It’s an especially fun movie from a director and cast who are clearly having a good time allowing themselves to let loose.

it is the rare 'crazy' movie that actually has something to say.

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

This revamped and re-edited version is far superior to the original release, which focused too much on the fascination that the fan clubs held for him. The footage and the sound has been cleaned up. Wisely, songs in rehearsal (some of them bad covers) are not repeated in the concert part of the film, but "Mary in the Morning" should have been. Here we see just how hard Elvis prepared for the historic International Hotel concerts. It is edited down from six live performances. Elvis' multifaceted talents included music arrangement and on-stage conducting of virtually all his "numbers". (He is an accomplished pianist as well--who knew?) He decided when the horns, orchestra and choruses "kicked in" on stage. For a brief 90 minutes or so, it is as if Elvis is still alive. Thrilling for both all old and new Elvis fans. Not a comprehensive list of hits and certainly not his full repertoire, but a good representation. I wish it had included "Lord, You Gave Me a Mountain". No "Dixieland" concerto here. A great cover of "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling" and the most sincere rendition of "In the Ghetto" I've ever seen. A slightly overlong version of "Polk Salad Annie" because it showcased the humorous side of Elvis. As usual, he "throws away" "Hound Dog", as he must have truly hated that song. A lot of smooching of stage-struck fans and enough audience shots to make it seem like a live-on-film concert from The International Hotel (now the LVH) in Las Vegas. He poured so much energy into this concert, that at the end of it, he is truly worn out. Look for several famous celebrities in the audience including Sammy Davis Jr., Cary Grant, and Charo! Even the excellent re-edited version seems too short.

Documentary on Elvis Presley the singer, directed by Denis Sanders and chronicling the King's '69 comeback as he prepares for a big show in Las Vegas. Either you're entranced by Presley's megalomaniacal antics or you're not--he certainly is!--while the camera continues to trail right behind E.P. as if were the two were somehow attached. Veteran cinematographer Lucien Ballard's participation in this film is rather bizarre, but his solid work puts the whole thing over, even more so than the music. Capturing every star-twitch and running bead of sweat, the documentary does become a fascinating look at one person's stardom, his ritual. Director Sanders keeps the pacing lively, and keeps the songs coming, though most of the soundtrack is made up of cover tunes. Questions such as why Elvis felt the need to sing music already made popular by other artists never get addressed nor answered, which is why the film is mainly for devotees. The on-screen fans are quirky and interesting, probably more so than the star himself, while the movie provides some brief razzle-dazzle and tacky backstage glamour. **1/2 from ****

Sadly, some people feel that they know better than the director how a film should be. Since director Denis Sanders is now deceased, he cannot comment on the "special edition" DVD of his film, which basically removes the heart and soul from his movie--the people who loved Elvis and made him the phenomenon that he was (and still is, for that matter!) I have no problem with creating a concert-only version-the concert footage is superb and shows Elvis at one of the high-points in his career; just a few years before his death, but before his sad decline. It's great fun to watch him rehearse and horse around. However, it seems wrong to me to palm this off on the public as the film "Elvis: That's the Way it Is" when much of the footage has been removed! Denis Sanders wanted to show several aspects of Elvis World, reaching from the kitchen of the International Hotel all the way to Luxembourg. To be able to view the original version, I had to wait until an aging Laserdisc came available for purchase and then I realized how removing the non-Elvis material lessened the importance of the film, as the documenting of an important cultural icon. Hopefully, someone at Warner Home Video will realize the error of this and make BOTH versions available, if for nothing else than to right the wrong done to the film's director.

Here's Elvis performing live at the International Hotel in Las Vegas over a period of six nights in 1970. He jokes and stumbles through abbreviated versions of his classics from the 50's and early 60's but gets serious and turns in great performances of songs that would be his concert staples for the rest of his career including Suspecious Minds, In The Ghetto and The wonder of You. He's backed by famed guitarist James Burton and a band that includes Chip young, Ronnie Tutt, David Briggs, Jerry Carrigan, Norbert Putnam and John Wilkerson with an orchestra led by Eddie Hinton and vocals by The Sweet Inspirations and Millie Kirkham and The Imperials Quartet. Besides the concert footage taken over six consecutive nights at the hotels are also rehearsal footage from MGM studios in Culver City, California. Celebrities in the audience that came out for the shows include Cary grant, Sammy Davis Jr. and George Hamilton. Elvis' Memphis Mafia stalwarts Joe Esposito, sonny West and Red West are here too. There's even a brief overhead shot of Col. Parker. Denis Sanders who directed this documentary had a sporadic career as a screenwriter and filmmaker of feature films, television and documentaries. He followed this the next year with his second music documentary called Soul to Soul which featured some of the great R&B acts of the time. These two films were definitely the highlight of his career. They got a big name cinematographer to do the photography in Lucien Ballard. He had been a Hollywood cinematographer since the 30's and had filmed Presley in roustabout. He was involved in a string of feature film hits in the 60's with The son's of Katie Elder, The Wild Bunch, Nevada Smith, The Getaway and True Grit. This is a must for any Elvis fan and even for non-fans it serves as a fairly good documentary of Elvis in peak physical form and having a fun and energetic time as a performer. White high collared jump suits with sequence and kung fu jump kicks are all here on a Vegas stage. He's comfortable in his element. The film originally ran at 107 minutes when it debuted in theaters in December of 1970. It's not a great concert film and not very imaginatively filmed or edited but since Elvis is such a legend it's worth a look. I would give it a 7.0 out of 10.