 In 1957-58, was it really either the army or jail for Elvis, as Colonel Parker says in the film? Let's call this hyperbole from the Colonel. Just because he's the film's narrator, doesn't mean he's a reliable narrator. Yes, Elvis was wildly popular and also wildly threatening to conservative culture watchdogs and he faced his share of petitions and threats. But he was only arrested once, after he got in a fight with a belligerent gas station employee and he was quickly acquitted of all charges. The July 4th Memphis show that Colonel Parker says in the film proves we may never book another date or sell another record, was described by girl Nick as a moment of unmitigated triumph, a moment of pure and unsellied splendor that would be forever frozen in time. Really, BB King, played by Calvin Harris Jr., probably has the most accurate lines in the film when he tells Elvis, they're not going to put you in jail. They might put me in jail for walking across the street, but you're a famous white boy. People are making too much money off of you.