Two years after his comeback in 1968, Elvis Presley went all Vegas. Where his `68 TV gig was a black leather-clad, knife-edge affair - - could he cut it after years away, now that the Beatles had swiped his crown? - by 1970 his myth was starting to carry him. And buckle under the weight.
That's where this concert movie catches him, and sure enough, after an hour of dreary backstage material and passionless run-throughs of, say, Heartbreak Hotel, his right leg starts convulsing and the likes of Suspicious Minds begin belting out.
This "Special Edition" is as tightly cut as his tacky trousers: it's 13 minutes shorter than the original but four songs longer. So if you're an Elvis fan, it'll rock your hula, baby. Otherwise, you'll agree that by 1970, The King was getting too slick at consuming any old musical style and tossing it off as all-American showbiz.
