New HBO Doc ‘Elvis Presley: The Searcher’ Marks The Return Of The King

You know what they call Elvis Presley in China? The King. I am an Elvis loyalist, and consider whether or not you understand and appreciate his greatness as a musical intelligence test (in a nutshell, if you don’t, you’re not intelligent). Sadly, his outsize image has become the stuff of caricature; the gaudy jumpsuits, the chrome sunglasses, “Viva Las Vegas,” etc. Of course, Elvis Incorporated has done him few favors, turning Graceland, his majestically humble home, into a theme park with a gift shops at every entrance, reducing his cultural importance and artistic merit to a crass cash grab that would make his infamous manager Colonel Tom Parker proud.

It’s oddly fitting then, that Graceland is where his critical resurrection should begin. As a voiceover of ex-wife Priscilla Presley says, “Elvis was a searcher. It’s a part of him that never left,” the camera slowly makes its way through the storied building’s front living room, where an old television set broadcasts the storied “68 Comeback Special.” These are the opening scenes of the new HBO documentary Elvis Presley: The Searcher, which premieres on Saturday, April 14. Directed by Thom Zimny, and written by music journalist Alan Light, the film attempts to restore the reputation of the once and future King of Rock N’ Roll … and handily succeeds.

Such is the stature of Elvis in American popular culture that the details of his life seem like part of our national history. Born along with his stillborn twin brother in a shotgun shack in Tupelo, Mississippi, he grew up dirt poor. His father did time in jail for passing bad checks, and he forged particularly strong bond with his mother, Gladys. The Presleys moved to Memphis, Tennessee, when he was 13. He began soaking up the city’s myriad musical influences, both black and white, a revolutionary impulse in one of the South’s most deeply segregated cities.

At Sun Records, Elvis met producer Sam Phillips, whose open-minded musical tastes matched his own. With guitarist Scotty Moore and bassist Bill Black he made musical history, being among the first to practice a new form of music that blended country instrumentation with blues and R&B musical forms, and the ecstatic energy of Gospel. In other words, rock n’ roll.

After two years of regional hit records and touring, Elvis signed with Colonel Tom Parker who landed him a lucrative contract with RCA Records and helped him break him into the movies. A former carny and country music promoter, Parker was actually an illegal Dutch immigrant born Andreas van Kuijk, which is one reason why Elvis never performed outside of the United States. He is in many ways the film’s villain, disparaged for his heavy-handed management and preference for cash over creativity; however, he did take Presley’s career to the next level and, for whatever reasons, Elvis never sought to replace him.

In 1958, Presley was drafted and before leaving to be stationed in Germany, his beloved mother died. Overseas he met his future wife Priscilla Beaulieu, though The Searcher glosses over the unseemly fact that she was but 14-years-old at the time. When he returned from the Army, rock n’ roll was on the wane and he turned his attention to Hollywood, where The Colonel pushed ever worsening scripts on him, eroding people’s memories of the radical ‘50s rocker with a pompadour and permanent sneer.

His 1968 television special, ELVIS, reminded fans of who he really was and reignited his musical career. This was Elvis Presley, the man, a musical pioneer and accomplished vocal stylist. He followed it up with his best album in years, From Elvis In Memphis, which was a hit and set the stage for his return to full-time touring. However, The Colonel’s demanding schedules meant he was playing on average 150 shows per years, leading to burn out, addiction, divorce and ultimately death. Elvis famously left the building in 1977, dead at just 42-years-old.

Over the course of two hour-and-a-half episodes, Elvis: The Searcher retraces the singer’s life and career in rich and loving detail. Presley’s greatness is on full display in an abundance of performance clips and explained by musicologists and fellow musicians. 64 years after he set the world ablaze, his importance may need to be explained to younger generations, while older rock fans should be reminded of how good he could be, tasks which the film achieves on all counts. As Tom Petty says at the outset, “We shouldn’t make the mistake of writing off a great artist because of all the clatter that came later. We should dwell in what he did that was so beautiful and everlasting, which was that great, great music.”

Benjamin H. Smith is a New York based writer, producer and musician. Follow him on Twitter:@BHSmithNYC.

Watch Elvis Presley: The Searcher on HBO Now and HBO Go