Roustabout (1964)

The Elvis formula was well in place by the time of 1964's Roustabout: a passel of undistinguished songs (anyone remember "Poison Ivy League"?), pretty girls, tight pants, a colorful setting, and a little bit of karate to prove that Elvis really had been studying his martial arts. With that understood, Roustabout is a better-than-average workout for the King--not as peppy as Viva Las Vegas, but a good deal livelier than the sleepwalking It Happened at the World's Fair. Elvis plays a bad-boy singer roaming the highways on his Japanese motorcycle; laid up after an accident, he joins a carnival owned by the feisty Barbara Stanwyck. ("This is not a circus, it's a carnival. There's a big difference.") The cast goes from high to low: both giant-sized future James Bond villain Richard Kiel and tiny Billy Barty are carny regulars, and Raquel Welch has a small role in the opening scene. Teri Garr is one of the carnival dancers behind Elvis. The legendary costume designer Edith Head puts Elvis in a series of snappy windbreakers, but thank goodness he's also in black leather a lot. As if that weren't enough to recommend it, the movie has a sequence involving Elvis riding a cycle inside the "Wall of Death," a huge wooden cylinder with high walls. This bit actually inspired an entire Irish film in 1986, Eat the Peach, in which friends build a similar contraption after they watch Roustabout on tape. --Robert Horton Amazon.com essential video

Roustabout

Want to see a good clean movie well here is one to enjoy and makes for good memories as well. It may be an older movie but shows how changing ones attutide can bring about a better outlook of life and how to enjoy it to the fullest. I have watched this several time and intend to keep doing so. Elvis is still the Greatest in my opinion. July 3, 2008

More of Paramount's shoddy dvd products

As far as I can discern, the only reason anyone would buy "Roustabout" or "Easy Come Easy Go", etc. is to see Elvis perform the admittedly weak songs.
In lieu of anything else in the films, singing is all there is to enjoy; I'd hazard to guess 99.99% of viewers aren't expecting an engrossing story.
So how does Paramount treat the folks who would buy these musicals? Pretty poorly. There's zero extras (some of their Presley releases don't even include the trailers) and, worst of all, many of them don't even have chapter access to the SONGS. Like this one. You read right.
Hard to believe, isn't it? Paramount is continuing their reign as worst major studio dvd publisher... June 15, 2008

Elvis Presley-Roustabout

My husband has been looking for this movie on and off for a few years. I found it on Amazon and purchased it for him for Christmas. November 12, 2007

ENJOYABLE

ELVIS SHOWS WHAT A TALENTED ACTOR HE IS.BARBARA SYANWYCK IS POLISHED AND LEIF ERICKSON SOLID .WITH A DECENT SUPPORTING CAST, A GOOD STORY IS TURNED INTO A PLEASING MOVIE. HERE ,ELVIS IS A SINGER WITH A CHIP ON HIS SHOULDER AND PRONE TO TROUBLE.HE JOINS A CARNIVAL AND FINALLY LEARNS THE MEANING OF HARD WORK AND TRUE LOVE.ELVIS SINGS HIS HIT 'LITTLE EGYPT' AND ALSO 'POISON IVY LEAGUE'.MOST ENJOYABLE. AHMED YACOOB. February 22, 2007

jp roustabout

I love this movie. I am trying to collect all of Elvis's movies. my grand son is 7 and I have brain washed him into liking him also. November 5, 2006

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