25 best Elvis movies ever
35 years after his death, these films are making sure the King is alive on our screens. Long live Elvis
Whether you believe Elvis is dead or alive, we can all agree on this: there ain’t nothin’ but a good film to celebrate the King. Here are 25 of our favourites.
Blue Hawaii (1961)
The biggest box office success of the King’s movie career, Blue Hawaii is a gritty cop drama set in the ghettoes of… ah, who are we trying to kid: it’s a lightweight musical with Elvis strumming a ukelele, looking all tropical and chasing pretty girls in a picturesque setting. And it gets bonus points for casting Angela ‘Murder She Wrote’ Lansbury as his domineering mother.
Finding Graceland (1998)
This road movie features Harvey Keitel playing Elvis, or at least a man who claims to be Elvis, hitchhiking his way home to Graceland. The man who picks him up – the film’s main character – first seeks to rid himself of this nutcase, but soon comes to admire the way he holds sway over everyone he encounters. Perhaps he really is the King?
3000 Miles to Graceland (2001)
The first ten minutes of this stylish crime flick involve Kevin Costner, Kurt Russell and a motley crew pulling off a Vegas casino heist – during an international Elvis convention. And all dressed as the King in his rhinestone bodysuit period.
Forrest Gump (1994)
Elvis Presley is just one of dozens of 20th century US cultural touchstones tapped by Forrest Gump, but it’s among the most memorable: a pre-fame Elvis is a lodger at Gump’s childhood home, and takes inspiration from the boy’s leg-brace-influenced dance moves.
Honeymoon in Vegas (1992)
Nicolas Cage’s second best known Las Vegas movie features a whole troupe of Elvises. Thirty-four, in fact, and they’re flying. These skydiving rockers help Nic win back his fiancee (a young Sarah Jessica Parker) from the clutches of sleazy gambler James Caan.
Mystery Train (1989)
Jim Jarmusch’s typically offbeat indie movie features three stories set in Elvis’ hometown of Memphis, and his spirit pervades all three. In the first, for example, a couple of 1950s-obsessed Japanese tourists visit the town, only to be dismayed at how the modern world has treated the King’s image.
Charro! (1969)
One of the few ‘serious’ Elvis films (ie. it wasn’t about chasing girls and singing) is this Western. It bombed at the box office, but is widely regarded as having his best performance. If you’re after songs, look elsewhere: Charro! is Presley’s only non-singing role. On the plus side, it’s also his only bearded appearance.
King Creole (1958)
Danny Fisher, played by Elvis, takes a job singing in a bar to help his unemployed father. Mixed up in the mob (and with a mobster’s wife), King Creole was one of the better efforts to stitch a plot into what was essentially an Elvis song vehicle.
This is Elvis (1981)
Like Dylan biopic I’m Not There, Elvis is played by several actors representing the different stages of his life and career in This is Elvis. Narrated by Presley’s road manager, Joe Esposito, a two-disc special edition released in 2007 to commemorate the 30th anniversary of his death features 45 minutes of extra footage.
Lilo & Stitch (2002)
A story about a Hawaiian girl adopting an alien might not be strictly an Elvis film, sure. But with Stitch told to act like Elvis throughout, a soundtrack largely filled with hits from the King, and a Graceland montage ending, it’s got a right to be on this list.
Bye Bye Birdie (1963)
Written with Elvis in mind, this Vietnam draft comedy (oh, yes) about a young heartthrob going off to war starred Dick Van Dyke instead. We can’t help wondering whether it would have garnered its brace of Academy Award nominations with the King at the helm.
Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story (2007)
If you’re going to make a parody of musical biopics then Judd Apatow (Superbad, Knocked Up) and John C. Reilly (Step Brothers) are the guys to do it. It’s really about Johnny Cash (see also Walk the Line), but Jack White puts in a comic turn as a wilfully miscast Elvis.
Elvis (2005)
Irish-born Jonathan Rhys Myers plays Elvis in this TV film of Elvis Presley’s life. With Randy Quaid and Rose McGowan in support, this is no small-scale TV movie. And with a clutch of awards to show for its efforts, it’s a must-watch for Presley praisers.
Jailhouse Rock (1957)
Despite its legendary dance scene, critics didn’t take warmly to Jailhouse Rock, the first movie Elvis made for MGM. But the public flocked to see the King’s moves. The man himself skipped the premiere, as did his co-star Judy Tyler. The latter had a good excuse – she was killed in a car crash two weeks after the film wrapped.
Walk the Line (2006)
No, we haven’t made a mistake – we’re well aware that Oscar-baiting Johnny Cash biopic Walk the Line is about, well, Johnny Cash. But Elvis is alive in the plot and there’s a great performance of That’s Alright Mama from Tyler Hilton.
Elvis in Concert (1977)
Mythologised as Elvis’ final gig, Elvis in Concert was filmed as a TV special and aired months after his death. In fact, Elvis would perform several more times after the reel was shot, but in an era before cameraphone-toting gig-goers, it really is the last footage of the King ever captured on film.
Wild at Heart (1990)
David Lynch’s 1990 paean to Americana (and the Wizard of Oz) was long on Elvis references, so much so that Nic Cage’s Sailor Ripley turns in a respectable cover of Love Me… with speed metallers Powermad as his backing band.
Elvis (1968)
Known to one and all as the ’68 Comeback Special, this TV concert laid the ground for another, better known, music TV format. Yes, kids, Elvis invented MTV Unplugged before MTV was even a twinkle in American popular culture’s eye.
Almost Elvis (2001)
Do you really want to get inside the mind of an Elvis impersonator? Really? Then Almost Elvis is your ticket to Las Vegas and a convention of – you guessed it – sideburn-wearing would-be Elvises (or are they Elvi?). Insightful interviews with the wannabes and costumiers complete the package.
Elvis: Aloha from Hawaii, via Satellite (1973)
Elvis played his biggest crowd ever in Hawaii – thanks to a satellite broadcast (uber-modern back in 1973) that reached some 40 countries in Europe and Asia. The US would have to wait nearly three months for the performance to air on terrestrial television; Elvis’ gig clashed with the Superbowl, and in those days only Elvis himself had multiple TVs.
Bubba Ho-tep (2002)
The Evil Dead star Bruce Campbell dons the sequined jumpsuit for this comedy-horror effort, in which an aged Elvis teams up with JFK to fight a mummy that’s slaughtering the residents of their retirement home. Despite its schlocky premise, it takes a turn for the poignant as our two heroes face up to the ravages of age.
Viva Las Vegas (1964)
Elvis stars as Lucky Jackson, a race car driver who dreams of winning the Vegas Grand Prix – but with a busted engine and no money, he’s forced to wait tables – while a local dance teacher (Ann-Margaret) looks on dreamily. Elvis’ chemistry with his co-star sizzles – so much so that Elvis’ manager, Colonel Tom Parker, feared his co-star might steal the limelight from him.
Elvis (1979)
Before they embarked on their run of 80s action hits, John Carpenter teamed up with Kurt Russell for this 1979 TV movie – the first Elvis biopic to appear after the King’s death. Avowed Elvis fan Carpenter avoids showing Presley’s declining years, instead ending on the high of his return to Vegas in 1969 – though it does address the King’s darker side with hints of his paranoia. Russell nailed the performance (scooping an Emmy for it), perhaps as a result of appearing alongside Elvis in 1963’s It Happened at the World’s Fair as a child actor.
This is Spinal Tap (1984)
Rob Reiner’s mock-rockumentary finds the members of the world’s loudest band attempting to gain some perspective by visiting Elvis’ grave at Graceland. They proceed to murder “Heartbreak Hotel” in their own inimitable fashion when an ill-advised attempt to ‘do it with the harmony parts’ descends into a ‘barbershop-ragga’ rendition. Priceless.
True Romance (1993)
Elvis-obsessed video store clerk Clarence takes life advice from The King’s gold-lame-clad apparition in this Tarantino-scripted movie. Elvis – here played by Val Kilmer – urges Clarence to gun down his girlfriend’s pimp. “Put him down like a dog,” Elvis tells Clarence. A hound dog, presumably.
The Last Elvis (2012)
Real-life Elvis tribute artist John McInerny plays delusional Elvis impersonator Carlos in this Argentinian film from director Armando Bo. Carlos’ Elvis obsession – which extends to eating peanut butter and banana sarnies and demanding to be addressed as Elvis – is shaken up when his daughter’s involved in an accident and he’s forced to take charge of her.
Dan Grabham
Editor-in-Chief 
