Aloha From Hawaii.

52 years ago today, April 4, 1973, NBC aired the Elvis Presley movie "Aloha From Hawaii." (the concert took place the same day as Super Bowl VII). Viewing figures have been claimed by the promoters at over 1 billion viewers worldwide, although it has been debated whether these figures are accurate. The show was the most expensive entertainment special at the time, costing $2.5 million.

NBC aired the ninety-minute television special on April 4, 1973. The Stokely-Van Camp Company and Toyota presented the show. It opened with an animation of the satellite "beaming" Presley to different parts of the world, with audio signals in Morse code saying "Elvis: Aloha from Hawaii". Producer Marty Pasetta added clips of Presley's arrival by helicopter to the Hilton hotel and the show outside the arena to the concert sequences. The additional recordings Presley made after the show were also integrated. Pasetta used split-screens to show Presley and the scenery images he had filmed of Hawaii. The track "No More" was not used. The show earned a Nielsen rating of 33.8 and a 57 share.

Billboard praised the special's camera work, declaring that Presley "dominated the tube with showmanship" and concluded that at 38, Presley "still knows how to sing rock". The Los Angeles Times review remarked on Presley's "polished skills" while calling his antics "an amusing parody" of his early career. It called the performances of "An American Trilogy" "stunning", and "I'll Remember You" as "poignant". In contrast, The Boston Globe's negative review rated the show with two stars out of five. The reviewer felt the set decorations were "trappings" and that Presley's performance was "buried in folderol". The piece drew a comparison with his appearances on the Ed Sullivan Show and declared "the electricity was gone" and that "he was mocking himself and his milieu.