Books and films about Dean/Bücher und Filme über Dean

Dean Reed - The Red Elvis/Der Rote Elvis

Festivals

STARZ Denver International Film Festival

08.-18.11.2007

"The Red Elvis"
Sat, Nov. 10, 12:00 PM Starz Film Center RED1
Sun, Nov. 11, 09:00 PM Starz Film Center RED2

The Red Elvis
Der Rote Elvis
Germany, 2007, 90 Minute Running Time
Genre/Subjects: Biopic, Documentary, Educational, Foreign, Political, Social Issues
Language: English, Spanish, German English Sub-Titles

DIRECTOR: Leopold Grün
Producer: Thomas Janze
Editor: Dirk Uhlig
Cinematographer: Thomas Janze

June 17, 1986: a body is dragged out of a lake in East Berlin. It's identified as Dean Reed, a 47-year-old, Colorado-born singer and actor whose mysterious life remains the stuff of global pop-culture legend – and serves as the subject of this spellbinding documentary from German filmmaker Leopold Grün.

In 1962 – having attained only marginal success in the music business at home – Reed traveled to South America, where he became a major pop success. Embracing leftist politics along the way, he counted among his close friends Chilean president Salvador Allende and activist folk singer Victor Jara – through whose Moscow connections he soon achieved superstardom in the Eastern Bloc as well. Settling in the German Democratic Republic, Reed released a steady stream of hit records both there and in the Soviet Union and became the first American rock musician to perform regularly behind the Iron Curtain – all while starring in his share of spaghetti Westerns. But he never abandoned his American citizenship; on the contrary, Reed dreamed of returning to the United States as a spokesman for world peace. A stateside comeback appeared all but impossible in the twilight of the Cold War, however – which also cast an eerie glow upon his untimely death.

Grün weaves extensive archival footage of Reed and interviews with those who knew him best – not only his many lovers but also former GDR leader Egon Krenz and Denver radio host Peter Boyles – into a compellingly thorough examination of Dean Reed's life and legacy.