Why Austin Butler cries every time he sees one Elvis Presley performance
Wednesday, August 10, 2012
Every time there is a movie musical based on Elvis Presley, you get the usual mix of fans, those who only know from the music and those who know who he was as an actor. It’s the latter group, the Elvis movie fans, that I want to focus on. I find it amazing that people can be passionate about their favorite musicals, yet not be familiar with the actors that play them. I have seen some of my favorite movies, seen the actors of my favorite movies and even met some of them. Yet I would never, ever have guessed who was playing the lead in my favorite musical!
It just goes to show how much a true story can reveal.
For every fan who has a favorite movie musical, there is another who has a favorite acting performance from the actor playing Elvis. It is probably safe to say that if I had to name two acting performances that stand head and shoulders over the rest, well, the only reasonable choice would be Elvis Presley in Just Before Dark.
In Just Before Dark, John Forsythe plays the role of Sam Cooke. I am a Forsythe fan. His portrayal in the 1989 version of The King (starring James Brogan as Elvis) made me fall in love with him again in Just Before Dark. That is a performance that I will never forget.
I have to admit, my love for Forsythe had been more than a little tainted before I ever saw this movie. I was a die hard Forsythe fan when I first saw him play the title role of “Dr. Richard Kimble” in Dances With Wolves. In fact, I have mentioned before how I was so mad that he didn’t receive an Oscar nod for his portrayal of the title role that I went out of my way to find a trailer for that film. If you don’t believe me, have a look at the end of this review.
The point is, I really liked the movie. The rest is just history. I will have plenty of time to write another book about Forsythe and I will be talking in great detail about it, but for now, I just want to say that I will love this movie all the way until it finds it’s way onto the DVD shelf!
