Elvis: Destination Vegas (2007)

Genre: Documentary

Starring: Elvis Presley

Running time: 80 minutes

I have had this particular title in my collection for a few months now, but I had never watched it. My dad, an avid Elvis Presley fan, had given it to me. I thought he had bought it twice or something like that, but I now think he just wanted to unload it on someone else. I finally did watch it last weekend, something I regret really much now.

Billed as a documentary looking at The King’s residence in Vegas as a performer in the 1970’s, with rare pictures and footage, is nothing more than a bashing session of Elvis Presley. Some criticism can be warranted with this particular controversial artist, but the tone taken here is so condescending and nasty, it would leave a bad taste in the mouth of a casual fan such as me. I can only imagine the impact it can have on a die-hard fan.

Here is a very negatively biased look at a talented man’s career. There is not much footage of the Vegas days, more stuff from the 50’s era. The only thing they have from the 70’s is some pictures and a few recorded rants from some live concerts. The makers of this documentary try to portray those rants of Elvis as something totally awful, but they are quite tame and many artists have done much worse since.

This unauthorized documentary was a clear attempt to cash in on the big Elvis business with nothing tangible to offer but a distorted view of the impact of man’s music on society. They tried to soften the blow in the end by waxing poetic on us at the end, but it was too late to correct the tone used in the 75 minutes that preceded that point. Avoid this one at all costs.

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