Best elvis presley movies

On August 16, 1977, the world lost iconic performer Elvis Presley, who died at the young age of 42. Presley excelled in many media, from music to television to films and the concert stage, and he became a beloved cultural king worldwide. In music, he was nicknamed the “King of Rock and Roll,” but that genre was not his sole claim to musical significance. Presley performed and was influenced by a number of genres, including country, rockabilly, pop, blues, gospel, and rhythm and blues. In his career, Presley won three Grammy Awards (all for gospel music and none for rock) plus received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1971.

Although he got his start performing rockabilly, the Tupelo-born (on January 8, 1935), Memphis-raised Presley gradually expanded his sphere of influence to include film, television and the concert stage. His appearances on television in the 1950s, in particular on “The Ed Sullivan Show,” caused a storm of controversy about the sexual nature of his pelvic gyrations, so that selective camerawork had to be utilized to protect the delicate sensibilities of the CBS and Sullivan audience. But that only fueled the mania to see Elvis among his fans, and that jump started his new career on the big screen.

Presley’s film output can be divided into two genres. One is the “Elvis movie” where his characters show up in some exotic place looking for work but instead finds every girl hanging on to his every note. The second is the more serious films where, Presley, anxious to show his bona fides as a real actor, takes on characters and situations that are far from the music and dancing of his other films. And when he was given a chance to shine, Presley, on more than one occasion, proved that he had some serious acting chops indeed.

In honor of his memory, enjoy touring our new photo gallery of his top 10 movies ranked worst to best, including “Blue Hawaii,” “Love Me Tender,” and

Like most fans, I have mixed feelings about the Elvis movies. I have my favorites, and those I never tire of watching. Then there are some that make me cringe and wonder why he ever agreed to appear in such fluff. I wasn't always so judgmental. As a young Elvis fan in the sixties, I enjoyed every one of his movies and thrilled with anticipation each time a new one came out.

It was in 1962, at age 13, that the lightning bolt struck, and I suddenly became an Elvis fan. That holiday season Girls! Girls! Girls! was released. It was my first Presley movie, and it helped cement my loyalty to him. Over the next 10 years, 22 more Elvis movies followed, and I saw all but one of them in their original theatrical releases.

Of course, Elvis had made 10 movies before I became a fan. These I eventually saw when they were re-released in theaters or appeared on TV. (Home video was still far in the future.)

It's hard to explain to younger fans how important those movies were to Presley fans in the 1960s. There were no live concerts. The only chance most of us had, and ever hoped to have, of seeing our idol was on the movie screen. Sure, we recognized that most of his flms weren't Oscar material. Still, we got to see Elvis and hear him sing, and it was enough to sustain our devotion until his next movie came out six months or so later.

Elvis Presley's dream was to become a movie star, and the dream started well for him. His acting ability developed steadily through his first four movies. But, alas, it was the music, which first gave him access to Hollywood, that proved the undoing of his acting career.

We fans deserve much of the blame. We flocked to the movies that had lots of music while merely tolerating the more dramatic ones. The inevitable result was a long series of films with weak plots in which only the music mattered.

That's a discussion for another time, however. Below you'll find my reviews for each o