Captivating movie !

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

This is totally worth the 3 hours. It talks about Elvis through the people who met or knew him and shows in a way how Elvis saw his life.TOTALLY RECOMMENDED FOR EVERYONE TO SEE!!!

Director Thom Zimny has made music documentaries for Bruce Springsteen where he has access to interviews with the Boss and members of his band as well as those closest to him.Here Zimny has been granted access to footage, photos and archived interviews from his estate. There are no talking heads but you have narration from Springsteen, Tom Petty, Jon Landau, Priscilla Presley, Emmylou Harris and childhood friend Jerry Schilling.This is a sprawling two part documentary that clocks in at 4 hours. It is very long, telling a story that could had been done in half the time. The involvement of Priscilla also makes me thing it was sanitised in parts. There is no mention of Elvis's karate lessons and each other's infidelities.The first part is more interesting, Elvis singing country, gospel, bluegrass that will eventually lead to rock n roll under the guidance of Sam Phillips of Sun Records.Colonel Tom Parker is the villain of the piece, a malignant influence who ultimately enriched himself and held back Elvis who wanted to see the world but could not as the Colonel was an illegal immigrant.The documentary comes alive when it plays interviews from Elvis, Sam Phillips and those who were there with him at the time. When Tom Petty talks about how Elvis was bored when he was in the army in Germany and how he took uppers to keep awake, you think 'how do you know?'

This documentary is mainly about Elvis as an artist and the information about his personal life that is brought up is information that influenced his career. This isn't about Elvis and women, prescription drugs, his marriage, Elvis who gained weight in the end etc., it's about Elvis and his talent, his influences, his dreams, his inspirations, where he came from, his motivation, how life influenced his career, how Colonel Parker influenced his career, how he felt about his career en why career choices were made etc. Elvis was an incredible talent and the first of his kind and this documentary is about all of that that we should remember about Elvis and what Elvis is about. People who actually knew him speak about him and the talented Bruce Springsteen speaks too. Not a second is wasted by showing the people that are being interviewed, you hear their voices over new and old videos and images of Elvis. The documentary itself is very well done. The overall style and the footage filmed at Graceland and atmosphere shots at places he has lived and he has been really give you a feeling of the vibe of the era and time the documentary speaks about.Part 1 is more uplifting, part 2 is darker. The documentary won't give the die hard Elvis fans a lot of new information, but it's still worth watching as I find it the best documentary on Elvis because it's about him as an entertainer and his talent and it tells about his true feelings about his career. It's a documentary that is respectful towards Elvis.

This "HBO" doc called "Elvis Presley: "The Searcher" is long and drawn out as it's really informative and educates all about the life and the making of Elvis from his early life all the way up to death. Really it's a great biography type film to see with classic footage of concerts, interviews, and comings and goings of the one and only "King". Also the film is supported by talk and narration from the late Tom Petty and "The Boss" Springsteen and ex wife Priscilla all talk about his impact on music and culture and all recall the good and bad times.Early you see how the blues and gospel music and being around blacks influenced "Elvis" to be outside the box and mix his music to a blend to be classified as many different styles. Then along the way his journey to "Memphis" and meeting Tom Parker would help shape his music life.Yet a downfall and backslide was Presley's dive into movies and acting which hurt his image and would age him and cause his need to start over with music. However his pressures and stress would lead to drug abuse and a much to early departure. Overall good look at the life and times of the king the one and only "Elvis Presley"!