Elvis In Concert: Fan Shots - What WERE They Thinking??!!

[Cryogenic]

OK... so I just put Elvis In Concert/EIC back on and jumped in at around the five minute mark. At that point, and in the space of around 60 seconds, you see the following:

a A fat woman trundling to her seat loaded with a large bucket of popcorn, two soft drinks and something else stashed under her arm.

b) A fat man stuffing his face with popcorn, dropping some and... getting it stuck in his gigantic beard and picking it off.

c) A woman with multiple copies of the same Elvis poster, attempting to roll one up and accidentally dropping the other.

d) A man blowing bubblegum and getting it stuck above his top lip and picking it off.

What the HELL were the programme makers thinking? That these moments roughly occur one after the other is bizarre. It's almost like someone said: "OK, we need to put a 'look-at-those-goofy-humans' montage in this thing!"

Showing the fans in a relatively documentarian yet generic manner is one thing - showing a string of unflattering, semi-comical/disgusting moments is something else. I don't mean to cause offence with my "fat" remarks; that shouldn't be and isn't an issue. But the build of these people combined with visual evidence of gluttony takes it over the edge. By all means, I respect the attempt at "padding" by showing the build-up to the concert and communicating the quality of "being there" - but some of the material should never have made it into the cut.

It's so odd: many fans stress out about the way Elvis looks and performs - but they totally overlook the fact that the programme commits sins of its own before he even shows up!

[Menwithbrokenhearts]

I agree with you completely. I was shocked at that footage the first time I saw the program as an adult, a few months back. They could have done so much with concert preperation footage, Elvis backstage. Why didn't they use the footage of Elvis with the little Indian girl in Rapid City? That's a very heartwarming scene to me. Bad direction and editing. What were they thinking? Obviously not much.

[orwell1976]

One theory is that the producers really hated Elvis. The other is, that after Elvis' passing away they tried to put the special together as quick as possible without showing too much of Elvis.

[karlos]

yeah i have seen this footage that u are talkin about - i have got this piece of footage on video and dvd . , that i got many years ago.-
i agree with u fully . - Cbs Must have footage of Elvis leaving d.- room and heading to stage to pewrform .
the usa version of this show is found on the dvd - cbs out takes .
i agree that the director or such should not have shown the fans getting ready fro the Elvis show.-
i have sen this footage on the last tv special that was shown on tv - many yrs ago now- Even at this sad time - our idol still couls hols a note - can u think of any so called stars today doing that . i cannot -
:cool:

[Unchained Melody]

Yeah it was pretty dumb to use that footage of those ppl for the actual show.

[NEA]

I've recently viewed EIC for the first time in 20+ years and it certainly hasn't aged very well and most definitely isn't on any kind of par with the classic rock spectacle of the '68 Comeback or the glossy production of Aloha From Hawaii.

It obviously represents a 'troubled' time in Elvis' life and the majority of footage that was used for the TV Special certainly doesn't do him any justice apart from the passionate performances of 'How Great Thou Art', 'Hurt', and 'My Way'. These live renditions are great to hear on album/CD and you can just feel the electricity that is generated from these performances. When you view Elvis performing these on stage in EIC you really begin to see just how much energy he was using in order to perform the songs, and it is truly a fitting testament to him that he was able to reach those high notes in the condition his health was in.

Personally, I can really do without hearing/viewing the likes of 'See See Rider', 'Hound Dog', 'Are You Lonesome Tonight?', 'Jailhouse Rock' and the medley of 'Teddy Bear'/'Don't Be Cruel'. These performances from June, 1977 don't do Elvis' show any justice at all.

It's fascinating to see how the Fans were once again portrayed as total 'wackos' and 'saddos' in this TV Special, and I can also do without viewing 'popcorn in a beard'! There is also a segment were Elvis is performing 'You Gave Me A Mountain' and at the bits were he does his arm movements to Ronnie's drum beats the camera pans to the audience who appear to be giggling at him?!...possibly a case of bad editing??

If the Estate ever consider re-issuing this Special on DVD then surely they have got to develop a package that will do justice to Elvis' June '77 tour? How about taking all that Fan-stuff out 'a la TTWII Special Edition' for starters...that would be an immediate improvement!

It would be good to get the filmed performances of some of the other songs that were included on the EIC CD/Album such as 'Trying To Get To You', 'It's Now Or Never', 'Hawaiian Wedding Song', and 'Fairytale'. I would also like to see some more of that 'technical' stuff they filmed e.g. the setting up of the monitors and stage preparations for the show...did CBS possibly film a couple of the crew being interviewed whilst this filming was taking place? I think that the filming of Vernon's speech at the end should also been taken out of the special as it is too heartbreaking to watch, and only adds to the morbidity of the concept.

There's no denying that the CBS TV Special of 1977 really portrays an Elvis that just isn't focused mentally or physically, and it really is a sorry state of affairs that the fans who were being used to represent the 'Fandom' in this special are really not focused - mentally!

If CBS deliberately set-out to make a hatchet-job of this then they have seriously done their job.

NEA.

[franny]

Cryogenic
a A fat woman trundling to her seat loaded with a large bucket of popcorn, two soft drinks and something else stashed under her arm.

b) A fat man stuffing his face with popcorn, dropping some and... getting it stuck in his gigantic beard and picking it off.

c) A woman with multiple copies of the same Elvis poster, attempting to roll one up and accidentally dropping the other.

d) A man blowing bubblegum and getting it stuck above his top lip and picking it off.

Were those people there just to eat?? Why did they bother going?
That's not very respectful! I agree, why did they bother showing that...
I haven't seen this footage...and I don't think I want to...

franny

[NEA]

CBS might as well have just gone out and handpicked a number of Jumpsuited Elvis impersonators and sat each and every one of them in the front row of the filmed concerts - this certainly wouldn't have been out of context with the type of show they were attempting to portray!

[KPM]

If Elvis had not died, none of the things mentioned would have been in the special, because it(IMO) never would have aired. I'm sure they would have filmed more concerts to get better footage of Elvis. They were not even able to use much of what they had, so they padded the special out with fans comments and stupid shots like the ones mentioned to fill the hour. If the Col. and Elvis had previewed the footage of him, does anyone believe they would not have offered to let CBS film more concerts to get better and more flattering footage of him. I do not remember where I read it but after Elvis died some unnamed CBS exec stated that they had decided before he died that the footage they had was not usable and only his death demanded they run it.

[Indre]

:D I'm sorry, but this sounds so ****ed funny :D I never saw the footage, but I can really imagine the fat woman, LOL!! :D Ohhhhh it sure shouldn't be on an Elvis movie, but it's funny as hell, lol

[thehillbillycat]

I always laugh at the guy picking the popcorn off his beard. Feeding your face too much will do that.............:lmfao:

Or how about the lady with the camera holding to her face and hitting herself reall likely........I would call that bored to hell and back. But the question is why would you be bored when you are about to see the biggest (and I don't mean how much he weigh either) entertainer that ever walk on stage.......I give her(n) (n) ......two thumbs down.

[emsteph]

I agree. Pretty subpar effort to promote Elvis back then.

Pretty good songs/video seemed to be diminished due to the fans' comments and video. The young girl with the twitch, an older lady behind the stage trying to get a photo of Elvis using a camera that you hold down at your waist and look down into (I use to own one of those) and she took too long to take the shot, missing Elvis sing "Are You Lonesome Tonite", and Vernon talking through "Can't Help Falling in Love".

It just seems that RCA/Colonel really fell short of giving Elvis excellent coverage. His records covers lacked energy that refreshingly appear in today's new releases. Why not place a photo of the concert on the cover of its release? The iconic bold style "ELVIS" with its fading shadowy bottom sorrily appears repetively on record covers and promotions in the 70's.

It is so nice to see what technology has done to music these days. It has treated Elvis well. It is refreshing to hear new versions and better quality of songs. New videos to enjoy and remakes and improvements of some old stuff.

It does Elvis justice. The man is finally getting the appreciation and respect he deserves on CD and video...something all fans must simply be in heaven with. Too bad today's technology wasn't around during Elvis' time to better document his talents.

[thehillbillycat]

Here is another thing I don't like of the special. Remember when Elvis sings Teddy Bear and Don't Be Cruel he throws scarves to the fans. Here goes three of them yank the scarf out of Elvis' hand and then you see a little fight over the scarf. One of them is a old lady. That is wrong. No fan should yank something out of your favorite entertainer's hand...............(n) (n)