A Scene That I Love: Elvis Presley In Jailhouse Rock

Posted on January 8, 2024 by Jedadiah Leland

Elvis Presley would have been 89 years old today.

Elvis always said that one of his biggest regrets was that he never had full control over his film career. While he had dreams of being taken seriously as an actor and admired James Dean and Marlon Brando, his management continually forced him into silly movies that only required him to sing a few songs.

Elvis’s early films, which were made before his military service and which allowed him to act as well as sing, were his best. Today’s scene comes from one of those films, 1957’s Jailhouse Rock.

4 Shots From 4 Elvis Films: Love Me Tender, Loving You, Jailhouse Rock, King Creole

Posted on January 8, 2020 by Jedadiah Leland

4 Shots From 4 Films is just what it says it is, 4 shots from 4 of our favorite films. As opposed to the reviews and recaps that we usually post, 4 Shots From 4 Films lets the visuals do the talking.

Today is not just David Bowie’s birthday. It’s also Elvis’s! If he was still with us, Elvis Presley would be 85 years old today.

During his lifetime, Elvis was as well-known for his movies as his music. Elvis, who admired James Dean and Marlon Brando and wanted to be known as a serious actor, hated the majority of his films. After 1960’s G.I. Blues, almost all of Elvis’s films were musical comedies that provided him with little opportunity to show off his dramatic skills. Elvis preferred his first four films, Love Me Tender, Loving You, Jailhouse Rock, and King Creole, all of which gave him a chance to not just sing but to do some serious acting as well.

In honor Elvis’s birthday, here are 4 shots from those 4 films.

4 Shots From 4 Elvis Films

Love Me Tender (1956, directed by Robert D. Webb)

Loving You (1957, directed by Hal Kanter)

Jailhouse Rock (1957, directed by Richard Thorpe)

King Creole (1958, directed by Michael Curtiz)

Rockin’ in the Film World #5: Elvis Presley in JAILHOUSE ROCK (MGM 1957)

Posted on June 18, 2016 by gary loggins

cracked rear viewer

It’s hard for younger audiences to understand what a truly subversive figure Elvis Presley was in the 1950’s. Throughout the 1960’s he made safe, sanitized films that seem quite tame today, and his later Las Vegas persona has been parodied to death (and indeed, Presley became a parody of himself in the 70’s). But back in the day, Elvis was the original punk rocker, his gyrating hips and perpetual sneer causing quite a scandal among adults brought up on sedate Bing Crosby-type crooners. Teenagers were attracted to this new, rebellious musical style, and Presley became their King. Hits like “Heartbreak Hotel”, “Hound Dog”, and “All Shook Up” topped the charts, and a plethora of rock’n’roll artists jumped on the bandwagon. Elvis had already done two films by the time JAILHOUSE ROCK was released, a triumph of punk attitude about a convict’s rise to the top of the music heap.