The two movies Elvis and Priscilla show very different aspects of the couple’s relationship. Of course, they both are mainly about one or the other, but I like how they show how Elvis and Priscilla viewed their marriage differently. The Elvis movie was filled with bright colors and bright lights from the stage unlike the Priscilla movie, which was filled with darker colors, and it just seemed like her whole world revolved around Elvis and making him happy.
Our opening scene in the Elvis movie starts us in a hospital room with the narration of Elvis’s manager. This is when he starts the story of Elvis Presley from the beginning of his fame. They show us where he grew up and his first experience with music that moved him, which was in a Black Church. This type of music is what influenced his music until his death.
The movie fast-forwards to when he is on the road to his first concert with his cousins, and during this performance is where the women in the audience start to go crazy for him. They show the women jumping out of their seats and screaming because he was dancing on stage, but the men were not impressed. This is when Elvis and his manager, Colonel Parker, first met and talked about working together so he could attain his fame.
After this, Elvis goes on a tour with Hank Snow, which starts to bring a bigger and bigger audience each time. Over time, Hank Asher (Hank Snow) grows tired of Elvis getting all the attention and people only coming for him, so he ends the tour.
Fast forward a couple of years, and Elvis is one of the most famous musicians in America. With so many eyes on him, people started to realize that his dancing was too inappropriate for TV because it was immodest, and this made his manager worried about his fame. His name was all over newspapers about needing to “clean up his act.” Elvis tries to do this and fails. Women are holding up signs to protest that they want the “old” Elvis back. He didn’t like the way the people were trying to control his act, although his family and manager advised him to do so. In response to all the hate he was getting, he planned a concert for people to see the “real Elvis.” He goes back to dancing on stage and gets arrested for “disturbing the peace.” His family and his manager talk about alternatives to him going to jail, which is why he was drafted off to war.
During his service, he became very close to his later wife, Pricilla. When they met, she was only 14 and he was 24, and unfortunately during his line of service, his Mother back home died on August 14, 1958. When Elvis and Priscilla return to their home in Graceland, they get married and have their first and only daughter Lisa-Maire Presley. Elvis’s manager wanted him to start doing TV and commercials to stay away from music. Elvis didn’t like this, so during his big Christmas Special, he went back to his old type of music.
Later in the movie, Elvis gets into a five-year contract where he has to come back to the Market Square Arena every year with a big performance every time.
Over time, he gets more addicted to drugs and has multiple affairs with many different women. Priscilla finds all of this out and they get a divorce. Eventually, Elvis goes around the world on a new tour. When he was on his way onto the plane for the tour he had a heart attack, and they numb his pain so he will continue his shows. All of the painkillers and alcohol he had that night made him babble things he shouldn’t have been saying on stage. At the end of his performance, he fired his manager.
After Elvis fires Cornal, he realizes that he could sue Elvis to get all of the money back they gained from concerts and his merch. This makes Elvis go broke and into a darker mindset. He continues to fuel his drug addiction and unfortunately dies of a heart attack in his Graceland estate on Aug. 16, 1977.
The Pricilla movie starts with her sitting in an old-fashioned diner in West Germany where her father was posted for the military. Then, a soldier comes up to her and asks her if she wants to come to a party Elvis is throwing. So, when she comes home to ask her mother and father, they say no because she’s only 14 in a party filled with adults. The next day they come back to dinner, and the same soldier asks her father if she can go to the party, and he finally says she can go. At this party, people are drinking and talking, Pricilla talks to Elvis and they start getting very close. Later on, during this relationship between them, they start hanging out more and Elvis ends up kissing Pricilla.
Fast forward in the movie and Elvis has to go back home while she stays in Germany with her family. During the three years they were away from each other, she saw him in ads for different movies and headlines for being in a relationship with actress Ann-Margret. Over this time, Elvis tries to call her whenever he can to remind her that he loves her and there is only her. Eventually, her parents let her fly to Graceland to live with Elvis and his family.
While living with Elvis, Pricilla was controlled by him into wearing what he thought looked nice on her and doing her makeup how he wanted her to. They show Elvis telling her what she should wear to show off her figure, and that she should wear more eye makeup so her eyes pop out more. He also told her that she couldn’t get a job to avoid paparazzi so when she wasn’t at school, (which was the only time she was allowed to leave) she did nothing but lay around his house and wait for him to call.
After every tour when he arrived back home, Priscilla would find notes from his mistresses when he was on tour or doing movies. She would confront him about it and he would gaslight her into thinking he wasn’t doing anything behind her back. Eventually, Priscilla had enough of the cheating, lying, and drug problem, so she took Lisa-Maria and left. This is where the movie ends.
I did like these movies and how they tell the same story from two completely different points of view. I liked how the Elvis movie was captivating throughout the two hours that I watched it. I would watch it again (I did end up watching it a couple of times after), and it is the type of movie that you can rewatch over and over and find different details every time. I liked the fact they used actual footage and pictures of Elvis performing. Before watching the movie, I was one of those people who thought that he stole music from black people but after watching I have no clue how to feel about that anymore, they showed him being more inspired by black music instead of stealing it because he thought it sounded good. There wasn’t much I didn’t like about this movie. This might sound like me just being super picky, but when I think of an actor to play Elvis, I don’t think of Austin Butler; however, I did like who they cast for Elvis in the Priscilla movie, Jacob Elordi. I also really like the Priscilla movie. I think it was super well made and after watching, I want to read the Elvis and Me book. The movie was super well-written, and I loved how they showed how her whole life was surrounded by Elvis and how she could make him happy. I liked the way the movie played with senses. When Elvis was home, there were bright colors and happy music in the background, compared to when Elvis was gone, the colors were darker and everything was very depressing.
How are the two movies different? There are so many differences between the two movies which is so interesting to me because they both talk about the same relationship with the same people. I think the biggest difference between the movies is how they describe their wedding. The Elvis movie has bright colors, and the Priscilla movie is very dark, and she doesn’t look happy. Overall, though, they are both worth watching.
