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Elvis-The Movie (1979, Theatrical Version)

"After the huge success of Halloween (1978), TV channel ABC in the following year asked director John Carpenter to shoot the biography Elvis (aka Elvis the Movie). According to Carpenter, the producers hired him after they found out that he wrote the score for Halloween all by himself. This was apparently enough to assume that he was the right man for the job. 
It's left undecided whether or not it's a coincidence that Elvis Presley's last film character was called "Dr. John Carpenter" (in the movie Change of Habit [1969]). 

Kurt Russel plays the leading role. As a child, Kurt Russel was a part of the Elvis movie It Happened at the World's Fair (1963). Back then (as a 12-year-old) he was allowed to kick the King's shin. The movie Crime Is King (2001) pays tribute to exactly this scene: Russell plays an Elvis-impersonator, who gets a hack on the shin by a little boy when standing around in a hotel in full costume. 

As usual (back then), this made-for-TV movie hit the theatres in the USA and Europe. For the sake of dramaturgy, they trimmed the movie down heavily. 

Most fans were quite surprised when in 2010 Shout Factory released the movie on DVD in the USA. Shortly after this release, European lables also released the movie on DVD. While the British label Fremantle Media released the uncut TV version of the movie, the German DVD by Edel Germany GmbH only features the theatrical version which were had been released on VHS too. 

This is a comparison between the shortened German DVD and the UK DVD (BBFC U). 

Runtime: 
German DVD: 100:25 min. 
UK DVD: 161:10 min. 

Difference: 60:45 min."

Incl. covers