Thursday, January 8, 2015

Movie Quote of the Day (‘Honeymoon in Vegas,' in Tribute to The King of Rock ‘n’ Roll)



Roy (played by Burton Gilliam): “We're the Flying Elvises. Utah chapter.”— Honeymoon in Vegas (1992), written and directed by Andrew Bergman

Happy birthday to Elvis Presley, who would have been 80 today.

Some of my readers, however, are saying, “What do you  mean, ‘Would have been’?” They refuse to believe Elvis ever died.

It’s a little like those ancient Welsh, Cornish and Breton traditions that held that King Arthur never really perished—he was simply healing from wounds in battle against the villainous Mordred, safely carried off to the island of Avalon, waiting to lead his people again at the right moment.

Similarly, his more enthusiastic fans might claim that The King of Rock ‘n’ Roll, knowing that nobody could ever really take his place,  has been taking his own sweet time before reclaiming his crown. For my money, however, Avalon strikes me as far more hospitable to royalty than the local Kmart,  Piggly Wiggly, or wherever Elvis has been sighted.

Whatever the case may be, everybody still wants to pay tribute to Elvis. The most affectionate homage I can think of came in the form of Honeymoon in Vegas, with the hilarious climax of skydiving Elvises from which today’s “Movie Quote of the Day” is derived.  I can’t imagine how the upcoming Broadway musical starring Tony Lanza could possibly top it.

But then again, who would have guessed that a poor boy from Mississippi would take the music world by storm and remake the cultural landscape, too?

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