– By Mark Glass –
**** Stars out of 5 (R)
If ever there was a film that defined the concept of a “sleeper”, this has to be it. Even for one who staunchly opposed the latter, and was mainly indifferent to the former, this fictionalized account of the unlikely actual meeting between arguably our most disgraced former president and greatest musical icon turned out to be surprisingly engaging. Kevin Spacey’s underplayed portrayal of “Tricky Dick” and Michael Shannon’s nuanced take on the private, real-life Presley mesh perfectly for a credible peek behind the curtains for both.
Presley was disturbed by the Anti-war movement and eroding respect for our leaders and institutions among our youth. He believed he could serve his country in a capacity he called a Federal Agent at Large, willing to go undercover or under the radar to ferret out Commies and other threats within our ranks. All he wanted was a badge from Nixon, like the honorary ones he’d already been given by many state and local authorities. So he showed up at the White House one day in 1970 to make his pitch directly to The Man.
Nixon was always a nerd by any standards and wanted no part of this. But his advisors convinced him to take the meeting for a slew of invaluable public relations benefits to be derived from basking in The King’s aura. Who else could make him more appealing to voters among the young and the South at the same time, enhancing his prospects for re-election two years hence?
The fine script mixes humor with its more intimate speculations about what the men were like and what happened when they met. It’s guesswork by the authors (one of whom, also surprisingly, is actor Cary Elwes), since this chat occurred before Nixon started secretly taping everything that happened in the Oval Office. Considering that these gents rank among the most frequently (and often harshly) caricatured figures of the 20th Century, seeing them without a wisp of hyperbole is a refreshing change of pace. We get a glimpse of how hard it must have been for Elvis to keep his sense of self and know who to trust when he was so wildly idolized. We also get an idea of what growing pains may have driven Nixon both to his success and his near-paranoid levels of distrust and resentments.
Those who remember the era will enjoy many other timely references and characterizations, including some who became famous or infamous a couple of years later when Watergate hit the proverbial fan. Spacey and Shannon should be remembered when awards season rolls around for breaking new ground against the tide of overly familiar, if not cliched, methods of presenting these larger-than-life figures.
© Clayton-Richmond Heights Patch 4/22/16
