singer in those.

His character was a singer,
I mean, a performer.

So they weren't really
trying to push him too much

and have him do something else
outside of that.

As far as favorite
Elvis movies,

I'm always kind of
tied between "Jailhouse Rock"

and "King Creole."

Here we go.

You'll be great tonight.

I heard you rehearsing before.

What kind of songs
are they you're singing?

Folk songs?

I guess so.

That's what I thought.

What planet?

Just laugh it up, kid.

No offense.

"King Creole," it's a fun
movie, but it's also dark.

And that was Elvis's
favorite movie because he was

able to act in that one.

Listen, Mr. Evans, we moved
into this neighborhood

three years ago.

In the three years that I've
been going to school here,

I've shined shoes and dusted
people off in a barber shop.

I've done towel duty in
four different men's rooms.

I've stacked chairs and bottles
and swept the floor up

of every joint
on Bourbon Street.

It's gotten so I
look longer at a dame

with clothes on
than one without.

I'm not a hoodlum,
but I am a hustler.

His lucrative career
as rock and roll king

interrupted for a while.

Elvis Presley begins
his military service

at Fort Chaffee, Arkansas.

Yeah, hurl it--
oh, wait a minute.

Everybody ready?

Rock and roll music, if you
like it and if you feel it,

you can't help, but move to it.

That's what happens to me,
I--

I can't help it.

There's quite a group of
people who don't sort of

approve of the thing you do.

They seem to think
that it contributes

to juvenile delinquency
and all sorts of things.

I've tried to figure it out.

I don't see how they can
think that it would contribute

to juvenile delinquency

if someone
saw me singing and dancing.

I don't--I don't see that.

I think it was important
for Colonel Parker

to get Elvis drafted--
and he did,

he negotiated
the whole thing--

for a couple of reasons.

One, Elvis was still
being seen as kind of

a dangerous hooligan
by one segment of society.

And the Colonel
had plans for him

to assimilate, to be an
establishment figure

when he came back
from the service.

Do you feel that
rock and roll,

the popularity
of rock and roll,

will diminish in any way
while you're in the Army?

That's hard to tell.

The only thing I can
say is I hope not.

Oh, there's no question,
Elvis Presley going

into the military
hurt his musical career,

but it helped
his public persona

because Elvis
was seen as a good boy.

It sent a larger message
that Elvis loved America.

And it seemed like
Uncle Sam

was saving Elvis
from debauchery,

but it robbed us
of great years of Elvis.

Oh, Waihila,
I think I'm scared.

He's been gone for two years.

What if he's changed?

Just be patient with him.

Some boys need time to get
adjusted to being back home.

Some of 'em get the hang
of it right away.

Elvis' going into the Army
basically ended

his career as an innovator.

He never lost his talents,

but he wasn't
doing anything innovative.

And it wasn't taking rock
to the next level,

the next stage.

He became, you know,
just more of an entertainer,

which is fine
if you're happy doing that.

Except, he wasn't happy
doing that.

Elvis made the series of
movies throughout the '60s,

and they just kinda
went downhill.

Now, wait a minute.
Wait a minute.

There's something
wrong with my lip.

You remember that, don't you?

I've got news for you, baby.

I did 29 pictures like that, man.

There got to be a sort of
template for what we think of

as the Elvis movie.

Basically, you had Elvis as
an individual character who

very much stands on his own.

And he's in some kind of
rugged, manly profession...

As the explosive ordnance
disposal man.

For the last three days, I've
been a full-fledged employee

of the Hawaiian Tourist
Guide Service.

I'll fill in for El Trovador

if you give me
a job as a lifeguard.

Thanks, Sam.
I'm still a fisherman.

You're a good pilot.

Now you're a roustabout.

Is that good?

And, you know,
a bit of a tough guy.

You better move.

Why don't you move me?

He was always
very much an individual

and needing to
make his own way.

And there's a young woman
who he's interested in

who, in some of these,
they're sort of

confrontational
at the beginning,

but he wins her over at
the end by doing it his way.

Did you ever?

And somehow, he's
a singer on top of that, too.

That's where it
gets a little crazy.

A race car driver
and a singer.

And the Navy frogmen,
oh, and he's a singer.

And a cowboy and, you know,
he's a singer.

They're just silly,
and the scripts aren't good.

- Behave yourself!

Ahh!

You don't eat
out much, do you?

Good afternoon.
This is The Barrow Gang.

Now, if everybody would
just take it easy,

nobody will get hurt.

Well, 1967,
it was one of

the high water marks
in Hollywood history,

when you were
bringing this sort of

gritty social realism
into play.

What we've got here is

failure to communicate.

With movies like
"Cool Hand Luke"

with, you know,
Paul Newman,

or Sidney Poitier, you know,

"Guess Who's Coming
to Dinner,"

you're dealing with race
relations in an intense way.

In "The Graduate,"
you're bringing in

a youth culture story.

These are movies dealing
with societal issues

that are complex.

There's still
something wrong.

I mean, Elvis Presley's
movies of the 1960s,

they were brainless.

That bugs you, doesn't it?

It's just good business.

A single girl
sells more tickets.

- I'll keep it.
- Where?

It's just, he was a much
greater artist than that.

It's a good thing you weren't
wearing a charm bracelet.

The pity, the reason people
laugh or mock Elvis's films

is that we all know
he was better than the movie.

Would you like me any
better if I hated money,

grew a beard,
and stood on my head?

Any change would
be an improvement.

By 1968, Elvis needed
a comeback for many reasons.

One, to regain his footing
in the marketplace,

but also to save his own soul.

I had three meetings
with Colonel Parker,

and Colonel Parker
was an enigma.

He could be charming and kind

or he could be harsh and
dismissive and humiliating,

often within the scope of
a very short period of time.

His personal motto was, "you
either con or you get conned."

So as long as you
kissed the ring,

you got along well with him,
but if you challenged him

or questioned him, look out.

I've learned that nothing in
Elvis' world is too bizarre.

Colonel Tom Parker was not

from Huntington,
West Virginia.

He wasn't a Colonel.
His name wasn't Tom or Parker.

He was born Andreas Cornelis
van Kuijk in Holland in 1909.

Then in 1929, he left under
mysterious circumstances.

He just left in
the dead of night.

He didn't take his clothes.

No money,
no identifying papers.

He left all of it behind.

He cut off all contacts
with his family.

We do know from a very
reliable researcher

that he had a police file.

He has been implicated
in a murder.

A murder of a woman who was
the wife of the greengrocer.

This was a shop
that was on the street

where his mother lived
and that he frequented.

We don't know for sure
that he killed this woman,

but we can say he lived his
life as someone on the lam.

There's almost
no paper trail for him,

not even a marriage license.

He never became
a U.S. citizen.

This is a guy who had
something to hide,

and he disappeared in
the very window of time

that this woman was killed.

He also had a peculiar quirk.

He would take bets about
how much pepper he can eat.

He would pour spoonfuls
of pepper into his hand

and then he would eat it all.

And they would take
bets on how many spoonfuls

he could ingest before he just
couldn't do it anymore.

Now, that may just be
some kind of parlor trick

for the Colonel,
but I do find it interesting

that the woman
who was killed in Holland,

whoever killed her--

and I do think that she was
killed in an act of rage

rather than a premeditated situation

because she was beaten
to literally, a pulp--

whoever did that
had presence of mind

before he left to sprinkle
pepper around the apartment.

Why pepper?

Because, perhaps,
the Holland Police Department

used dogs in 1929 who
might have picked up a scent.

Now, who would have
known to do that?

Maybe, somebody who
trained animals, right?

Guess what Colonel
Parker was doing

when he wasn't loading big
rounds of cheese onto ships?

He trained animals.

So there's no real proof,
hard proof,

that he killed that woman,

but there's a lot
of circumstantial evidence.

There were other suspects.

He was never actually named,
except implicated

by a family member
many, many years later.

Something awful had to
have happened over there.

Something he could not fix,
and he could fix anything.

In the beginning, Elvis was
very dependent on the Colonel,

and it was Parker
who turned him

into a national phenomenon.

That much is true.

I've always thought of
Parker as a great promoter,

but not necessarily
the best manager.

The Colonel turned Elvis
into the first

really branded artist.

The first artist that had,
you know,

it was Elvis' name and face
was printed on everything,

and you never had that before.

The Colonel was really
a pioneer in that.

I saw the reaction this
boy received from the people,

and I knew I could help him.

- Well, what has been your--
- I think my experience

and, in a small way,
handling his future

with making contracts
where, perhaps,

someone would offer a certain
amount of the money

and I thought this artist
was worth more,

and I held out for my price.

Colonel Parker prided
himself on getting

the best deal for
his client,

but he didn't have
a lot of vision.

And he didn't seem to know
how to develop Elvis's talent.

It's kind of like,
once he had a good thing,

he was just gonna
keep working it.

He has a tremendous
amount of personality.

They admire him.
They like his singing.

I don't have the answer,
why, and I don't think

I wanna find out
because business is good.

Elvis knew that the Colonel
jump-started his career,

and he knew that he wouldn't
have gotten to

where he ended up
without the Colonel.

And I think Elvis
was loyal to that.

The Colonel knew that
he was loyal to that.

I think the Colonel may
have taken advantage of that

and knew how to push
Elvis's buttons.

In a lot of ways, Elvis
was trapped by his dependency

on Colonel Parker.

He was forever stuck
because he didn't

have the emotional backbone
to buck him.

You know, in the beginning,
the Colonel and Elvis

had a pretty good relationship.

Elvis considered
him a father figure.

And he needed
a strong father figure

because his own father
was weak.

Elvis really thought,
the Colonel could

lift them out of poverty.

Vernon, his father, said,
"Don't screw this up.

Us Presley's have
been poor forever."

And so, Elvis did what
he was told to do.

But if somebody
else actually bucked

the Colonel for him,
like Steve Binder,

he was very happy about it.

I got a phone
call from Bob Finkel

saying, "OK, it's time for
you to meet Colonel Parker."

First thing the Colonel does,
he shakes my hand

and hands me a little
box with Elvis' picture

on the front cover,
and inside is

this 1/4 inch tape
of him singing

about 20 Christmas songs.

He tells me, "This is
our gift to disk jockeys

"all through
the United States,

and this is what Tom Sarnoff
and I want you to do."

The Colonel wasn't
interested in doing

anything imaginative in
a Christmas special at all.

He just wanted your
typical Christmas special

like you could have seen
from anyone else at that era--

You know, with Andy Williams
or Perry Como--

nice and comfortable.

And Steve thought to do
a show like that would

be squandering Elvis' talent.

If you have
a performer like Elvis,

don't you want to do
something better with him

than put him
in a fuzzy sweater

and sing the Christmas songs?

From the first minute of
meeting Parker, in my head,

I'm saying,
"I'm not doing this."

After that meeting,
I go back to my office

and my secretary says,
"There's a message

for you from Bob Finkel."

I called Finkel up
at NBC and Finkel says,

"I don't know what
you did to charm him,

"but the Colonel loves you.

"He's approving you.

"Elvis will be at
your office tomorrow

at 4:30 in the afternoon."

The first thing
he told me was

he didn't wanna do television.

It wasn't his turf.

And I said,
"Elvis, what's your turf?"

He said, "My turf
is making records."

And I said, "Great,
then you make a record

and I'll put pictures to it."

That's the very line that made
him feel comfortable,

aside from seeing
our offices with all

the gold records on the walls.

At the time, I had
partnered up with a very

talented, successful record
producer named Bones Howe.

So Elvis felt comfortable that
he was in hands with people

who spoke his language.

Years later, Priscilla Presley
said to me,

"You know, Steve, I don't know
if you ever knew this,

"but when Elvis came home from
your first meeting with him,

"he told me, 'You know, I had
this meeting

"'with this young guy, Binder,

"'and I don't care what
the Colonel says,

"'I'm gonna go with Binder.

I'm gonna do whatever
he asked me to do.'"

It was really, the first
time that Elvis had an ally.

Somebody who really
understood him

and could move mountains
to help him achieve

what he wanted artistically.

And who had the cojones
to face the Colonel.

Elvis could not do that.

And so the Colonel was greatly
threatened by Steve Binder,

who not only had Elvis's
trust,

but knew how to take him in
new creative ways of thinking

that would rejuvenate him.

But then, of course,
that meant that the Colonel

would lose control,
and the Colonel

could not take that risk.

Well, Steve Binder had
a long career in television.

He knew music and
he knew entertainment.

He had his own way
of doing things.

He'd established himself,
and because the work was good,

he was allowed to do things
the way he saw fit.

Steve was one of those
directors that cared.

A lot of directors,
they're on a clock.

They just want you
to do your thing.

And if they don't hate it, they
just flip you off

and move on, you know?

Whereas,
Steve did not do that.

I watched him.
He was very patient.

He would talk to the talent.

I was impressed by Steve.

Steve had such a way
of communicating calmness

and confidence.

In whatever you
were doing,

you felt that
it was gonna be good.

He never yelled at people.

He just did his
job so beautifully.

Oh, yes.

There are so many things I
like in this big, huge world.

I like blue oceans
and dark green woods,

crashing waves
and swaying branches.

I like orange
and red lollipops

and spinning carousels,

wooden horses and puppy dogs.

I like milk white clouds
and falling rain,

babbling brooks
and baseball games.

I like to run and jump,
laugh and cry.

I like the sky above,
the Earth below, and God.

I wonder why some
people don't like me?

Three gentlemen
approached me

about producing and directing
a one-hour Freedom Spectacular

celebrating the integration

of white schools
with Black students.

I would have total creative
free hand to do anything

I wanna do for an hour.

And the vision these guys had
was to project them

not on television,
not in theaters,

but in arenas
all across the country

to raise money for the NAACP.

Up to this point, the Freedom Spectacular

was the biggest production
of my career.

One of the producers of the
Spectacular, Bill Sargent,

hired me to direct
his next production,

the first rock and roll
feature film,

which came to be known
as the "T.A.M.I. Show."

It was
an incredible opportunity

for me to experiment

and also to direct
some of the top rock and roll

talent of the day.

It was historical.

♪ Feel that beat
coming strong ♪

♪ Feel the beat
wanna tap along ♪

♪ Jump for joy ♪

♪ We're telling you,
it's Hullabaloo ♪

I went to New York
to direct a show

called "Hullabaloo" for NBC.

It was one of the
first prime time

rock and roll shows
on network television.

It was kind of the opening
of my idea of saying,

I would really
like to specialize

in specials so the
word means something

and it just isn't a gimmick.

I want to take one
artist at a time

and create a show for them
that nobody else could do.

It would be built
around their music

and their personal experiences.

The first one was
Leslie Uggams,

who was on Broadway at the
time while I was doing

"Hullabaloo,"
starring in a Broadway hit

called "Hallelujah, Baby!"

When I started
directing in television,

there was a real segregation

in media in general,
even films.

There were stories of
Southern theater owners

cutting out Black artists.

I didn't intentionally
set out to make

any noise in terms of wanting
to integrate my casts.

It all seemed to just,
happen organically.

I'm making this tailor-made
special for Petula Clark.

And we build a segment for her
guest star, Harry Belafonte,

where he sings and dances

and then Petula coming in
to finish the segment,

singing a song she wrote,
which is an anti-war song.

I told Petula just, when you
come out, just go up to Harry,

stand shoulder to shoulder
with him, and see what happens.

♪ They will die
for their country ♪

♪ They will die
for you and me ♪

♪ Amid the pungent
smell of death ♪

♪ That's on the path of glory ♪

Once Petula
was alongside of Harry

and the chemistry was starting
to boil between the two

of them, Petula is the one
who reached out to Harry,

touched his forearm.

Now, I hear a commotion
in the sponsor's room.

He evidently is going nuts.

Saying, "They'll never
use that on the air.

We're gonna use
one of the other takes."

And storms out of
the sponsor's room.

Now we finish the segment.

Claude Wolff, Petula's
husband, says, "Come on, Steve.

We're going down to
the editing room."

He was behind me 100%.

So we go down the NBC
corridor to the editing room

and I order the editor
to erase all the other takes.

And the editor was shaking.

He had me sign a release saying
that I gave him permission

to erase the masters.

But thank God
we made the decision

to do that or for sure,
they would have aired

one of the non-touching takes.

And all hell broke loose.

It became an
international incident.

It was really hard for
me to imagine in 1968

that the audience
or the sponsor

would be offended by seeing a
white woman touch a Black man.

I didn't realize, at the time,
that the real impact that

that moment would have.

When Bob Finkel hired me to
direct and produce

the Elvis special,

he said, "I saw your
Petula Clark special

"and loved it
and the controversy

"that it stirred up.

"That and your reputation in
the business as a young rebel,

"the fact that you're around
the same age as Elvis,

makes me think you guys would
make a perfect combination."

To me, the importance
of the entire special

was Elvis Presley
rediscovering Elvis Presley.

I think he had lost
confidence in himself.

Well, I gotta do
this sooner or later,

so I might as well
do it now, baby.

♪ Since my baby left me, I
found a new place to dwell ♪

♪ And it's down on
the end of Lonely Street ♪

♪ At Heartbreak Hotel ♪

He walked up there
and he started singing,

and it was just--
the air came out of the room

because everybody was
just flabbergasted

that this was Elvis.

Elvis the way Elvis should be.

I wanted to get
back to raw, wild,

the guy who was chased by
the vice squad

whenever he appeared for fear
that he would totally destroy

the youth of America
with his obscene gestures.

♪ Well, you ain't
never caught a rabbit ♪

♪ And you ain't no friend--
ohh ♪

♪ You ain't nothin'
but a hound dog ♪

♪ Cryin' all the time ♪

♪ You ain't nothin'
but a hound dog ♪

♪ Crying all the time ♪

♪ Well, you ain't never
caught a rabbit ♪

♪ And you ain't
no friend of mine ♪

♪ Right, go, baby ♪

I called Allan Blye and
Chris Beard, my writers.

Allan and Chris
really came up with

the entire concept
for the show.

We spoke to Elvis for weeks.

He came down to Steve's office.

It was exciting as hell.

He understood himself
very well.

He had a great sense of humor
about himself.

We wrote the show about him,

the great reflection
of Elvis's life

at this point in his career.

They definitely said we
wanna do a gospel segment

with a lot of gospel songs.

We wanna do a guitar man
segment of a boy who comes

from nowhere and nothing,

gets all his fame and fortune
playing the big arenas

and making the big bucks
and realizes

he wants nothing
in life more

than to be home playing on his
old guitar just having fun.

We'd written a script based
on what Elvis had said to us.

We pitched him the idea
that we wanted to do

and he loved them.

His reaction was,
"I love it.

I love everything you've done."

And I said, "Elvis, I've
never done a show with a star

"who didn't comment
something about the concept

"or the rundown.

Isn't there anything
you wanna add or change?"

He said, "Nope,
let's just do it."

♪ If you're looking
for trouble ♪

♪ You came to the right place ♪

♪ If you're looking
for trouble ♪

♪ Just look right in my face ♪

♪ I was born standin' up ♪

♪ And talkin' back ♪

♪ My daddy was
a green-eyed mountain jack ♪

♪ Because I'm evil ♪

♪ My middle name is misery ♪

♪ Whoa, whoa, whoa ♪

♪ Well, I'm evil ♪

♪ So don't you mess around
with me ♪

When you see all these
other Elvises in silhouette

behind him,
my first thought was,

is this like
an intimidation thing?

Being like, Elvis is back.

He's got an army.
He's got a crew.

Like, don't mess with
Elvis and the Elvises.

♪ Well, I quit my job
down at the car wash ♪

♪ I left my mama
a goodbye note ♪

♪ By sundown I'd left Kingston
with my guitar under my coat ♪

♪ I hitchhiked
all the way down to Memphis ♪

♪ Got a room at the YMCA ♪

♪ And for the next
three weeks, I went ♪

♪ Hunting them nights just
looking for a place to play ♪

♪ Well, I thought my picking
would set them on fire,

♪ But nobody wanted to hire
a guitar man ♪

He's just--he's on fire
from start to finish.

♪ And if you ever take
a trip down to the ocean ♪

♪ Find yourself down
around Mobile ♪

♪ Make it on out to
a club called Jack's ♪

♪ If you got
a little time to kill ♪

♪ Just follow that crowd
of people, you'll wind up ♪

♪ Out on his dance floor ♪

♪ Digging the finest
little five piece group ♪

♪ Up and down
the Gulf of Mexico ♪

♪ Guess who's leading
that five piece band ♪

♪ Well, wouldn't
you know, it's that ♪

♪ Swingin' little guitar man ♪

One day I was in my office
prepping for the work

we were
going to do that evening

when Elvis
arrived with his entourage.

And I noticed he was staring
out the window

looking down
on Sunset Boulevard.

And I was curious
what was going on

in his mind at the time.

I said, "Elvis, what do you
think would happen

"if you and I walked out
on Sunset Boulevard--"

which was directly
in front of our front door

of the office building--

"What do you think
would happen?"

And he looked at me
and he said, "Why?"

I said, "I'm just curious.

"Do you think they'd rip
your clothes off,

"or do you think they'd
attack you,

or do you think
they would ignore you?"

About two or three days later,
he comes in the office.

He says, "We're going down
on Sunset Boulevard,

and we're gonna test your
question from the other day."

And it's now, maybe,
5:00 in the evening

and the traffic's
starting to build up.

We're out doing small talk
on the curb.

After a little while,
he's starting

to get impatient and nervous,
I can tell.

He's starting now to focus his
attention on cars driving by.

Every once in a while, there'd
be a pretty girl sitting

on the passenger side and
he'd try to get her attention

and so forth, and nothing--
and I mean, nothing.

And finally, Elvis said,
"OK, you proved your point."

We went back upstairs
and I sensed

a sort of air of trusting me
more coming from him.

I can't put my finger on it,
but it just seemed,

we got closer after that.

We're supposed to do
a little thing right now

and it's supposed to
fit into the show,

just a part of a song.

It cuts some of the show.

So if you'll just
bear with us until we

get this thing out of the way.

You ready, Steve?

I think over the course
of their relationship,

there certainly was a bonding
between Steve and Elvis.

When he saw the depth
of what they were

gonna do on the special,
that he was involved

in the creative process and
that what he was being given

to do was good and compelling

and something
he enjoyed doing.

I think Elvis knew
he could relax

and be comfortable with Steve.

Steve, you wanna
the other thing?

It'll just be
one second, Elvis.

All right.

Ready when you are, Steve B.

I think he just,
trusted Steve

to make all those decisions.

And I think Steve
was the middle man

between him and the Colonel.

That Steve was the person

that could relate
to what Elvis wanted

and work with the Colonel

to get that
fabulous end result.

♪ I get up on mountain and
I call my bear cat back ♪

♪ Well, I get up
on the mountain ♪

♪ And I call
my bear cat back ♪

♪ My bear cat comes
running and the hound dogs ♪

♪ They stay way back ♪

♪ Way back, way back,
way back ♪

♪ Ain't no end
to the song, baby ♪

I'm a great believer
in luck and timing.

I couldn't have been luckier
than when I took Elvis

out to NBC for the first time.

He asked me,
"Steve, do you think

"it would be possible
for me to live

out here when we do the show?"

And I said,
"What do you mean?"

He said, "Well, you know, I've
rented a home for Priscilla

"and the new baby
in Beverly Hills.

"It's going to take me
at least 40 minutes

"going each way back
and forth every day.

"And I could save so much
time and be so much

more relaxed
if I lived out here."

I said, "Yeah, I don't think
there would be a problem."

We offered Elvis
the dressing room

right next to Stage 4

where we'd be taping
the entire production.

I called up the person
in charge at NBC

and I said, "Do you think
it's possible we could get

a bed in that dressing room?"

He arranged it,
and we had two pianos.

We had an upright and we
had a baby grand in there.

We would finish
rehearsals early

in the evening around 6:00 or
7:00 probably, at the latest.

He had the rest of the
evening to himself.

So he'd go into
his dressing room

and his entourage was there,
and they would jam

until 2:00,
3:00 in the morning.

It was like looking through
a keyhole and saying,

"I'm not supposed to be
seeing what I'm looking at."

One more time, Johnny.

- One more time.
- Ahh!

We got it.

- Oh, yeah.
- You got it.

You had it.

I remember how much
joy it brought to Elvis.

Elvis on his own was wonderful,
but when he most came alive

is when he
had the guys around.

♪ The bell hop's-- ♪

Wait a minute.
Wait a minute.

Wait a minute.
I forgot the lyrics.

Wait a minute,
wait a minute.

I forgot the lyrics.

Uh--

♪ The-- ♪

It was magical.

And I said, this is more
important than all the money

we're spending on all these
extras, dancers, singers,

costumes, sets, et cetera.

This is the magic.

I've gotta capture that
in the dressing room,

but the Colonel
wouldn't let me.

He was adamant that nobody
go into the dressing room,

let alone with a camera.

I think Parker was always
trying to convey the message

that, "However well you
think you know Elvis,

I'm the one that
really has control."

But I knew I had to do it.

I mean, there was no special
without that.

So I kept hounding
him and finally,

I guess, I hounded
him enough where

he finally, out of
aggravation, said,

"Steve,
I'll tell you what.

"I won't promise
I'll let you use it,

"but I'll let you
recreate it on stage

if you're that passionate
about having him do it."

The Colonel emphasized

that it would be
would be a waste of my time.

"Remember," he said,
"This is only

"a one-hour Christmas special,
and there's

no time to put this crap in."

♪ You got me doing
what you want me ♪

♪ Baby, what do
you want me to do? ♪

The minute that I
locked in to recreating

the improvisation segment
on stage, Elvis asked me,

"Do you think I could bring
my drummer and guitarist

in to do it with me?"

This guy over here has played
guitar for me for 104 years.

For the last 14 years.

His name is Scotty Moore.

Scotty.

And the loudmouthed guy
over here--

he's been my drummer
for a long time.

His name is D.J. Fontana.

He's been a friend of
mine for something like

10 or 12 years.

Alan Ford is with
his back to you.

Uh, this is old,
what's his name here.

- You know.

This is Charlie Hodge.

That was brilliant
because it immediately

put him in a relaxed position.

And he's going to
sing songs that he sang

when they started out.

♪ Well, that's all right,
mama ♪

♪ That's all right with you ♪

♪ That's all right, mama,
just anyway you do ♪

♪ That's all right ♪

♪ That's all right, now,
mama, anyway you do ♪

♪ Well, Mama,
she done told me ♪

♪ Papa done told me, too ♪

♪ Son, that girl
you're fooling with ♪

♪ She ain't no good for you ♪

♪ But that's all right ♪

♪ That's all right ♪

♪ That's all right, now,
mama, anyway you do ♪

When I see Elvis
doing unplugged,

it's like, wow, he's brave,
you know.

And it's like you're naked.

You're naked to the world.

It's just that soul,
that roughness,

of singing with your heart
and giving it all.

And Steve, coming up with
that idea,

I think it was just, genius.

♪ Anyway you do ♪

Take it, boys.

The Elvis that I knew was
happy when he was singing.

I know in the "Comeback
Special," I saw so much joy.

I finally saw pure joy

when he was sitting around
with the guys.

We might do one
more song for you

because we have another
audience waiting to come in.

Man, I just work here.

Most of the special
would be shot movie-style--

scene by scene,
one or two cameras,

and without an audience.

But for the improv segment,

I felt it was critical
to inspire Elvis

with the kind of
excitement and energy

that only a live
studio audience can bring.

I went over to
Colonel Parker

and I said, "Colonel,
how many tickets

will you need to watch
Elvis do the improv?"

And the Colonel said,
"Bindle--"

he would call me Binder
on certain occasions,

but other times, Bindle--

he said, "You haven't
understood the Colonel ever.

If I take the tickets,

you have to give me
all of the tickets,

not just some of them.

I can deliver you young girls
who are fanatic Elvis fans."

So I gave him all the tickets.

Now, on the day we're
going to tape it,

I'm expecting
thousands of people

to be standing outside
NBC Studios in Burbank

waiting in line.

I get a phone call
from NBC saying,

we've added personnel
to handle the crowd.

And Steve, it's eerie out here
because there's nobody here.

Should have known
he was lying to me again.

He was trying to sabotage the
improv segment all the time.

And so, Bones Howe,
my partner, and I

called a couple of disk
jockeys we knew personally

and asked them to--
on the radio--

say, "If you wanna come see
Elvis for free,

get your asses to Burbank."

We went to a very
famous iconic restaurant

called Bob's Big Boy.

And we went to
customers asking,

would you like to
see Elvis Presley?

We told everybody at NBC--

invite your girlfriends
and boyfriends and wives.

I think intern is a more
glamorous term for the fact

that I was working my father's
office for a summer job.

And I was pulled
out of the office.

My dad's secretary was
pulled out of the office.

They called my sister who was
a sophomore in high school--

come on down.

And they sat us
around this stage,

not knowing what we
were getting into.

And it was bright lights,
and it was hot.

And what is happening?

And then the other
thing that strikes you

is just, how good he looks.

I mean, especially--
what does everyone remember?

People that aren't
Elvis fans--

You know, the black leather
suit, they all know that.

So my first thought was,
he's really confident

in how he looks.

He can wear a full leather suit

and every bulge is out there
for the world to see.

Oh, my God.

No woman who ever saw that
will forget that.

I really thought
it was just, perfect.

I mean, it was
a touch of rebel in him

to be wearing that
rather than what we'd seen

him wear in the movies,
which were more conservative.

And it was like
the old Elvis is back.

I thought it was coolest
thing I've ever seen.

And I just remember thinking,
when I was a kid,

why didn't he always wear that?

There's one
thing about this--

this TV special I'm doing.

They're going to--they're
going to let me do

what I wanna do,
which is sit down.

Not really.

But--well, I'll
think of something.

Just give me the time.

He seemed very nervous,

but there was somehow,
some kind of

happiness behind that.

He was smiling, and it was,
like, exciting for him.

Even though, he was
a little shaky, maybe.

And then he started playing
the guitar

and started singing,
and he just relaxed.

And he was great.

♪ Well, lawdy lawdy
lawdy, Miss Clawdy ♪

♪ Girl, you sure
look good to me ♪

♪ Well, please don't
excite me, baby ♪

♪ I know it can't be me ♪

What was I thinking?

I think, I just, I don't
even want to blink.

I don't think--

I don't think I was
thinking other than just

I've got to take this all
in to keep this in a memory.

It was a one in a lifetime
for me to be there.

♪ I'm going to tell,
tell my mama ♪

♪ Lord, I swear, oh, what
you've been doing to me ♪

♪ I'm going to tell everybody ♪

♪ That I'm down in misery ♪

I was a diehard Elvis fan,
even through those movies.

I believed in him totally.

It was not cool.

My high school friends
thought I was crazy

so I didn't tell anybody.

Nobody knew that I'm
going to go see Elvis.

But this was it.

I mean, I had waited 12
years to see Elvis in person.

I had no idea what
I was going to see.

And we got the
first "MTV Unplugged."

And it was astonishing to be

10 to 12 feet away from Elvis,

and the energy and the
feeling of those musicians

and the rawness.

♪ I said, bye, bye-bye baby ♪

♪ Girl, I won't be
coming no more ♪

♪ Goodbye to little darling ♪

♪ Down the road I go ♪

And he was doing the
songs that I remembered

and none of the movie ones

that were kind of interchangeable.

These were the songs we
remembered and had energy.

It was very exciting.

It was so--it was really
overwhelming, yeah.

I was seated right next
to the stage, the front row,

for the first take.

My sister was on one side.

If you split it, we were
looking at each other.

And he came and he sat down
on the edge of the stage

between me and my sister.

♪ Memories ♪

♪ Pressed between
the pages of my mind ♪

It was Elvis Presley.
I mean, he was huge.

As nervous as he was,
he was in his milieu.

♪ Just like wine ♪

It was truly awe.
He's right there.

And it was--he was very
sweaty and everything,

which was kinda great,
you know.

♪ Like golden Autumn
leaves around my feet ♪

♪ I touched them
and they burst apart ♪

♪ With sweet memories ♪

♪ Sweet memories ♪

♪ Of holding hands and
red bouquets

♪ And twilight trimmed
in purple haze ♪

♪ And laughing eyes and
supple ways, and quiet nights ♪

♪ And gentle days with you ♪

I think it's
"The Hollywood Reporter"

that says, "It looks as if
someone had accidentally

taped the rehearsal at times."

And there is that sense
of looseness to it, right?

The sense of, like, is
this the finished product?

And I think that was a really
smart choice that they made.

Instead of doing something
that felt like a spectacular,

a gala that they'd practiced
over and over again,

it did, sometimes, feel
like you were eavesdropping.

Without question,
it was a segment

that towered over every other.

It was the most electrifying,
animalistic rock and roll.

And I think it blew
everybody away.

Watching that in the
round and that broken down

really unplugged performance
is inspiring.

It's inspiring to see
people just sitting around

and playing music.

No production on it.

Just playing music,
feeling it,

cutting up with his buddies,

messing up, doing it again,
and giving it his all.

♪ Always lived
a very quiet life ♪

♪ I ain't never did no wrong ♪

♪ Now I know that
very fine life ♪

♪ Has been too lonely
too long ♪

I love Elvis
singing "One Night."

You know, he's got the
electric guitar.

♪ One night with you ♪

You know, he's just--
he's just jamming out.

And Elvis's rhythm was great.

Talk to any guitar
players in town

and have them watch that
video of Elvis singing that,

and they go, "That is cool."

Like, his pocket is great.

And that was all
Elvis's band really

ever did was just follow Elvis.

♪ One night with you,
whoo ♪

♪ Is what I'm now praying for ♪

♪ The things that we
two could plan

♪ Would make my dreams
come true ♪

I know that there was drama
because I felt it

coming from Steve because
he was normally

in charge and the person
making the right decision.

Or if it wasn't right, he
would say, "Eh, try it again."

And you knew he was
gonna fix it.

And I don't think that he was
free to make every decision

on his own on that special.

The Colonel was the enemy.

He was a bully.

He was dishonest.

I could tell you
a lot of stories.

We insisted that
if I produced and directed

the television special,
I would be paid royalties

if a soundtrack album of the
special was ever released.

The Colonel blew his stack.

He calls me at home
and he says,

"Steve, you have nothing
to worry about.

"I give you my word.

"There's never going to be
a soundtrack album

so you can go ahead
and do the TV."

Which I did, like a fool,
and didn't get it in writing.

The next thing I know, not
only did the album come out,

but he made the deal with RCA

before he made
the phone call to me.

I mean, he loved doing
things like that.

I didn't know
anything about him.

Nothing.

But when I met him
and said hello to him,

I had this chill.

I didn't care for him.

I did not like him.

I didn't know why.

Later, I figured it out.

I'm sorry.
I'm sorry, Colonel.

I always say, it's
nice to be important,

but it's more important
to be nice.

And that's the way
I like to live my life.

And he did not have that
philosophy, the Colonel.

Did not have that.

The Colonel constantly
throughout the production

kept asking where his
Christmas songs were.

One day, he was furious,

and he called Elvis and I
off the set

to come to his office.

His office incidentally,
he was offered the Dean Martin

dressing room, but he turned
it down in favor

of a broom closet
next to Stage 4.

And had
two William Morris agents

dressed as soldiers
standing guard

in front
of his little doorway.

So we walk in there.

The Colonel's sitting
behind this little desk

looking ridiculous.

Elvis is standing there
with his head bowed.

Colonel spoke directly
at me and he said, "Bindle,

"it's been called
to my attention

"that there are no Christmas
songs in the show.

"Elvis wants a Christmas
song in the show.

Right, Elvis?"

And Elvis sort of
mutters, "Yes, sir."

And I said,
"Elvis, if you want

a Christmas song in the show,

all you have to do
is tell me."

The Colonel
then interrupts and says,

"So it's understood
from this moment on,

'you will put a Christmas
song in the show.

"OK, boys, you can
go back to the stage now

and go back to work."

We walk out the door,
we turn left,

no sooner do we
turn the corner,

Elvis jabs me hard in my
ribs and says, "Fuck him."

And that was the end of that.

After that, Bob Finkel,
my executive producer,

did an incredible job
of keeping Colonel Parker

out of my hair and I was free

to work with Elvis
one-on-one.

Colonel didn't give
a damn about Elvis Presley.

He didn't give a damn about
anything but winning.

As far as I'm concerned,
by this time,

I had known him
a little bit and I knew,

it never was about art
or the music or integrity.

He had to be the power guy.

Even when he realized he was
losing battle after battle,

it was all about
he had to have the final word.

The Colonel was a master
con man, in my opinion.

When we started
the Presley project,

all the pre-production
was done at my offices

on the Sunset Strip.

At 4:00 in the afternoon
we started.

That's when Elvis
would arrive.

And we'd work sometimes
until midnight or 1:00 a.m.

This particular night,
we heard this strange

screaming reaction
from the other room.

We all stormed in to see
what the commotion was about.

And it was live on television,

the assassination
of Robert Kennedy.

We watched it in horror.

I think Elvis, as the rest
of us were, all in shock.

And we spent until almost the
next morning talking about,

what the hell is going
on in our country?

I shall not seek

and I will not accept

the nomination of my party

for another term
as your president.

1968 is the tumultuous
year in American history.

It begins with the Tet
Offensive in Vietnam

meaning, there is no light
at the end of the tunnel.

We're stuck in Vietnam.
It's a quagmire.

Lyndon Johnson has to throw his
hands up in the air and say,

I'm not running
for reelection.

That's unusual
for a president,

but Vietnam had him in a hole.

And then add to that, the
killing in April of Dr. King

and then in June
of Bobby Kennedy,

bloodshed in the streets.

I mean, when Martin Luther
King Jr. was killed,

there were riots in over
100 cities in America.

People forget just, what
a tinderbox the country was.

♪ Better run
through the jungle ♪

♪ Better run through ♪

And then you cut
to the summer of '68

and you had the
Chicago Democratic Convention.

Holy hell breaks out.

Mayor Daley's police with
dogs and clubs and tear gas.

The Democrats produce Hubert
Humphrey, the vice president,

who had been perpetrating
the war in Vietnam,

as their nominee.

And then George Wallace is
running a third-party movement

all on racism and bigotry.

And then that Nixon,
of all people,

is now becoming the face
of how to heal the nation.

It became a bloody, ugly,
sad year in American history.

♪ Better run
through the jungle ♪

♪ Whoa, don't
look back to see ♪

We have speed.
Quiet, please.

OK, here we go.

5-13.

In addition to
the two sequences

shot in front of
a live audience,

we had several big
production numbers.

Each highlighting
a different aspect

of Elvis's musical journey.

In one of these, Elvis
as a young guitar man

hits the road to seek
his fame and fortune.

There was also a scene
set at an amusement park

that allowed Elvis to show
off his martial arts skills.

Another was a gospel segment
in which Elvis displayed

his spiritual side backed by
The Blossoms

and The Claude Thompson Dancers.

♪ Living below ♪

♪ In this old, sinful world ♪

♪ Hardly a comfort can afford ♪

♪ Striving alone ♪

♪ To face temptation so ♪

♪ Won't you tell me,
where could I go ♪

♪ But to the Lord ♪

When he does that song,
that's a gospel performance.

You could hear church.

And not just a church,
you could hear Black church.

The way he emotes
and the way he just,

delivers it and gives
it all from the soul.

You know that Elvis used to

sit outside
some Black churches

and just be mesmerized
by what was going on.

He's constantly thinking,
"I wanna sound like that,"

and that's a beautiful thing.

♪ Where could I go
but to the Lord ♪

♪ Now, won't you tell me
where could I go ♪

♪ But to the Lord ♪

When we look at
the "Comeback Special"

and you're seeing Black
dancers, white dancers,

and Black musicians
and white musicians,

obviously, that does
not seem shocking to us today,

but at the time, that was more
unusual to see on screen.

Integration on television
was not fully realized.

And Steve Binder, to me,
in my opinion,

whether it started at
the "T.A.M.I Show" in '64

or the NAACP Special and then
the "'68 Comeback Special,"

obviously, I think
that Steve Binder

sees the world as one color.

He really pushed the
envelope in those days.

And Elvis had such a
background from his upbringing

of soulful music and had
such an influence

from African-American
musicians.

And I think that was
a part of Elvis' music

that was so
important to capture,

and Steve saw that.

♪ I used to smoke, drink,
and dance the hoochy-coo ♪

♪ I used to smoke and
drink, smoke and drink ♪

♪ And dance the hoochy-coo ♪

♪ Oh, yeah ♪

♪ Now I'm standing
on this corner ♪

♪ Praying for me and you ♪

One of the things that
marks Elvis's contemporary

is his ear for this stuff,

is that he understood that yes,
I'm a rock and roll singer,

but I have a debt
to country music,

I have a debt to
rhythm and blues,

I have a debt to gospel music.

And so, I suspect
to some people

who had maybe slotted him
as a certain kind of person,

a guy who makes silly teen
movies in the '60s

or a guy who made
those hits in the '50s,

to realize that his music is
in dialogue with gospel music,

that he is in tune with
this American roots music

because it's the time
when lots of groups

are rediscovering
rootsy American music.

♪ People let me tell
you about kingdom come ♪

♪ I'm saved,
I'm saved ♪

♪ Well, I can preach until
you're deaf and dumb ♪

♪ I'm saved,
I'm saved ♪

♪ I'm saved ♪

And of course,
there was

the notorious
bordello sequence.

♪ Oh, baby,
I'm gonna teach you ♪

♪ What love's all about
tonight ♪

Yes, I remember it
like it was yesterday.

It was very racy for 1968.

And I remember showing
midriff and showing

body parts that probably,
TV wasn't real ready for.

♪ Enjoy yourself ♪

♪ And baby, don't fight ♪

And the dancing
was very sexy.

It was very stylized.

That was an incredibly
fabulous number.

Beautifully shot
and choreographed.

Elvis always brought kind
of a profound earthly manner

to his motion.

He moves fantastically.

He'd never say no to anything.

"Let me try it."

And he was so mild
and easygoing.

One moment that was funny,
the bordello scene,

and I got a really
fine collection

of lovely, lovely fantastic
ladies, really talented.

And he said, "Jamie?"

I said, "Yes?"

He said, "Oh,
These girls are too good.

I'm getting excited."

♪ You'll be ready for
the grand finale ♪

♪ So come on baby, let's go ♪

♪ Let's go, let's go,
let's go, let's go ♪

Well, I was a virgin hooker.

I kinda take pride in that.

That was my part that
I had interviewed for.

All right, places everyone.

I walked into rehearsal.

We were to prepare how
we were going to dance.

And he was standing
in his jeans.

And it was, I mean,
it was too tempting.

I hadn't seen him
for a couple of months.

So I just kind of tiptoed up.

Ready here.

Give it a minute.

All right, Elvis is ready.

Okay, roll.

It wasn't work.
NBC was paying me,

but I think
it was apparent to everybody

that we, very much,
enjoyed what we were doing.

And we had fun dancing and
practicing and being silly.

That last one was a 19.

Just pick it up from there.

Standby.
Here we go.

Let's just take one second.

I'm going to try something
different on the opening

of Susan's face.

Steve was one of the best
directors I've ever had.

He definitely was in
control of everything.

But he allowed
that free liberty

for us to express ourselves.

It was just natural.

And I think
allowing Elvis and I

to be natural and
play how we did,

it brought out more in us.

Thank you, Elvis.
See you tomorrow.

Okay, let's do
the dance segment.

Five, please.

When there is a chemistry,
he was very sensuous,

very masculine, and it elicited
the femininity and the flirt

and the coy
and the tease in me.

And I think we played
off each other.

♪ Now take a real
deep breath and put ♪

♪ Your red lips on mine ♪

♪ Do like I tell you,
everything's gonna ♪

♪ Be just fine, oh, yeah ♪

♪ Just kiss me nice and
easy, take your time ♪

♪ Because baby, I'm the
only one here in line ♪

♪ All you gotta do it
just let yourself go ♪

Ultimately,
that sequence proved

too risqué for
the network and the sponsor.

Although, I fought
tooth and nail,

they made the decision
to cut it out of the show.

Through a strange
set of circumstances,

it appeared in the
special nine years later

when it was rebroadcast
after Elvis' death,

and it's been there
ever since.

921.

♪ My daddy was a
green-eyed mountain jack ♪

♪ Because I'm evil ♪

Whoo!
Run out of breath.

Huh?

Elvis was such a prankster.

He did not just rehearse.

He would, like,
do funny things.

And some of it was just
so off the cuff.

That's 922.

Plus tax.

Watch my clacker here.

You watch my clacker there.

That's 927.

His eyes
would give him away.

I just knew, OK,
he's gonna be silly.

And he just had that look
that could just

really melt you
and make you laugh.

Steve, you wanna
do the other thing?

"Trouble" again?

- One second.
- Well, I don't.

I'll see you tomorrow.

OK, are you ready?

No, but we'll try it anyway.

Let's get it.
Let's rock and roll.

Well, I'm gonna have
to do it sooner or later

so I might as well
get on with it, baby.

Let's go.

Better on with it, again.
I missed it that time.

The most successful part
of the "Comeback Special,"

I think, though,
is the arena segment

where Elvis is out in
that same seductive suit

prowling around the stage and
singing a medley of his hits.

That's gold.

♪ Uh, I'm all shook up ♪

♪ Ohh, uhh ♪

♪ Yeah, yeah ♪

♪ Well, a-bless my soul,
what's wrong with me ♪

♪ 'I'm itching like
a man on a fuzzy tree ♪

♪ My friends say I'm
acting wild as a bug ♪

♪ I'm in love
uh-uh ♪

♪ I'm all shook up ♪

♪ Ohh, uhh ♪

♪ Yeah, yeah ♪

Elvis was absolutely
electric when he was on stage.

And I think he had
a lot of that built up

for the "'68 Comeback Special."

I mean, you saw this guy
who was like a caged tiger

just ready to pounce, right?

There's something touching,
there's something sweet

about seeing someone
who is such a big star

who's also working that hard.

♪ I met a girl
that I love so ♪

♪ My heart beats so it
scares me to death ♪

♪ When she touched my hand,
what a chill I got ♪

♪ Her lips are like
a volcano that's hot ♪

♪ I'm proud to say
she's my buttercup ♪

♪ I'm in love
ah-ooh-uhh ♪

♪ I'm all shook up ♪

♪ Ohh, uhh ♪

♪ Yeah, yeah,
I'm all shook up ♪

♪ Ohh, uhh ♪

♪ Yeah, yeah ♪
- * I'm all shook up ♪

Ah!

What's interesting about the
songs that they have him do

in both the sit down and stand
up shows is they are

mostly songs from the '50s.

I mean, the '50s versions
are great,

but he's matured.

I mean, well, obviously,
he's 10 years older.

But he's also
developed as a singer

and it's a much
more powerful voice.

♪ The warden threw
a party in the county jail ♪

♪ The prison band was there
they began to wail ♪

♪ The band was jumping and
the joint began to swing ♪

♪ Should have heard them
knocked out jailbirds sing ♪

♪ Let's rock ♪

♪ Everybody, let's rock ♪

♪ Everybody in the whole
cell block

♪ Was dancing
to the Jailhouse Rock ♪

He didn't update them
by making them psychedelic

or whatever
the current trend was,

but he did reinvigorate them.

So they sound vital
and contemporary,

and they don't sound like
he's just doing oldies.

Those songs have to be
interpreted the right way

and played the right way
in order to get that energy

and that feeling across.

Every song, it was
just, like, a marriage.

It was so perfect
together within one.

And he executed it
the right perfectly.

♪ Come on and do the
Jailhouse Rock with me ♪

♪ Let's rock ♪

♪ Everybody, let's rock ♪

♪ Everybody in the whole
cell block

♪ Was dancing
to the Jailhouse Rock ♪

♪ Shifty Henry said to Bugs ♪

♪ "For heaven's sake's,
no one's looking ♪

♪ Now's the chance
to make a break" ♪

♪ Bugsy turned to Shifty
and he said, "Nix, nix ♪

♪ I want to stick around
I want to get my kicks" ♪

♪ Let's rock ♪

♪ Everybody, let's rock ♪

♪ Everybody in the whole
cell block ♪

♪ Was dancing
to the Jailhouse Rock ♪

♪ Dancing to
the Jailhouse Rock ♪

♪ Dancing to the
Jailhouse Rock ♪

♪ They were dancing rock ♪

♪ They were dancing to
the Jailhouse Rock ♪

♪ Ahh ♪

All right.

Elvis has such a humble
nature about him,

an innate humbleness to him,
that you don't watch him

and go, "This guy is cocky."

You go, "This guy's having the
time of his life on stage,

and so is everybody
in the audience."

♪ Love me tender ♪

♪ Love me true ♪

♪ All my dreams fulfilled ♪

♪ For my darling,
I love you ♪

♪ And I always will ♪

Thank you.

After I finished the edits
and delivered the show to NBC,

the Colonel went to Tom
Sarnoff, the head of NBC

at the time, and said,
"I'm not allowing you

"to air this
special until there's

a Christmas song in it."

So I'm ordered to get over
to NBC and explain to them,

why I don't have
a Christmas song.

I walk into the office.

There's all the
executives sitting there,

and there's the Colonel
leaning on his cane.

His eyeballs are on me.

So it was really a case
of where I'm sitting there

inside panicked, and all
of a sudden, I remembered,

wait a minute.

When Elvis did the improv,

I think he sang
"Blue Christmas."

♪ I'll have
a blue Christmas ♪

♪ Without you ♪

♪ I'll be so blue ♪

♪ Just thinking about you ♪

♪ Decorations of red ♪

♪ On a green Christmas tree ♪

♪ Won't be the same ♪

♪ If you're not here with me ♪

I saw the Colonel make these
super executives,

who probably had more money
than Colonel Parker,

probably had more power
than Colonel Parker,

I saw them bow down to the
Colonel and kiss his behind.

They were terrified of him,
and I was wondering,

where's all this power
coming from?

The Colonel had great
powers of intimidation.

And so the Colonel
always tried to find out

where your soft spot was,
where you were vulnerable,

and he would not
hesitate to use that.

The Colonel brings to mind
a mob boss man.

Parker would say, "It's better
to be feared than to be liked."

He was a control freak.

And so he really didn't care,

as long as it had
one Christmas song in it.

And that may have been
just to save face.

♪ But I'll have a blue ♪

♪ Blue, blue, blue Christmas ♪

After Colonel Parker approved

the final edit of the special,

we were sitting
in a screening room

with five or six
of Elvis' entourage.

And the most uncomfortable
feeling for every director

is having to sit through
a screening

when everything you did
you think is terrible

and you know this is a disaster
and so forth and so on.

Now, you're sitting
in a screening room

with your star and his friends,

and there's no reaction.

They're not laughing.
They're not applauding.

They're not doing anything.
They're just waiting to see

what Elvis does.

He finishes the screening,
and he says, "OK, guys,

"I want you all to leave now.

Steve and I are gonna
watch it again by ourselves."

I now show it to Elvis,

and here's
a whole other human being.

There's a guy laughing,
applauding himself.

I mean, he loved it.

It's been a long time, baby.

Long time.

My boy, my boy.

I think he finally
got to say to himself,

"Wow, you know,
look what I can still do."

It must have just been a joy
to have put so much of yourself

into something and then
you see the end result

and it's just as good
or perhaps

even better than you thought.

The last time I saw Elvis,
he slips me a piece of paper

with a phone number on it.

And he whispers to me,
"Call me."

♪ Phony little two-bit town ♪

When I called the number he
gave me, somebody answered it,

and said,
"He's not available."

When Elvis and Steve
wanted to be friends

after the "Comeback Special,"

the Colonel got worried,

and so, Steve Binder
must be banished.

And I do think
with all my heart

that if Steve had remained
in his creative life

that Elvis Presley would not
have died at the age of 42

on the bathroom floor
in his beloved Graceland.

He was so rejuvenated
by that "Comeback Special,"

and the music that he made
right after that

was some of the best
he ever made in his life,

but then he went
right back to doing

what the Colonel
wanted him to do.

The Elvis and Colonel
story is very much

a Shakespearean tragedy.

The following
program is brought to you

in living color on NBC.

It always seemed to me
like some of the reaction

to the "Comeback Special"

was that people were surprised
that it didn't suck.

Right, like, some of the reaction

to the "Comeback Special"
is low expectations.

My mother
wanted to watch it.

So, to keep my mother company,
I watched the singer special.

And, oh, were my eyes opened.

I had no idea Elvis Presley
was still in there,

the Elvis Presley I fell in
love with as a little girl.

It did very well
on the ratings.

For that season,
it was the top-rated show.

It really rejuvenated Elvis.

It had been
so long since anybody

had seen him in his glory.

It was a historic moment.

So here, 1968 is this
year of bloody turmoil,

but yet,
it ends on a high note.

When John F. Kennedy
was murdered in 1963,

it was The Beatles going
on "Ed Sullivan"

that brought the morale
of America back.

By '68, with all
the tragedy and sadness,

something about Elvis
being on television

made Americans feel good
about America.

We're still aiming
to fulfill John F. Kennedy's

dream to the Moon.

The Apollo program
is gearing up,

and we're getting
photographs of Earth

as this whole
blue-green planet

that people are looking at.

Elvis and the Moon now
are the hopes of America.

♪ For I can't help ♪

♪ Falling in love

♪ With you ♪

Yeah!

- Thank you. Thank you.

Whoo!

Colonel Parker
kept telling everybody,

we were going to end the
show with a Christmas song.

This was his
Custer's last stand.

He thought Elvis should
close the special

with a Christmas song
or some kind

of saccharine thing like,
"I Believe,"

which Steve was just
determined not to do.

The thing is, he didn't have
anything for Elvis to do.

He didn't have anything
else to suggest.

I went to Billy Goldenberg,
my musical director,

I went to Earl Brown,
my choral director,

and I said, look, guys,
we all now know Elvis.

Instead of him giving a
speech at the end of the show,

which the Colonel would
never ever approve,

put it into a song.

I mean, let the people
know the inner Elvis

and how he feels about

the Martin Luther King assassination,

the Bobby Kennedy assassination.

I got a phone call
a few days later.

It was Earl Brown
who called me saying,

"I think we have it."

So I met him early
one morning at NBC

where Elvis was having
breakfast across the way

at the commissary.

They sat down at the piano.

Four bars in,
I knew it was a hit.

Elvis came across.

I said, "Elvis, this is
the song for your closing

of your special."

They played it.

Typically, in Elvis fashion,
he said, "Play it, again."

And then after that, he
said, "Play it, again."

I don't know how many
times they played it

over and over for him.

In the meantime,
the Colonel wanders in,

saying, in a loud voice,
"Over my dead body

will he ever sing--"

I don't know if he called it
a piece of crap or whatever.

But Elvis looked at me,
hearing Colonel Parker,

and he said, "I'll do it."

When Elvis first
emerges in the 1950s,

it's not really
the something to say era.

That's not necessarily,
the expectation that we have

from rock and roll stars.

And even now, I think

reasonable people might debate
about whether it's a good idea

to expect rock stars to have
something interesting to say.

But this was his way of at
least acknowledging that he's

living in a moment
where people

are interested in the idea
that a rock star

might have a message to send.

From the very
depths of his soul,

he brings out this
performance that's remarkable.

I mean, it's
a showstopping moment.

One of the best performances
of all time by anybody,

especially in the
context of the times.

I was born 20 years
after Elvis died.

I can watch that
and feel impacted

and feel inspired

and feel what Elvis
was feeling at the time.

For me, I was connecting
with the reasons he did it--

the death of Dr. King, the
death of President Kennedy,

the Civil Rights Movement.

It's Elvis really
being real and telling you

about how he feels.

You could tell
when he's singing

that he believes every word.

It is very crucial
that we listen

to that song and those words.

It can speak to us today,
yesterday, and tomorrow.

That song is
a portrait and the sound

of a man saving his own life.

I get goosebumps
very few times in my life,

but when I get 'em,
I really get 'em.

To this day, I will
never forget it.

Elvis gives the greatest
performance of his life.

It was so raw and powerful,
I tip my hat.

He is the King
of Rock and Roll.

There is no doubt about it.

♪ There must be lights ♪

♪ Burning brighter somewhere ♪

♪ Got to be birds ♪

♪ Flying higher
in a sky more blue ♪

♪ If I can dream ♪

♪ Of a better land
where all my brothers ♪

♪ Walk hand in hand ♪

♪ Tell me why,
oh, why, oh, why ♪

♪ Can't my dream come true ♪

♪ Oh, why ♪

♪ There must be peace ♪

♪ And understanding sometime ♪

♪ Strong winds of promise ♪

♪ That will blow away
all the doubt and fear ♪

♪ If I can dream ♪

♪ Of a warmer sun where hope
keeps shining on everyone ♪

♪ Tell me why, oh, why,

♪ Oh, why,
won't that sun appear ♪

♪ We're lost in a cloud ♪

♪ With too much rain ♪

♪ We're trapped in a world ♪

♪ That's trouble with pain ♪

♪ But as long as a man ♪

♪ Has the strength to dream ♪

♪ He can redeem his soul

♪ And fly ♪

♪ He can fly ♪

♪ Deep in my heat ♪

♪ There's
a trembling question ♪

♪ Still, I am sure
that the answer ♪

♪ Answer's gonna come somehow ♪

♪ Out there in the dark ♪

♪ There's a beckoning candle ♪

♪ Oh, yeah ♪

♪ And while I can think,
while I can walk ♪

♪ While I can stand,
while I can talk ♪

♪ While I can dream ♪

♪ Please, let my dream ♪

♪ Come true ♪

♪ Ohh ♪

♪ Right now ♪

♪ Oh, let it come true
right now ♪

♪ Oh, yeah ♪