“No matter what projects I’ve been involved with or do in the future, I’ll still always be known as ‘The guy that did the Elvis Presley special,’” says Steve Binder. And certainly, though the resume of the 90-year-old director/producer includes such iconic projects as the rock concert film T.A.M.I. Show, the TV music series Hullabaloo, specials for Diana Ross, Barry Manilow, and Patti LaBelle, among others, and work with television legends Steve Allen and Soupy Sales (not to mention the Star Wars Holiday Special), the program originally simply known as Elvis (and now more commonly as the Comeback Special) is arguably his most significant accomplishment.
And understandably so. For this is the program that’s credited with rejuvenating Presley after he’d spent m st of the 1960s letting the music industry pass him by. Though his first few years after his discharge from the army in 1960 saw him back on top of the record charts, as the decade progressed he languished in an increasingly inane series of films as The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, the Motown stable, and others, took rock in exciting new directions. The Elvis special allowed Presley to reclaim his crown, revealing the compelling performer who’d been squandering his talents on fluff like “(There’s) No Room to Rhumba in a Sports Car” and “Yoga Is As Yoga Does.”
While the special’s been written about in numerous books, and features in every comprehensive documentary about Presley, Binder is finally giving a full, behind-the-scenes look at the show in a new documentary,, which was put together, conceived and produced by Spencer; ). Directed by John Scheinfeld (; ), and produced by Binder, endeavors to let Binder reclaim his own story. “A primary goal of mine is to tell the truth and not change history, both in my personal life and political life,” he says. “I just want people to have the guts to speak the truth.”
