52 Films Directed By Women Vol 1: 46. ELVIS AND NIXON (Director: Liza Johnson)
Elvis and Nixon is
director Liza Johnson’s third feature film after her 2011 debut Return about a female army reservist
(Linda Cardellini) having difficulties returning from a tour of duty and Hateship. Loveship (2013), adapted from
an Alice Munro story about a nanny (Kristen Wiig) who falls victim to a nasty
prank by a wayward teen (Hailee Steinfeld). Whereas Hateship, Loveship only made USD 80,588 at the Box Office
(according to IMDB), Elvis and Nixon
was seen by rather more people since its 2016 Tribeca Film Festival debut (box
office: USD 1.1 million at time of writing).
It imagines the meeting between the ‘King of Rock and Roll’
Elvis Aaron Presley (Michael Shannon, in his second film with Johnson after Return) and ‘I am not a crook’ US
President Richard Milhouse Nixon (Kevin Spacey) on December 21 1970. Now, I
have no idea what the DC weather was back in the day, but I was pleasantly
surprised there was no snow. Not every rock and roll, sequin-wearing
bespangled, hip-swivelling legend can turn up at the White House and ask for a
quiet word with the President on a matter of national security, but Elvis did,
somehow. Though both Elvis and Nixon are now abiding in the Vegas of the Skies
– Elvis still performing, Nixon on car parking duty – there are plenty of
people still alive to give testimony on what actually happened, though whether
Elvis was short-changed by a candy machine until a fella sitting next to it
intervened is a matter of online debate.
Elvis and Nixon
is actually the second film on the subject after Allan Arkush’s little seen
1997 film Elvis Meets Nixon starring Rick Peters as Elvis and Bob Gunton as Nixon.
The story is remarkably similar. Eschewing his private jet and the stewardship
of his manager, Col Tom Parker, Elvis nips off first to California to pick up
his buddy Jerry Schilling then flies to DC to request a meeting with the
President. You will be interested to learn than the logo for American Airlines
– Elvis wrote a letter to Nixon on airline-headed paper – is the same as it is
today, but then so is Coca Cola. The only real drama in Johnson’s film is
whether Jerry (Alex Pettyfer) will get back to Los Angeles in time for a
meeting with his girlfriend’s parents so that he can ask for her hand in
marriage - unless of course you count that moment when Elvis wants candy.
Never mind the story; it is the detail that intrigues us.
How do you get into the White House when you are carrying firearms about your
person and your gift to the President is also a gun? Why would Nixon make time
to see him? What happens if one of Elvis’ buddies, Sonny (Johnny Knoxville, a
better ringer for the King than Shannon) brings a girl to the room? Why does
Elvis hate the hugely successful Beatles so much?
If you have no prior knowledge of the 1970s music scene, you
will be slightly lost. Elvis and Nixon
is notable for the absence of Elvis songs, a judgement in my view that is right
on the money (as opposed to ‘One for the money/Two for the show/Three to get
ready/Now go cat go’ if you are of the ‘Blue Suede Shoes’ persuasion). If you
have no knowledge of a ‘Riley’s Original – my ass – bun’ you need not worry.
One of the movie’s highlights is Elvis going eatin’, because the King loved his
food. The key issue is Elvis’ dislike of drug-takers and flag burners. He sees
himself as a Patriot wanting to do well for his country, but not through a
Telethon or concert for the troops but by going undercover in disguise, getting
close to groups like the Black Panthers and, ahem, bustin’ their ass.
The result is a slight, engaging film that is like a salad –
moderately tasty as an appetizer but not exactly filling. Still, Spacey’s take
on Nixon is a good imitation. He is a better fit for the role than Anthony
Hopkins was in Oliver Stone’s biopic. Shannon, noted for his menace rather than
charisma, is a curious choice for Elvis. On the plus side, he is the kind of
guy who might sing, ‘Lonely This Christmas’, even thought that song was
performed by the English group Mud in the Elvis style (thank you, yahoo
answers). On the minus side, he looks like the sort of chap who might use his
arsenal of weapons, including the World War Two revolver he gives Nixon as a
present – I guess he didn’t want to risk chocolate.
Alex Pettyfer’s career seems on a permanent slide after
leads in Stormbreaker, I am Number Four and Beastly but maybe hanging out with
Shannon and Spacey is a good way to recharge his mojo. Johnson shows any number
of screaming female employees at airports, the Bureau for Dangerous Drugs but
not Riley’s who become hysterical at the mere presence of Elvis. She contrasts
these with Jerry’s girlfriend who fears losing him to the madness of Elvis’
entourage. This leads me to suspect that Elvis’ entourage might be a better
subject of a film rather than this one meeting with Nixon. I’d rather see that
than the HBO version.
Reviewed at PictureHouse Central, Saturday 11 June 2016, 19:15 screening – preview (cinema’s 1st birthday)
Originally published on Bitlanders.com
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