elvis-icon

Big news from the good folks at Shout Factory — they’re putting out a dou­ble disc of ELVIS, the killer 1979 minis­eries that teamed direc­tor John Carpenter (in a rare non-genre out­ing) with Kurt Russell, who does a fine job play­ing the title star.  It was the first time these two worked together, thus begin­ning a part­ner­ship that would ulti­mately reward cult movie mavens with Escape From New York and Big Trouble In Little China.  Read on for more details and rest assured that Schlockmania will review this when it is released…

On March 2, 2010, Experience John Carpenter and Kurt Russell’s Ultimate Tribute to

THE KING OF ROCK ’N’ ROLL

ELVIS

Golden Globe® and Multiple Primetime Emmy® Nominated Motion Picture

Starring Kurt Russell, Shelley Winters, Season Hubley, Bing Russell, Pat Hingle,

Robert Gray, Joe Mantegna and Ed Begley Jr.


THE ACCLAIMED BIOPIC FINALLY COMES TO DVD FROM SHOUT! FACTORY

Few fig­ures in pop­u­lar cul­ture have endured in our col­lec­tive con­scious­ness as has multi-Grammy® Award–winning artist Elvis Presley. Crowned as the King of Rock ’n’ Roll, Presley’s rev­o­lu­tion­ary rock­a­billy music and cap­ti­vat­ing per­for­mances were as much a part of his leg­end as his unin­hib­ited hip swivels, blue suede shoes, his charm and good looks. There have been motion pic­tures, tele­vi­sion spe­cials and books chron­i­cling the roller-coaster life of Elvis Presley, and one of the most suc­cess­ful of these prop­er­ties came in the acclaimed 1979 film ELVIS, star­ring Golden Globe® nom­i­nee Kurt Russell in the title role, directed by John Carpenter. This highly regarded pro­duc­tion cap­tures the essence of The King at a time when his many fans were still mourn­ing his pass­ing. Hailed by audi­ences as one of the most pow­er­ful and mov­ing bio­graph­i­cal  films, ELVIS gar­nered a Golden Globe® nom­i­na­tion and mul­ti­ple Emmy® nom­i­na­tions, includ­ing one for Kurt Russell as Outstanding Lead Actor for his incan­des­cent per­for­mance as the King of Rock ’n’ Roll. The film also marked Carpenter and Russell’s first col­lab­o­ra­tion in what would become a leg­endary pairing.

Timed closely to coin­cide with the 75th anniver­sary of Elvis Presley’s birth, Shout! Factory, in asso­ci­a­tion with dick clark Productions, present ELVIS on DVD for the first time March 2, 2010. This col­lectible DVD fea­tures the main pre­sen­ta­tion of the movie restored from the orig­i­nal film ele­ments as it was meant to be seen, as well as an array of bonus fea­tures includ­ing: “Bringing A Legend To Life,” a fea­turette with archival inter­views of Kurt Russell and John Carpenter (1979); com­men­tary by “The Voice Of Elvis,” Ronnie McDowell, and author Edie Hand; rare clips and cap­ti­vat­ing photo gallery. Even 33 years after his pass­ing, Presley con­tin­ues to burn a pow­er­ful image of rock star­dom and still con­quers new legions of fans through his indeli­ble mark in world­wide pop cul­ture. Available for the first time in the home enter­tain­ment mar­ket­place, this long-awaited DVD debut of the film ELVIS is priced to own at $19.97.

Directed by John Carpenter, the biopic of Elvis Presley stars Kurt Russell and fea­tures the voice of ’70s coun­try music hit­maker Ronnie McDowell re-creating Presley’s sig­na­ture vocals. Tracing Presley’s life from his impov­er­ished child­hood to his mete­oric rise to star­dom to his tri­umphant return to Las Vegas, this film boasts an all-star ensem­ble includ­ing Academy Award® win­ner Shelley Winters (A Place In The Sun) as Elvis’ mother Gladys; Season Hubley (All My Children) as his wife Priscilla; Kurt Russell’s real-life father Bing Russell (The Magnificent Seven) as Elvis’s father Vernon Presley; Pat Hingle (Batman) as Colonel Tom Parker; Robert Gray (Murder She Wrote) as Red West;  Golden Globe nom­i­nee Joe Mantegna (Searching for Bobby Fischer) as Memphis mafia mem­ber Joe Esposito; and Golden Globe nom­i­nee Ed Begley Jr. (St. Elsewhere) as D.J. Fontana.

IN-DEPTH DVD SPECIAL FEATURES

  • “Bringing A Legend To Life” Featurette With Archival Interviews Of Kurt Russell And John Carpenter (1979)
  • Commentary By “The Voice Of Elvis” Ronnie McDowell And Author Edie Hand
  • Rare Clips From American Bandstand

To pur­chase this disc directly from Shout! Factory, just click on the “Buy” but­ton below:

Elvis

Elvis

Just two years after Elvis Presley died, Kurt Russell brought him back to life. From the director/actor team that brought you Escape From New York, Big Trouble In Little China, The Thing and Escape From LA comes the orig­i­nal biopic about the King Of Rock n? Roll, ELVIS. Broadcast nation­ally on ABC in 1979, Elvis marked the first time that direc­tor John Carpenter and actor Kurt Russell worked together, lead­ing to a leg­endary pair­ing in film his­tory. Tracing Presley?s life from his impov­er­ished child­hood to his mete­oric rise to star­dom to his tri­umphant return to Las Vegas in 1969, Elvis cap­tures the essence of The King at a time when his many fans were still in mourn­ing. FormatAspect RatioLanguageSubtitles NTSC, Region 1, Color1.77:1 (Widescreen)EnglishN/A Run TimeRatingNo. DiscsOrig. Release 170 minutesPG11979