User Reviews

I went into this film knowing nothing about Dean Reed, the Denver born singer/actor who achieved great success outside the USA, who lived in East Germany and became known as "The Red Elvis" until his death in 1986.

I thought the documentary would be a light-hearted film full of overly serious Stasi types trying to act "hip" but mostly looking foolish for their efforts, or I at least expected a heavy dose of 1970's style Communist kitsch.

What I did not expect was a serious and thoughtful film about art, politics, the price that fame takes on a human life, especially if the artist is sensitive, earnest and truly wants to do some good in the world.

Using a wealth of foreign TV footage along with clips from Dean Reed's films as well as contemporary interviews with friends, family members and co-workers, director Leopold Grun creates a moving film about a man who may have cared too much about the poor and disenfranchised and was unsure about how he could use his fame to help them.

Beware though, pea-brained American "patriots" will automatically denounce this film and disparage Dean Reed by calling him a defector.

Reed was a committed socialist (who leaned more towards Marxism than anything else) but to inbred flag-wavers, Dean Reed will just be a dirty Commie. This is demonstrably wrong, but don't expect to win any arguments with Neo-Cons by offering the reasonable truth.

Dean Reed was born in Denver and possessed the kind of wholesome All-American good looks that would have made him a natural as a singing cowboy. An early attempt to make it as a singer and actor in America was a failure.

However, because some of his songs became big hits in South America, Reed went down to Chile and Argentina to perform some concerts and while there, Reed had his eyes opened to some of the injustices in the world.

Although Dean Reed was not raised in wealth, it is probably safe to say he never saw poverty or class separations as obvious as they were in South America. This fired up a sense of social outrage in him and instead of shutting up and only singing happy, non- political songs, Reed used his growing fame to raise awareness of the social inequities he had witnessed.

This was also the time of Vietnam, the Civil Rights struggle, the rise of the women's movement and much more, so Dean Reed was very much influenced by the political and revolutionary spirit of the times.

The Red Elvis really hits home the kind of internal conflict that can befall artists who want to be socially relevant but still be successful in the entertainment field.

But Americans are notoriously unforgiving of any artist who achieves critical success, fame or fortune who then decides to use their public profile to promote awareness about social problems.

We get very indignant if a rich artist points out any problems in the "system". We feel they have no right to complain, especially now that they are rich and famous and are gracelessly resentful if they don't kiss our asses.

The irony is, if rich, socially conscious artists don't point out the inequalities in the "system", most US citizens will forget they exist. Americans will not listen to any poor, unknown artists who complain about the system because we won't let those nobodies anywhere near a microphone.

Dean Reed didn't like some of the things he saw in the West and even though he decided to live in East Germany (where he was rich by GDR standards, not US standards), he never gave up his American citizenship and supposedly still loved America right up to his 1986 death.

The Red Elvis also goes into detail about Reed's personal life and he turns out not to have been so nice to his family, as well as being a bit of a prima-donna regarding his concerts.

Forgive my bluntness here, but only a moron who knows nothing about performing would be surprised by the fact that a man who has to get on stage and entertain thousands by himself can sometimes be difficult. They are artists after all. It's not an excuse, but it is a fact.

One thing that bothered me in The Red Elvis however, were some scenes filmed in a Denver radio station with a talk DJ named Peter Boyles who was thoroughly obnoxious.

For example, Boyles tells us of an interview he had with Dean Reed shortly before his death that got him so angry, he tossed Reed out of the radio studio. But then the film plays us a snippet of the actual 1985 Reed/Boyles interview.

Not surprisingly, what Peter Boyles remembers happening is different from what actually happened and Boyles comes across as an angry whack job trying to get back at a dead man who can no longer defend himself. Real classy Peter.

Then Boyles harasses another caller, trying to manipulate him into agreeing that Dean Reed had denounced the United States and was a tax scofflaw.

I just spent ten minutes researching those claims and it's bogus. As a US citizen living elsewhere, Dean Reed filed his income taxes from abroad (which is perfectly legal) and regarding denouncements; why is it necessary to constantly remind talk radio jerks that disagreeing with US policies is NOT the same as denouncing America.

Dean Reed was bothered by Vietnam, Reagan's Star Wars Defense System and the two party political system in America. Not unusual positions by any stretch of the imagination.

You are allowed to disagree with America. Please double-check the US Constitution Mr. Boyles, Amendment One to be specific. And take my advice Peter; the United States is a great country.

But you can't fully appreciate that if your head is always stuck up Uncle Sam's butt.