5 Elvis movies to stream ahead of Elvis Week 2024: Priscilla, mummies and Nixon

The first major video-streaming site, YouTube, debuted in 2005.

Netflix arrived two years later.

These streaming services and their competitors were preceded by cable television. The pay alternative to traditional free broadcast television, cable didn't reach a wide audience in America until the 1980s.

The first Memphis cable company, CATV, began operating in 1976, when its 12-channel service was restricted to "an area bounded by East Parkway, the Louisville & Nashville Railroad, Union, and Interstate 240," according to The Commercial Appeal. By the summer of 1977, it had "about 1,000 subscribers in Midtown, paying a base fee of $5 monthly," the newspaper reported.

All this is simply to say: When Elvis Presley died on Aug. 16, 1977, Graceland did not have cable television, much less access to streaming services.

That's probably just as well, because the downstairs television room at the mansion already had three TVs built into the wall — a set for each of the major commercial broadcast networks, ABC, CBS and NBC. That wall may have had trouble supporting the white baby grand piano and peacock stained-glass panels on the floor above if it had been excavated to make room for enough sets to enable Elvis to take potshots at the annoying personalities he encountered on the cable "superstations," the PTL Club and MTV.

But if Elvis never encountered the modern era of television, the modern era of television sure enjoys encountering him.

Elvis movies, documentaries, homages and oddities (the adult-oriented "Agent Elvis" cartoon series, which came and went on Netflix last year) are staples of the networks, especially in August, the month that contains "Elvis Week," the annual Graceland-based celebration of the King of Rock 'n' Roll's life and legacy. This year, the nine-day Elvis "week" begins Aug. 9 and concludes Aug. 17, with the "Candlelight Vigil" — the procession to the Elvis gravesite, on the grounds of the mansion — set to begin at 8:30 p.m. Aug. 15, on the eve of the anniversary of Elvis' death.

In January, in observance of the 89th anniversary of the King's Jan. 8, birthday, The Commercial Appeal noted "5 Elvis Movies to Stream." (Some of those — including the most notable, Baz Luhrmann's biopic, "Elvis" — are no longer available for free, although they can be rented or purchased as a DVD or Blu-ray.) Now, as we head toward Elvis Week, we note five more — all available for free on the streaming service listed here, or available as a rental or on physical media.

'This is Elvis'

An odd amalgam of archival footage and dramatic reenactments, this 1981 documentary is narrated by actors representing such beyond-the-grave notables as Vernon and Elvis Presley, along with a few authentic characters, such as Elvis girlfriend Linda Thompson. Directed by rock-and-roll specialists Malcolm Leo and Andrew Solt (who owns the rights to "The Ed Sullivan Show," including the famous 1956 and 1957 Elvis episodes), the movie was the first Elvis movie release to hit theaters in a decade, following the 1972 concert film, "Elvis on Tour." Available on Tubi and Roku.

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'Priscilla'

Writer-director Sofia Coppola's subdued adaptation of Priscilla Presley's 1985 memoir "Elvis and Me" is not as much an answer as a complement to Baz Luhrmann's extravagant but similarly melancholic "Elvis"; it presents Graceland as a sort of Twilight Zone dollhouse, with the initially dazzled young Priscilla (Cailee Spaeny) eventually achieving the independence from her manipulative husband (Jacob Elordi) that the doomed Elvis never achieves from Colonel Tom in the Luhrmann movie. Available on Max.

'Sun Records'

Filmed with much local hype in Memphis in 2016 under the title "Million Dollar Quartet," with the two-time Oscar nominee Roland Joffé ("The Mission," "The Killing Fields") as director, this eight-episode CMT network drama focused on Sun founder Sam Phillips (played by Chad Michael Murray), as he juggled love affairs and musicianly egos while helping to give birth to rock 'n' roll. Young Elvis "tribute artist" Drake Milligan was cast as Elvis; other real-life legends who appeared as characters onscreen included Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, Ike Turner and B.B. King. Unlike the music that inspired the production, the show was not a hit, much less the ignition for a cultural revolution. Available on Paramount+ and Freevee.

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'Elvis Meets Nixon'

In our January "5 Elvis Movies to Stream" story, we noted "Elvis & Nixon," a well-reviewed 2016 indie comedy (still available on Prime) in which Michael Shannon played the King and Kevin Spacey played the President. Most people, however, probably are unaware that in 1997 the Showtime network took a crack at the same truth-is-stranger-than-fiction story with "Elvis Meets Nixon," directed by Allan Arkush, whose place in rock-and-roll heaven (as well as in cult movie heaven) was guaranteed in 1979, when he made "Rock 'n' Roll High School," with the Ramones. Again, the inspiration is the real-life Dec. 21, 1970, White House meeting between the two men, which resulted in a souvenir federal narcotics badge for the King of Rock 'n' Roll and a photo op for Tricky Dick; but this time, the star power is much dimmer than in 2016, with the relative unknown Rick Peters ("Leprechaun 4: Leprechaun in Space") cast as Elvis, and Bob Gunton (the warden in "The Shawshank Redemption") as Nixon. Available on Prime and Peacock.

'Bubba Ho-tep'

Few Elvis cinema compendia fail to mention this 2002 ready-made cult horror-comedy from "Phantasm" mastermind Don Coscarelli, in which an old man in a nursing home who may be the refugee-from-fame Elvis (Bruce Campbell) teams with a Black man who claims to be John F. Kennedy (Ossie Davis) to battle a resurrected Egyptian mummy. Sadly, a long-promised sequel, "Bubba Nosferatu," has yet to materialize. Available on Tubi and Pluto TV.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Elvis movies streaming now: 5 of our picks | List