It Was 50 Years Ago Today: ‘Roustabout’
November 18, 1964
Roustabout
#1 film at the US box office, November 15 – December 12, 1964
After last week’s excursion across the Atlantic to meet the “French Elvis,” we return stateside to check in with the genuine article — though by 1964, “genuine” may be somewhat of an overstatement. In 1958, Elvis was drafted into the US Army, a move that threatened to kill his career. Yet, there was no shortage of material released during his two years in the military, with his label RCA plumbing a backlog of recordings and Elvis squeezing in a session while on leave in Nashville. Contrary to expectations, the hits continued to roll in, including the #1 record “A Big Hunk o’ Love” in 1959.
If anything, Elvis seemed more popular after his discharge from the Army in early March 1960 than he had been before his induction. His stint in the military — in which he opted to serve in a regular unit, rather than the entertainment branch of the Special Services — had given him an air of respectability. He wasn’t just “Elvis the Pelvis” anymore; he was a good American boy who had done his duty for his country. He had traded that spark of danger and sensual energy for the potential to become an all-around popular entertainer.
Like countless other singers of the era, from Frank Sinatra to Frankie Avalon, Elvis capitalized on his musical success by expanding his purview to cinema. Elvis made four films before his induction in the Army, all of which did well at the box office; some, like Jailhouse Rock (1957) and King Creole (1958), even got good reviews. After leaving the military, however, movies became his primary focus. Elvis starred in as many as three a year, and nearly all his albums released during the ’60s were soundtracks. The movies were easier, cheaper, and more profitable than touring, while still keeping Elvis in the spotlight and supplying his fans with new product.
Between 1956 and 1969, Elvis would star in 31 feature films. Roustabout (1964) falls exactly in the middle of his filmography, both in terms of chronology and quality. Released less than six months after Viva Las Vegas, the most successful movie of Elvis’s career, Roustabout couldn’t quite match its predecessor. Nevertheless, it managed to top the US box office for four weeks and finish the year as one of the highest-grossing films — an especially impressive feat considering its decidedly B-movie budget.
Elvis stars in Roustabout as Charlie Rogers, a “bad boy” (in that he rides a motorcycle and wears a leather jacket) who gets fired from singing in a tea house after karate-chopping some belligerent Ivy Leaguers. Through the machinations of the plot, he winds up working in a struggling carnival as the titular roustabout. Screen legend Barbara Stanwyck plays Maggie Morgan, the carnival’s owner, who notices Charlie’s singing ability and charisma and turns him into the star of the show. He’s such a big success with the teenage audience that he single-handedly rescues the carnival from the brink of bankruptcy. Soon, however, he gets poached by a bigger-budgeted rival, only to return out of loyalty to Maggie — and a romantic interest in a young, pretty carny named Cathy (played by Joan Freeman).
There’s nothing revelatory about Roustabout, but some snappy lines and solid performances — particularly by Stanwyck, who acts like she doesn’t realize she’s second-billed in a quickie Elvisploitation movie — elevate it above the usual dregs that “Elvis picture” implies. Elvis isn’t a bad actor himself, with decent comic timing, but he spends most of the film looking barely interested in what’s happening around him. Still, when it’s time for a musical number, it’s as though a switch within him flips and he’s instantly the King. Elvis never looks like he enjoys himself more than when he’s singing Leiber & Stoller’s “Little Egypt” late in the film, as part of his stage show for the rival carnival. He doesn’t need to act, just perform.
Roustabout may not be a great film, but it would come to look like a masterpiece next to most of his later movies. Comments on Roustabout‘s IMDb page frequently reiterate the idea that it’s “one of the better Elvis vehicles” and “maybe his last really solid movie with a quality role.” Elvis’s films would continue to do solid business over the next few years, but the premises would become more ridiculous and the songs weaker. Bored with the relentless cycle of formula-driven movies, Elvis would become more and more checked-out in his performances, while the films themselves grew cheaper and flimsier.
His musical output suffered as well. From 1964 to 1968, Elvis would only score one Top 10 single: “Crying in the Chapel” (#3, 1965), which had actually been recorded back in 1960. The soundtrack to Roustabout would be his last album to top the Billboard Album Chart until the live Aloha from Hawaii: Via Satellite in 1973, nine years later. While Elvis would maintain a solid fanbase throughout the ’60s — and stage a successful comeback at the decade’s end — it was obvious by 1964 he was no longer the epitome of rock ‘n’ roll. Next to the Beatles and their film A Hard Day’s Night, Elvis and Roustabout are traditional, formulaic, and decidedly unrocking.
It Was 50 Years Ago Today examines a song, album, movie, or book that was #1 on the charts exactly half a century ago.
