Screen legend Barbara Stanwyck became probably the biggest name ever to appear in an Elvis Presley movie in Roustabout. Barbara plays the owner of a carnival who takes in Presley after the King has been fired from a gig at a club. Of course she owes him after her right hand man Leif Erickson runs Elvis off the road and damages his motorcycle and guitar.
After a while what's keeping him around is pretty young Joan Freeman who is Erickson's daughter. And Presley's drawing in some big bucks and may just pull the carnival out of the red, the red being the mortgage that banker Dabbs Greer has on Stanwyck's show. That is if rival carnival owner Pat Buttram doesn't lure him away or fortune teller Sue Ane Langdon doesn't lure him with her own special lure.
I think Roustabout ranks as one of Presley's best feature films. He was starting to lose his allure to the fans of the Beatles and soon enough his pictures would become a rote formula. But as the young man with a chip on his shoulder who becomes a Roustabout at the Stanwyck carnival Elvis is at his very best.
For Stanwyck she saw this as a way of getting her name across to younger movie audiences. But after one more film she would abandon the big screen for the small one and did all her remaining work on television.
The title song and a song called Poison Ivy are the best for Elvis in the 11 numbers from the score. I didn't know Elvis went in for satire but the song is a really acid number against privileged college frat boys, I really loved it. It's also what gets him canned from that club gig.
Fans of both legends should be pleased with Roustabout.
After a while what's keeping him around is pretty young Joan Freeman who is Erickson's daughter. And Presley's drawing in some big bucks and may just pull the carnival out of the red, the red being the mortgage that banker Dabbs Greer has on Stanwyck's show. That is if rival carnival owner Pat Buttram doesn't lure him away or fortune teller Sue Ane Langdon doesn't lure him with her own special lure.
I think Roustabout ranks as one of Presley's best feature films. He was starting to lose his allure to the fans of the Beatles and soon enough his pictures would become a rote formula. But as the young man with a chip on his shoulder who becomes a Roustabout at the Stanwyck carnival Elvis is at his very best.
For Stanwyck she saw this as a way of getting her name across to younger movie audiences. But after one more film she would abandon the big screen for the small one and did all her remaining work on television.
The title song and a song called Poison Ivy are the best for Elvis in the 11 numbers from the score. I didn't know Elvis went in for satire but the song is a really acid number against privileged college frat boys, I really loved it. It's also what gets him canned from that club gig.
Fans of both legends should be pleased with Roustabout.