In 1971, in addition to the two shows a night at The International Hotel, in January / February and August / September, Colonel Parker got Elvis into a residency at The Sahara Hotel in Lake Tahoe, for two weeks at the end of July and beginning of August, again two shows per night. Then, in November, there was another tour, this time covering twelve cities and fourteen concerts.
Between March and June 1971. Elvis would be in the recording studio, this time to record his second full gospel album, “He Touched Me”, released in April 1972 and which went on to win a Grammy Award for “Best Inspirational Performance”.
The workload was putting a strain on both Elvis and his marriage. Priscilla was at Graceland looking after Lisa Marie during Elvis’s prolonged absences. Priscilla began to pursue her own interests, including taking up karate with instructor Mike Stone, with whom she began an affair. Whilst out on the road, Elvis was no stranger to other women, something which Priscilla was aware of. Then, in February 1972, during Elvis’s Las Vegas residency at was now the Las Vegas Hilton, Priscilla told Elvis she needed to find a life of her own, and the two separated. The drift apart had been gradual since Elvis’s return to the live stage. Priscilla recognised that Elvis’s real love was the stage and his audience. Elvis realised Priscilla was not the stay-at-home mum he was anticipating. When Elvis subsequently met Linda Thompson, in July 1972, a former Miss Tennessee, she told Elvis that, “you should have married a southern girl”.
Elvis had to complete his Las Vegas engagement, then also complete a recording session in March, which created the hits “Burning Love” and “Separate Ways / Always On My Mind”, in April he was on tour again, this time for a fifteen-city, 19-show tour, and one that was to be the subject of a second concert documentary movie, “Elvis On Tour”.
The movie gives a much greater insight into Elvis’s touring lifestyle than the previous Las Vegas-based documentary. Elvis is seen arriving at venues escorted by police, performing, flying out and arriving in the next venue, meeting fans who were waiting at airports, receiving the key to the city of Roanoke from the local mayor, back stage scenes including a gospel singing session with his band, and also in a recording session. The movie was directed by Pierre Adidge and Robert Abel. Before filming started, the pair interviewed Elvis. Elvis’s words are used at several points in the movie, although Colonel Parker did not allow the negative comments Elvis made about his earlier movies to be included. The opening comments from Elvis at the start of the film were, “My dad had seen a lot of people who played guitar and stuff who didn’t work. He said you’d better make up your mind about being a guitar player or an electrician. But I never saw a guitar player that was worth a dime.”
During the movie’s editing, Elvis was on his next tour, starting at Madison Square Garden in New York, where he gave a press conference. One of the questions asked by a reporter was about his image as a shy, country boy, to which Elvis replied, “I don’t know what makes them think that”, then standing up to unbutton his jacket, Elvis revealed the gold belt that he had been given by the International Hotel for breaking all Las Vegas attendance records, saying, “I wear this gold belt”. It was a great moment which made the evening news bulletins, so during the edit, the directors slipped this into the movie.
The movie used many split-screen effects, showing Elvis in one frame and the band or audience in another. A young Martin Scorsese was the montage supervisor, and for the closing scenes as the credits roll, Elvis’ longtime friend and entourage member, Jerry Schilling, who had an active interest in the production process, asked if he could put the concluding montage together. He did such an excellent job selecting “Memories” as the closing theme song that Scorsese did not change anything.
The movie did well, quickly earning back production costs at the box office. Elvis was praised for his performances. Some critics debated whether the split-screen effects were used too much; others found the transitions between performance elements interesting but noted that not much was revealed about the private Elvis. At the time, it was not public knowledge that Elvis and Priscilla were separated, although he was asked at the Madison Square Garden press conference if Priscilla was with him, to which Elvis simply said, “No, she’s not.” With the benefit of hindsight, some scenes show signs that the lifestyle was beginning to take a toll on Elvis, as he sometimes appears pale and slightly puffy-faced.
In 1973, the movie won the Golden Globe Award for “Best Documentary Film” at the 30th Golden Globe Awards. The only Elvis movie to win a major award. Elvis was back in Las Vegas when he saw the announcement on TV and was ecstatic. It was the thirty-third and final movie that Elvis made.
In 1974, there was the possibility that Elvis would star alongside Barbara Streisand in the second remake of “A Star Is Born”. Streisand approached Elvis personally with her then-producer husband in Las Vegas. Elvis was keen, but when Colonel Parker got involved, he did not want Elvis to share billing with anyone, was not convinced that the couple could deliver on the promises made to Elvis, and he was not happy with the terms of the deal. He made a counteroffer, but it was deemed unaffordable. So, just as quickly as a potentially great movie role rose for Elvis, it faded. The role went to country singer Kris Kristofferson. Joe Esposito, Elvis’s Road Manager, would suggest, though, that Elvis himself went off the idea as he did not think he had great chemistry with Streisand and wondered if he was being used.
