[NFBP-Talk] Elvis

[Steve Cook]

Come join us for our Friday night movie this week as we show the audio
described movie Elvis 2022! Below is more about the movie and the Zoom
information to join us! 

 

When: Friday, January 6, 2023

Time: 8:00 PM Eastern

 


NFB of SC Zoom


 

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/8032543777?pwd=QTVQd2RzN3l6QnNmZ0FmSnp6NG8vQT09

 

Meeting ID: 803 254 3777

Passcode: 124578

One tap mobile

+19292056099,,8032543777# US (New York)

+13017158592,,8032543777# US (Germantown)

 

Dial by your location

        +1 929 205 6099 US (New York)

 

 

On January 20, 1997, Elvis Presley's former manager, Colonel Tom Parker, is
on his deathbed, having suffered a stroke. Nursing a gambling addiction that
has left him destitute, he recounts how he first met Presley.

 

Raised mostly by his doting mother Gladys, Presley spends his childhood in
the poorest parts of Mississippi, finding an escape in the comic book
adventures of Captain Marvel Jr. and especially in song. However, upon
moving with his parents to Memphis, he is ridiculed by his peers due to his
fascination with the African-American music of Memphis's Beale Street. At
this time, Parker is a carnival "huckster" who fancies himself a modern-day
P. T. Barnum. Although partnered with country singer Hank Snow, Parker
realizes Presley's crossover potential when he hears him "sounding black" on
"That's All Right". That night, he sees Presley at a "Louisiana Hayride"
performance, discovering a talented musician with strong sex appeal.

 

Parker meets with Presley at the carnival and persuades him to let him take
control of his career, beginning a meteoric ascent that sees the Presley
family lifted out of poverty. The regional public is divided in their view
of the singer. Feeling that Presley's music will corrupt white children and
stoke racial hostility, the segregationist Southern Democrat Mississippi
Senator James Eastland calls Parker to an informal hearing, during which he
questions Parker about his mysterious past.

 

After Presley's charged dance moves at a concert, he faces legal trouble.
Parker persuades the government to draft Presley into the US Army instead.
During his military service in West Germany, Presley is devastated by his
mother's alcoholism-induced death. He finds solace when he meets Priscilla
Beaulieu, the teenage daughter of an United States Air Force pilot. After
his discharge, he resumes his film career and marries Priscilla years later.

 

As the popular culture of the 1960s passes Presley by, the assassinations of
Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy devastate him. Although he
wants to become more politically outspoken in his music, Parker only allows
him to release frivolous feel-good songs for a Christmas special television.
However, this does not dissuade him. His performance choices in the special,
including the closing number, "If I Can Dream", are presented and perceived
as acts of not only his past songs, but also political commentary.
Infuriated corporate sponsors threaten litigation, while a disgusted Parker
believes Presley has been "brainwashed by hippies". Nevertheless, the show
is highly successful.

 

After the special, Presley headlines at the largest showroom in Las Vegas,
the International Hotel, and resumes concert tours. Parker's control of
Presley's life tightens up as he refuses Presley's request for a world tour
despite initially promising him and manipulates him into signing a contract
for a lengthy Las Vegas casino residency. Presley's problematic behavior and
prescription drug addiction overtake him, and a despondent Priscilla
divorces him on January 8, 1973, taking their daughter Lisa Marie with her.
Presley discovers the truth that Parker cannot leave the country, because he
is a stateless illegal immigrant named Andreas (Dries) van Kuijk, and fires
him on September 3, 1973. Parker and Presley argue over the latter's $8
million debt to the former and the record label for his numerous lavish
expenses. Parker convinces Presley of their symbiotic relationship and,
while they rarely see each other afterward, Parker continues as his manager.

 

Presley continues a rigorous schedule of shows that leaves him increasingly
exhausted. In 1975, Presley expresses his greatest fear to Priscilla of
being forgotten after he dies as he believes he hasn't achieved anything
worthwhile. At one of his final shows on June 21, 1977 in Rapid City, South
Dakota,[7] Presley, now obese and pale, sings "Unchained Melody" and ends
the performance to thunderous applause. As he finishes his recollection,
Parker dies in 1997, impoverished and alone, while Presley, who died on
August 16, 1977, is beloved worldwide and is the best-selling solo artist in
history, with his influence and legacy on music continuing to the present
day.

 

Cast

Austin Butler as Elvis Presley

Tom Hanks as Colonel Tom Parker

Olivia DeJonge as Priscilla Presley

Helen Thomson as Gladys Presley

Richard Roxburgh as Vernon Presley

Kelvin Harrison Jr. as B.B. King

David Wenham as Hank Snow

Kodi Smit-McPhee as Jimmie Rodgers Snow

Luke Bracey as Jerry Schilling

Dacre Montgomery as Steve Binder

Leon Ford as Tom Diskin

Gary Clark Jr. as Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup

Yola as Sister Rosetta Tharpe

Natasha Bassett as Dixie Locke

Xavier Samuel as Scotty Moore

Adam Dunn as Bill Black

Alton Mason as Little Richard

Shonka Dukureh as Big Mama Thornton / Pentecostal singer

Sharon Brooks as Sylvia Shemwell of the Sweet Inspirations

Nicholas Bell as James Eastland

Liz Blackett as Grandma Dodger

In addition, Chaydon Jay portrays the young Elvis Presley, Josh McConville
and Kate Mulvany portray Sun Records' Sam Phillips and Marion Keisker,
respectively, while Cle Morgan appears as Mahalia Jackson.

 

Steve Cook

If you would like to join the Computer Science & Technology Division for the
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National Association of Guide Dog Users Board Member

President of the Computer Science & Technology Division of the National
Federation of the Blind of SC

1st Vice President of the Columbia chapter of the National Federation of the
Blind of SC

1st Vice President of the SC Association of Guide Dog Users Division

 

 

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