All language subtitles for The.King.2017

Edited at https://subtitletools.com

[motorcycle approaching]

This is a Medallion
of Life for you, Elvis.

From the Sioux-- Sioux Nation.

[man] Come on, Chris! Come on.

[Chris] Put it in neutral,
pull on the brake.

[man] Pull the foot brake.

[interviewer] Okay, Etienne, you have to
get the shot across the street.

That’s an establishing first.

[man] The mic? Mic?

[engine starting]

[radio host] If you could have
anything in the world,

what would it be ?

[Elvis] Yeah, well,
it’s-it’s a logical quest/on.

[radio host] Uh-huh.

[Elvis] Uh,

/ suppose the most important
thing in a person ’3 life is happiness.

lmean, not world/y things.

[beeps]

Gee whiz, / mean you can have
cars, you can have money,

you can have a fabulous home,
you can have everything.

If you ’re not happy, what have you got?

Oh, man.

The King sat in this car. Hmm.

[sighs] It’s an odd feeling.

Now, this is amazing.

The King’s Rolls.

Oh, this is wonderful. [laughs]

-Where are you going to be?
-l’ll be up there, driving you. [laughs]

Go and sit on the far right.

[Baldwin] Are we okay?

l-l’ve never seen more technical
adjustments in my life.

-I would love a glass of wine.
-[interviewer] We’ll get you water.

-Oh. Oh, water? Oh.
-Wine.

Where the hell’s the bar?

Aha!

We didn’t really drink and drive.

[crowd chanting]
We want Elvis! We want Elvis!

We want Elvis! We want Elvis!

You have no idea of how hard
he hit American culture.

I mean, it wasjust one day
there was not Elvis,

and the next day there was Elvis.

Mike Tyson, somebody said,

“He hits you so hard
it changes the way you taste.”

America never
tasted the same after he hit.

[girls screaming]

[camera shutter clicking]

[Elvis] J‘ A little less conversation
A little more action J‘

[man] I’m confessing, I do not understand

the continuing mythic
fascination with Elvis.

[Van Jones] You remember
the great Chuck D line,

“Elvis was a hero to most,
but he never meant shit to me.”

This is all beyond Elvis.

[man 3] He was the voice of the country,
at its best and at its worst.

-J‘ Come on, come on J‘
-[backup singers] I Come on, come on J‘

[woman] When you see what
has happened with our country,

I think it’s a perfect analogy.

[announcer] Elvis has left the building.

He left the stage
and went out the back with a policeman

and he is now gone from the building.

[girls screaming]

[anchor] What is wrong with America?

[anchor 2] llrnow a lot of
people are upset about what’s going on.

[man] I’m ashamed of m y country,
/ ’m ashamed of m y president.

[anchor 3] The world just
doesn ’t know where America is headed

[man 2] Where does the country
go from here?

[girl yodeling]

J‘ / got the blues
L/lre midn/ght .i’

J‘ Moonshining bright as day J‘

J‘ / got the blues
L/lre midn/ght .i’

J‘ Moonshining bright as day J‘

J‘ And! wish a tornado J‘

J‘ Come blow my blues away J‘

[yodeling]

[girl] Hey, y’all. My name’s EmiSunshine,
and this is my band The Rain.

On bass is my daddy Randall.
On drums over there is my uncle Bobby.

And on mandolin is my brother John.

[dinging]

[laughing]

Stop it!

You’re going to mess my hair up.
Oh, you have messed it up.

Yeah, he has. Yeah, you have.

[EmiSunshine] | feel like Elvis Presley
left a spirit that inspires me,

and I’ve been singing
ever since I was about four.

[projector whirring]

[host] How does it feel
to be right up there on top?

[Elvis] Fee/s pretty good

it all happened so fast, so / don ’t know

l’m afraid to wake up. Afraid it’s all
going to be a dream, you know

[radio host] The one-percent get
richer and richer and richer.

[radio host 2] We are
one year out from the elections,

Americans will be increasingly
drilling down on this.

[radio host 3] The split between
rural and urban voters.

The urban ones tend to be more democratic,
the rural ones more Republican.

[man whistling]

[chorus]
J‘ Ride, ride, ride J‘

[Elvis]
J‘ Just beyond the mountain Lies a city J‘

[radio host] it was the classic
American success story

Poor boy from a small town
rises to the top.

But to the people of Tupe/o, Mississiopi

Elvis was more than just a popular singer.

He was representative of
the American dream.

Folks come from all over the world
to see Elvis and his beginnings.

Hello, I’m Terri.
Welcome to the birthplace.

Elvis was born in this house.
He was born January 8th of 1935.

J‘ Will / always be
A lonesome cowboy J‘

[man] I’ve been here most my life.

My grandparents lived close to
where Elvis’s birthplace is at.

And, uh, some of my family
actually sharecropped with Elvis’s family.

Elvis was a champion for the working man.

My dad was a truck driver for many years.
He worked long hard days.

So, you know, I kinda felt
that connectivity about Elvis growing up.

[impersonating Elvis]
Here we go, man. Hey! Right on in there.

Elvis is a big moneymaker for Tupelo.

J‘ One, two, three, four J‘

[singing]

[Davidson] The whole town
revolves around Elvis.

You know, I’ve got college behind me.

I’ve got trade schools behind me. I’ve...

But I can’t seem to get a job
here in Mississippi.

I mean, I work at The Birthplace,
but I can’t live off of it.

lfl didn’t have my military...

l’d-l’d-- [laughs]

I’d be on the streets!

[audience cheering]

[Elvis] The only thing We felt
is happiness.

That things have gotten better for me.

That God has blessed me,

and that he ’5 given me a lot of things
that a lot of people would like to have.

/ mean, / wish that everybody
could have luxuries in life.

[man] Herman Melville once wrote
very cryptic lines.

He said, “ The Declaration
of independence makes a difference.”

Life, liberty, and happiness. Happiness?

No one ever talked about happiness as
an actual component of life.

That is our right.

80 Elvis Presley acts out
those lines in our own time.

[man] And if we shall succeed
as by God’s help we will,

America will point the way
towards a better world

[man] The American experiment,
which begins in 1776,

is a remarkable piece of
political invention and imagination.

The American message to the world was,

“Monarchs, be worried.
Aristocrats, be worried.

A new day may be dawning in the world.”

It was shocking to people, and inspiring.

Give this man-- He’s never had
a fried shrimp po’ boy.

All right.

So let’s do one
with some real love in that.

Okay.

If you look what the promise
of America was 40 years ago,

and what America’s delivered today--

pretty stunning disparity.

If you look what’s happened

to that demographic that Elvis
would’ve been a part of

a guy could come out of high school,
get a job at the plant,

stay there for 30, 40 years,
send your kids to college.

That was the American dream.

It’s doesn’t exist anymore. It’s gone.

[man] If you ask me,
“How did Elvis become Elvis?”

He became Elvis because he was Elvis.

I mean, because he was
this particular person.

He was the only child of
two fairly solitary people.

And they were like a unit
who traveled together throughout life.

The family lost their house
in East Tupelo.

They moved to Downtown Tupelo,

to one of the three houses
designated for white occupancy.

The rest of the neighborhood is black.

[interviewer] Hello.
I’m wondering if you can help me out.

l was trying to find the house
that Elvis Presley lived in?

[giggles] Well, it’s not on this side.

He had a house on this street?

-[woman] Who?
-Elvis.

He ain’t got no house over here.

[interviewer] l was hoping, so...

Nah, he had no house over here.

How are you doing? I’m trying to find
where Elvis Presley lived.

Uh, I’m not sure exactly about that.

[woman] That’s the owner right there.

The lady there in the gray shirt.
That’s all I know.

I don’t know much about it,
but I know he stayed there a couple weeks

while his dad was incarcerated.

-Yeah?
-That’s the story?

Want to check out the Rolls Royce?

I’ve never seen a Rolls Royce.
So here I go.

[baby whining]

Oh, gosh!

[chattering]

[interviewer] So you live
in Elvis’s house?

But we didn’t know it till years ago.

His mama and him lived there

when his daddy went to prison
for writing a bad check.

-[woman] Elvis? Elvis.
-Elvis.

That’s all Tupelo has thrived on.

We have no say.

We have a neighborhood meeting,
what, once a month?

But you know they don’t talk
about us or our problems.

[woman] No, we went to one meeting.

It’s always the rich people over there.

They look down on you
like you’re low class.

[interviewer] But I think people hear
Tupelo and they think Elvis Presley.

They think the American dream.

What is the American dream to you?

They say that anybody
can make it here in America

if you just work hard,
you can be what you want to be.

What do you think of that?

To me American dream is:

peace, harmony, love each other.

-Health.
-Health.

And have your family.

[interviewer] Okay.
So how’s it going today?

-[woman scoffs]
-Like shit.

-[laughs]
-Like shit!

Tupelo’s gone to hell.

[reporter] We are looking at
a ridge of high pressure

that is bringing some dangerous heat
for the start of the weekend

Look at all of those .905 on the map.

[singing blues]

[indistinct]

J‘ And then / would J‘

[continues]

[man] Leo “Bud” Welch and Elvis Presley
are practically the same age,

and they’re both
from the hills of Mississippi.

I am Vince Varnado.

A retired first sergeant of
the United States Army after 29 years.

l was conceived at the Mississippi State
Penitentiary at Parchman.

Parchman Farm. There’s been many songs
written about that place.

J‘ Oh, well J‘

[Marcus] You know, here’s Elvis.

His father forges a check,

and is sent to Parchman Prison,
when he’s a little boy.

[Varnado] Elvis Presley’s father
was an inmate at Parchman

and so was my father.

It was basically like
being on a plantation.

J‘ I’m going alone J‘

[Varnado] You can sing about the blues,

but if you don’t live
and experience the blues,

the music comes from
a different depth of your soul.

J‘ I’m going alone J‘

J‘ Alone, darling J‘

I heard Elvis Presley
years and years ago, you know.

He had a style of his own.
And | always have a style of my own.

J‘ Going to laymy J‘

The blues ain’t nothing but a feeling.

Music is music in my books.

But the blues ain’t nothing
but a good man feeling bad.

J‘ I’m going home with Jesus J‘

[singing continues]

[Elvis] / get lonesome sometimes.

/ get lonesome
right in the middle of a crowd

l was an only child
but maybe my kids won ’t be.

Maybe someday l’m going to have
a home and a family of my own

and l’m not going to budge from it.

[man]
J‘ Said / got the blues I

[man] Elvis moved to Memphis.

There’s a lot of bullshit
going on in Memphis.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
was killed in Memphis.

Trying to say, you know, “I am a man.”

J‘ Memphis City blues J‘

J‘ Light up the screen
Watch me light up the room I

J‘ Watch me light up the mic
Fat boy be the truth J‘

[female reporter] At a time when racial
tension in America is running high,

voters in Memphis, Tennessee
are heading out to cast their ballots.

[male reporter] Candidates for Memphis
mayor turn it up a notch.

Need your vote!
I need your vote. Need your vote.

[man] The problem with Memphis is poverty.

Where 29 percent of our residents are
below the poverty line.

Everybody’s talking about
the same thing: crime.

Y’all in the middle of the hood right now
in South Memphis. Everybody’s got it.

[Chuck D] Memphis was significant

because it was the distribution capital
of the United States of America.

It’s the middle of the North,
South, East, and West.

[Guralnick] When Elvis came to Memphis,
Memphis was the place.

It was where all the traditions
came together.

Walking down the street,
Elvis could hear every type of music.

Black, white-- it didn’t matter.

Memphis represented
the confluence of all these cultures.

J‘ / got the Memphis City blues J‘

J‘ Ooh, lcou/d feel it J‘

-I need your vote now.
-What the hell’s going on?

Come on. They’re coming after me. Hey!

-Yeah!
-Thank you, man.

[Wharton] I like to call
Memphis the city of three kings.

BB. King,
the king of the blues, gave us soul.

Elvis, the king of rock and roll.

And Dr. King, who gave
this nation a conscience.

[King Jr.] ...and he’s allowed me to go up
to the mountain. And l’ve looked over.

And I’ve seen the promised land

[shoufing]

/ may not get there with you.

But! want you to know tonight

that we, as a people,
will get to the promised land!

[woman]
J‘ Take my hand I

J‘ Lead me on J‘

J‘ And let me stand J‘

My name is Earlice Taylor.
I live in Memphis, Tennessee,

and Elvis Presley lived in
the project across the street.

We used to see Elvis up there,
but he was just like one of us, you know.

Nobody really knew much about Elvis then.

He was very young.

I think probably
what drew him to the church

was Reverend W. Herbert Brewster,
who would broadcast from the radio.

[Reverend Brewster]
We are living in a sick world ..

And a lot of white people would come

because they knew about him from
being on Dewey Phillips, WHBQ.

That’s the first white person
that played black music.

[radio host] Just about everyone agrees.

The American educational system is broken.

[host 2] Let’s not treat this
Me a line item in a budget.

Let’s treat it l/ke
its children and their future.

This high school wouldn’t be here,
if Elvis hadn’t gone here.

It would have been torn down by now.

See, I went to this school,

and l was president
of senior class the last year.

We graduated with Elvis in ’53.

I gotta take a leak.

Back in the day,
they had a smoking room here.

[toilet flushing]

Remember that song,
“Smoking in the Boys Room”?

Yeah. Did you guys ever smoke in here?

And here was a guy from our old high
school, that was poor as dirt,

didn’t have a pot to piss in,
but man he could sing his ass off.

[radio host] Elvis, do you write
most of the lyrics for your tunes?

[Elvis] No, I’ve never written a song.

l’ve never written a song. / wish / could

/ did good to get out of high school,
you know.

My name is Jerry Schilling.

Elvis Presley was my best friend.

I don’t know if I was his best friend,
but I know some days l was.

l was really into Brando and James Dean.

And this guy, he had that--

charisma is not even the right word.

He was just totally different.

Oh, that’s Elvis’s?
That’s actually his Rolls Royce?

-[man] Damn straight, it is.
-Oh, my God.

1963.

[Taylor] We’re going to
get to East Trigg Church.

Which is where Elvis used to go
and sit down on the floor

and listen and look up to the music.

Right here is the church. Right here.

I sang at this church
from when I was four years old.

Elvis would come at
eleven o’clock at night.

He would be able to see all of these great
singers that he could learn from,

because he really couldn’t sing
when he first got started.

J‘ You thought! was
Worth saving J‘

Yes!

J‘ 80 you came
And changed my life J‘

J‘ You thought! was
Worth keeping J‘

[man] So blues and gospel are
essentially the same thing.

They are. Just different lyrics.

Soul music is the marriage of those two.

One, two.

[instruments tuning]

[singing gospel]

Yeah!

[girl]
J‘ Everything l’ve got I

J‘ lcou/dn’t get it, aah J‘

[Merrick] Memphis is the international
beacon of soul music,

and Stax is literally
the center of it all.

J‘ Chain, chain, chain J‘

Here, at the music academy,

we’re creating the next generation of
soul communicators.

[laughing]

Got the harmonies?
J‘ Chain, chain, chain J‘

-[harmonizing]
-[clears throat]

-J‘ For live long years J‘
-[vocalizing]

J‘ lthought you were my man J‘

All right, all right, all right.

J‘ But / found out J‘

J‘ l ’m just a link
In your chain J‘

I think the story of Elvis is
a very interesting story.

Elvis was the guy that was coming up here,
from South Memphis,

and what he was picking up on

was things that he didn’t get
in his own community, right?

J‘ You treated me mean J‘

J‘OhJ‘

J‘ You treated me cruel J‘

J‘ Chain, chain, chain J‘

J‘ Chain, chain J‘

J‘ Chain, chain, chain J‘

J‘ Chain of fools J‘

[reporter] The problem
with equal rights for difi‘erent people

exists all 0 ver our nation.

it is a problem in constant
change and in constant solution.

Our national strength lies
in our capacity to solve these problems.

[man]
When you talk about the American dream,

Elvis Presley is born into
an American nightmare.

[woman]
J‘ Southern trees I

J‘ Bear a strange fruit J‘

I think it’s very difficult
for people to accept

that we went from
a settler-colonial slave state

to an apartheid regime.

There’s no American dream
under segregation.

[Schilling] Growing up in Memphis--

everything from the schools
to entertainment--

everything was segregated.

We’d go down to Beale Street, if we could
get in, because it’d be black shows,

and then every once in a while
they’d have a white show.

[man] The obscenity and vulgarity

is ob vious/y a means by which
the white man and his children

can be driven
to the level with the nigger.

[Schilling] I had found it.
Elvis had found it.

But it was forbidden music.

[Chuck D] You know,
the United States of America

has always dealt with anything
other than being pure white with fear.

And this is woven into the fabric of
philosophy and ideology and belief.

When you start looking at
the movies of that time, like King Kong--

I mean, come on, man. There was
no hidden message there.

Going to uphold white race
against the savages.

[Jones] It’s an interesting country.

It inflicts pain on black people,
denies it inflicts the pain,

but then benefits from the soulful cry
that arises from the pain.

J‘ For the tree to drop J‘

[man] I drove cross-country
with my friends once when l was about 21,

and we passed through Graceland.

I wasn’t really aware of the young man
Elvis or what made Elvis incendiary.

He was all fat Elvis.

I had a friend who loves, loves music.

And l was making fun of Elvis once.

And he said, “Hey,
you can’t make fun of Elvis.

Have you listened to Sun Records?”

[host] Elvis, boy, tell us,
how did you get to make your first record?

[Elvis] Well, lwent into Sun Records

and there was a guy in there
that took down my name,

told me he might call me sometime.

So he called me about
a year and a half later.

Sun Records, of course, was
home of the great Sam Phillips.

Sam had had a vision of rock and roll

long before he opened his
recording studio.

He had had a vision of
the power, the emotional depth,

the sweep of African-American music
overcoming,

breaking down the walls of segregation.

He’d thought this music was so powerful

that a mainstream audience would
never be able to resist it.

He saw that in Howlin’ Wolf,
saw it in BB. King’s music,

but he could not cross them over

and he believed the only way
he was going to cross this music over

was if he could find a white man
with a negro sound,

and more important, the negro feel.

And that’s what he found in Elvis.

-How are ya?
-Ethan, how you doing, man?

My dad was never about the money.

Of course he had a family

and he had a family to feed,
and a wife, two kids.

but he was always about the music.

[woman] I brought you some background.

[Elvis] Yeah? Who’s gonna play it?

[Ethan] Elvis is working
as an electrician.

He’s graduated high school.

He’s skinny, broke, doesn’t know
what to do with his life.

But he does love to sing and play music

and he has this fantasy that he’s gonna
get discovered by Sam Phillips.

[singing]

Okay. I’m ready as I’ll ever be.

[man] Stand by, please.

[Ethan] He gets an audition
for Sam Phillips.

Is this interesting?
Is this too, uh, too... Okay.

[siren chirps]

-Oh, shit. Is he pulling us over?
-No. It’s somebody else.

No, I don’t think it is our guys.

Anyway, he comes over.
They give him a chance.

And they spend all night
laying down these tracks.

Sam Phillips thinks
he’s just another bullshit white kid

who wants to be Frank Sinatra.

Elvis starts joking around

and starts playing
what he really wants to play,

which is Big Boy Crudup’s song--

J‘ That’s all right, Mama J‘

J‘ That’s all right for you J‘

Phillips stops.
“How do you know that song?”

And Elvis, “Oh, sorry, sorry,
sorry. Am I playing too loud?”

“You’re not playing too loud.
How do you know that song?”

And Elvis is like, “Well,
that’s the music I really like.”

And Sam looks at him and says,
“That’s the music I like too.”

J‘ Well, that’s all right Mama J‘

J‘ That’s all right for you J‘

That’s when the stars collided.
You know, right there in that one song.

[Elvis]
J‘ That’s all right J‘

J‘ That’s all right J‘

J‘ That’s all right now, Mama J‘

[man] Elvis was different.
He had a different voice.

He puts some feeling into it.

From his body. We all felt it.

My dad brought that out home
to his family and said,

“I think I found
what I’ve been searching for.”

[Hawke] So your mom was
the first one to hear that?

And my brother and l were there too.

Because he gathered everybody around.

That’s so cool. That is so cool.

[Guralnick] Elvis’s first record
comes out July 20th of ’54.

It’s a huge hit.

The record goes on to sell
probably a 100,000 copies or more.

[host] . . . one thousand screaming hysterical
youngsters, predominant/y teenagers,

worsh/p this gentleman,
Elvis Presley and his rock and roll.

This is hero worship of
the highest order and to the Nth degree.

There was a time when l was
growing up where you turn on a movie,

and you’ll get an Elvis movie.

And you turn on the radio
you get an Elvis song. So it was just like

he was just the right person
to sell and market to a white country.

J‘ Fight the power J‘

J‘ Fight the power
Fight the power I

J‘ Fight the power J‘

[man vocalizing]

J‘UhJ‘

J‘ Come on and get down J‘

[Jones] It’s important to
recognize that Elvis as hero

does not rest comfortably
in the mouths of all Americans.

J‘ Elvis was a hero to most J‘

J‘ But he never meant shit
To me, you see J‘

J‘ Straight up racist that sucker was
Simple and plain J‘

J‘ Motherfuck him
And John Wayne I

“Elvis was a hero to most
but he never meant shit to me.

Straight up racist, that sucker was simple
and plain. Motherfuck him and John Wayne.”

In the song “Fight the Power,” when I
talked about “Elvis was a hero to most,”

it was absolutely true.

He was called the king of rock and roll.

Which I took offense to because

he wasn’t no more of a king
than Little Richard,

no more of a king
than Bo Diddley, or Chuck Berry.

J‘ / just want to let
Everybody know all about it I

[Chuck D] So who’s anointing him king?

J‘ You ain ’t nothin ’
But a hound dog J‘

J‘ Been snoopin’ round the door J‘

J‘ You ain ’t nothing
But a hound dog J‘

[man] There’s a lot of talk nowadays about
cultural appropriation.

Listen, the entire American experience is
cultural appropriation.

J‘ But lain ’t gonna feed
You no more J‘

[Simon] Look at “Hound Dog.”
It’s an interesting story.

Leiber and Stoller, two Jewish songwriters

are in love with R&B,
black culture, and they wrote “Hound Dog.”

They actually wrote it
for Big Mama Thornton.

And she did not have a hit
with a very great version of “Hound Dog.”

It later went to Elvis Presley,
who loved it, and did his own version.

J‘ Well, they said
You was high-classed J‘

J‘ Well, that was just a lie J‘

J‘ Yeah, they said
You were high-classed J‘

J‘ Well, that was just a lie J‘

It became one of his truly
famous and defining hits.

J‘ Well, you ain ’2‘ never
Caught a rabbit J‘

J‘ You ain’t no friend of mine J‘

[whistling, cheering]

My father was born in Memphis in 1944,

and there’s probably nobody he
hated more than Elvis Presley.

As a black kid seeing a white man take
black music and become famous

and not do anything for black people
was a horrible offense.

I think it’s very hard
to express sometimes,

the frustration that black people feel,
having given so much to the culture.

And that great value,

which really helps to define America,
ultimately benefiting others.

[interviewer] What is your
response to people

who say that Elvis stole
black people’s music?

They’re not listening to the records.

Yeah, there’s Arthur Crudup and there’s
Lowell Fulson and other guys he dug,

and he was listening to black radio,
but there’s also Blue Moon of Kentucky,

there’s Bill Monroe,
there’s Hank Williams.

I mean, you can hear it all.

This guy was on a fucking journey that
we all need to be on.

Why do you care so much
about rescuing Elvis Presley from the--

from the clear charge that
he was a racial appropriator?

You are desperate to rescue this man.

My conversation never was just,
“This white dude stole black music.”

I think Sam Phillips was a business guy

who tried to sell those records
with black folks,

could not get them across.

Found a guy, you know, that’s able to sell
a black sound with a white face.

He knew what to sell to America.

[interviewer] Is that
in and of itself a problem?

No, I don’t think so.

I think culture is culture.
Culture’s to be shared.

You know, you see a black person
playing classical piano,

you can’t say, you know, because
he doesn’t have “German roots,”

you know, that he can’t play
that classical piano good as anybody else.

If a person is able to do
the twisted stanky leg,

and it happens to be Justin Timberlake,
I think it’s cool.

I always felt that way.

Well, shit, the Beastie Boys
brought Public Enemy in so, I mean, damn.

[host] Ordinary Americans,
they’re the ones who get laid off first.

[host 2] More Americans than ever are
dealing with earning minimum wage or less.

[host 3] Businessman Donald Trump has
declared he is running for president.

[host 4] This didn ’t just
materialize over night.

is this the America you know and love ?

J‘ Heading down to Nash ville J‘

J‘ With my uke by my side J‘

J‘ One hundred dollars
In my boot now J‘

[Marcus] There was a moment when it broke.

When Elvis saw a bigger stage.
When he knew he wasn’t going to go back.

J‘ Johnny, June, and Jesus J‘

[Guralnick] He didn’t want
to remain a regional star.

He didn’t want to remain just a singer.

He wanted to conquer the world.

J‘ Johnny, June, and Jesus J‘

J‘ And l’m about to
Make my stand J‘

[host] Howdy, friends.

Welcome to the capital of
country music throughout the world!

Let her go, boys!

[acoustic guitar intro]

J‘ Old king is gone
But he ’s not forgotten I

J‘ This is the story
0f Johnny Rotten J‘

Oh. man.

Mmm.

[sniffling]

[sobs]

[sobbing]

Oh, shit.

Sorry. [groans]

[interviewer] Was it something I said?

No, it was just sitting in this car,
and just getting the whole--

getting a sense, you know.

Just how-- Just how trapped he was, you
know? Just how trapped.

He was just a poor mama’s boy
from Mississippi.

And then, you know, he got
caught up with a carnival guy.

[Marcus] Enter the Colonel. Here’s this
guy, the ultimate carny barker.

“Come on in, come on in. You’re gonna see
things you’ve never seen before.”

Promises Elvis the world.

“If you turn your life over to me,
I’m gonna make you a star.”

This is the temptation of Christ
by the devil.

I don’t know anything about
getting bookings, or--

Let me worry about the business end.

[Marcus] Elvis makes that
Faustian bargain.

And the Colonel, he did all that.

I made a contract for us.
We split everything right down the middle.

He was the first 50-percent manager
I’ve ever heard of.

He took 50 percent instead of 15.

[interviewer]
But who is Colonel Tom Parker?

[Hawke] I’ve heard that
that’s not his real name.

His name was Andreas van Kuijk.

He was an arrogant,
narcissistic son of a bitch.

I’ve heard that he killed somebody.

[man] He was
the greatest promoter of all time.

[Guralnick] Colonel negotiated a deal
whereby RCA paid $35,000 to Sam Phillips.

It was the highest price ever
paid for an individual artist.

I Now the wind
Don ’t have to hurry J‘

J‘ Blowin’ across my bones J‘

J‘ Rollin’ up the pastures J‘

J‘ Smoothin’ out the stones J‘

[Hiatt] Rock and roll just meant the world
to so many of us, you know.

Our narrative as a country is
one of bloodshed and violence

and stolen land and slavery.

And I think the music carried us into a
time of revolutionary changes.

J‘ Na-na-na-na-na-na J‘

[radio host] So rock and roll
is a music for teenagers, you would say?

[Elvis] Rock and roll. it’s just a music.

it’s a craze, but it’s a very good craze.

[radio host] People have been saying that
it’s contrrbuting to juvenrle delinquency

[Elvis] / do not agree. Not only because /
do it but because it’s untrue.

J‘ Well, just take a walk
Down Lone/y Street J‘

J‘ To Heartbreak Hotel J‘

J‘ Where ll! be
Where / get so lonely, baby I

[man] When Elvis started
recording here in Nashville,

he made most of his
biggest records right there in Studio B.

You know, like any artist,
he went from an independent label

making raw, rough, and ready records
to a major label making slicker records.

And so the records got slicker
the moment he got here.

Yeah.

But they lost the roll part
of rock and roll.

-What’s that part?
-lt’s the backbeat.

It’s the way it swings.

You play fat on two and four.

That’s rock and roll.

And then rock is just-- [stroking strings]

But...

-Scared your parents.
-[snickering]

-You might dance with a negro.
-You’re scaring my parents, Radney.

[chattering]

[woman] Yeah, I’ve hardly ever sat
in a Rolls Royce.

I thought he only drove American cars.

-Should we come around?
-Definitely.

Well, this is the lap of luxury.

The way I see Elvis, you know,

there’d never been anyone who became so
popular so fast at such an early age.

He didn’t have anyone to talk to
about what was going on.

He didn’t have anything to compare it to.

He was what, 20?

He missed that whole period
of time when you grow,

and you learn from people your own age
and with your own experiences.

To me, he’s almost like
a Greek tragic figure.

Alone in that experience.

Maybe he was the king, but he was doomed.

Elvis was the first artist
to really be what I’d call “cross-branded”

into different ways to reach the consumer.

You turn on the television,
he’d be on a TV show.

You go to the movies, he’d be in a movie.

You turn on the radio, he’d be
on a Sunday morning gospel show.

I mean, everywhere you turned,
Elvis had a piece of product.

Today, you know, big artists will have a
vodka or they’ll have a cologne.

Elvis was pounded into the public’s mind

probably more than anybody
up to that time.

You know, I didn’t see him
telling the Colonel to back off either.

Because when money comes,
it changes everything, doesn’t it?

He had it all,
and he had more of it than anybody.

The charisma was unbelievable.

The physical beauty was irresistible.

Isn’t he just as big now as he ever was?

I mean, isn’t the brand expanding?

But at some point you’ve got to decide.

[engine rattling]

-[man] The car’s making a funny noise.
-There goes the car. [laughs]

[man] I think this one stopped rolling.

[Gauthier] Kind of perfect
in a way though, isn’t it?

[chattering]

[Gauthier] If this car was working great,
it just wouldn’t be the same, would it?

-Did you hear a pop before?
-Yeah.

Need more oil or something.

[acoustic guitar intro]

No, the other way!

[woman] J‘ Traveling north
Traveling north to find you J‘

J‘ Train whee/s beating
The wind in my eyes J‘

J‘ Don’t even know what l’l/ find
When / get to you J‘

J‘ Cell out your name, love
Don ’t be surprised J‘

[both] J‘ it’s so many miles and so long
Since l’ve left you J‘

J‘ Don’t even know what l’l/ find
When / get to you J‘

J‘ But suddenly now
lknow where lbe/ong J‘

J‘ it’s many hundred miles
And it won ’t be long J‘

What do you think
I’m doing with this movie?

I don’t know what the hell
you’re doing with this movie.

I got a basic concept, but I don’t know if
that’s really what it is.

I don’t know what you’re doing.

I’m not sure you know what you’re doing.
That’s what’s scary.

Some comparison between, uh,
I hate to say “fall,”

but the rise and decline of Elvis
with the rise and decline of America.

Well, do you think we’re in decline?

No.

I think we’re stagnant. That’s all.

You think America’s had better days?

Oh, yeah.

Hey!

Eugene, I grew up
with the great lie of all, you know?

Work hard, you can get ahead.
Work hard, you can get ahead.

But that was a lie.
They lied to everybody.

[Hawke] When my grandfather was a kid,

America’s greatest export was agriculture.

And when my grandfather died, America’s
greatest export was entertainment.

I remember he used to say that
when he was a young man,

our identity was as the great
democratic experiment.

Whenever you mentioned America
you mentioned democracy.

But somehow at the end of his
life when you mentioned America,

people talked about us
like we’re capitalists,

like that was our fundamental identity.

[host] Americans want more data.

[host 2] A lot ofAmen'cans
want bigger screens.

[host 3] Most Americans want
more security

[host 4] Americans want more
public transportation.

[host 5] Americans want
more money in their pockets.

[radio host] Elvis, do you mind my asking
how much money you grossed last year?

[Elvis] Abouta $7,200,000.

[radio host] And what are some of the big
things you ’ve done with your money?

[Elvis] L/ke lsaid earlier,
it hasn ’t changed me.

it’s just / can afford things
/ never would have gotten otherwise

if / hadn ’t gotten
lucky in life, you know?

[Marcus] Nobody who thinks about Elvis

should forget he was always
an embodiment of the American story.

So, if you picture him coming to New York,

it’s a turning point,
notjust in Elvis’s life,

but in the life of the country.

[man] And now, ladies and gentleman,

I’m going to show you the greatest thing
your eyes have ever beheld

He was a king and a god
in the world he knew

But now he comes to civilization.

Ladies and gentlemen,
the eighth wonder of the world!

[shoufing]

[car honking]

floanng]

[announcer] Attention all stations.

Kong is going West.

He is making for the Empire State
Building. Stand by for further reports.

[automated voice]
Welcome and enjoy the view

[automated voice translating
in foreign language]

[siren wailing]

floanng]

“O beautiful, for spacious skies...

for amber waves of grain.”

I think of all those people in
those wagon trains going West.

What, indeed, would they think
if they could be up here now?

Seeing what’s been built.

And at the same time, how much we’ve lost.

[musical intro]

J‘ New York, New York
New York, New York J‘

J‘ it’s a wonderful town J‘

[sailor] I’ve never been
to New York, personally.

This is probably
the furthest north I’ve been.

[sailor 2] Yeah, this is
literally just like a foreign port.

-Thank you for your service.
-Thank you for your support.

How are you ladies doing?

[man chattering]

[host] Washington is so far removed from
reality This is such a complex issue.

[host 2] This all comes just days

after an unarmed man was
shot and killed by an officer. . .

[woman chattering]

[patron] Oh! Every other day, man.

He’s a moron!

[laughing]

[man] I mean, Elvis is about to OD.

This is the... in a nutshell.

Elvis is about to OD.

If Elvis is your metaphor
for America, we’re about to OD.

If it’s out in the open that
people can just buy a candidacy,

we’re on the brink
of the destruction of our democracy.

Imagine if America had been
exactly what people said it was, right?

A country where it didn’t matter

whether you from Germany or from Tanzania,
from Russia, or Brazil.

You would be treated the same.

And the content of your character
would define what you are.

But the moment that anybody got off a boat
from Europe or from Asia, anywhere else...

They landed in a place where the
indigenous people had suffered a genocide.

And then they built the infrastructure of
a nation with slavery.

J‘ Working your whole life
Wondering where the day went J‘

J‘ The subway stays packed like
A multi-cu/tura/ slave ship J‘

J‘ lt’s rush hour
230 to 8:00, non stopping J‘

J‘ And people coming home after
Corporate sharecropping J‘

So, I think that the American dream was
always someone’s fantasy.

And someone else’s drunken nightmare.

J‘ How much is that doggie
in the window? J‘

[barks]

J‘ The one with the wagg/y tar! J‘

J‘ How much is that
Doggy in the window? J‘

[dog barks]

J‘ / do hope that dog
Is for sale J‘

[Schilling] New York in the ’503
was really instrumental in Elvis’s career.

Maybe more so than any other city.

In the ’50s, we were still
intimidated by the North.

J‘ How much is that
Doggy in the window? J‘

Ladies and gentleman, Lot Number 9,
that is the “Triple Elvis,” a Ferus type.

We shall start the bidding here
at $48 million.

Forty-eight million, 50 million!
Fifty-five, 58 million.

Sixty million. And we’re off.

[man] Like many country boys before him,

Elvis came to perform in New York City.

It was a cold, chilly alien place

filled with fast talking
businessmen, promoters.

Everybody wanted a piece of him.

In the South, I mean, people are
friendly until they’re not.

In New York, you never know
where people stand.

I have 63 on my right! Sixty-four million.

Give me 65 one of you.

You heard it, ladies and gentlemen, 65.

Seventy million is bid.

Isabel, try 72.

[laughter]

Seventy-two million, 73 million.

And you’re out, you’re definitely out.

At $73 million.

Selling here the “Triple Elvis.”
Fair warning.

With you, Isabel, yours it is,
sold at $73 million.

[applause]

For a country boy like Elvis,
and in some ways like myself,

New York was like landing
on a distant planet.

Just as it is now,
it was the epicenter of capitalism.

Elvis had to be ovenrvhelmed
with the sense:

“Yes, you have talent.
Yes, you’re different.

But, boy, it’s about the money.”

It’s about the money.

[Elvis] Pretty bad publicity late/y

/ got quite a bit of bad publicity
because of my actions on the stage.

There is people, regardless
of who you are or what you do,

there’s going to be people
that don’t lrke you.

If there wasn ’t somebody
on my side, id be lost.

flaughs]

Hi, I’m Mike Myers.

You’re probably asking yourself,

“What is Mike Myers doing
in this movie?” Let me explain.

So I’m here to represent

the Canadian immigrant view
on America and Elvis.

Okay, welcome to Wayne’s World
Party on, Garth.

Party on, Wayne.

[Wayne] New York. Hey, we’re in New York.

l’ve got a gun.
Let’s get to a Broadway show.

You know, growing up in Canada,
it’s a wholly different experience.

It’s like America and Canada are born of
the same mother, which is Britain,

and you guys left home and became movie
stars, and we stayed home with mother.

I’ll be here. I’ll always be here.

[Myers] America is fantastic
at creating a mission statement

that you guys are
the keepers of democracy,

and there’s a messianic need
to spread this around the world.

In Canada, it’s peace, order,
and good government.

Which is not terribly sexy,

but if you look around
the world, it gets a lot sexier.

Get outta here! Get out! Out, out!

The mission statement
is about the individual.

It’s about power and powering over.

It’s almost like Rome ruled
the world with that phalanx formation

and Britain under the three-masted ship,

America has ruled the world
with the moving image.

And the projection of image
around the world.

This is one more revolutionary
thing that Colonel Parker conceived of.

He conceived of the idea.

He even wrote it into the RCA contract

that they would promote
Elvis’s exposure on national television.

[host] Elvis Presley is
the fastest rising young singer

in the entertainment industry today

We think tonight that he’s going
to make television history for you.

-We’d like you to meet him now--
-Mr. Elvis Presley.

[Schilling] His first TV appearance ever,
he walked out on that stage.

He was halfway snarling
and halfway laughing.

He grabbed that microphone like it was
some caveman grabbing his woman

and dragged it across stage.

And the place went crazy.

J‘ Well, get out of
That kitchen J‘

J‘ And rattle those
Pots and pans J‘

[screaming]

J‘ Get out of that kitchen J‘

J‘ And rattle those
Pots and pans J‘

J‘ Well, / want my breakfast
’Cause l’m a hungry man J‘

I think Elvis Presley
drives those girls nuts

by shaking and jumping
and laying all over the stage.

It’s kinda crazy.

No, it’s just all depends,
I mean, on how you look at it.

If you want to think
it’s nasty or sexy, you could,

but to me it’s just so limber and loose.

I mean, it’s really marvelous.

Elvis Presley was a truck driver,

who still can’t read music
and whose main appeal appears to be sex.

Rock and roll has got to go.

These programs are not
for the good of the community.

[man] We set up a 20-man committee
to do away with this vulgar,

animalistic, nigger, rock and roll bop.

[announcer] Good evening,
ladies and gentlemen.

Your Mercury dealer
and your Lincoln dealer

present The Ed Sullivan Show!

[Schilling] Ed Sullivan said publicly

that he would never
have Elvis on this show.

His show was a family show.

[Marcus] So Elvis goes on
The Steve Allen Show.

[Allen] I’ve got you a very cute
little hound dog right here.

[Marcus] Where he is in fact humiliated.

He’s forced to dress in a tuxedo
and sing “Hound Dog” to a dog.

At the same time,
what does Ed Sullivan do?

He devotes the entire show to
John Huston’s film of Moby Dick.

[sailor] Thar she blows!

[Marcus] You’ve got
Gregory Peck coming on.

-Hi, Ed.
-John Huston talking about the challenge

of making Moby Dick.

And so Elvis is
going up against Moby Dick.

And he kills Moby Dick.

[shoufing]

[Schilling] And then Sullivan
has to go back to Colonel Parker

and pay dearly.

We’ve signed Elvis Presley
to make his first appearance on our show.

-[girls screaming]
-[singing]

[Sullivan] Last week with Elvis Presley,

all of the records in our
history were shattered.

It was the greatest audience
that’s ever listened to our show

and perhaps to any show.

I can’t figure this darn thing out.

You know, he just does this
and everybody yells.

[girls screaming]

J‘ Baby, it’s just you
l’m thinking of J‘

[cameras clicking]

-You know that’s very annoying, don’t you?
-Wait. W-Wait.

[Baldwin] This was Elvis’s car.

-ls it?
-You like my glasses?

Be careful.

“Can we have a selfie?”
Everybody has a fucking camera now.

So Elvis was the most
perfect-looking guy that ever lived,

in a visual medium where
the way you look is important.

I mean, the guy had it all.

Rich, famous, adored.

Women everywhere. Admired and talented.

You could have a list of 19 things

and the 20th one that’s missing
is your Achilles’ heel.

Hello, Elvis? You know,
less than two years ago

you were earning $14 a week
as a movie usher.

Today you’re the most
controversial name in show business.

Has this sudden notoriety
affected your sleep, your appetite,

or the size of your head?

Well, everything
has happened to me so fast

in the last year and a half.

I’m all mixed up, you know.

I can’t keep up with everything
that’s happening.

[Rather] He rose to an absolute
height, power, and success.

At that moment
he was at his most vulnerable.

[shoufing]

-Left, right, shoulder.
-[soldiers] You got it!

-Left, right, shoulder!
-Hey!

[reporter] Elvis Presley
no longer has that rock and roll beat.

The tempo is hup, two, three, four
for Private Presley,

courtesy of the Memphis draft board

[man] When Elvis joined the military,

it was an affirmation of everything that I
had been taught by my father

about the American dream
and protecting the dream.

-[man] I...
-l, Elvis Presley...

[Wilkerson] It was the cold war,

and the country was dealing with this new,
huge amount of power it’s acquired

post World War II.

It is, indeed, the new Rome.

And Elvis becomes the poster child
of what a good American boy should do.

[shoufing]

[Schilling] Elvis didn’t join the army.
The army came after him.

Believe me,

that was the last place in the world, at
that time, he wanted to go.

[Hawke] When the draft came up,

the Colonel thought
it’d be a great idea to go to the army,

and it would tell everybody that
he was a good American boy.

He started putting on this act
of Private Presley.

It started the public persona,
the trademarking.

[Schilling] He was in boot camp
in Texas when his mother died.

-[officer] One, two, three.
-[soldiers] One!

-[officer] One, two, three.
-[soldiers] Halt!

[Elvis] I’ve experienced
uh, happiness and loneliness,

and uh, tragedy,

lrke losing my mother
while / was in the army

[Schilling] Between losing
his mother and being drafted,

it was the lowest point in his life.

[newscaster] The rock and roll king

is about to embark for foreign service,
78 months in Germany

Elvis Presley, Private Presley,
soldier nowadays in Uncle Sam’s service.

[Barack Obama]
Black, White, Hispanic, Asian,

Native American, gay, straight,
disabled and not disabled

We are and always will be
the United States of America.

[newscaster] The avowed goal
of the Communists is world domination.

By force and subterfuge,
the Soviet Union succeeded

in conquering the people of Buigaria,

Romania, Hungary,
Czechos/o vakia, and Poland

[John F. Kennedy] For too long,
we have fixed our eyes

on traditional military needs.

[George H.W. Bush]
Prior to ordering our forces into battle,

/ instructed our military commanders. . .

[Ronald Reagan] ln Angola, in Kampuchea,
in almost every continent--

[newscaster] Forty-five hundred American
troops are now deployed in lraq and Syria.

[Jones] If the United States
of America is not an empire,

then there was never an empire
in the history of humanity.

There’s never been a country
that even dreamed

of the level of influence
and power that we have.

The cultural imperialism,
the military imperialism,

the economic imperialism
of the United States

is the global fact of the last century.

And Elvis Presley is at the center
of the center of all of that.

-J‘ Do you ever J‘
-[men] J‘ Do you ever I

-J‘ Do you ever get J‘
-[men] J‘ Do you ever get I

-J‘ Do you ever get one J‘
-J‘ Do you ever get one J‘

-J‘ Do you ever get one them J‘
-J‘ Do you ever get one them I

[all] J‘ Days J‘

-Identified!
-Fire!

On the way!

[Elvis] J‘ You ever get
One of them days? J‘

-J‘ Ever get one of them days? J‘
-[men] J‘ Yeah! J‘

[Elvis] J‘ When nothing is right I
From morning t/l/ night J‘

J‘ You ever get
One of them days, boy? I

-J‘ Ever get one of them days? J‘
-[men] J‘ Yeah! J‘

-[crowd chattering]
-[woman screams]

-Hello, Elvis!
-Hello. I’m happy to be here.

[Jones] He puts on a military uniform,
he goes overseas,

picks up a guitar,
that goes all around the world.

He’d never performed
outside the United States.

And he’s still known
on every continent, to this day.

[ballad playing over loudspeakers]

[Elvis]
J‘ For/ can ’t help J‘

[crowd cheering]

J‘ Falling in love... J‘

The Americans wanted to place
army units here in the area

to stop the Russians
if they invade Germany.

And that’s the reason why we have so many
American installations

here in the state of Hesse.

[Elvis music playing over loudspeakers]

There was a lot of German-American
community in the late 19403,

early 1950s.

It was a very vital thing
and its changing music, lifestyle.

We just grew up like we’d been living
in the States, many people,

at least half of the inhabitants
over here have been American soldiers.

[accordion music]

[man] We can say “The King”
has been living here.

[Elvis and children singing in German]

Oh, whoa! Whoa!

[reporter] Elvis! Over here!

[Schilling] If you look at people’s
careers, both music and film,

when you’re away from the public
for two years,

you come back, it’s over.

[crowd screaming]

[Marcus] But what did
Elvis do in the army?

He got to live in his own house,
with all of his Memphis pals.

He goes out to nightclubs.

Wow.

And this is when, supposedly, he developed
a pill habit by doing guard duty.

Probably what he discovered
was incredible boredom.

The tedium in military service is awesome.

And it is contrasted, of course,
with moments of stark terror.

You seek things like drugs,

you seek things like suicide
in order to escape from it.

And if Elvis was introduced
to drugs in the ranks,

it does not surprise me.

This is what we do to people
when we make them warriors.

[Schilling]
Elvis had a friend in the army.

This guy knew this young girl whose father
was a colonel in the Air Force,

and Priscilla got to meet Elvis
at a critical point.

The loss of his mother, and he
thought the career was over.

So he was very vulnerable.

And she was somebody he could talk
to because she was young and innocent.

And that was the best thing
that happened to him.

[trumpets playing]

[newscaster] The most public/zed soldier
since Napoleon,

Elvis Presley, with girlfriend
Prisc/l/a Beau/ieu to see him ofif

was leaving Frankfurt
at the end of his army service.

So it was farewell to m/litary glory
and to 7 6— year-old Priscilla.

What fame for that girl, to have been a
friend of the Emperor of Rock and Roll.

[Marcus] He comes back as a mysterious,
unknowable person.

He radiates Americanness.

He radiates conquest.

[applause]

[man] Welcome home, guys! Welcome home!

[crowd cheering]

[man] USA! USA!

[all screaming]

[reporter] Now to get down to the serious
side of it, Elvis,

can you give us some of your future plans?

Well, the first thing I have
to do is to cut some records.

And then after that l have
the television show with, uh...

with Frank Sinatra.

[audience] We want Elvis!

[women screaming] We want Elvis!

Hmm.

[Schilling] When I saw Elvis
walk on The Frank Sinatra Show,

he was a different Elvis

than when I said good-bye
to him when he was going to the army.

J‘ it’s very nice
To go tra ve/in’ J‘

J‘ But it’s also nice
To come home J‘

Where the heck are the sideburns?

J‘ Well, I’ll be a hound dog J‘

J‘ And that’s the opening
Friends J‘

[reporter] Do you have
any advice for the boys your age

who are now going to have to put in a
certain amount of duty in the service?

The only thing I can say
is to play it straight,

get the people on your side,
let ’em know you’re trying,

you-- you-- as the army
would say, you’ve got it made.

If you’re going to try to be an individual

or try to be different,
you’re going to go through two years of...

misery. [laughs]

[Schilling] He had gone
from this underground rebel

to this accepted major star.

I think Elvis left the city as James Dean
and he came back somewhat as John Wayne.

[woman] J‘ l/ietnam. .. J‘

Vietnam is a country which is divided via
civil war which has gone on for ten years.

The dissatisfaction of many negroes. ..

[Wilkerson] To me, Elvis
was captured the same way I was captured:

by the aura of the dream,
by the myth of the dream.

The dream has never been
what we, in our history books, say it is.

The dream has always been a myth.

What I did was go to a war
with 50,000-plus Americans dying

and two and a half million
Vietnamese dying.

And I came to see that
it has nothing to do with democracy

and the spreading thereof,

and everything to do
with commercial interests

and an imperial move by the United States.

J‘ Elvis, where are you
When / need you most? I

J‘ White comp sequins... J‘

[Jones] Let’s not forget
Elvis Presley is living in the ’603

right alongside the black power movement,

right alongside a huge revolt of the very
people whose culture he was “inspired by,”

and I would say stole.

You didn’t see Elvis in the middle of no
civil rights marches, did you?

[Eugene] Say that again.

I said, you did not see Elvis
in the middle of no civil rights marches.

He didn’t side
with Harry Belafonte, did he?

[Jones] But now, think
about the alternative Elvis.

He goes to the military,
he sees a bunch of stuff.

Imagine him coming home
and marching with Dr. King.

He had peers and contemporaries
who made braver choices.

Marlon Brando marched with Dr. King.

Jane Fonda met with the Black Panthers.

[reporter] Mr. Presley,
on the subject of the service,

what is your opinion of war protestors,

and would you, today,
refuse to be drafted?

[Elvis] Honey, / just tend to keep my own
personal views about that to myself

Because l’m jUst an entertainer
and l’o’ rather not say.

[reporter] Do you think other entertainers
should keep their views to themselves too?

[Elvis] No. lcan’t even say that.

[Jones] I don’t give Elvis Presley a pass
because I know how much power he had,

and I know what he could
have done with that power.

[reporter] Former world
heavyweight champion Cassius Clay

refused to take the oath
of induction into the army

The black, Muslim fighter who
is also known as Muhammad Ali

was immediately stripped of his title by
the World Boxing Association.

The iconic figures of service
in the military by celebrities

are Elvis Presley and Muhammad Ali.

My conscience won’t let me
go shoot my brother or some darker people

or some poor, hungry people in the mud
for big, powerful America.

And shoot them for what?

They never called me nigger.

How can I shoot them poor people?
Just take me to jail.

[Wilkerson] Ali becomes the poster child
for the other side of the coin.

I believe in this country, but I don’t
think this country is perfect by any means

and I’m going to stay here
and suffer for that.

I’m going to do my jail time.

You my enemy.
My enemy is the white people,

not Viet Congs or Chinese or Japanese.

You my opposer when I want freedom.

You my opposer when l wantjustice.

And one has to ask the question now,

retrospectively, of course,
who was the wiser individual?

Who more understood
what was happening to the republic?

[Bernie Sanders] How can it be

that we have trillions
of dollars to spend on a war in Iraq,

but we apparently don’t have the money

to rebuild the crumbling
inner cities of America?

[Rachel Maddow] This is a Bernie Sanders
rally-- 27, 000 people.

Mr. Trump, you’ve criticized Secretary
Clinton for voting for the Iraq War,

but you yourself supported the war.

Wrong, wrong, wrong.

You’re being very mean
to me tonight, Coltrane, very mean to me.

[car door slams]

Hold on a second. All right,
we’re taking a little poll.

Donald Trump!

Nobody?

Hillary Clinton!

[crowd cheers]

[Baldwin] Very mild.

Bernie Sanders.

-[men] Yeah!
-Beavis and Butt-Head over here.

[crowd laughs]

People say, “Let’s
make America great again.”

And I say, “Well, America
is great when America does great things.”

And we have not been doing
a lot of great things lately.

America has been doing
a lot of bad things.

It’s not about Declarations of
Independence and Thomas Jefferson.

Because what is the United States now,
really, but a standard of living?

[newscaster] Hilary Clinton
reported/y attracting more money

than any other candidate--

[newscaster 2]
Trump is worth just under $9 billion.

You know, we angst about this now,

but I don’t know when this film
is going to come out, or what have you,

but, I mean, Trump’s not going to win.

I mean, Trump is not going to win.

[Trump’s voice] Excuse me. Excuse me.

Look into my crystal ball.

Many surprises await you
in the future when I’m president.

I’m so glad I finally solved the issue
of Obama’s birth certificate.

Because when I’m president,
all my attention is needed

for an issue of much
greater national concern.

ls Elvis Presley still alive?

We have a significant problem as a
democracy with money in politics.

Once upon a time,
the world regarded America

as an amazing experiment
in self-government.

To have a country that thought it could
govern itself was all revolutionary.

The assumption was, it would fail.

That it would be riven
by dissension and corruption.

People assumed that the United States

would have to have a king
and a strong man would come in.

[men shouting, indistinct]

The fact that we are a capitalist society
where you use money to buy things,

it is logical that you would
want to use that money

to protect what you have
by having people in office

who will write laws
that benefit your company,

hurt your competitors,
benefit your industry,

and that’s, in fact,
what does happen of course.

-[man] You get up and how! about America. ..
-[cash register dings]

...and democracy

There is no America.
There is no democracy

J‘ it’s a rich man ’3 world J‘

[man] We no longer live
in a world of nations and ideologies.

The world is a college of corporations.

The world is a business.

And / have chosen you
to preach this evangel.

J‘ / spend my day preppin ’
America overseas J‘

J‘ Pensions for the workers?
Nigga, please J‘

J‘ Embezz/ement etiquette
Private settlement J‘

J‘ l’m better
With confederate rhetoric J‘

J‘ From my mansion in Connecticut
Foreclose, evict hoes out of tenement J‘

J‘ / twist words
Like a speech impediment J‘

J‘ lhope you got
Good credit, bitch I

J‘ If not, better get
A new job with benefits I

J‘ While / play golf with niggas
/ get cheddar with, new money J‘

J‘ Buys brand new carats .l‘

J‘ My old money bought
Your great grandparents J‘

J‘ You got grills in your mouth
lain’t mad at ya J‘

J‘ / own every gold mine
in South Africa J‘

J‘ Thanks, baby
You made me a billion J‘

J‘ Plus / own a building for each
Of my children is children J‘

J‘ That’s the shit snort coke in the whip
Miss USA suckin’m y dick J‘

J‘ Yeah, what! Fuck the law
’Cause real jail is for suckers J‘

J‘ / go to country club prison
You dumb motherfuckers J‘

J‘ lam the one percent
Fucking bitch, yeah J‘

J‘ You know my CEO
Corporate steeze, please I

J‘ Ove/throw governments overseas
In a breeze J‘

J‘ Politicians in my pockets
For a few hundred G’s J‘

J‘ So ifl’m ever in court
My assets will never freeze J‘

[protestors] Sandra Bland! Michael Brown!
Shut the whole system down!

Sandra Bland! Michael Brown!
Shut the whole system down!

Sandra Bland/ Michael Brown! [fades out]

-[man] I felt it under the transmission.
-[man 2] Yeah, right here.

Eugene, it was between the passenger and
the driver on the front seat.

[man] This is where
your feet are right here.

[man 2] What do I do?
Just stand right here?

-Start the car.
-Start the car?

[man 3] Don’t take off the brake!

[engine starts]

Why didn’t you get one of his Cadillacs?

That would have been poetic.
It’s an American-made car.

[playing blues on acoustic guitar]

I think it’s a bad metaphor.

I think the better metaphor
is one of his Cadillacs.

The ones he gave away. You know,
we were making Cadillacs.

-Yes--
-We were driving Cadillacs.

-The future was ours.
-Yeah, I know.

We were masters of our own universe.

This is sort of-- This is a reach.

This is-- He got completely
outside of himself. This is the Vegas.

-Yeah.
-Okay, all right.

[classical music playing]

Pardon me, would you have any Grey Poupon?

But of course.

I did think it was weird
that Elvis had a Rolls Royce

which is very English, very
royal, not terribly American.

-[classical music playing]
-Pardon me, do you have any Grey Poupon?

[laughing]

America made such a point
of not having a king.

I never understood Burger King,
Muffler King, Elvis the King.

I never understood
why Bruce Springsteen was “The Boss.”

I thought, “Don’t we hate the boss?”

[man]
Consumers said they would not buy cars...

[woman] GM CEO could not
fully answer that question,

but insisted 25 billion
will keep them afioat.

[man] You could work at General Motors,
and if you didn’t like General Motors,

you could walk across the street
and get a job at Ford.

and go over to Chrysler and get a job.

I got laid off in 2011.

I tried searching for otherjobs,
but no call backs, no nothing.

[Schilling]
When I think of going west with Elvis,

I think of Route 66.

West Memphis, Arkansas, Oklahoma City,

Flagstaff, Arizona...

J‘ Up the snowy spires J‘

J‘ Where the air
ls thin as glass J‘

I Once a year
The cold mists clear I

J‘ You can see inside the earth J‘

[Marcus] Anytime you go on Route 66,

whether you’re going east
or you’re going west,

it’s ovenNhelming ’cause it’s
just so big and it’s so flat.

And the country looks uninhabited.

It looks empty. It looks like it’s still
waiting to be discovered.

J‘ Mast and wheel
Of polished brass J‘

[Schilling]
Those were times on those trips

where he really talked about
important things in his life.

[Elvis] lread a lot
of ph/losoph y, some poetry

Have you ever heard
of a book called Leaves of Gold?

lt’s difi‘erent men ’s ph/losoph y on life,
death and everything else.

J‘ lset velocitations J‘

[Marcus] This country is
so much bigger than we thought.

Its story is so much
more complex and deep than we thought.

J‘ Set careful cal/brations J‘

[announcer chattering, muffled]

J‘ Ever inward ever in J‘

The United States of America!

J‘ / sailed deep
Into the hollows J‘

J‘ Deep inside the earth J‘

[Jones] The politics of today are
politics of grief and nostalgia

and lament for something
that seems to be slipping away.

This is an empire in decline.

[woman] Everyone I know, they’re stuck in
like restaurant jobs and stuff like that.

It’s not really like a good job, a career.

Something that they love, they just do it
because they have no other choice.

Back in the day, minimum wage was what,
$2 an hour, $2.15 an hour?

Yet, you would get a soda pop
at that time for 10 cents.

Nowadays, minimum wage is $7.50 an hour.

Yet, you go and get a soda
for $2 in a soda pop machine.

So, if that doesn’t give you
a comparison, what does?

[Elvis] You never stood
in that man’s shoes,

or saw things through his eyes.

So help your brother along the way,
no matter where he starts.

For the same God that made you,
made him too.

These men with broken hearts.

I’d like to sing a song
along the same line.

[’60s rock music playing]

[Elvis] J‘ lfl could be you
If you could be me I

J‘ For just one hour J‘

J‘ if we could find a way to get inside
Each other’s mind J‘

J‘ Oh ho, walk a mile
In my shoes J‘

J‘ Walk a mile in my shoes J‘

J‘ Yeah, before you abuse
Criticrze and accuse J‘

J‘ Just walk a m/le in my shoes J‘

Now you may find Hollywood
to be a lonely town.

You’re new here and good friends
are hard to find.

Just as in any other industry.

And I want you to know that you may feel
free to regard my home as your own.

[group vocalizing]

J‘ Well, it’s been building up
inside of me J‘

J‘ For, oh, ldon’t know
How long J‘

[Hawke] Elvis the actor.

It’s interesting that right when he was
changing the world with music,

some part of him wanted to be an actor.

I mean, nobody wanted to hear
anybody else play more in the world.

And what’s this guy start doing?
He starts acting in movies.

Why don’t you stick to what you know?

-You mean stay where I belong?
-You might say that, yes.

Well, thanks for the advice.
I hope you won’t mind if! don’t take it.

J‘ Don’t worry, baby J‘

[Schilling] Elvis loved Hollywood.

He liked being the star.
He liked being Elvis Presley.

-J‘ Don’t worry, baby J‘
-J‘ Don’t worry, baby J‘

J‘ Ooh ooh J‘

Anybody ever tell you
you’re very handsome?

Only girls.

When I first started dating Elvis,
there was a little bit of trepidation.

This is Elvis Presley, you know, and he
has dated movie stars and models.

There were moments
when l was even awestruck

by the magnitude of who he was, his fame,
and how he was idolized.

[man] So right now we’re in Hollywood.

We’re about to go see the legendary man
himself known as “The King.”

We’re about to see his star.
It’s over here.

Absolutely, I’ve seen the celebrities.

Katy Perry, Quentin Tarantino.

The Kardashians live in that area.

Stevie Wonder, Miles Davis.
I can go on forever.

Cameron Diaz, Jack Black.

I’ve seen Johnny Depp,
Billy Zane, big names like that.

God, it’s so endless.

[man 2] Next on your left,
across the street,

you will see the mansion of Jack Benny.

[man 1] You’ll mainly probably
see them if you’re lucky enough

to drive by as their gates are opening and
you look into their windshield.

[man on bus] Hi, Ashton!

-[man] Think about driving the least.
-Okay.

Let’s do it.

-Hey, guys.
-[woman on bus] Oh, hi!

-[man on bus] Say hello to Mila!
-[woman on bus] Love you!

[tourists shouting, indistinct]

[Kutcher] I never
really wanted to be famous.

It wasn’t like something that
was like on my sheet of things

that I want to accomplish in my life.

I wanted to be an actor
because I like acting.

Fame came with that. It was fairly awesome
for a good portion of time.

[crowd shouting, indistinct]

You look at Elvis, was anybody ready to be
in a world that everyone’s watching?

[woman] This is America,
not the Soviet Union!

[man 1] The US is entering
its own version of the Dark Ages.

[man 2] This is the time for real wisdom.

[riders screaming]

[Fraser] I think what happens
when you rise very quickly

to a position of enormous,
ovenrvhelming power

is that you don’t know how to use it.

And in fact, it can use you.

I think something similar
happened to Elvis in the sense

that he became the creature
of other forces in American life.

Corporate forces,
the forces of popular culture.

Making all of us worshippers
of things not worth worshipping.

Around here, there’s just
one reason the show must go on:

the gross.

That’s why I’m here.

the biggest movie contract
in the history of movies.

And everybody thinks that’s a good thing,
that he signed the biggest deal.

Well, what it did, is it totally sabotaged
him as an actual performer.

Really, I give credit where credit is due.

When Elvis was young,
he was a bad motherfucker, boy.

Elvis was bad.

Singing his ass off.

He sang so good they let him
do movies. He couldn’t act.

[audience laughing]

They said “Fuck it,
let him sing all his dialogue.”

J‘ You get the sandpaper
You get the pails J‘

J‘ You get the hammer, baby
You get the nails J‘

You don’t even have to be able to talk.

Just sing and get famous.

[Chuck D] Elvis got absorbed
by the rules of Hollywood.

A very powerful structure that will not
bend to anything from the outside.

Hollywood is... [grunts]

You put out movie posters, right?

Are they horizontal or vertical?

-[man] Vertical.
-All the time?

-Yes.
-Why?

To fit in the little glass box
outside the theater.

Exactly.

So all that outside-the-box shit...

[acoustic blues music playing]

J‘ Oh, / went to the doctor J‘

J‘ And / said “Doctor, please J‘

J‘ What do you do
When your true love leaves?” I

J‘ He said “The hardest thing
in the world to do. .. J‘

I got a feeling I’m heading for disaster.

J‘ .../s to find somebody
Believes in you” J‘

[Marcus] He becomes, essentially, an
employee in his own factory.

J‘ Don’t make a sound .. J‘

He does what he’s told
over and over and over again.

Is that the beginning
and the end of the world for you?

Is there no emotion left in you
but the lust for money?

And begins to curdle.

[Hawke] So, you understand,
this is Elvis Presley.

It’s like he’s put on the bench doing
these shit-ass movies for like ten years.

Their lives are not worth that.

J‘ Then / went to the whale and / said
“Killer whale, please J‘

[Elvis shouts, indistinct]

J‘ What do you do
When your true love leaves?” I

J‘ He said “/ only have
One trick up my sleeve J‘

J‘ / sing it over and over J‘

J‘ Till she come back to me” J‘

Elvis Presley... Right beside the Beatles.

[girls screaming]

Ueponefl
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!

[crowd laughing]

l’m-- I’m an Elvis Fan, you know.

You know, you went to see those movies
when we were still in Liverpool.

And you’d see everybody
waiting to see him, right?

And I’d be waiting there too.

And they’d all scream
when he came on the screen.

So we thought, “That’s a good job.”

J‘ lbe/ie ve in yesterday J‘

When the Beatles came
to California to visit Elvis...

J‘ Sudden/y J‘

...he was a ’50s relic.

J‘ l’m not half the man
/ used to be J‘

What Elvis had meant to John Lennon as a
young man was he lit the world on fire.

[Lennon] Poor old Elvis.

Somebody said today he sounds
lrke Bing Crosby now, and he does.

[crowd laughing]

Here are the Beatles!

I’m reminded of a famous story
about Colonel Parker and Elvis.

That at the height of Elvis’s popularity,
he was doing these movies at Paramount.

And there were so many girls at the gate,
that the Colonel put a blanket over Elvis

so that the girls wouldn’t see him and go
crazy, and they’d let the car in.

But then when the Beatles came,
it was all Beat/es all the time,

Elvis was still doing movies at Paramount,
but there weren’t any girls there.

And the Colonel still
put a blanket over Elvis,

so that Elvis wouldn’t see
that there was no girls there.

When I heard that story,
it really did open my heart to Elvis.

He went from a comic figure
to a tragic figure.

[Kutcher] I think
people get trapped in fame.

Yeah, it’s been good for my life.

It’s also been bad for my life.

You know, started to feel,
at a certain point,

where... my fame was outstripping my talent.

Based on what I’ve done professionally,

I should not be getting
this much attention.

-[man in van] Love you, Ashton!
-[tourists] We love you!

I think in some people’s case, they reach
a point in fame that is so large...

that they have to be able to afford
a kind of living to protect themselves

from the very fame that
they’ve created, or go away.

[Elvis] J‘ / walk along
A thin line, darling J‘

-J‘ Darling J‘
-J‘ Dark shadows follow me I

[Schilling] You know, Elvis, at a point,
thought about going into a religious life.

The time when he was unhappy
with the movies,

he actually wanted to go in
and have us live in a commune,

and just kind of do a religious thing.

[man] I am submerged in eternal light.

[congregants]
I am submerged in eternal light.

[Marcus] LA has been a place of crackpot
religions since at least the 18805.

Scientology is just
one more version of the cults

offering transcedence,
making you the being God wanted you to be.

Making you God.

J‘ The age of reality J‘

[man] A few miles
from where we are right now,

Elvis had the most
dynamic experience of his life.

We were driving through the Arizona desert
on the old Route 66.

And Elvis was just transfixed
looking at the clouds.

Elvis, all of the sudden, said,

“Look! What the hell is Joseph Stalin’s
face doing in that cloud?”

It was unmistakable Joseph Stalin.

The eyebrows and the mustache
and that hairline.

He pulled the bus over.
He said, “Larry, follow me!”

We run into the desert
and Elvis turns around, and he said,

“A lightning bolt came out of that cloud
and pierced my body.

And now, Larry, I don’t
believe in God anymore.”

“I don’t have to.
Now I know. God is love.”

Elvis said, “That’s it, man.

I’m done. I’m quitting show business.

How could I go back and make
one of those teenybopper movies

that don’t mean a damn thing?

I’ve gotta do something
meaningful in my life.”

[Schilling] When I went
to work for Elvis in the ’60s,

I felt I missed out
on all of the excitement.

The rock and roll part, if you will.

Because we were doing the movies.

But then there was
the ’68 comeback special.

Elvis hated that word, the “comeback.”

He said, “Look, ain’t
no comeback because I ain’t been nowhere.

I’ve been making movies. So I just wanted
to show them I could still do it.”

He said he was a little nervous because
he didn’t want to flop.

[Marcus] Colonel Tom
wants 25 Christmas songs

because it’s a Christmas special.

And Elvis actually says no.

[man] Singer, maker of the world’s finest
sewing machines, presents:

“EL V/S, ” Starring Elvis Presley

In his first personal
performance on TVin nearly 70 years.

[crowd applauding]

[rock and roll playing]

J‘ Warden threw a party
In the county jail J‘

J‘ The prison band was there
And they began to war! J‘

He burnt the house down. It was
the most rockin’ thing you’d ever seen.

But the best part of the whole thing
was he and the original band

J‘ That’s all right, mama J‘

J‘ Just any way you do
That’s all right J‘

And just played all those Sun Record hits.
I got chill bumps thinking about it.

l was like, “That’s rock and roll! That’s
it! That’s the Elvis I like!”

J‘ Well, since my baby left me
/ found a new place to dwell J‘

This is a man breaking out of a prison.

J‘ Well, bless my soul
What’s wrong with me? J‘

J‘ l ’m itchin ’ lrke a man
On a fuzzy tree J‘

[Sante] He’s got this full
black leather outfit.

He’s in control of his body,
he’s in control of his voice.

He’s direct, he’s relaxed,
he’s funny even.

J‘ lwas-- J‘

flaughs]

Hold it, hold it, man.

Ho! Ho! Hold it.

I got my lip hung on this microphone.

[audience laughing]

You remember that, don’t ya?
You know that...

Did 29 pictures like that, baby.

And at one point, he just lifts up the
microphone stand. He lifts it up.

And he holds it like a harpoon.
And he says “Moby Dick.”

Moby Dick!

[Marcus] I thought,
“My God, he’s Captain Ahab.”

He’s saying, “I’m going for it all.”

It’s just one of these epiphanies.

Where thousands of meanings
come crashing down all at once.

He is a living metaphor for any picture of
America you might want to draw.

That’s the American fantasy.

Not untold riches.
Not power over other people.

Life, liberty,
and the pursuit of happiness.

J‘ / know you’ll have me J‘

J‘ And / know
I’ll have me too I

-J‘ Don’t be cruel J‘
-J‘ Ah ah ah J‘

J‘ To a heart that’s true J‘

J‘ / don’t want no other love J‘

J‘ Baby, it’s just you
l’m thinking of J‘

[Eugene] It looks to the world like in the
comeback special, there you are again.

-Yeah for that one night.
-[man] Yeah.

-That’s all.
-[man] That’s it?

-That’s it--
-[man] That was it.

I said, “Elvis,
you’re back, man. You’re back.”

He said, “Yeah.” And he said, “And I’m
going to stay back too.”

He said, “I ain’t gonna make
no crappy movies for a while.”

The ’68 special was so hot with great
ratings, that Vegas started calling.

[loud explosions]

[Myers] They did so many
nuclear testings under Vegas,

that in many ways, Vegas is
like a radioactive mutation of capitalism.

[man] Most people don’t understand Las
Vegas. They understand it backward.

They think it’s a city of fantasy and
deceit when, in fact, it is probably

the most pure and honest expression of the
prevailing values of our society.

[acoustic blues playing]

[man] And where the only
thing that counts is the money.

I Never know
How much / love ya I

J‘ Never know how much / care J‘

J‘ When you put
Your arms around me I

J‘ / get a fever
That’s so hard to bear J‘

J‘ You give me fever J‘

J‘ When you kiss me J‘

J‘ Fever when you hold me tight J‘

J‘ Fever J‘

J‘ in the morning J‘

J‘ Fever all through the night J‘

Heather, go see
if she’s got any better wine.

-Want me to tell you a story?
-[Eugene] Please.

Casino. They filmed it here. True story.

I know where the bodies are
buried, some of them anyway.

[Eugene] How come?

Because I’m Jewish.
I move in the right circles.

I kiss the right ass.

Elvis came into town in 1969.

In those days, all
the characters hung around here.

Presidents, ex-presidents,
stars, the boys.

They’re all friends of mine.
And I take good care of them.

[man] If you look at vintage Las Vegas,
from the Rat Pack to Elvis Presley,

the casino was the king.

It’s a place that the mob staked out
as a playground for adults.

It was sin city.

The takeover of Las Vegas
from being owned by the mob

to being owned by the corporations
marked a radical turning point.

The Hilton International was the beachhead
of corporate control of Las Vegas.

And Elvis was a very conscious choice

to clean up the image because he’s about
as American as apple pie.

“Here’s hoping you have a very successful
opening and that you break both legs.”

[men laughing]

Signed Tom Jones.

[Cooper] I can only imagine
the deleterious effects

that this city had on Elvis Presley.

You could rent anything here.
It’s all you can eat.

[newscaster]
Last year alone, this hotel had some

seven million pounds of lefto ver food

That’s fight Pig slop.
Made from sushi and roast beef

[Klein] Money, money, money. That was it.

Money, money, money.

He got big money in Vegas
because of the Colonel.

Colonel lost a lot
of money gambling. Millions.

Elvis sang for it.

Bring your cameras over here.

I like to live up to my
reputation of being a nice guy.

This is it, folks.

[Hawke] The story is,
after the ’68 comeback special,

Elvis is screaming he wants to go on tour.

And the Colonel’s like,
“Let’s jut play Vegas.

I’ll make the world come to you, Elvis.

You don’t have to go to the world.”

Well, why does
the Colonel want to do this?

Because he’s a lying
sack of shit is my opinion.

[Klein] See, the Colonel
was not an American citizen.

We found out later that
he wouldn’t take Elvis overseas

because if he did,
he’d have to have a passport.

I’d like to go to Europe. I’d like to go
to Japan and all those places.

I’ve never been out of this country
except in the service.

[Schilling] I think if you look
at the first year or two,

Elvis was a fan of Vegas.

But as the years went by...

[acoustic blues playing]

[no audible dialogue]

[Schilling] You know,
we were there two shows a day,

40 days at a time.

[Schilling] You know, it’s easy
to get prescriptions for sleeping pills.

J‘ lt’s 4:00 in the morning
And l’m turning in my bed J‘

[Schilling] You get immune to one thing,
you get something stronger.

And it’s just a vicious cycle.

You know, you just drop a pill
and drop a pill,

and then you double it, and you triple it.

J‘ 5:00 in the morning
And l’m wishing it was 7:00 J‘

Celebrity is the industrial
disease of creativity.

And it’s toxic.
And then when you get to Vegas,

it’s the condensed soup version
of any idea that human beings have had.

It’s the sludge of making things.

[clearing throat]

Excuse me. I can’t
take this fresh air, man.

I’m used to the back--

The garbage can
at the International Hotel, man.

[crowd laughs]

If I can’t smell some garbage,
I don’t feel at home, man. I’ll tell ya.

[woman] We were awake all night
and asleep during the day.

We lived like vampires.

[Elvis] Four hours a night.

Something like that ifl’m lucky

Tough to relax.

Just walk around swallow and--

[group laughs]

[Schilling] I knew he had a problem.

But I never looked at him as an addict.

[acoustic blues playing]

[Glusman] The insecurity of being
an entertainer is the worst.

You go on the stage,
you’re in dream land. Then you crash.

[man] Down a very deep hole
into a strange place called wonder/and

[Elvis] / get things in my mind and /, uh,

/ get a little confused
and a little, about half mad you know.

You get in moods sometimes
where you’re very happy,

you get in moods where you’re very sad ..

[beep]

[Elvis]
... where everything looks dark and gloomy

and it looks lrke there ’3
nothing for you in life.

/ guess everybody feels that way

I ask him, “What do you
think your biggest flaw is?”

And he said, “I’ll only say this once,
and I’ll probably never admit to it again,

but I recognize
that I’m self-destructive.”

[Klein] It’s like one of my relatives was
dying right in front of my eyes.

But I didn’t know what to do.

[Elvis] From three different sources /
heard! was strung out on heroin.

It was just prescription medication,

but you’re an addict
just like a street addict

if you’re addicted Percocet
and Dilaudid and Demerol.

In his mind,
he was able to rationalize it.

[Richard Nixon] America’s public enemy
number one, in the United States,

is drug abuse.

Didn’t Elvis want to be
the head of the FBI or something?

[Eugene] He wanted to be the Drug Czar.

Might that go into the irony hall of fame?

“Yeah, Elvis, that’d be a great idea.

Go talk to Nixon to run the DEA.”

[Elvis] Rumors that you
hear about me are trash.

I’m an eighth-degree black belt in karate.

lam a federal narcotics agent.

They don ’t give you that
if you ’re strung out,

if you’re-- [mumbles, indistinct]

[audience laughing, cheering]

Thank you very much,
ladies and gentlemen, thank you.

“Pure products of America go crazy,”
said William Carlos Williams.

[Jones] That’s where we are in America.

That’s basically where we are
in the movie, okay?

We’re in the second act
where it’s just all gone to hell.

Let’s deregulate the banks.
The bankers are oppressed.

[laughing] What could possibly go wrong
if we deregulate Wall Street?

These towers got knocked down.

Let’s go start a bunch of wars
in the Middle East.

Somebody’s using crack cocaine.

Build prisons from coast to coast.

I mean, just ridiculous failure
after ridiculous failure.

[newscaster] There’s a new report out.

Gender pay gap won ’t close
for another 7 70 years.

[man] America is going to be
guided by Christian values.

[woman] Have you ever taken the time to
talk to somebody who is homeless?

[man 2] How should we handle immigration?

[woman 2] The legislators
are not doing their jobs.

The fact is, it’s a disaster
of the first order on the world stage

for seven billion people to see,
and there’s no escaping that.

[newscaster] This election
is gonna be who can get their supporters

to come out and vote.

[newscaster 2] Trump got his final
digs in on Hillary Clinton.

[newscaster 3] Presidential candidates
are making their final pitch to voters.

[Hillary Clinton] They marched for
civrl rights and voting r/ghts,

for workers ’ rights and women ’3
rights, for L GB T rights. . .

[audience cheering]

[man] And here we go.

[man 2] It took us a long time to get
here, but it is the final countdown.

[newscaster]
Big voter turnout is expected

I’m a Southern belle. I voted for Trump.

[man] This is a turning point.

it’s going to change
the course of this country

I want my daughter to grow up
seeing a woman lead our country.

-l’m not voting.
-[woman] And that’s a perspective--

If the Democrats lose,
you are so fucked, you have no idea.

[newscaster] Pennsylvania
goes to Donald Trump.

[woman]
This is one of the most stunning results--

[man] No one saw it coming.

[man] From Pennsylvania--
Gets Trump to 260.

[newscaster] We can now
project the winner of the presidential...

[newscaster 2]
The son of a Queens m/l/ionaire.

[newscaster 3] The president-elect

of the United States of America,
Donald Trump.

[newscaster] And here we go.

[man]
Go right ahead, sweetheart. That’s it.

Right around that.

How are you? Hi.

[man] And in one second,
we’ll be ready to roll.

-|sn’t she pretty?
-[man] She’s pretty.

She’s beautiful.

-Monique.
-lsn’t she pretty?

-Hi, Monique.
-Hi.

This is a Medallion of Life
for you, Elvis,

from the Sioux-- from the Sioux Nation.

Oh, that’s lovely. Thank you, sweetie.

Thank you.

The look that he gave my daughter Monie
was such a serene look.

[Monique] All I remember
when I met him, he kept saying,

“Who’s this beautiful little Indian girl?
Isn’t she beautiful?”

-lt, like, touched his heart.
-Yeah.

[Monique] This is sacred land
that we’re living on.

[Sharon] It’s our land.

It seemed like he just knew
he was going home.

And just that quick it was over.

They hustled him out.

He put his head up and took a deep breath,
and then he turned and he was gone.

[crowd cheering]

[singers vocalizing]

I wonder if you’re lonesome tonight.

You know someone said

the world’s a stage
and each of us play a part.

[mumbles, indistinct]

Plus tax.

You read your lines
so le-- cleverly. [laughs]

I saw the CBS special
and I called the Colonel.

And I said,

“How could you let him be filmed
looking like that?”

[Thompson] | just remember
standing and looking at the television set

and thinking, “Oh, my God,
this is not even the same man

that I said good-bye to eight months ago.”

It was horrifying to me to watch.

[crowd cheering]

[Thompson] But the power that he had
on “Unchained Melody” that night

was just gut wrenching.

This is a song that I just recorded.

And, uh, it’s an old song
called “Unchained Melody.”

And I’d like to play the piano
so it’ll take just a second.

[playing piano]

[man] That song brings him pain for some
reason. I don’t know why it does.

But it was just--

It was like it was
the greatest performance he’d ever done.

[dog barks]

[woman] You put the butter in the skillet

and do it like you do
a grilled cheese sandwich.

When he was home,
I would fix his breakfast.

That day, I was gonna make him some bacon...

an egg omelet, some coffee.

[barks]

But when she called down, she was crying,

saying something bad has happened.

So, I went upstairs.

When I saw him on the floor
in the bathroom,

one of the body guards was there.

He was standing looking at me, and I went
to screamin’ and just hollerin’.

“Don’t look at me. Do something.

Don’t look at me. Do something.”

[Hawke] Elvis, at every turn,
picked money.

“Should I stay at Sun Records
or should I go to RCA?

Well, there’s more money at RCA.”

“Should I take this
big giant movie contract

even though I don’t
have any creative control?

Well, it’s the biggest
movie deal ever, let’s take it.”

“Should I go on tour like I want to?

Or should I take the biggest offer
a live performer’s ever had?”

Which is what he got in Vegas.

Every chance, he prioritized money.

And where did it put him?

Dead and fat on the toilet at 42.

[Baldwin] You know, Ronald Reagan was
really the person that lit this fuse.

Ronald Reagan said, “Would you like to
have a new swimming pool?

Or will children be able
to get testing for AIDS?”

And what Reagan basically said was...

“You want the swimming pool, don’t you?

And you should have the swimming pool.”

[Schilling] You can take lessons
from a lot of things.

We are vulnerable,
our heroes are vulnerable,

our country is vulnerable.

[Hiatt] Addiction leaves a spiritual void.

As a nation, we seem to be addicted
to so many things, you know.

I think man’s
inhumanity to man went wrong.

We have to make sure that art and culture
stays honest and true as much as possible.

It can protect human beings from dogma,

and brings human beings together
for our similarites

and knocks aside the differences.

That’s why, you know, you make films.

We make music. We do art.

And those are the three things
that governments always want to control.

But they’re too slippery.

[piano music playing]

J‘ Oh, my/ove J‘

J‘ My darling J‘

J‘ / hunger for... J‘

[newscaster] Elvis Presley,
the Mississippi boy

whose country rock guitar
and g yrating hios

launched a new style of popular music,
died this afternoon at Baptist Hospital.

Presley was 42 years old

[newscaster 2] it didn’t
even matter a great deal

whether you liked Elvis or not,
he changed our lives.

[newscaster 3] The King is dead

[Elvis]
J‘ I’ll be coming home J‘

J‘ Wait for me J‘

J‘ My love J‘

J‘ My darling J‘

J‘ l’ve hungered for your touch J‘

J‘ A long lone/y time J‘

J‘ Time goes by J‘

Really.

I So slow/y J‘

J‘ And time can do so much J‘

J‘ Are you still mine? J‘

J‘ lneed your love J‘

J‘ OohJ‘

J‘ lneed your love J‘

J‘ God speed your love J‘

J‘ToJ‘

J‘MeJ‘

[crowd cheering]

[EmiSunshine]
J‘ Heading down to Baton Rouge J‘

J‘ To ease my worried mind J‘

J‘ l’m heading down
To Baton Rouge J‘

J‘ Maybe / go tonight J‘

[scat singing]

J‘O/‘IJ‘

[scatting]

[continues scat singing]

[gospel music playing]

J‘ On the Memphis train
To Heaven, hey J‘

J‘ l’rna take it
From Bea/e Street to LA J‘

J‘ l’ma make it J‘

J‘ On the Memphis train
To heaven, hey J‘

[rock music playing]

J‘ You want to ride off
Into the sunset J‘

J‘ You want the white horse
To come and save you J‘

J‘ You want the white horse J‘

J‘ To come and save you J‘

[acoustic guitar playing]

J‘ Once upon a time J‘

J‘ When / was in high school J‘

J‘ l was in love with a lady J‘

J‘ And you treated me so cool J‘

J‘ l was dn'ving J‘

J‘ A Chevy ’73 J‘

J‘ Had four on the floor, girl J‘

J‘ 720, it would be me J‘

J‘ And / remember Marvin Gaye J‘

J‘ Singing J‘

J‘ “Let’s Get it On” J‘

I hope you got it, brother.