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Roustabout

Elvis Presley , Barbara Stanwyck , John Rich    Unrated   VHS Tape
3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)

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Product Description

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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


Customer Reviews

Most helpful customer reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars How come so expensive? Feb 13 2011
Format:DVD
This is probably the only elvis movie i really wanna get, the songs are good, his acting is ummm well lets not go there. just wondered why this particular elvis movie is so expensive?
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4.0 out of 5 stars Wheels On Your Heels! Jan 21 2004
Format:DVD
I won't bore you with a plot synopsis or my opinion of the borderline interesting story - this movie IS WORTH SEEING for one jaw-dropping sequence: For the rockingest song in the movie, "Wheels On My Heels", Elvis is driving his own motorcycle on a real location road and lip-syncing at the same time - without a helmet! This is not some lame rear projection process and most of the time the entire bike is shown, so it's not being towed - I just found it amazing, no kidding. I mean, what if he lost his concentration...boom! Brain damage.
Oh and Leif Erickson will make you really uncomfortable in this movie - what a loser slime.
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By Josh P.
Format:VHS Tape
"Roustabout" has Elvis playing a karate-chopping, drifting motorcyclist who is picked up after an accident involving him being knocked off his bike by local carnival foreman Leif Erikson, with his daughter Joan Freeman and owner Barbara Stanwyck. After his bike and guitar are damaged, he is hired by Stanwyck to work as a roustabout in her carnival. Elvis, of course, soon falls for Joan Freeman who is a little reluctant at first. Over time the carnival becomes the local night spot around as Elvis attracts people for singing along the midway. In come the teenagers and crowds in droves. Rival carnivla owner Pat Buttram asks if Elvis is interested in joining his big carnival. He refuses. After some confrontation involving a stolen wallet Erikson is convicted of and Joan Freeman's unhappiness with Elvis, he quits Stanwyck's outfit. Then it's off to the Carver show. Elvis is a hit. Back at the other carnival, business is failing and troubles with the bank build. Joan Freeman tries to bring him back, but to no avail at first. Later Elvis decides to go back, pay off the debt, win Joan Freeman, and make the carnival a swinging place again. Quintessential!
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Most recent customer reviews
3.0 out of 5 stars Roustabout
Elvis plays opposite Barbara Stanwyke (The Big Valley) this time out and is in awe of his co-star. It is reported he worked hard on this film to live up to Ms. Read more
Published on Aug 3 2002 by Mike Kurosky
3.0 out of 5 stars Starring Elvis and his amazing man-eating leather belt
Pleasant enough Elvis time-killer with a cotton candy soundtrack, pairing him with Hollywood veterans who should have known better. Read more
Published on April 19 2002 by Kevin Cook
3.0 out of 5 stars Poison Ivy League.
This Elvis flick leans to the dramatic. Not great drama, mind you, but more serious than the usual EP Grade B frolic. Read more
Published on Jan 8 2002 by Robert S. Clay Jr.
4.0 out of 5 stars Elvis Presley as a Roustabout
Charlie Rodgers (Elvis Presley) is a coffee shop singer. As the movie opens, he is fired after a short fight is picked. Read more
Published on Aug 12 2001 by Stephen Verhaeren
5.0 out of 5 stars A Lot of fun with Elvis and Stanwyck!
In one of his best movies, Elvis Presley plays a handsome, bonafide jerk who, on route to his next job, accidentally encounters Barbara Stanwyck, her even jerkier husband, and her... Read more
Published on May 19 2000 by Sean Orlosky
5.0 out of 5 stars ROUSTABOUT--ELVIS' MOST ENTERTAINING FILM
Since "Roustabout" debuted in 1965, I've become an expert on it. The cast includes a screen legend as well as recognizable supporting actors. Read more
Published on Feb 20 2000 by ROY BRENNAN
3.0 out of 5 stars Presley and Stanwyck!
"Roustabout" (1964) is a better-than-average Elvis Presley musical, with the added bonus of Barbara Stanwyck in one of her last films. Read more
Published on Sep 14 1999 by Scott T. Rivers
2.0 out of 5 stars The Wild One - Modified version!
Any resemblance to Marlon Brando's Wild One is purely coincidental of course, as Elvis dons black leather and whips up a storm as a rather tepid singer (Charlie Rogers) at a... Read more
Published on May 14 1999
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