Roustabout

˚.✶⋆ 𝚐𝚊𝚋𝚋𝚢 ₊✧˚.‧3.0

me when elvis was riding the ferris wheel at the carnival: ahhhhhhh yes great reference to baz luhrmann’s elvis (2022)elvis filmography: ranked

Swartacus3.5

Roustabout is actually one of the better outings of Elvis' hokey early '60s films. It's nowhere near as good as Viva Las Vegas, but it beats the pants off of hot garbage like It Happened at the World's Fair. The plot concerns itself with a roving drifter and Japanese motorcycle enthusiast named Charlie Rogers. This dude can take on 3 angry frat boys with a couple karate chops, but gets run off the road after losing a game of chicken to a hungover old carny and his family. Elvis...I mean “Charlie”...agrees to work at their weird cow town circus just so long as the drunk carny doesn't "pay him in cotton candy." What raises this above goofball level Elvis jams is the fact that this is competently DPed by Lucien Ballard (cinematographer of Kubrick's The Killing, and a fistful of Peckinpah features including The Wild Bunch and The Getaway). Check out his innovative "carny cam" when Elvis sings one of his cheeseball serenades on the Ferris Wheel to the drunken carny's daughter...as well as his rudimentary (but probably cool for 1964) set up of the "hell on wheels" carny thrill ride for motorcycles. We also have one of the better Elvis movie casts of the era. This includes Leif Erickson as the drunken carny dad who punches Elvis about 15 different times during the film. You may remember old Leif's first wife - the immortal Frances Farmer (yeah that Frances Farmer). We also have Billy Barty as "carnival midget", a young Teri Garr and Raquel Welch as "college girls", and a blink and you'll miss it appearance by Richard Kiel as "Strongman." But last and certainly not least, the great Barbara Stanwyck (Double Indemnity) classes up this filthy jamboree and goes toe to toe with Elvis in a way I haven't seen since Ann-Margret got his goat in Viva Las Vegas.Stannie is a MILF on a mission here (and mother to Elvis' love interest), obsessed with signing "Charlie Rogers" to a contract to keep all those horny teens coming to their run down amusement park. Stanwyck single-handedly raises the level of The King's acting like none other. Their scenes together sizzle with actual legitimacy and elevate this from the normal Elvis slop. I loved it, but it also made me sad due to the realization that Elvis could actually pull off believable scenes when lined up against actual professional acting. Look this isn't the Grapes of Wrath or anything...it still gives me all of the Elvis parmesan I crave when down in the dumps. For instance, I love that Elvis wears a brand new off the rack Canadian tuxedo to try to "blend in" with dirty carnies. I also adore the idiotic barely concealed sexual innuendo like Elvis manning a game of chance called the "Cat Rack" and imploring the locals to "throw their balls at the little pussy cat.” The King also hooked me with one of his songs about hula dancers "shaking their....grass." The writers give bad boy drifter Elvis tons of good one liners to snark at people. However my favorite Elvis is the self-deprecating Elvis who deadpans "No thanks, I'm a devout coward." to the carnies who challenge him to ride a motorbike in the 'drome of doom. I watched this film with my daughter and it put a big 'ol smile on our faces. For that I will gladly step right up and pay my 2 bits to the crooner who saves "Carny Town."

janae 🎞️𖦹₊ ⊹3.0

elvis plays an asshole again but i’m willing to look past that because he’s at a carnival for two hoursECU (elvis cinematic universe), RANKED