This is a clip from our very first podcast, featuring Gary Wells, a two-parter back in 2021 on the 1970 MGM concert documentary, Elvis That's The Way It Is. You can hear the complete episodes in all their first-effort glory, along with some additional background, images and links for further reading, viewing and listening, on the dedicated webpage at dec4podcast.com. We’re also on Soundcloud and all the usual podcast places, and there is a compilation of clips from these episodes on YouTube Podcasts.
An ongoing theme throughout our discussion on Elvis That's The Way It Is, was the editorial choices made by director Denis Sanders, a double Oscar winning director of feature films, short subjects and documentaries.
“What we’re trying to do,” Sanders told Jerry Hopkins for a feature in Rolling Stone, “is capture Elvis the entertainer, from the point of view of the fans, the hotel, the city, the audience.” The director also predicted that, “The film will make a fortune…but it will also change things stylistically.” Elvis That’s The Way It Is was the first documentary to be shot in Metrocolor and Panavision, and to have a budget exceeding one million dollars.
A moment we focus on in this clip involves the director’s decision to include in the final edit a candid discussion in the rehearsal room between Elvis and the Sweet Inspirations, about their regret that Marvin 'Gee Gee' Gambill had left the entourage. Elvis explains in significant detail Gee Gee’s very personal marital and child custody arrangements that were actually occurring in more or less real time, given that the cinema release was only a matter of months later.
As we’ll hear in a future clip, Colonel Parker wasn’t entirely happy with some of the director’s choices, although was very complimentary about Denis Sanders personally, and communicated his displeasure directly to the corporate head of MGM, James Aubrey, going over the heads of both director and producer.
Special thanks to Gary Wells, to Gainesville, to Steve Collins, and to all our readers, viewers and listeners.
DEC4 Podcast (Clip): Elvis That's The Way It Is - Director Denis Sanders' Editorial Choices - Gee Gee Gambill