A song by song review of “Elvis – That’s The Way It Is – Special Edition”

The movie opens as per the original film with the “Mystery Train/Tiger Man” medley. This time around we see more of Elvis performing the song and the opening graphics are different. There are still some shots of the audience, along with footage of Elvis from other parts of the show, and a brief speeded up clip of Elvis in shades and the one piece blue lace up jumpsuit he was wearing off stage around that time.

Next we hear Elvis’ opening theme music as we see Elvis arriving at M.G.M studios in Culver City for the July 1970 rehearsals. This music is played at regular intervals when there is a break in the proceedings and it helps to build up the sense of excitement for the forthcoming concert footage. 

We then see Elvis and the band listening to recordings of songs that may be considered for the show, and when we see each musician for the first time a caption appears on the screen telling us who they are and which instrument they play. We see brief clips of them listening to “The Next Step Is Love”, “Bridge Over Troubled Water”, and “You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me”, and as the latter song ends Elvis launches into a full rehearsal version of the song.

We then see Elvis and the band run through “That’s All Right Mama” and this is the version that appeared in the original film were the microphone slips from the stand. There appears to be more of the song in the new version, and it ends with Elvis laughing at the microphone failure saying, “Son of a bitch just gave up!” This leads into the ending of “Polk Salad Annie” were Elvis splits his trousers, and then there is a break for lunch. Again the opening theme is heard whilst we see speeded up footage of Elvis and the band eating burgers in the studio. 

We then see Elvis at the piano playing “How The Web Was Woven”, and this is followed by the “Little Sister/Get Back” medley which is considerably longer than what was originally seen, now that the “Get Back” part has been restored. Next we see footage of Elvis running through “Words” from two separate rehearsals, and this leads into the familiar film of Elvis and Joe Esposito riding the tandem cycle around the M.G.M. lot. We hear Elvis rehearsing “My Baby Left Me” whilst the tandem footage is on the screen, and we then see Elvis end the song with his shades on upside down. This is followed by “Crying Time”, which was heard but not seen in the original film, and it’s a fun number, which gives the impression that Elvis, and the guys were winding down at the end of the session. This is followed by Elvis rehearsing “Love Me”. During this performance he puts the mike into his mouth and sings the line, “Darling I’ll be oh so horny”, this ends in laughter as Elvis falls of his chair. 

Elvis then mentions that the director had asked him to indicate when he was going to perform “You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me”. He then laughs and says “We’re not going to do it now”. This leads into footage from Las Vegas, August 1970 which shows The Imperials, The Sweet Inspirations, and Millie Kirkham working on backing vocals to Elvis’ recorded version of the song with Felton Jarvis. They follow this with vocal work on “Twenty Days & Twenty Nights” and this is edited together with footage of Elvis and the band rehearsing the song back at M.G.M. at Culver City. This works very well and is a good performance from Elvis, although he does succumb to laughter at one point after having at little joke with Charlie during one of the verses. 

The opening theme is heard again as we see speeded up footage of Elvis arriving at the International Hotel’s ballroom on August 4, 1970. We then see the footage featured in the original movie were Elvis talks with the Sweet Inspirations about one of the band members having to leave. This is followed by Elvis working on “Bridge Over Troubled Water” and we then see a brief performance of “Cattle Call” which is followed by Elvis yodelling. Next is a great slow bluesy version of “Santa Claus Is Back In Town”, and then Elvis & the band start work on “Words”. This is edited into a second version of “Words” from August 7, 1970, which leads us to the stage rehearsals section of the film. 

This leads into the familiar “You can’t use those words” dialogue, but in the new version we see more of this. This ends with Elvis commenting “You can’t say big ass in this film”. We then see the full version of “Mary In The Morning” which has different camera angles to what was originally seen, and this is followed by backstage footage from opening night featuring shots of fans & celebrities arriving at the showroom and Elvis reading telegrams backstage. 

We then see Elvis waiting to take to the stage and this leads into the opening number of the concert section “That’s All Right Mama” featuring Elvis in the chain suit.  Next is a previously unseen version of “I Got A Woman” with Elvis in the concha suit, which is a great performance with a wild ending, and this is followed by Elvis performing “Hound Dog” in the chain suit as first seen in “The Lost Performances”, although some of the camera angles may be different here. This is followed by Elvis’ dialogue about appearing on the Ed Sullivan Show and this time we get hear him joke about Ed calling him a S.O.B. He goes on to tell the audience that “M.G.M. is making a movie called Elvis loses his excess!” 

Next is “Heartbreak Hotel” which is followed by Elvis showing a toy “first guitar” to the audience, and this is followed by “Love Me Tender” with Elvis wearing the concha suit, and taking a walk through the audience. This is followed by more concha suit footage and another new performance, “I Can’t Stop Loving You” which features the customary false start and some wild arm movements from Elvis.

Next we see Elvis in the chain suit receiving a portrait from a member of the audience. This is followed by “Just Pretend”, and we then see two clips first seen in “The Lost Performances”, “The Wonder Of You” and “In The Ghetto” with Elvis in the red ladder suit. 

Two more songs featuring Elvis in the concha suit follow, and these are “Patch It Up”, and “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling”. This is followed by the original version of “Polk Salad Annie” with Elvis in the chain suit, which is followed by the rockers “One Night” (new version), “Don’t Be Cruel”, “Blue Suede Shoes” and “All Shook Up”. The latter two performances were seen in the original movie, whilst “Don’t Be Cruel” appears to be the version from the “Lost Performances”.

This is followed by another new performance, Elvis singing “You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me” in the concha suit, and this leads into “Suspicious Minds”, which is also new and features Elvis in the concha suit again. We then see Elvis close the show in the chain suit with “Can’t Help Falling In Love”, and as the curtain comes down at the end of the song we see Elvis peep through the curtain before leaving the stage with some of the guys, and the Colonel (the only time he is seen in the movie). Finally we see Elvis playing guitar and singing “Are You Lonesome Tonight” whilst the credits are rolling. 

My overall impression is that this is a great film, which will show Elvis in a very positive way. Throughout the rehearsal scenes he comes across as very much in control of the choice of material and the arrangements, and all the live performances are of a high standard.

Lets hope this is not the last of the footage we get to see from the M.G.M. salt mine, and “Elvis On Tour” is given the same treatment next year.