 |
"...featuring an interview with Kathy Westmoreland..."
A brand new video/DVD with Joe Esposito telling stories of his life with the King. This is a review of the video. A woman introduces Joe as the "highest-ranking member of Elvis' inner circle". Really? She goes on to say that this video contains "500 rare photographs" - not so. It's really embarrassing that she claims that Joe was there for "6,000 live performances"! A major problem with this film is that there is so little use of footage, i.e. we only get to see approx. ten seconds from 70's live performances. And not a single frame from Joe's extensive collection of home movies.
Joe starts out by telling us that he met Elvis while in the army, but not a single word about how they made contact (they were stationed at the same base, but in different divisions)! Joe is a fast-talker, which makes him a terrible narrator. He is also extremely repetitive. On numerous occasions he says, "Elvis enjoyed it..." - - - "Elvis was having a great time...". And something that really upset me is Esposito's appraisal of Colonel Parker. How anyone can defend that son of a bitch is beyond me.
The Elvis Presley Estate did not approve the film, so therefore no Elvis music could be used. As a "replacement", an instrumental track runs through the whole film, and it's very annoying. A snippet from the Graceland press conference in 1960 is used; have you ever noticed Elvis' bizarre hand movements at this occasion? And would you believe it, towards the end the photographs from Joe's collection are featured once more. What contempt for the poor sods that gets tricked into buying this piece of crap!
I would recommend Ed Bonja's video instead of this one. Bonja is a better storyteller. Hell, I even liked Joe's 1987 video My Home movies Of Elvis better.
On a scale from 1 to 5, I give it a 1.
© Crister Berge, Stockholm, Sweden 2002
 Other reviews of Crister Berge |
