Elvis

"The King lives on!"

1979 2h 48m EN

👍

6.9

SOLID

🍅

71%

FRESH

⭐

6.9

IMDB

★6.9TMDB · 143🍅71%Rotten Tomatoes★6.9IMDB · 5,778

TV MovieMusicDrama

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

This biopic traces Elvis Presley’s life from his impoverished childhood to his meteoric rise to stardom to his triumphant conquering of Las Vegas.

“The King lives on!”

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Cast

Kurt Russell
Elvis Presley
Shelley Winters
Gladys Presley
Bing Russell
Vernon Presley
Robert Gray
Red West
Pat Hingle
Colonel Tom Parker
Season Hubley
Priscilla Presley
Melody Anderson
Bonnie
Ed Begley Jr.
D.J. Fontana

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: John Carpenter
Writers: Anthony Lawrence
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

RUNTIME

Did you know

Clocks in at 168 minutes — on the longer side of feature-length cinema.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Shot for just $2.1M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

ERA

Did you know

47 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by John Carpenter, shot by Donald M. Morgan. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Joe Renzetti. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Christopher Holmes shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Kurt Russell and Shelley Winters and Bing Russell carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "The King lives on!".

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

John Carpenter directs. Donald M. Morgan behind the camera. Joe Renzetti scores. Christopher Holmes cuts. A long sit — settle in. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Clocks in at 168 minutes — on the longer side of feature-length cinema.
2Shot for just $2.1M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.
347 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
4Directed by John Carpenter, shot by Donald M. Morgan. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
5Original score by Joe Renzetti. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
6Editor Christopher Holmes shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
7Kurt Russell and Shelley Winters and Bing Russell carry the top of the cast.
8Marketing tagline: "The King lives on!".
9IMDB entry: tt0079103 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

The technical file

Cinematography: Donald M. Morgan
Original score: Joe Renzetti
Editing: Christopher Holmes
Costume design: Richard Mahoney
Makeup / hair: Marvin G. Westmore
Runtime: 168 min · 2h 48m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $2,100,000
Original language: EN
Certification (US): PG
IMDB: Elvis (1979)
Rotten Tomatoes: 71% 🍅 Fresh
IMDB rating: 6.9/10 · 5,778 votes

Awards

Nominated for 3 Primetime Emmys. 4 nominations total

Also by

John Carpenter

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

Community reviews

What people are saying

Hadam10Rose2025-03-09
A more romanticized look at Elvis's life that took liberties with the story making the people who surrounded him look better than they were, especially Parker and his Parents. They also focused a little much on Elvis and Percila and really drove home who off the pairing was, with there being 10 years difference between them. Something the newer one didn't address. With her even still going to high school when they got together. Although the other one does them breaking up after Vegas and showed Elvis making his Xmas special, this one skipped all that and even had him being nervous about the show instead of excited. It also kind of showed Elvis in a bad light, with him being even more obsessed with his dead brother, who died at birth, then his mother was. They also made it look like joining the army was his idea when it was either that or go to jail for jay-riding on TV.

Production companies