AUGUST 2022:
A ROYAL FAREWELL TO TENSILETOWN…
ELVIS has received rave reviews from critics, it has received some critical reviews from critics. Overall, the consensuses are that it’s a great and entertaining film about the life and career of Elvis Presley. The soundtrack has also received favorable reviews as well as premiering at the top of the Billboard Soundtrack chart on the day of its release. Austin Butler and Tom Hanks turn in award-buzz-worthy acting roles as Presley and his career-long manager, Colonel Tom Parker. And the costume, make-up, and production design crew will no doubt see some awards buzz as well for their roles in bringing the life and career of the “King of Rock and Roll” to life so epically. And the film could never have been as epic as it was if it were not for the director Baz Luhrmann, whose masterful way of having his films flow with a musical component was perfect for a film about the musical icon, Elvis Aaron Presley.
A CHANGE OF HABIT…
Rather than reviewing the 2022 film about Elvis Presley, you can head over to my ELVIS Recommendation for what I thought of the film, I am going to review an old Elvis Presley film, the 1969 film, Change of Habit. This film is particularly relevant due to it being the last film that Elvis Presley ever made as a film star. Throughout his 13-year film career, Presley starred in 31 films, starting with the 1956 film, Love Me Tender, Elvis made two or three films a year in between his touring and performing, right up until his final film, 1969’s Change of Habit. As Elvis’ 1968 Comeback Special pulled his career back up into the stratosphere from a slow death, Presley decided to take that opportunity to refocus his energy full-time on his music and decided the ’69 film co-starring Mary Tyler Moore would be his last as a film star.
STRANGER THAN FICTION…
Of all of Presley’s films made and their various subject matter, this seemed to be the most peculiar of his films. Elvis Presley played John Carpenter, a doctor who’s practice is in a poor Black and Hispanic neighborhood. The strangest part of the film isn’t that Elvis is a singing, guitar-strumming doctor, but it might be that he doesn’t sing “In the Ghetto” in this opportunistic role. The other strange element of the film is that Mary Tyler Moore plays, Sister Michelle, one of three nuns undercover on a secret mission to help the local population. And since Sister Michelle is not wearing a habit when she enters Dr. Carpenter’s life and clinic, Presley’s character falls in love with her, not knowing she has already committed her life to God. When another one of the nuns, Sister Barbara, played by Jane Elliot, quits the order in the name of social justice, Sister Michelle contemplates leaving the order in the name of her love for the singing doctor.
FOR THE LOVE OF GOD?
The relationship develops over a committed effort by Dr. Carpenter and Sister Michelle, to address the problems of the neighborhood and help the underprivileged children of the community. They are met with friction from a local loan shark, some unruly teenagers, and an older set in his ways parish priest who disapproves of the three nuns and their secret mission. The film’s climax occurs at a street festival where violence breaks out due to the loan shark and a local unruly crowd. The crisis is only averted when Sister Michelle and the other two nuns show up in their habits, to stop the fighting that has ensued. But even though Dr. Carpenter beats up the local loan shark he is left disheartened by Sister Michelle for having not been honest with him the whole time about being a nun.
FOR THE LOVE OF LOVE?
The film ends with a church scene and Presley’s Dr. Carpenter leading the congregation in a gospel song while Sister Michelle looks on and around the church grappling with her life decision, to stay with the order as a nun or leave in the name of love. The 60s trials and tribulations and the 70s season of love are in full effect in the film and it’s a mix of rock and roll, a dose of religion, and social justice commentary as a sign of the times. The late 60s in America are known as a turbulent time in the name of social justice and equality for all. And the film alludes to that much, featuring one of the nuns, Sister Irene, as a black woman, and who is played by Barbara McNair, is approached by two Black Panther types who question her motivations for being true to the cause and instead accuse her of being a race traitor in the pursuit of her social justice cause. The film is entertaining and odd at the same time and even features a brief appearance by Ed Asner, as a wisecracking cop, he would then go on to star with Moore on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, which premiered in 1970 and ran until 1977. As wild as the film subject may seem while watching it, Elvis Presley’s charisma and kingly presence carry the film until the end, and you are disappointed to watch him in his last role as a film star.
You can watch the 1969 Official Trailer for Change of Habit here:
Change of Habit is available to purchase on DVD and Blu-Ray.
It is not currently available to stream for rent or purchase on any digital platform.