Rating: 
Summary: A Lot of fun with Elvis and Stanwyck!
Review: 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 beautiful step-daughter (Joan Freeman). Maggie (Stanwyck) decides to let Elvis become her dying carnival's roustabout, but he does more. When Elvis sings, well, you know what happens! The carnival begins to attract attention and the money starts rolling in. But when Elvis is offered a bigger salary by another carnie, he is torn between the prospects of a better life and his loyalty to Stanwyck, and particularly, her step-daughter. Every song in the film is "a wonderful, wonderful, wonderful, wonderful" experience. Elvis's fun rockin' with "Poision Ivy League" to his romantic wooing of Freeman in a ferris wheel, to the upbeat "It's Carnival Time" the big production number, "Little Egypt", and the final, memorable number, "And The Whole World's Gonna Be Mine". And Stanwyck is just great as the good-hearted carnie whom Elvis learns to trust. You'll have fun with this movie or buy it for the Elvis fan in your family... "be a big shot for a dollar, it's Carnival Time!"
Rating:
Summary: One of John Rich's Best Films
Review: John Rich later became a TV titan and directed many of the best episodes of the best TV series, as well as taking a hand at production. But his feature film career is even more interesting. Like many journeyman directors, he was assigned a brace of Elvis pictures--this one and the later, hippie-themed EASY COME, EASY GO. But he was also responsible for some of the most under-rated programmers of the 1960s, including THE NEW INTERNS and BOEING BOEING--and WIVES AND LOVERS as well. In ROUSTABOUT he demonstrates a flair for working with actors of all stripes, from the legendary Golden Age star represented here by Barbara Stanwyck, to the neophyte starlet--in ROUSTABOUT there are plenty of them, and the most sparkling is a very young Raquel Welch, who makes her film debut in the opening scene as a college coed mesmerized by Elvis' singing. Raquel looks great and seems quite believable. It's no wonder her fi;lm career soared after making this film. As Elvis' leading lady, Joan Freeman is pretty good, and for this we can thank John Rich, he brings out colors in her otherwise cut and paste performance that we would not see again in Ms. Freeman's acting until her amusing later turn as "Ellie Jackson" in the Don Knotts goof-fest THE RELUCTANT ASTRONAUT.
As for Barbara Stanwyck, what can you say? She's great in the part and, even though at the time people say she was slumming by taking a supporting role in an Elvis picture, in hindsight she was pretty wise, for she was able to keep her name above the title and in Hollywood, that's all that matters. She was one star who was able to keep working until the day she died. As Maggie in ROUSTABOUT she adds new luster to the word, "Termagant." She's bitter, she's fiery, she's curt, she's passionate and she's salty. She's seen it all and laid down the law to bigger men than Elvis. And yet at the end of the day, when all is said and done, she needs him to maintain her autonomy over her grand little carnival. The two of them strike sparks together and their scenes have some of the resonance, at any rate, that Elvis brought to scenes with older women who reminded him of Gladys, his own late mother whom he adored.
Rating: 
Summary: Starring Elvis and his amazing man-eating leather belt
Review: Pleasant enough Elvis time-killer with a cotton candy soundtrack, pairing him with Hollywood veterans who should have known better. The story:Elvis plays Charlie Rogers, a brooding loner (you can tell by his semi-comatose expression) eking out a living doing a bad impression of, well, himself at a dive called Mother's Tea House. (Look fast for Raquel Welch at one of the tables.) One night, he unwisely taunts some middle-aged college boys with a witty ditty called "Poison Ivy League," gets in a fight, loses his job and sputters off on his dinky motorbike. Happening upon a jeep, Charlie is run off the road by short-fused carny Joe Lean (Leif Erickson) for flirting with his virginal daughter Cathy (Joan Freeman, who, tellingly, later became a nun). Unhurt, Charlie signs on as a roustabout in their two-bit carnival, run by Barbara Stanwyck as Maggie Morgan, a woman of backbone and bite (sorry, wrong show), until his bike can be repaired. Maggie recognizes Charlie's teen appeal after his impromptu performance of "It's Carnival Time" causes a sensation on the midway. Soon Charlie is packin' 'em in, and the carnival begins to turn a profit. On top of the world, Charlie steps up his romancing of Cathy while fending off the advances of an amorous fortune teller (the usually fetching Sue Ane Langdon in a hideous black wig) until a fracas with a boorish customer causes him to get ants in his pants again. His cycle fixed, Charlie dons his outrageously tacky, must-be-compensating-for-something, foot-wide studded-leather belt and accepts the generous offer of the owner (Pat Buttram, the immortal flimflam man Mr. Haney from TV's "Green Acres") of a big-time rival carnival. In the flick's most excruciating sequence, Charlie sings "Little Egypt" to a bevy of skanky exotic dancers (one of whom might be Teri Garr). Meanwhile, with Charlie no longer there to pull in the crowds, Maggie's carnival is about to go belly up, and it's up to Cathy to lure him back. She does, of course. Charlie collects his loot from Mr. Haney and returns to Maggie's show just in time to pay off her creditors. Suddenly everybody loves Charlie, his macho belt and his money, even Joe, who forgets all about protecting his daughter's chastity and his former habit of beating the stuffing out of Charlie for no good reason. Roll credits. Please.
Rating: 
Summary: Least favorite
Review: recently started to collect Elvis movies and of the ones I have so far this is the one I like the least. Best so far are Kid Galahad, King Creole, Jailhouse Rock and Wild in the Country being my favorite.
Rating:
Summary: ROUSTABOUT--ELVIS' MOST ENTERTAINING FILM
Review: Since "Roustabout" debuted in 1965, I've become an expert on it. The cast includes a screen legend as well as recognizable supporting actors. Besides Barbara Stanwyck, there is Pat Buttrum, Sue Ann Langdon, and Norman Grabowski as the cement-headed college student who tries to muss Elvis's hair. Joan Freeman is Elvis' romantic interest. She later co-starred with Don Knotts in "The Reluctant Astronaut". Imagine kissing Elvis in one movie and Don Knotts another. Well, I guess that's why they call it "acting". As for the story, it revolves around Elvis as a temporary carnival worker while aiming for the BIG time. There is a fistfight with Elvis nemesis Steve Brodie, Elvis riding his "bike", Elvis as the saviour of the carnival, and Elvis with a new girlfriend. What more could you ask for? If you can think for yourself, and not be content with "Blue Hawaii" as your favorite, then check out "Roustabout". It's more fun than a circus, "cheap at half the price" AND, you won't have to "bite any heads off chickens".
Rating:
Summary: ROUSTABOUT--ELVIS' MOST ENTERTAINING FILM
Review: Since "Roustabout" debuted in 1965, I've become an expert on it. The cast includes a screen legend as well as recognizable supporting actors. Besides Barbara Stanwyck, there is Pat Buttrum, Sue Ann Langdon, and Norman Grabowski as the cement-headed college student who tries to muss Elvis's hair. Joan Freeman is Elvis' romantic interest. She later co-starred with Don Knotts in "The Reluctant Astronaut". Imagine kissing Elvis in one movie and Don Knotts another. Well, I guess that's why they call it "acting". As for the story, it revolves around Elvis as a temporary carnival worker while aiming for the BIG time. There is a fistfight with Elvis nemesis Steve Brodie, Elvis riding his "bike", Elvis as the saviour of the carnival, and Elvis with a new girlfriend. What more could you ask for? If you can think for yourself, and not be content with "Blue Hawaii" as your favorite, then check out "Roustabout". It's more fun than a circus, "cheap at half the price" AND, you won't have to "bite any heads off chickens".
Rating:
Summary: Poison Ivy League.
Review: This Elvis flick leans to the dramatic. Not great drama, mind you, but more serious than the usual EP Grade B frolic. By 1964, Elvis was getting too old to be convincing as an "angry young man," but he gave it his best shot. Elvis is the motorbike-riding rebel whose singing peps up business at a struggling carnival. Elvis clashes with the hard-drinking ramrod, Joe (Leif Erickson). Joan Freeman and Elvis moon around each other, but find romance a rocky road. Movie veteran Barbara Stanwyck lends stature to the film as the carnival owner. The song writing teams of Giant-Baum-Kaye and Leiber-Stoller wrote some of the music, but the results are only mixed. On the plus side, the ballad "Big Love, Big Heartache" and the comic "Little Egypt" number are worth the effort of viewing. The other music is less memorable. One amusing footnote is Pat Buttram as a rival carnival owner. This was shortly before he enjoyed popular recogniton as Mr. Haney on TV's "Green Acres." Given the movie's emphasis on the social mores of carnival folks, we wonder if Col. Tom Parker was in hog heaven, considering his carny background. The movie offers good Hal Wallis production values. Wallis once asserted he made flicks like this one to raise money for serious films like "Becket." He considered Elvis trivial but profitable. Elvis fans will be pleased with this movie, regardless. Sample the cotton candy fluff. ;-)
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