1950's - 1970's
There came a time in the late 70's after Elvis Presley's death that many of his followers wanted to see him only in those parts of his movies where he sang rather than watch the whole movie.
Fans just waited for the five songs or more when he would appear to do his musical and magic moves. There were many of these Presley formulaic movies with an economical budget and our clean, sauve, tancho-haired King performing his hits. He made more than 30 films.
The first few films e.g. Jailhouse Rock, King Creole and Loving You were great to watch but as the years went on his movies became too lollipop and sugary, so fans just wanted to watch him sing.
These fans would enjoying seeing him serenade his leading ladies on the silver screen when his films came around again for second showings in the smaller theatres in Singapore. They just adored his shaking the dance floor with hot hipped gyrations and pelvic emotions. There were Presley fans today who would watch the same movie three, four times and maybe more. They never got tired of him.
Furthermore Singaporeans would find it expensive to go to Las Vegas in the 70's just to see him perform, unless they were filthy rich. This same group of people would have collected his records too, especially the Italian EP's (Extended Plays) and the Elvis Top Hits (LP's) Long Plays that have a dozen of his songs on each album.
Samplings of Presley movies that were popular for their song and dance scenes would include: Viva Las Vegas (with Ann Margret on video below), Blue Hawaii, G.I. Blues and many more. In fact, 241 of his songs were made specifically for movie projects.
There was one movie that Presley did not sing. Do you know the title of the *movie?
STEVEN SEAGAL FIGHTS
There came a time in the late 70's after Elvis Presley's death that many of his followers wanted to see him only in those parts of his movies where he sang rather than watch the whole movie.
Fans just waited for the five songs or more when he would appear to do his musical and magic moves. There were many of these Presley formulaic movies with an economical budget and our clean, sauve, tancho-haired King performing his hits. He made more than 30 films.The first few films e.g. Jailhouse Rock, King Creole and Loving You were great to watch but as the years went on his movies became too lollipop and sugary, so fans just wanted to watch him sing.
These fans would enjoying seeing him serenade his leading ladies on the silver screen when his films came around again for second showings in the smaller theatres in Singapore. They just adored his shaking the dance floor with hot hipped gyrations and pelvic emotions. There were Presley fans today who would watch the same movie three, four times and maybe more. They never got tired of him.
Samplings of Presley movies that were popular for their song and dance scenes would include: Viva Las Vegas (with Ann Margret on video below), Blue Hawaii, G.I. Blues and many more. In fact, 241 of his songs were made specifically for movie projects.
There was one movie that Presley did not sing. Do you know the title of the *movie?
STEVEN SEAGAL FIGHTS
1980's - 2000's
Similarly with action hero Steven Seagal, a 7th Dan Black Belt in Aikido who appeared in the early 80's but smashed and punched his way to fame only in late 1988 with Above The Law.
He, like Presley, was a mega star with audiences who were keen on martial arts films. They waited for his movies and had only one thing in mind, to watch him in fight scenes on screen with his Aikido moves where he would twist, punch and mostly push his opponents into a bloody pulp. Everything else was secondary.
Then came the mid-1990's when video technology spot-lighted the glimmering Laser Discs and the smaller DVD's. Home audiences bought by the truck-load videos of Steven Seagal movies and the focus was to watch him agonize his cowardly enemies again and again on the 19-inch small screen. He was fast, he was exciting and, after Bruce Lee's untimely exit, he was different.When his movies were distributed in the market, faithful viewers bought his films in LD and DVD format specially to watch the fight scenes. They were hot and again like Elvis songs, the top talk in Singapore corner kopi-tiams and sarabat-stalls. Like Presley, Seagal made more than 30 movies.
Here was the big, tall man in black Buddha suit, black, straight shiny hair tied into a piquant pony tail with black beads and all. Oh, and they just loved his moves. He would slap around his nasty enemies with ease like a polar bear would a bunch of seals. But the punches came thick and the cracking brittle bones could be heard breaking on HiFi, Stereo and THX.
In a scene from Glimmer Man Seagal was insulted by the gang's bodyguard, "Why don't you and I take your sensitive pony-tail and those sissy beads and get out of here!"
Seagal simply shoved his opponent through a glass partition in one fell swoop. The villian never got up. From his first, Above The Law to On Deadly Ground and the two Under Seige movies, Seagal was at his best the ten years from 1987 to 1997. But in later periods of his career when the novelty ended, so did his movie contracts.
The on-screen personality and charisma when Presley sang and Seagal fought soared well above the movie plots they were in. The stories were just a platform for their performance. Seagal fights are like Presley songs. The audiences just wanna watch the action.
Today with an IT gadget like the computer, Presley and Seagal fans could enjoy both their graceful art displays repeatedly without fuss. You Tube has opened the world to instant everything.
*Answer: Charro.
Disclaimer
There are millions of Elvis Presley and Steven Seagal fans out there and I am one. This posting has no intention of undermining these mega-stars. For their time and even today's, Presley and Seagal are still the best.
Images: Google.
You Tube Steven Seagal by John John.
You Tube Steven Seagal by John John.
Videos: Elvis Presley by rockwindow10
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