Your DVD Collection

[Winslow Leach]

You've got a really impressive collection! As far as I can tell, not a bad pick in the bunch. 3000 Miles to Graceland is one'a my guilty pleasure movies too.

Thanks!

And yeah, I really enjoy 3000 Miles to Graceland, even though almost every critic panned it (I don't listen to critics anyway), and it only made about $1 at the box office (again, I don't care about B.O. performance). It's just a crazy, goofy, leave-your-brain-at-the-door kind of film.

 

[Speed Tracer]

Agreed. Also, one of my favorite Kurt Russell performances.

Although you don't beat Bruce Campbell as Elvis in Bubba Ho-tep.

 

[Winslow Leach]

Agreed. Also, one of my favorite Kurt Russell performances.

Although you don't beat Bruce Campbell as Elvis in Bubba Ho-tep.

Kurt Russell is the MAN in Graceland, but he completely OWNS Death Proof (the Tarantino segment of Grindhouse). Like Costner in Graceland, Russell plays his most evil and psychotic character to date. Put it this way: Russell's part in D.P. was originally slated for Mickey Rourke!

Bubba Ho-Tep is great. That's another one I have on DVD. I'm waiting for Bubba Nosferatu, which is apparently in the works.

For my money, though, the definitive actor to play Elvis is Kurt Russell. In 1979, John Carpenter followed up Halloween with Elvis, the first bio of the singer. It was the first Carpenter-Russell teaming, and one of Russell's first "adult" roles (after years of starring in Disney films). Although he didn't do his own singing, it seemed as if Russell was channeling Elvis. The voice, the gestures, the mannerisms, the look. He's got it all. I mean, the guy looks EXACTLY like EP in full costume and makeup. It's uncanny! Unfortunately, this great film is not available on DVD, but I've seen copies of the VHS on ebay from time to time.

At the time of Graceland, Russell said the jumpsuit he wore in that film was one of the ones he originally wore when he played Elvis. It still fit him after all those years.

Another Russell/Elvis connection...

In Elvis's It Happened at the World's Fair (1963), a kid kicks Elvis in the shin. That's 11-year-old Kurt Russell, who said in an interview he hated doing take after take of the scene, because Elvis was a hero to him, and the director repeatedly had him kick the King. But Russell said Elvis didn't mind, and couldn't have been nicer.