Protecting the King (2007)

That was an excellent one.

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Excellent but underrated film

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

**SPOILERS** The film "Protecting the King" covers the last five years in the life of Rock & Roll legend Elvis Aaron Presley,Peter Dobson, who now some 30 years after his death has become a far bigger star, if that's humanly possible, then he ever was in life.Were given the inside scoop on Elvis' last wild and drug addicted years by his young step-brother and personal bodyguard David Stanley, Matt Barr, who also happened to be, according to the movie info, the youngest bodyguard in Rock & Roll history. Stanley who loved and idolized his big brother Elvis soon learned that he was as human as anyone else in his hangups about his insecurity as well as dependence of prescription drugs. Supplyed to him by his personal physician Dr. Stern, Scott Vandiver.Kind personable and very understanding to those around him at first Elvis soon developed a dark side when his wife Piricilla left him for his personal karate instructor Ed Parker, Larry Tatum. This all had Elvis up his drug and pill intake to as much as 25 pills a day! This together with his craving appetite for fating and unhealthy junk food started to dangerously clog up Elvis' arteries and bloat up his once slim and athletic looking body where he was almost unrecognizable when preforming, and programming very badly, on stage. As the year 1977 came around Elvis was a total wreck of a man not able to even rememberer the worlds to his songs when doing his many sold out concerts as well as, in many cases, just not showing up at all. The end came for Elvis on August 16, 1977 in his Graceland Estate as his heart finally gave out from the abuse he put it under and died at the young age of 42. Which just happened to be almost the exact date that his beloved mom Gladys died on some 19 years, on August 14 1958, earlier!What we get from David's personal revelations about Elvis is not really all that new but still very interesting in how the man self-destructed and how drugs, in Elvis' case legal not illegal, played a major role in his demise. Despite his immense fame and fortune Elvis was always a little boy at heart and thus not able to fully comprehend the grown up position, with tens of millions of fans and admirers of all ages, that it put him into. As his fame grew Elvis started to doubt, being the very religious person that he was, if he was worth all that attention and started to feel terribly insecure in the position, as the "King of Rock & Roll", that he found himself in.From what we see in the movie it was after he fired his life long friends and personal bodyguards-together with little brother David- Jeff & Frank, Brian Krause & Mark Rolston, that Elvis' life quickly started to come apart. Not having the heart to do it himself it was Elvis' father, and David's step-father, Vernon played by John Bnnett Perry who handed the two their pink slips that started a firestorm withing Elvis' inner circle of what was then called the "Memphis Mafia".More then anything else it was both Jeff & Frank's plans to write a tell all book about Elvis' drug addition far more then his womanizing, which in reality was more fiction then fact, that drove Elvis to let himself go in his drug and junk food addictions. That all lead Elvis to end up or go straight, inside a body-bag, into the Memphis City hospital morgue!

Oh boy. Probably you know this movie is tortuously bad. You will not need me to tell you this. But you know, it almost could have been not so, because we all have a bit of groupie in us. We allow great latitude to filmmakers who go where we secretly wish we could, perhaps simply because it is forbidden. Offhand, I can think of three films — all seriously damaged — that were groupie films that we allowed and even think are pretty good.One of these you may not know. It was about Gram Parsons, a documentary that was structured as a groupie experience, even down to explaining why there was no sex. (He was chronically too doped up to perform.) It ends with a groupie stealing his body and burning it in the desert. Based on real events, home movies and interviews with the entourage, its almost perfectly designed as an ersatz tour.Then there's "The Doors." Stone makes flashy but empty movies, but this one resonated because the focus wasn't the suicidal son of a dumb admiral, but on the girl who would give everything just to feel his skin. Its about the only thing Meg's dewy face and manner is good for.Probably the one that seems the best but is the worst is "Almost Famous" because though it collected the whole audience in a grouping of groupies, and it had the sex with the simpleton girlies, it had the guys as well. This opened things up, because by the very act of watching we were joining that group. But the very act of thinking about it, we joined the autobiographical author/filmmaker as he (thought he) was thinking about the music and its place in the world.(I won't get into the intricacies of "Bubba Hotep.")So even this drek, this moronic project could have been subtly adjusted to fool us, especially because it centers on the plastic nature of Elvis-love. I think the exercise would not be worth it except to prove a point in film school. But I think a different edit, different dialog with the same scenes and a remote narration could retool this into acceptable groupieland.Ted's Evaluation -- 1 of 3: You can find something better to do with this part of your life.

I was very interested to watch this DVD versus all the other DVD's my friend had (typical Hollywood action crapola), and it didn't disappointed as I stayed with it the whole way. I remember the day Elvis died, not the actual date but where I was when I heard the news, thats saying a lot for a entertainer as he's the only one that sticks in my mind, I was 13 years old at summer camp and I was in a state of shock, I really loved Elvis and it was a huge let down. This movie is focused on his step brother which is news to me, I didn't even know he had one, so there you go, I'm not an Elvis fanatic just a fan. It is from his perspective so I can understand why those who know more about the subject will pan this film if it's total bs, but hey, if you didn't know all the minutia it's pretty interesting to enter his step brother's world. I was also interested in seeing a recent role by Sizemore and I was thinking how if he in real life had not gone so deep into meth himself that he could have been playing the King himself in this flick. He looks like a wreck, they must have saved money on makeup when it came to him playing a wreck. I give it 7 stars because I'm not aware of many films that deal with the womanizing and lifestyle that MUST have been with the Elvis entourage, I can see why so many pan a self serving film for his step brother but I was still entertained and Elvis's world for me as a casual fan is clouded in secrecy, secrecy of the Memphis Mafia.

I could not believe how bad this movie was, first- the guy who played Elvis looked and sounded nothing like him, second- why wasn't his weight gain preceding his death portrayed- when they showed his death in 1977 he was the same size as when the movie begins 1969. third- why is Elvis only referred to as "Boss", could they not get permission by EPE? fourth- why have the names of his entourage been changed, red and sonny west are referred to as Jeff and Frank and who I presume to be Joe Esposito is referred to as Ronnie. Don't waste your time on this piece of trash. Elvis would be ashamed that his one time stepbrother would do such a poor job portraying him. 0/10.