The Movie:

A brief opening text introduction sets the stage - Elvis, after hitting Hollywood and churning out a whole lot of movies, felt the need to get back in front of a live audience. Records sales were slowly dwindling and this seemed like a good way to make a return to form. As such, he traveled to Vegas where he did two shows a night for four weeks at the International Hotel. Elvis: That's The Way It Is documents Elvis' arrival at his rehearsal space, his practice session with his band and his backing singers, and most importantly, his live show (which was cut together from six separate shows). The film played theatrically in 1970, though superfluous footage of fans stole the spotlight from Elvis himself a few too many times. In 2001 the film was recut using footage long thought lost in order to put emphasis on Elvis himself and to paint a more accurate picture of what his live shows from that era were actually like. The results are amazing.

There's really not much of a story here. The film begins with Elvis' arrival at his MGM rehearsal area, set up inside a large soundstage. From there he works on a few numbers with his band, almost conducting them at times. We get a chance to see him very much at ease, goofing off with men who are just as much his friends as they are his co-workers and he seems to be having a genuinely enjoyable time. His sense of humor shines through here, and it's also obvious when he's trying out the two groups of backing vocalists who would play with him during this run in Las Vegas - The Sweet Inspirations (an all female gospel group - look for Whitney Houston's mother in there!) and The Imperials (an all male backing group made up of a bunch of guys who all kind of look like Elvis!).

From there, it's show time. Before the big event Elvis jokes around with his band members, commenting on his many costumes and getting ready to perform. Once he's in front of the crowd, it soon becomes obvious that this is a man at the top of his game. He was obviously in fantastic shape here (in the documentary they point out that he still had a thirty-two inch waistline when this movie was shot) and he's full of energy and enthusiasm. He sounds great, his voice is in excellent shape, and he completely controls the audience and he simply exudes cool.

He plays a lot of favorites here - songs like Heartbreak Hotel, The Wonder Of You, I Can't Help Falling In Love, Suspicious Minds and plenty more and he does a few covers as well, like The Beatles' Get Back and Simon And Garfunkle's Bridge Over Troubled Water. Interestingly enough, he also does a few numbers from what was, at the time, his more recent studio output - Just Pretend and Patch It Up being good examples. The highlight of the set is when he performs Love Me Tender. Women run up to the stage for a kiss, he obliges, and it begins to happen with such frequency that he can no longer sing. It's here we see Elvis get off stage and walk through the crowd, shaking hands and kissing ladies, and it's here that we can tell just how much he loved his audience. It's maybe a little hokey in hindsight, but it's obvious that at this point in his career the man loved performing.

Elvis pulls it all off with style, flamboyance and a sense of humor. He talks about his first appearance on the Ed Sullivan show, intentionally changes lyrics to a few songs and plays up to the crowd. The band is tight and they're completely in synch and the backing singers (save for one exception where Elvis intentionally tries to scare one of the ladies) are completely on. While the performance was cut together from a few different shows, which means that there were likely some weaker moments that we don't see, the end result is an insanely energetic performance from a man who completely deserves his title of The King. Before substance abuse and personal problems took him down, Elvis Presley was a consummate performer and one of the great vocalists in the history of pop music and Elvis: That's The Way It Is stands as proof.

The DVD

Video:

Elvis: That's The Way It Is looks great in this 2.35.1 anamorphic widescreen transfer. There is some grain here and there but print damage has been almost completely eliminated and the color reproduction looks fantastic. Attentive viewers might notice some mpeg compression artifacts behind Elvis while he's on stage in a few spots but aside from that there aren't any problems with digital transfer related issues. Edge enhancement is held in place and aliasing is never overly problematic even if a bit of minor shimmer does pop up from time to time. Flesh tones look lifelike and natural and fine detail remains strong in both the foreground and the background of the picture.