Elvis and Nixon Shines Because of its Actors

Elvis and Nixon. Directed by: Liza Johnson. Starring: Kevin Spacey, Michael Shannon, Alex Pettyfer, Colin Hanks, Evan Peters, Johnny Knoxville. 1 hr 26 min. Rated R

Elvis and Nixon was released earlier this year by Bleecker Street and Amazon Studios. Elvis and Nixon is a comedy/history piece that recreates what might have happened during an actual meeting between the superstar and the President, which took place in the White House on December, 21 1970.

Kevin Spacey plays the somewhat ornery Nixon, while Michael Shannon plays a mildly disturbed, gun-toting Elvis. Both performances are fantastic. Their performances carry the movie and make it an interesting film despite the movie being based on an almost ridiculous meeting. Colin Hanks puts on another great performance as Egil Krogh. Krogh was an official of President’s administration for Nixon. He is put in charge of the nearly impossible task of making the meeting between Nixon andElvis take place, and then seeing that the meeting between these two gigantic personalities wentsmoothly. The rest of the cast does a fine job, but it is really the performances of Spacey, Shannon and Hanks that make Elvis and Nixon so much fun to watch.

Most of the movie takes place on the day of the meeting, beginning with Elvis showing up at the White House trying to deliver his letter to the President. Then, there is the subsequent scramble by Nixon’s staff to set up and convince Nixon to take a meeting with the King. The film’s climax comes and finishes with the sometimes awkward meeting between the two, where Elvis explains his almost comical request to become a Federal Agent-at-Large in the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs. The film does a wonderful job of recreating how that meeting might have gone down. The real life meeting between the two produced this photograph, which has since become the most requested document from the National Archives:

The film was directed by Liza Johnson, who did a great job capturing the essence of how the meeting between such huge personalities might have played out. I had not heard of Johnson before, but after this movie I expect to see more from her.

The soundtrack for Elvis and Nixon features a few standout songs from that time period such as “Hard to Handle” by Otis Redding and “Susie Q” by Creedence Clearwater Revival. The inclusion of these songs helps bring out the mood of the time period.

All in all, Elvis and Nixon takes a brief meeting in time and creates a pretty good character-driven movie that is enjoyable to watch despite a condensed plot. It is worth watching for the acting alone, and should appeal to anyone who enjoys character-driven movies and/or T.V shows.

3 ½ peanut butter and banana sandwiches out of 5