Never understood his music, hated his movies and never even liked the mocking of him by the media. I went my whole life thinking this TILL one night (2003) this came on cable and I happened to watch it...Thank god I did, now I can't get enough!! I finally got it, he was perhaps the greatest entertainer of all time. (Non- band) They say before him only Jolson evoked that kind of energy during a live show. This film captures him at his best, the other live shows, (black leather, Hawaii, 50 shows 50 days) do not and can make a person cry when seeing what he did to himself and how tragic it all was. The way he always had time to shake hands and acknowledge other people is poignant, the film captures this and his kid-like affection to his buddies, and band-mates and back-up singers. I can watch it over and over and only love it more and more.

That low rating is not so much a comment on the quality of the documentary, but how depressed the whole movie makes me feel after watching it. Just two years after his triumphant leather-clad Comeback, here is Elvis at the beginning of his fossilisation into the white-suited self-parody he became during the 1970s. The superior 2001 re-edit makes the horror even keener, when at first Elvis and the band are seen at length rehearsing in an charmingly informal atmosphere (musically the movie peaks with the excellent "Little Sister"/"Get Back" medley). Next come the seven (!) backing singers, the middle-aged, middle class audience and the tacky Vegas ambiance, and by the end Elvis is slamming through a set which dispatches his 1950s hits with obscene haste in order to concentrate on the schmaltzy ballads and overblown bombast. He was dead just seven years later. If only he'd done the '68 Special and then fired Colonel Tom, booted the freeloading Memphis Mafia to the kerb and hired a hotshot young manager with some good ideas. There was a big rock'n'roll revival just around the corner and Europe (especially the UK) would have been Elvis' for the taking. Imagine if he'd survived to receive the same sort of multi-generational accord Johnny Cash did during the 1990s. Ah, if only. The 30-something Elvis of 1970's "That's The Way It Is" was a little wider in the face but still lean and vital and capable of so much more. Watching this movie is like seeing Elvis shrug, smile and wave goodbye as he turns to walk down a long, dark tunnel...

Since this captures Elvis at the beginning of his white jump-suited Vegas years, it's valuable. The song performances range from great to rushed, depending on what kind of effort Elvis wants to put into a particular song. As a total performance, it is good - but, it doesn't tell the whole musical story that is Elvis Presley. As a documentary, it's no great shakes.Since we knew Elvis was an extraordinary vocalist, what else doe the film show? I was surprised by the backstage "banter" sessions - it looked, to me, like some of Elvis' friends and personnel were confused about their own relationships with "The King". They seemed, at times, more like idol-worshiping fans than real friends - laughing at bad jokes and demonstrating random subservience. Elvis' fame must have been difficult all those concerned. ***** Elvis - That's the Way It Is (11/11/70) Denis Sanders ~ Elvis Presley, James Burton, Red West

Pre-release information on the content of this two disc set was difficult to obtain, but there was a boast of over forty minutes of never-seen footage. This is also stated on the cover of the set. In actual fact it is just over thirty five minutes worth of material and most of it has been seen before.Disc 1 is the revised 2001 version of the film, exactly as previously released, with the 'Patch It Up' restoration feature. Disc 2 is a DVD release of the 1970 theatrical original plus the extras. The original movie has been shown on TV many times in various edits. This is the most complete version I have seen, but that just means it has all of the non-Elvis sequences. It is in the original mono and very poor mono at that. The sound has been much better on broadcast versions, and you may find you have to crank the volume up much higher than your normal setting to watch this disc.I was very disappointed with the extras which were the main reason for purchase. When the 2001 version premiered on TCM in the US they also ran a bonus sequence showing the four main songs that had featured in the original but had been dropped from the restored version – I've Lost You, Sweet Caroline, I Just Can't Help Believing, and Bridge Over Troubled Water. (They didn't show the concert opener That's All Right which was replaced with 'I Got A Woman in the restoration.) On this set we get the first three but not Bridge Over Troubled Water. However it seems a bit dumb to have these on Disc 2 as they are the same versions as shown in the main movie on the disc only in much lower quality, which looks like a VHS to DVD transfer.The complete list of extras is – rehearsals of You Don't Have To Say You Love Me, Eating Sequence (lunch break), Cattle Call/Baby Lets Play House/Don't, Farther Along, Oh Happy Day, and full stage show versions of I Just Can't Help Believing, Walk A Mile In My Shoes, I've Lost You, Sweet Caroline, Little Sister (Elvis seated with his Gretsch guitar), Stranger In The Crowd (suit with red leather trim and collar), and the After Show Party. The last named is what plays as the credits roll on the restored version of the movie, as I said three of the songs were shown on TCM and came straight from the movie, and a couple of the other items 'Little Sister and Oh Happy Day, have been doing the rounds for some time on bootlegs and web pages, so there it falls far short of the forty minutes of 'new material.Nice to have, but a chance missed to gather all of the available material in one place, why couldn't the songs that been on tape releases e.g. Make The World Go Away, have been included?