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♪ MTV ♪

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

Just a moment. - Standing by.

All right, places everyone, please.

Don't roll tape yet, please.

Quiet, please.

You wanna get the slate here?

Roll.

All right, here we go.

Welcome to NBC

and "The Elvis Presley Special."

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

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

We're getting ready to roll tape.

We have Bob Finkel, our executive producer,

going to do a warm up for the audience.

Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Elvis Presley.

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

and there's no Elvis.

My stage manager called me and said,

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

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

Elvis asked everybody in the makeup room to leave

'cause he has something really important

he wants to talk to me about.

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

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

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

He said "My mind is a blank.

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

I was stunned.

Elvis and I had been working so closely together.

By the late 1960s, he had become irrelevant.

I was hired to direct and produce

a TV special that would help resurrect

his once great career.

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

Most created by Elvis's notorious manager,

Colonel Tom Parker.

Now, everything we were working so hard to achieve

felt like it was about to fall apart.

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

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

I'm not asking you this time.

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

I turned my back on him, I walked out,

and I went to the control room,

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

I think all artists go through a real period of insecurity

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

I certainly feel that as a director.

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

am I a fraud?

It's just human nature.

This was having Elvis walk out there cold

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

He was scared to death.

And walked up to the control room

not knowing if he was going to actually come out.

And then, one of my cameramen said,

"Steve, look at camera four."

All right. All righty.

Here's Elvis.

Here we go, buddy.

Come look at this.

- OK.

Well, good night.

And then, it was that old vaudeville thing

of get the hook.

I couldn't get him off the stage.

♪ You got me peepin' you got me hiding ♪

♪ You got me peep, hide, hide, peep ♪

♪ Any way you wanna roll ♪

♪ Yeah, yeah, yeah ♪

♪ You got me doin' what you ♪

♪ Baby, what do you want me to do? ♪

♪ We're goin' up, ahh, ahh ♪

♪ We're goin' down ♪

♪ We're goin' up, down, down, up ♪

♪ Any way you wanna let it roll ♪

♪ Yeah, yeah, yeah ♪

♪ You got me doin' what you want me ♪

♪ Baby, what do you want me to do? ♪

I think he knew that this special was going to be

his make or break special.

Aw, yeah!

- All right! - Yeah!

To see Elvis come out in a leather suit

looking cooler than anybody's ever looked, right,

and singing with such passion,

it's so cool to see,

especially in the context of where he was

in his career at the time.

You have Elvis performing in a way

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

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

right back in the groove.

And it's a killer performance.

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

and he was just there.

And after that, he never looked back.

For many reasons, I was really excited

about this sequence.

It wasn't easy to get Elvis or the Colonel

to agree to even do it.

In fact, nothing about this production was easy.

♪ Yeah, yeah, yeah ♪

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

♪ Baby, what do you want me to do? ♪

♪ You got me doing what you want me ♪

♪ Baby, what do you want me to do? ♪

- You got it!

♪ When I look out my window ♪

♪ Many sights to see ♪

♪ And when I look in my window ♪

♪ So many different people to be ♪

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

the politicians are heinous.

All through the Southern zone,

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

but also, the seeds of the Civil Rights Movement

in the air.

And then, cities on fire.

Riots going on,

Vietnam with napalm and chemicals,

wounded soldiers,

protesting in the streets.

That became the beginning of this great divide,

and that divide kept growing.

It really tore the country apart.

♪ Yeah ♪

♪ Must be the season of the witch ♪

When you look at the Elvis movies of that time

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

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

And then The Beatles came along

just at the time the movies were so dreadful,

and all of a sudden, Elvis looked old hat.

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

but a bunch of British Elvis Presleys?

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

- Oh!

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

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

everyone knows who he is

and everyone regards him as a godfather

of this rock and roll thing that's happening,

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

on the outside looking in.

And so Elvis is trying to figure out,

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

If The Beatles are the new thing,

does that mean I'm the old thing?

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

because The Beatles put out a movie,

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

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

And now, the Spinal Twist.

The Spinal Twist!

Now, back to the Lotus.

Can we go someplace and talk?

Sure, come on.

And you think of not just The Beatles,

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

the British Invasion, and Dylan,

and the later groups in the '60s.

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

by a lot of those artists.

He was listening to that stuff.

And I think as the decade went on,

he could see the music industry passing him by.

Singer presents "Elvis,"

starring Elvis Presley in his first TV special.

His first personal performance on TV in nearly 10 years.

There were a lot of factors that came together

in having the special happen.

It began when Elvis's manager, Colonel Parker,

is trying to cut another movie deal.

And he liked to get his million dollar deal,

and he couldn't get one because no one wanted

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

not anymore.

Finally, he gets a deal with NBC

where they will put up the money

for a movie and a TV special.

So that's why we have the special

because his film career had gone so far below the water

that Parker realized, we need something

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

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

You can do better than that.

I'm gonna say it all over again.

I wanna really hear something.

Anybody have to go to the bathroom?

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

My father was Bob Finkel,

and he was reaching the pinnacle of his career

as a musical variety special producer.

His style was very hands-on.

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

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

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

and I want you to do it."

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

"but I'll come on as executive producer,

and let me find somebody."

And he had been noticing the career of kind of

a young guy in town.

His name was Steve Binder.

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

It's Bob Finkel.

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

"an Elvis Presley special, and I would like you

to produce it and direct it."

I was not a fan of Elvis Presley.

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

I was into The Beach Boys, Jan and Dean,

and The Fifth Dimension, all those West Coast acts.

But what really sold me

was meeting Elvis Presley in person.

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

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

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

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

And there was this moment.

Elvis just stared at me.

I couldn't tell if he was hurt, angry

or how he was going to respond.

Then Elvis burst out laughing.

And he said, "Finally, somebody's

talking truth to me."

The 1950s was the advent of the nuclear age,

and it became a mad race for nuclear supremacy.

The Cold War dug in quickly.

And this battle between the United States and the USSR

provided a consensus here at home.

You might have different views on different issues,

but we all hated Russia together.

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

There's gotta be more to life than just

wanting to have bigger bombs than the Russians.

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

♪ And the desk clerk's dressed in black ♪

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

♪ They'll never, never look back ♪

♪ And they're so lonely, baby ♪

♪ Well, they're so lonely ♪

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

I see him as somebody who was a pioneer

and smashing up some of the conformity

of the Eisenhower '50s.

There was something about him,

an aura, that he created,

and it made him one of the revolutionary figures

of Cold War America.

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

♪ Well, just take a walk down Lonely Street ♪

♪ To Heartbreak Hotel ♪

♪ Where you'll be so lonely, baby ♪

♪ Well, you'll be lonely ♪

♪ You'll be so lonely you could die ♪

♪ Well ♪

No artist ever exploded on the national scene

with the volcanic impact of Elvis Presley.

I always say to people who weren't alive

when this happened in 1956,

you cannot imagine the way the world changed.

Changed the way we think, the way we felt,

changed the youth culture.

It brought about the whole focus

on teenagers who had music and films

to separate themselves from their parents.

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

That's where I actually got my--

my style of singing from, was rhythm and blues

and gospel mixed with country and Western.

He had all these influences.

We know he drew on R and gospel and country,

but he fused them into something else in a way

that no one had done before.

He was innovative.

Part of what made that Elvis explosion so influential

is that moment of fusion.

That detonation, that sense of a Big Bang

of things coming together.

He's a spark that creates this explosion.

There's a part of Elvis that gets on stage

and people go absolutely crazy.

That kind of frenzy is something that nowadays,

you see in hip-hop.

The idea that there's gonna be someone who emerges

from youth culture, who captures

everyone's imagination, whom parents hate.

Elvis was emerging in mainstream celebrity culture.

He was an outlaw hitting the stages.

And yet, nobody knew what to do with him because

he was so likable and so lovable.

Not everybody loved Elvis Presley

when he first came on the scene.

Some people thought he really was a threat

to the National Security.

When he played Louisville in November of 1956,

the police filmed the show for the FBI.

When he played Jacksonville, Florida,

Judge Marion Gooding sat in the audience

just daring him to be lascivious.

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

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

So, they--

the police came out, and they filmed the show.

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

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

♪ You ain't nothin' but a hound dog ♪

♪ Cryin' all the time ♪

You know, for the whole show.

People don't realize that

for a white person to be singing songs

that were African-American compositions

that came deep from Black culture,

Elvis was seen as betraying the white race

to a lot of bigots in the South.

You could burn his records,

you can hang them in effigy,

you could flip him off,

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

but you still had Elvis.

He was a kind of prince of that particular moment

in American life.

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

I think the reason Elvis matters,

there are two sides to this.

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

One, there's just Elvis the performer

and the great music he did.

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

is the influence he had

because he inspired so many people

that went on to do music that inspire

the next generation and so on.

♪ Well, since my baby left ♪

♪ I found a new place to dwell ♪

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

♪ It's Heartbreak Hotel ♪

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

♪ I'll be so lonely, yeah ♪

♪ I'll be so lonely, I could die ♪

For me, it was the music and his voice.

It's just absolutely amazing.

When he opened his mouth to sing, you know,

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

He was original.

I mean, he's one of those artists

that 100 years from now,

they're still gonna be talking about Elvis.

He's influenced everybody.

I mean, I'm talking about rappers,

I'm talking about country singers,

I'm talking about everybody.

I mean, we're all influenced by Elvis.

We might not know it, but we are.

I'm from Dominican Republic,

and I'm supposed to be listening to salsa,

bachata, merengue, like--

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

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

this is how I see it.

I think he was Dominican in the other life

because the way he moved while he was playing his songs

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

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

it's like he created something that never existed.

Elvis's music, I felt it.

I didn't see it. I felt it.

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

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

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

♪ Well, it's one for the money ♪

♪ Two for show ♪

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

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

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

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

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

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

Elvis was as a performer and as a singer.

Because I've obviously borrowed a lot from Elvis.

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

a lot that I just kind of instinctually now,

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

you know, and try to steal some of that.

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

and that's how I approach it.

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

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

♪ Blue, blue, the blue suede shoes ♪

♪ Blue, blue, the blue suede shoes ♪

♪ Blue, blue, the blue suede shoes ♪

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

♪ Of my blue suede shoes ♪

Oh!

Whoo!

The sensational adventure

of the notorious Reno Brothers

and the girl they fought over.

Starring Richard Egan as Vance Reno,

Debra Paget as Cathy,

and introducing Elvis Presley as Clint Reno.

Elvis did four movies before going in the Army.

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

He's not even the lead.

The other three, is a lead character.

And they always made him a singer in those.

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

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

and have him do something else outside of that.

As far as favorite Elvis movies,

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

and "King Creole."

Here we go.

You'll be great tonight.

I heard you rehearsing before.

What kind of songs are they you're singing?

Folk songs?

I guess so.

That's what I thought.

What planet?

Just laugh it up, kid.

No offense.

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

And that was Elvis's favorite movie because he was

able to act in that one.

Listen, Mr. Evans, we moved into this neighborhood

three years ago.

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

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

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

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

of every joint on Bourbon Street.

It's gotten so I look longer at a dame

with clothes on than one without.

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

His lucrative career as rock and roll king

interrupted for a while.

Elvis Presley begins his military service

at Fort Chaffee, Arkansas.

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

Everybody ready?

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

you can't help, but move to it.

That's what happens to me, I--

I can't help it.

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

approve of the thing you do.

They seem to think that it contributes

to juvenile delinquency and all sorts of things.

I've tried to figure it out.

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

to juvenile delinquency

if someone saw me singing and dancing.

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

I think it was important for Colonel Parker

to get Elvis drafted-- and he did,

he negotiated the whole thing--

for a couple of reasons.

One, Elvis was still being seen as kind of

a dangerous hooligan by one segment of society.

And the Colonel had plans for him

to assimilate, to be an establishment figure

when he came back from the service.

Do you feel that rock and roll,

the popularity of rock and roll,

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

That's hard to tell.

The only thing I can say is I hope not.

Oh, there's no question, Elvis Presley going

into the military hurt his musical career,

but it helped his public persona

because Elvis was seen as a good boy.

It sent a larger message that Elvis loved America.

And it seemed like Uncle Sam

was saving Elvis from debauchery,

but it robbed us of great years of Elvis.

Oh, Waihila, I think I'm scared.

He's been gone for two years.

What if he's changed?

Just be patient with him.

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

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

Elvis' going into the Army basically ended

his career as an innovator.

He never lost his talents,

but he wasn't doing anything innovative.

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

the next stage.

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

which is fine if you're happy doing that.

Except, he wasn't happy doing that.

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

and they just kinda went downhill.

Now, wait a minute. Wait a minute.

There's something wrong with my lip.

You remember that, don't you?

I've got news for you, baby.

I did 29 pictures like that, man.

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

as the Elvis movie.

Basically, you had Elvis as an individual character who

very much stands on his own.

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

As the explosive ordnance disposal man.

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

of the Hawaiian Tourist Guide Service.

I'll fill in for El Trovador

if you give me a job as a lifeguard.

Thanks, Sam. I'm still a fisherman.

You're a good pilot.

Now you're a roustabout.

Is that good?

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

You better move.

Why don't you move me?

He was always very much an individual

and needing to make his own way.

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

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

confrontational at the beginning,

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

Did you ever?

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

That's where it gets a little crazy.

A race car driver and a singer.

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

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

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

- Behave yourself!

Ahh!

You don't eat out much, do you?

Good afternoon. This is The Barrow Gang.

Now, if everybody would just take it easy,

nobody will get hurt.

Well, 1967, it was one of

the high water marks in Hollywood history,

when you were bringing this sort of

gritty social realism into play.

What we've got here is

failure to communicate.

With movies like "Cool Hand Luke"

with, you know, Paul Newman,

or Sidney Poitier, you know,

"Guess Who's Coming to Dinner,"

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

In "The Graduate," you're bringing in

a youth culture story.

These are movies dealing with societal issues

that are complex.

There's still something wrong.

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

they were brainless.

That bugs you, doesn't it?

It's just good business.

A single girl sells more tickets.

- I'll keep it. - Where?

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

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

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

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

Would you like me any better if I hated money,

grew a beard, and stood on my head?

Any change would be an improvement.

By 1968, Elvis needed a comeback for many reasons.

One, to regain his footing in the marketplace,

but also to save his own soul.

I had three meetings with Colonel Parker,

and Colonel Parker was an enigma.

He could be charming and kind

or he could be harsh and dismissive and humiliating,

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

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

So as long as you kissed the ring,

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

or questioned him, look out.

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

Colonel Tom Parker was not

from Huntington, West Virginia.

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

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

Then in 1929, he left under mysterious circumstances.

He just left in the dead of night.

He didn't take his clothes.

No money, no identifying papers.

He left all of it behind.

He cut off all contacts with his family.

We do know from a very reliable researcher

that he had a police file.

He has been implicated in a murder.

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

This was a shop that was on the street

where his mother lived and that he frequented.

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

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

There's almost no paper trail for him,

not even a marriage license.

He never became a U.S. citizen.

This is a guy who had something to hide,

and he disappeared in the very window of time

that this woman was killed.

He also had a peculiar quirk.

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

He would pour spoonfuls of pepper into his hand

and then he would eat it all.

And they would take bets on how many spoonfuls

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

Now, that may just be some kind of parlor trick

for the Colonel, but I do find it interesting

that the woman who was killed in Holland,

whoever killed her--

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

rather than a premeditated situation

because she was beaten to literally, a pulp--

whoever did that had presence of mind

before he left to sprinkle pepper around the apartment.

Why pepper?

Because, perhaps, the Holland Police Department

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

Now, who would have known to do that?

Maybe, somebody who trained animals, right?

Guess what Colonel Parker was doing

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

He trained animals.

So there's no real proof, hard proof,

that he killed that woman,

but there's a lot of circumstantial evidence.

There were other suspects.

He was never actually named, except implicated

by a family member many, many years later.

Something awful had to have happened over there.

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

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

and it was Parker who turned him

into a national phenomenon.

That much is true.

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

but not necessarily the best manager.

The Colonel turned Elvis into the first

really branded artist.

The first artist that had, you know,

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

and you never had that before.

The Colonel was really a pioneer in that.

I saw the reaction this boy received from the people,

and I knew I could help him.

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

and, in a small way, handling his future

with making contracts where, perhaps,

someone would offer a certain amount of the money

and I thought this artist was worth more,

and I held out for my price.

Colonel Parker prided himself on getting

the best deal for his client,

but he didn't have a lot of vision.

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

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

he was just gonna keep working it.

He has a tremendous amount of personality.

They admire him. They like his singing.

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

I wanna find out because business is good.

Elvis knew that the Colonel jump-started his career,

and he knew that he wouldn't have gotten to

where he ended up without the Colonel.

And I think Elvis was loyal to that.

The Colonel knew that he was loyal to that.

I think the Colonel may have taken advantage of that

and knew how to push Elvis's buttons.

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

on Colonel Parker.

He was forever stuck because he didn't

have the emotional backbone to buck him.

You know, in the beginning, the Colonel and Elvis

had a pretty good relationship.

Elvis considered him a father figure.

And he needed a strong father figure

because his own father was weak.

Elvis really thought, the Colonel could

lift them out of poverty.

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

Us Presley's have been poor forever."

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

But if somebody else actually bucked

the Colonel for him, like Steve Binder,

he was very happy about it.

I got a phone call from Bob Finkel

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

First thing the Colonel does, he shakes my hand

and hands me a little box with Elvis' picture

on the front cover, and inside is

this 1/4 inch tape of him singing

about 20 Christmas songs.

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

"all through the United States,

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

The Colonel wasn't interested in doing

anything imaginative in a Christmas special at all.

He just wanted your typical Christmas special

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

You know, with Andy Williams or Perry Como--

nice and comfortable.

And Steve thought to do a show like that would

be squandering Elvis' talent.

If you have a performer like Elvis,

don't you want to do something better with him

than put him in a fuzzy sweater

and sing the Christmas songs?

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

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

After that meeting, I go back to my office

and my secretary says, "There's a message

for you from Bob Finkel."

I called Finkel up at NBC and Finkel says,

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

"but the Colonel loves you.

"He's approving you.

"Elvis will be at your office tomorrow

at 4:30 in the afternoon."

The first thing he told me was

he didn't wanna do television.

It wasn't his turf.

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

He said, "My turf is making records."

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

and I'll put pictures to it."

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

aside from seeing our offices with all

the gold records on the walls.

At the time, I had partnered up with a very

talented, successful record producer named Bones Howe.

So Elvis felt comfortable that he was in hands with people

who spoke his language.

Years later, Priscilla Presley said to me,

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

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

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

"'with this young guy, Binder,

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

"'I'm gonna go with Binder.

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

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

Somebody who really understood him

and could move mountains to help him achieve

what he wanted artistically.

And who had the cojones to face the Colonel.

Elvis could not do that.

And so the Colonel was greatly threatened by Steve Binder,

who not only had Elvis's trust,

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

that would rejuvenate him.

But then, of course, that meant that the Colonel

would lose control, and the Colonel

could not take that risk.

Well, Steve Binder had a long career in television.

He knew music and he knew entertainment.

He had his own way of doing things.

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

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

Steve was one of those directors that cared.

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

They just want you to do your thing.

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

and move on, you know?

Whereas, Steve did not do that.

I watched him. He was very patient.

He would talk to the talent.

I was impressed by Steve.

Steve had such a way of communicating calmness

and confidence.

In whatever you were doing,

you felt that it was gonna be good.

He never yelled at people.

He just did his job so beautifully.

Oh, yes.

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

I like blue oceans and dark green woods,

crashing waves and swaying branches.

I like orange and red lollipops

and spinning carousels,

wooden horses and puppy dogs.

I like milk white clouds and falling rain,

babbling brooks and baseball games.

I like to run and jump, laugh and cry.

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

I wonder why some people don't like me?

Three gentlemen approached me

about producing and directing a one-hour Freedom Spectacular

celebrating the integration

of white schools with Black students.

I would have total creative free hand to do anything

I wanna do for an hour.

And the vision these guys had was to project them

not on television, not in theaters,

but in arenas all across the country

to raise money for the NAACP.

Up to this point, the Freedom Spectacular

was the biggest production of my career.

One of the producers of the Spectacular, Bill Sargent,

hired me to direct his next production,

the first rock and roll feature film,

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

It was an incredible opportunity

for me to experiment

and also to direct some of the top rock and roll

talent of the day.

It was historical.

♪ Feel that beat coming strong ♪

♪ Feel the beat wanna tap along ♪

♪ Jump for joy ♪

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

I went to New York to direct a show

called "Hullabaloo" for NBC.

It was one of the first prime time

rock and roll shows on network television.

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

I would really like to specialize

in specials so the word means something

and it just isn't a gimmick.

I want to take one artist at a time

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

It would be built around their music

and their personal experiences.

The first one was Leslie Uggams,

who was on Broadway at the time while I was doing

"Hullabaloo," starring in a Broadway hit

called "Hallelujah, Baby!"

When I started directing in television,

there was a real segregation

in media in general, even films.

There were stories of Southern theater owners

cutting out Black artists.

I didn't intentionally set out to make

any noise in terms of wanting to integrate my casts.

It all seemed to just, happen organically.

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

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

where he sings and dances

and then Petula coming in to finish the segment,

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

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

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

♪ They will die for their country ♪

♪ They will die for you and me ♪

♪ Amid the pungent smell of death ♪

♪ That's on the path of glory ♪

Once Petula was alongside of Harry

and the chemistry was starting to boil between the two

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

touched his forearm.

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

He evidently is going nuts.

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

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

And storms out of the sponsor's room.

Now we finish the segment.

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

We're going down to the editing room."

He was behind me 100%.

So we go down the NBC corridor to the editing room

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

And the editor was shaking.

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

to erase the masters.

But thank God we made the decision

to do that or for sure, they would have aired

one of the non-touching takes.

And all hell broke loose.

It became an international incident.

It was really hard for me to imagine in 1968

that the audience or the sponsor

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

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

that moment would have.

When Bob Finkel hired me to direct and produce

the Elvis special,

he said, "I saw your Petula Clark special

"and loved it and the controversy

"that it stirred up.

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

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

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

To me, the importance of the entire special

was Elvis Presley rediscovering Elvis Presley.

I think he had lost confidence in himself.

Well, I gotta do this sooner or later,

so I might as well do it now, baby.

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

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

♪ At Heartbreak Hotel ♪

He walked up there and he started singing,

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

because everybody was just flabbergasted

that this was Elvis.

Elvis the way Elvis should be.

I wanted to get back to raw, wild,

the guy who was chased by the vice squad

whenever he appeared for fear that he would totally destroy

the youth of America with his obscene gestures.

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

♪ And you ain't no friend-- ohh ♪

♪ You ain't nothin' but a hound dog ♪

♪ Cryin' all the time ♪

♪ You ain't nothin' but a hound dog ♪

♪ Crying all the time ♪

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

♪ And you ain't no friend of mine ♪

♪ Right, go, baby ♪

I called Allan Blye and Chris Beard, my writers.

Allan and Chris really came up with

the entire concept for the show.

We spoke to Elvis for weeks.

He came down to Steve's office.

It was exciting as hell.

He understood himself very well.

He had a great sense of humor about himself.

We wrote the show about him,

the great reflection of Elvis's life

at this point in his career.

They definitely said we wanna do a gospel segment

with a lot of gospel songs.

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

from nowhere and nothing,

gets all his fame and fortune playing the big arenas

and making the big bucks and realizes

he wants nothing in life more

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

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

We pitched him the idea that we wanted to do

and he loved them.

His reaction was, "I love it.

I love everything you've done."

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

"who didn't comment something about the concept

"or the rundown.

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

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

♪ If you're looking for trouble ♪

♪ You came to the right place ♪

♪ If you're looking for trouble ♪

♪ Just look right in my face ♪

♪ I was born standin' up ♪

♪ And talkin' back ♪

♪ My daddy was a green-eyed mountain jack ♪

♪ Because I'm evil ♪

♪ My middle name is misery ♪

♪ Whoa, whoa, whoa ♪

♪ Well, I'm evil ♪

♪ So don't you mess around with me ♪

When you see all these other Elvises in silhouette

behind him, my first thought was,

is this like an intimidation thing?

Being like, Elvis is back.

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

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

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

♪ I left my mama a goodbye note ♪

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

♪ I hitchhiked all the way down to Memphis ♪

♪ Got a room at the YMCA ♪

♪ And for the next three weeks, I went ♪

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

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

♪ But nobody wanted to hire a guitar man ♪

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

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

♪ Find yourself down around Mobile ♪

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

♪ If you got a little time to kill ♪

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

♪ Out on his dance floor ♪

♪ Digging the finest little five piece group ♪

♪ Up and down the Gulf of Mexico ♪

♪ Guess who's leading that five piece band ♪

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

♪ Swingin' little guitar man ♪

One day I was in my office prepping for the work

we were going to do that evening

when Elvis arrived with his entourage.

And I noticed he was staring out the window

looking down on Sunset Boulevard.

And I was curious what was going on

in his mind at the time.

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

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

which was directly in front of our front door

of the office building--

"What do you think would happen?"

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

I said, "I'm just curious.

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

"or do you think they'd attack you,

or do you think they would ignore you?"

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

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

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

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

and the traffic's starting to build up.

We're out doing small talk on the curb.

After a little while, he's starting

to get impatient and nervous, I can tell.

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

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

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

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

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

We went back upstairs and I sensed

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

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

we got closer after that.

We're supposed to do a little thing right now

and it's supposed to fit into the show,

just a part of a song.

It cuts some of the show.

So if you'll just bear with us until we

get this thing out of the way.

You ready, Steve?

I think over the course of their relationship,

there certainly was a bonding between Steve and Elvis.

When he saw the depth of what they were

gonna do on the special, that he was involved

in the creative process and that what he was being given

to do was good and compelling

and something he enjoyed doing.

I think Elvis knew he could relax

and be comfortable with Steve.

Steve, you wanna the other thing?

It'll just be one second, Elvis.

All right.

Ready when you are, Steve B.

I think he just, trusted Steve

to make all those decisions.

And I think Steve was the middle man

between him and the Colonel.

That Steve was the person

that could relate to what Elvis wanted

and work with the Colonel

to get that fabulous end result.

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

♪ Well, I get up on the mountain ♪

♪ And I call my bear cat back ♪

♪ My bear cat comes running and the hound dogs ♪

♪ They stay way back ♪

♪ Way back, way back, way back ♪

♪ Ain't no end to the song, baby ♪

I'm a great believer in luck and timing.

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

out to NBC for the first time.

He asked me, "Steve, do you think

"it would be possible for me to live

out here when we do the show?"

And I said, "What do you mean?"

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

"and the new baby in Beverly Hills.

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

"going each way back and forth every day.

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

more relaxed if I lived out here."

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

We offered Elvis the dressing room

right next to Stage 4

where we'd be taping the entire production.

I called up the person in charge at NBC

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

a bed in that dressing room?"

He arranged it, and we had two pianos.

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

We would finish rehearsals early

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

He had the rest of the evening to himself.

So he'd go into his dressing room

and his entourage was there, and they would jam

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

It was like looking through a keyhole and saying,

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

One more time, Johnny.

- One more time. - Ahh!

We got it.

- Oh, yeah. - You got it.

You had it.

I remember how much joy it brought to Elvis.

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

is when he had the guys around.

♪ The bell hop's-- ♪

Wait a minute. Wait a minute.

Wait a minute. I forgot the lyrics.

Wait a minute, wait a minute.

I forgot the lyrics.

Uh--

♪ The-- ♪

It was magical.

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

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

costumes, sets, et cetera.

This is the magic.

I've gotta capture that in the dressing room,

but the Colonel wouldn't let me.

He was adamant that nobody go into the dressing room,

let alone with a camera.

I think Parker was always trying to convey the message

that, "However well you think you know Elvis,

I'm the one that really has control."

But I knew I had to do it.

I mean, there was no special without that.

So I kept hounding him and finally,

I guess, I hounded him enough where

he finally, out of aggravation, said,

"Steve, I'll tell you what.

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

"but I'll let you recreate it on stage

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

The Colonel emphasized

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

"Remember," he said, "This is only

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

no time to put this crap in."

♪ You got me doing what you want me ♪

♪ Baby, what do you want me to do? ♪

The minute that I locked in to recreating

the improvisation segment on stage, Elvis asked me,

"Do you think I could bring my drummer and guitarist

in to do it with me?"

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

For the last 14 years.

His name is Scotty Moore.

Scotty.

And the loudmouthed guy over here--

he's been my drummer for a long time.

His name is D.J. Fontana.

He's been a friend of mine for something like

10 or 12 years.

Alan Ford is with his back to you.

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

- You know.

This is Charlie Hodge.

That was brilliant because it immediately

put him in a relaxed position.

And he's going to sing songs that he sang

when they started out.

♪ Well, that's all right, mama ♪

♪ That's all right with you ♪

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

♪ That's all right ♪

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

♪ Well, Mama, she done told me ♪

♪ Papa done told me, too ♪

♪ Son, that girl you're fooling with ♪

♪ She ain't no good for you ♪

♪ But that's all right ♪

♪ That's all right ♪

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

When I see Elvis doing unplugged,

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

And it's like you're naked.

You're naked to the world.

It's just that soul, that roughness,

of singing with your heart and giving it all.

And Steve, coming up with that idea,

I think it was just, genius.

♪ Anyway you do ♪

Take it, boys.

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

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

I finally saw pure joy

when he was sitting around with the guys.

We might do one more song for you

because we have another audience waiting to come in.

Man, I just work here.

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

scene by scene, one or two cameras,

and without an audience.

But for the improv segment,

I felt it was critical to inspire Elvis

with the kind of excitement and energy

that only a live studio audience can bring.

I went over to Colonel Parker

and I said, "Colonel, how many tickets

will you need to watch Elvis do the improv?"

And the Colonel said, "Bindle--"

he would call me Binder on certain occasions,

but other times, Bindle--

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

If I take the tickets,

you have to give me all of the tickets,

not just some of them.

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

So I gave him all the tickets.

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

I'm expecting thousands of people

to be standing outside NBC Studios in Burbank

waiting in line.

I get a phone call from NBC saying,

we've added personnel to handle the crowd.

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

Should have known he was lying to me again.

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

And so, Bones Howe, my partner, and I

called a couple of disk jockeys we knew personally

and asked them to-- on the radio--

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

get your asses to Burbank."

We went to a very famous iconic restaurant

called Bob's Big Boy.

And we went to customers asking,

would you like to see Elvis Presley?

We told everybody at NBC--

invite your girlfriends and boyfriends and wives.

I think intern is a more glamorous term for the fact

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

And I was pulled out of the office.

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

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

come on down.

And they sat us around this stage,

not knowing what we were getting into.

And it was bright lights, and it was hot.

And what is happening?

And then the other thing that strikes you

is just, how good he looks.

I mean, especially-- what does everyone remember?

People that aren't Elvis fans--

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

So my first thought was, he's really confident

in how he looks.

He can wear a full leather suit

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

Oh, my God.

No woman who ever saw that will forget that.

I really thought it was just, perfect.

I mean, it was a touch of rebel in him

to be wearing that rather than what we'd seen

him wear in the movies, which were more conservative.

And it was like the old Elvis is back.

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

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

why didn't he always wear that?

There's one thing about this--

this TV special I'm doing.

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

what I wanna do, which is sit down.

Not really.

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

Just give me the time.

He seemed very nervous,

but there was somehow, some kind of

happiness behind that.

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

Even though, he was a little shaky, maybe.

And then he started playing the guitar

and started singing, and he just relaxed.

And he was great.

♪ Well, lawdy lawdy lawdy, Miss Clawdy ♪

♪ Girl, you sure look good to me ♪

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

♪ I know it can't be me ♪

What was I thinking?

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

I don't think--

I don't think I was thinking other than just

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

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

♪ I'm going to tell, tell my mama ♪

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

♪ I'm going to tell everybody ♪

♪ That I'm down in misery ♪

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

I believed in him totally.

It was not cool.

My high school friends thought I was crazy

so I didn't tell anybody.

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

But this was it.

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

I had no idea what I was going to see.

And we got the first "MTV Unplugged."

And it was astonishing to be

10 to 12 feet away from Elvis,

and the energy and the feeling of those musicians

and the rawness.

♪ I said, bye, bye-bye baby ♪

♪ Girl, I won't be coming no more ♪

♪ Goodbye to little darling ♪

♪ Down the road I go ♪

And he was doing the songs that I remembered

and none of the movie ones

that were kind of interchangeable.

These were the songs we remembered and had energy.

It was very exciting.

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

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

for the first take.

My sister was on one side.

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

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

between me and my sister.

♪ Memories ♪

♪ Pressed between the pages of my mind ♪

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

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

♪ Just like wine ♪

It was truly awe. He's right there.

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

which was kinda great, you know.

♪ Like golden Autumn leaves around my feet ♪

♪ I touched them and they burst apart ♪

♪ With sweet memories ♪

♪ Sweet memories ♪

♪ Of holding hands and red bouquets

♪ And twilight trimmed in purple haze ♪

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

♪ And gentle days with you ♪

I think it's "The Hollywood Reporter"

that says, "It looks as if someone had accidentally

taped the rehearsal at times."

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

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

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

Instead of doing something that felt like a spectacular,

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

it did, sometimes, feel like you were eavesdropping.

Without question, it was a segment

that towered over every other.

It was the most electrifying, animalistic rock and roll.

And I think it blew everybody away.

Watching that in the round and that broken down

really unplugged performance is inspiring.

It's inspiring to see people just sitting around

and playing music.

No production on it.

Just playing music, feeling it,

cutting up with his buddies,

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

♪ Always lived a very quiet life ♪

♪ I ain't never did no wrong ♪

♪ Now I know that very fine life ♪

♪ Has been too lonely too long ♪

I love Elvis singing "One Night."

You know, he's got the electric guitar.

♪ One night with you ♪

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

And Elvis's rhythm was great.

Talk to any guitar players in town

and have them watch that video of Elvis singing that,

and they go, "That is cool."

Like, his pocket is great.

And that was all Elvis's band really

ever did was just follow Elvis.

♪ One night with you, whoo ♪

♪ Is what I'm now praying for ♪

♪ The things that we two could plan

♪ Would make my dreams come true ♪

I know that there was drama because I felt it

coming from Steve because he was normally

in charge and the person making the right decision.

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

And you knew he was gonna fix it.

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

on his own on that special.

The Colonel was the enemy.

He was a bully.

He was dishonest.

I could tell you a lot of stories.

We insisted that if I produced and directed

the television special, I would be paid royalties

if a soundtrack album of the special was ever released.

The Colonel blew his stack.

He calls me at home and he says,

"Steve, you have nothing to worry about.

"I give you my word.

"There's never going to be a soundtrack album

so you can go ahead and do the TV."

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

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

but he made the deal with RCA

before he made the phone call to me.

I mean, he loved doing things like that.

I didn't know anything about him.

Nothing.

But when I met him and said hello to him,

I had this chill.

I didn't care for him.

I did not like him.

I didn't know why.

Later, I figured it out.

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

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

but it's more important to be nice.

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

And he did not have that philosophy, the Colonel.

Did not have that.

The Colonel constantly throughout the production

kept asking where his Christmas songs were.

One day, he was furious,

and he called Elvis and I off the set

to come to his office.

His office incidentally, he was offered the Dean Martin

dressing room, but he turned it down in favor

of a broom closet next to Stage 4.

And had two William Morris agents

dressed as soldiers standing guard

in front of his little doorway.

So we walk in there.

The Colonel's sitting behind this little desk

looking ridiculous.

Elvis is standing there with his head bowed.

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

"it's been called to my attention

"that there are no Christmas songs in the show.

"Elvis wants a Christmas song in the show.

Right, Elvis?"

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

And I said, "Elvis, if you want

a Christmas song in the show,

all you have to do is tell me."

The Colonel then interrupts and says,

"So it's understood from this moment on,

'you will put a Christmas song in the show.

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

and go back to work."

We walk out the door, we turn left,

no sooner do we turn the corner,

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

And that was the end of that.

After that, Bob Finkel, my executive producer,

did an incredible job of keeping Colonel Parker

out of my hair and I was free

to work with Elvis one-on-one.

Colonel didn't give a damn about Elvis Presley.

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

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

I had known him a little bit and I knew,

it never was about art or the music or integrity.

He had to be the power guy.

Even when he realized he was losing battle after battle,

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

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

When we started the Presley project,

all the pre-production was done at my offices

on the Sunset Strip.

At 4:00 in the afternoon we started.

That's when Elvis would arrive.

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

This particular night, we heard this strange

screaming reaction from the other room.

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

And it was live on television,

the assassination of Robert Kennedy.

We watched it in horror.

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

And we spent until almost the next morning talking about,

what the hell is going on in our country?

I shall not seek

and I will not accept

the nomination of my party

for another term as your president.

1968 is the tumultuous year in American history.

It begins with the Tet Offensive in Vietnam

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

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

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

I'm not running for reelection.

That's unusual for a president,

but Vietnam had him in a hole.

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

and then in June of Bobby Kennedy,

bloodshed in the streets.

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

there were riots in over 100 cities in America.

People forget just, what a tinderbox the country was.

♪ Better run through the jungle ♪

♪ Better run through ♪

And then you cut to the summer of '68

and you had the Chicago Democratic Convention.

Holy hell breaks out.

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

The Democrats produce Hubert Humphrey, the vice president,

who had been perpetrating the war in Vietnam,

as their nominee.

And then George Wallace is running a third-party movement

all on racism and bigotry.

And then that Nixon, of all people,

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

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

♪ Better run through the jungle ♪

♪ Whoa, don't look back to see ♪

We have speed. Quiet, please.

OK, here we go.

5-13.

In addition to the two sequences

shot in front of a live audience,

we had several big production numbers.

Each highlighting a different aspect

of Elvis's musical journey.

In one of these, Elvis as a young guitar man

hits the road to seek his fame and fortune.

There was also a scene set at an amusement park

that allowed Elvis to show off his martial arts skills.

Another was a gospel segment in which Elvis displayed

his spiritual side backed by The Blossoms

and The Claude Thompson Dancers.

♪ Living below ♪

♪ In this old, sinful world ♪

♪ Hardly a comfort can afford ♪

♪ Striving alone ♪

♪ To face temptation so ♪

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

♪ But to the Lord ♪

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

You could hear church.

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

The way he emotes and the way he just,

delivers it and gives it all from the soul.

You know that Elvis used to

sit outside some Black churches

and just be mesmerized by what was going on.

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

and that's a beautiful thing.

♪ Where could I go but to the Lord ♪

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

♪ But to the Lord ♪

When we look at the "Comeback Special"

and you're seeing Black dancers, white dancers,

and Black musicians and white musicians,

obviously, that does not seem shocking to us today,

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

Integration on television was not fully realized.

And Steve Binder, to me, in my opinion,

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

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

obviously, I think that Steve Binder

sees the world as one color.

He really pushed the envelope in those days.

And Elvis had such a background from his upbringing

of soulful music and had such an influence

from African-American musicians.

And I think that was a part of Elvis' music

that was so important to capture,

and Steve saw that.

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

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

♪ And dance the hoochy-coo ♪

♪ Oh, yeah ♪

♪ Now I'm standing on this corner ♪

♪ Praying for me and you ♪

One of the things that marks Elvis's contemporary

is his ear for this stuff,

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

but I have a debt to country music,

I have a debt to rhythm and blues,

I have a debt to gospel music.

And so, I suspect to some people

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

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

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

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

that he is in tune with this American roots music

because it's the time when lots of groups

are rediscovering rootsy American music.

♪ People let me tell you about kingdom come ♪

♪ I'm saved, I'm saved ♪

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

♪ I'm saved, I'm saved ♪

♪ I'm saved ♪

And of course, there was

the notorious bordello sequence.

♪ Oh, baby, I'm gonna teach you ♪

♪ What love's all about tonight ♪

Yes, I remember it like it was yesterday.

It was very racy for 1968.

And I remember showing midriff and showing

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

♪ Enjoy yourself ♪

♪ And baby, don't fight ♪

And the dancing was very sexy.

It was very stylized.

That was an incredibly fabulous number.

Beautifully shot and choreographed.

Elvis always brought kind of a profound earthly manner

to his motion.

He moves fantastically.

He'd never say no to anything.

"Let me try it."

And he was so mild and easygoing.

One moment that was funny, the bordello scene,

and I got a really fine collection

of lovely, lovely fantastic ladies, really talented.

And he said, "Jamie?"

I said, "Yes?"

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

I'm getting excited."

♪ You'll be ready for the grand finale ♪

♪ So come on baby, let's go ♪

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

Well, I was a virgin hooker.

I kinda take pride in that.

That was my part that I had interviewed for.

All right, places everyone.

I walked into rehearsal.

We were to prepare how we were going to dance.

And he was standing in his jeans.

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

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

So I just kind of tiptoed up.

Ready here.

Give it a minute.

All right, Elvis is ready.

Okay, roll.

It wasn't work. NBC was paying me,

but I think it was apparent to everybody

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

And we had fun dancing and practicing and being silly.

That last one was a 19.

Just pick it up from there.

Standby. Here we go.

Let's just take one second.

I'm going to try something different on the opening

of Susan's face.

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

He definitely was in control of everything.

But he allowed that free liberty

for us to express ourselves.

It was just natural.

And I think allowing Elvis and I

to be natural and play how we did,

it brought out more in us.

Thank you, Elvis. See you tomorrow.

Okay, let's do the dance segment.

Five, please.

When there is a chemistry, he was very sensuous,

very masculine, and it elicited the femininity and the flirt

and the coy and the tease in me.

And I think we played off each other.

♪ Now take a real deep breath and put ♪

♪ Your red lips on mine ♪

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

♪ Be just fine, oh, yeah ♪

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

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

♪ All you gotta do it just let yourself go ♪

Ultimately, that sequence proved

too risqué for the network and the sponsor.

Although, I fought tooth and nail,

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

Through a strange set of circumstances,

it appeared in the special nine years later

when it was rebroadcast after Elvis' death,

and it's been there ever since.

921.

♪ My daddy was a green-eyed mountain jack ♪

♪ Because I'm evil ♪

Whoo! Run out of breath.

Huh?

Elvis was such a prankster.

He did not just rehearse.

He would, like, do funny things.

And some of it was just so off the cuff.

That's 922.

Plus tax.

Watch my clacker here.

You watch my clacker there.

That's 927.

His eyes would give him away.

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

And he just had that look that could just

really melt you and make you laugh.

Steve, you wanna do the other thing?

"Trouble" again?

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

I'll see you tomorrow.

OK, are you ready?

No, but we'll try it anyway.

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

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

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

Let's go.

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

The most successful part of the "Comeback Special,"

I think, though, is the arena segment

where Elvis is out in that same seductive suit

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

That's gold.

♪ Uh, I'm all shook up ♪

♪ Ohh, uhh ♪

♪ Yeah, yeah ♪

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

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

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

♪ I'm in love uh-uh ♪

♪ I'm all shook up ♪

♪ Ohh, uhh ♪

♪ Yeah, yeah ♪

Elvis was absolutely electric when he was on stage.

And I think he had a lot of that built up

for the "'68 Comeback Special."

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

just ready to pounce, right?

There's something touching, there's something sweet

about seeing someone who is such a big star

who's also working that hard.

♪ I met a girl that I love so ♪

♪ My heart beats so it scares me to death ♪

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

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

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

♪ I'm in love ah-ooh-uhh ♪

♪ I'm all shook up ♪

♪ Ohh, uhh ♪

♪ Yeah, yeah, I'm all shook up ♪

♪ Ohh, uhh ♪

♪ Yeah, yeah ♪ - * I'm all shook up ♪

Ah!

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

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

mostly songs from the '50s.

I mean, the '50s versions are great,

but he's matured.

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

But he's also developed as a singer

and it's a much more powerful voice.

♪ The warden threw a party in the county jail ♪

♪ The prison band was there they began to wail ♪

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

♪ Should have heard them knocked out jailbirds sing ♪

♪ Let's rock ♪

♪ Everybody, let's rock ♪

♪ Everybody in the whole cell block

♪ Was dancing to the Jailhouse Rock ♪

He didn't update them by making them psychedelic

or whatever the current trend was,

but he did reinvigorate them.

So they sound vital and contemporary,

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

Those songs have to be interpreted the right way

and played the right way in order to get that energy

and that feeling across.

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

It was so perfect together within one.

And he executed it the right perfectly.

♪ Come on and do the Jailhouse Rock with me ♪

♪ Let's rock ♪

♪ Everybody, let's rock ♪

♪ Everybody in the whole cell block

♪ Was dancing to the Jailhouse Rock ♪

♪ Shifty Henry said to Bugs ♪

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

♪ Now's the chance to make a break" ♪

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

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

♪ Let's rock ♪

♪ Everybody, let's rock ♪

♪ Everybody in the whole cell block ♪

♪ Was dancing to the Jailhouse Rock ♪

♪ Dancing to the Jailhouse Rock ♪

♪ Dancing to the Jailhouse Rock ♪

♪ They were dancing rock ♪

♪ They were dancing to the Jailhouse Rock ♪

♪ Ahh ♪

All right.

Elvis has such a humble nature about him,

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

and go, "This guy is cocky."

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

and so is everybody in the audience."

♪ Love me tender ♪

♪ Love me true ♪

♪ All my dreams fulfilled ♪

♪ For my darling, I love you ♪

♪ And I always will ♪

Thank you.

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

the Colonel went to Tom Sarnoff, the head of NBC

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

"to air this special until there's

a Christmas song in it."

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

why I don't have a Christmas song.

I walk into the office.

There's all the executives sitting there,

and there's the Colonel leaning on his cane.

His eyeballs are on me.

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

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

wait a minute.

When Elvis did the improv,

I think he sang "Blue Christmas."

♪ I'll have a blue Christmas ♪

♪ Without you ♪

♪ I'll be so blue ♪

♪ Just thinking about you ♪

♪ Decorations of red ♪

♪ On a green Christmas tree ♪

♪ Won't be the same ♪

♪ If you're not here with me ♪

I saw the Colonel make these super executives,

who probably had more money than Colonel Parker,

probably had more power than Colonel Parker,

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

They were terrified of him, and I was wondering,

where's all this power coming from?

The Colonel had great powers of intimidation.

And so the Colonel always tried to find out

where your soft spot was, where you were vulnerable,

and he would not hesitate to use that.

The Colonel brings to mind a mob boss man.

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

He was a control freak.

And so he really didn't care,

as long as it had one Christmas song in it.

And that may have been just to save face.

♪ But I'll have a blue ♪

♪ Blue, blue, blue Christmas ♪

After Colonel Parker approved

the final edit of the special,

we were sitting in a screening room

with five or six of Elvis' entourage.

And the most uncomfortable feeling for every director

is having to sit through a screening

when everything you did you think is terrible

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

Now, you're sitting in a screening room

with your star and his friends,

and there's no reaction.

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

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

what Elvis does.

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

"I want you all to leave now.

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

I now show it to Elvis,

and here's a whole other human being.

There's a guy laughing, applauding himself.

I mean, he loved it.

It's been a long time, baby.

Long time.

My boy, my boy.

I think he finally got to say to himself,

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

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

into something and then you see the end result

and it's just as good or perhaps

even better than you thought.

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

with a phone number on it.

And he whispers to me, "Call me."

♪ Phony little two-bit town ♪

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

and said, "He's not available."

When Elvis and Steve wanted to be friends

after the "Comeback Special,"

the Colonel got worried,

and so, Steve Binder must be banished.

And I do think with all my heart

that if Steve had remained in his creative life

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

on the bathroom floor in his beloved Graceland.

He was so rejuvenated by that "Comeback Special,"

and the music that he made right after that

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

but then he went right back to doing

what the Colonel wanted him to do.

The Elvis and Colonel story is very much

a Shakespearean tragedy.

The following program is brought to you

in living color on NBC.

It always seemed to me like some of the reaction

to the "Comeback Special"

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

Right, like, some of the reaction

to the "Comeback Special" is low expectations.

My mother wanted to watch it.

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

And, oh, were my eyes opened.

I had no idea Elvis Presley was still in there,

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

It did very well on the ratings.

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

It really rejuvenated Elvis.

It had been so long since anybody

had seen him in his glory.

It was a historic moment.

So here, 1968 is this year of bloody turmoil,

but yet, it ends on a high note.

When John F. Kennedy was murdered in 1963,

it was The Beatles going on "Ed Sullivan"

that brought the morale of America back.

By '68, with all the tragedy and sadness,

something about Elvis being on television

made Americans feel good about America.

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

dream to the Moon.

The Apollo program is gearing up,

and we're getting photographs of Earth

as this whole blue-green planet

that people are looking at.

Elvis and the Moon now are the hopes of America.

♪ For I can't help ♪

♪ Falling in love

♪ With you ♪

Yeah!

- Thank you. Thank you.

Whoo!

Colonel Parker kept telling everybody,

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

This was his Custer's last stand.

He thought Elvis should close the special

with a Christmas song or some kind

of saccharine thing like, "I Believe,"

which Steve was just determined not to do.

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

He didn't have anything else to suggest.

I went to Billy Goldenberg, my musical director,

I went to Earl Brown, my choral director,

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

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

which the Colonel would never ever approve,

put it into a song.

I mean, let the people know the inner Elvis

and how he feels about

the Martin Luther King assassination,

the Bobby Kennedy assassination.

I got a phone call a few days later.

It was Earl Brown who called me saying,

"I think we have it."

So I met him early one morning at NBC

where Elvis was having breakfast across the way

at the commissary.

They sat down at the piano.

Four bars in, I knew it was a hit.

Elvis came across.

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

of your special."

They played it.

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

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

I don't know how many times they played it

over and over for him.

In the meantime, the Colonel wanders in,

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

will he ever sing--"

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

But Elvis looked at me, hearing Colonel Parker,

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

When Elvis first emerges in the 1950s,

it's not really the something to say era.

That's not necessarily, the expectation that we have

from rock and roll stars.

And even now, I think

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

to expect rock stars to have something interesting to say.

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

living in a moment where people

are interested in the idea that a rock star

might have a message to send.

From the very depths of his soul,

he brings out this performance that's remarkable.

I mean, it's a showstopping moment.

One of the best performances of all time by anybody,

especially in the context of the times.

I was born 20 years after Elvis died.

I can watch that and feel impacted

and feel inspired

and feel what Elvis was feeling at the time.

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

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

the Civil Rights Movement.

It's Elvis really being real and telling you

about how he feels.

You could tell when he's singing

that he believes every word.

It is very crucial that we listen

to that song and those words.

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

That song is a portrait and the sound

of a man saving his own life.

I get goosebumps very few times in my life,

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

To this day, I will never forget it.

Elvis gives the greatest performance of his life.

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

He is the King of Rock and Roll.

There is no doubt about it.

♪ There must be lights ♪

♪ Burning brighter somewhere ♪

♪ Got to be birds ♪

♪ Flying higher in a sky more blue ♪

♪ If I can dream ♪

♪ Of a better land where all my brothers ♪

♪ Walk hand in hand ♪

♪ Tell me why, oh, why, oh, why ♪

♪ Can't my dream come true ♪

♪ Oh, why ♪

♪ There must be peace ♪

♪ And understanding sometime ♪

♪ Strong winds of promise ♪

♪ That will blow away all the doubt and fear ♪

♪ If I can dream ♪

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

♪ Tell me why, oh, why,

♪ Oh, why, won't that sun appear ♪

♪ We're lost in a cloud ♪

♪ With too much rain ♪

♪ We're trapped in a world ♪

♪ That's trouble with pain ♪

♪ But as long as a man ♪

♪ Has the strength to dream ♪

♪ He can redeem his soul

♪ And fly ♪

♪ He can fly ♪

♪ Deep in my heat ♪

♪ There's a trembling question ♪

♪ Still, I am sure that the answer ♪

♪ Answer's gonna come somehow ♪

♪ Out there in the dark ♪

♪ There's a beckoning candle ♪

♪ Oh, yeah ♪

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

♪ While I can stand, while I can talk ♪

♪ While I can dream ♪

♪ Please, let my dream ♪

♪ Come true ♪

♪ Ohh ♪

♪ Right now ♪

♪ Oh, let it come true right now ♪

♪ Oh, yeah ♪