I really like Roustabout the film and I absolutely love the soundtrack album. I'll take this soundtrack over Blue Hawaii any old day. It features diverse material, a dynamic remake of Leiber & Stoller's Little Egypt and some fine songs by the fine trio of Giant, Baum and Kaye. Oh sure, they wrote some lightweight material as well for Elvis, but when you write over 40 songs for Elvis in such a short time frame they can't all be winners, Lol. The musicianship is top notch with the very talented guitarist Billy Strange added to the mix of usual stalwarts Scotty Moore and Tiny Timbrell. I like the variety of ballads and up tempo songs included in the soundtrack as well. One Track Heart, Hard Knocks, Wheels On My Heels and both title tracks (especially the rejected one by Otis Blackwell, I'm A Roustabout, are all just terrific. My favorite discovery was Big Love, Big Heartache, which to me sounded like a Roy Orbison song. This surely could have been a top ten single on the Hot 100 if it had been released as a single. I think this album deserved its distinction as being Elvis's last number one album on Billboard until the Aloha From Hawaii concert album was released in 1973. Oh yeah, and @PepiJean is right on about the Roustabout album cover being one of Elvis's very best of this era.
I am a huge Barbara Stanwyck fan and grew up watching reruns of The Big Valley as a kid, but wasn't it Lizabeth Scott playing Elvis's mentor in Loving You and not Ms. Stanwyck?
Viva Las Vegas was the first Elvis film I caught in the theater back in the mid-'90s at LACMA's Bing Theater. At that time I had seen all of his films on TV but I was simply struck by how much presence Elvis had on the big Cinemascope screen in 35mm. I simply "got it" (from a movie star perspective). Anyhow, Viva is a great little film--quick, colorful, great songs, A-M and Elvis are electric together, and this film (along with Blue Hawaii) will make non-fans enjoy an Elvis movie. Like many, not sure why Viva didn't get the LP soundtrack and Kissin' the EP treatment in '64.... Roustabout is another Elvis film I own a Tech/Scope print on and it's really a solid picture overall---Stanwyck and Elvis are fantastic together, there are some killer numbers on the soundtrack like Big Love, Big Heartache (which I agree should've been a single) and its not only the last good Wallis produced Presley picture it is Elvis' final "A" level picture he would make. From here on out it's quick "B" level product (some are a lot of fun like Girl Happy, Speedway, Spinout and yes....Clambake.... yet others make Kissin' Cousins feel like Citizen Kane in comparison) ---I felt he simply gave up as an actor after this film until the final 4 or 5---indeed, "There's a Brand New Day On the Horizon" for his movies moving forward.
Yeah, it's kind of a throwback to the fifties, when Elvis played edgier characters. When my daughter was little she got into Elvis for awhile and we watched most of his films together. Roustabout was one she didn't like, because he was a jerk throughout the film.
Can't agree here, I think Elvis' acting in this is poor at best. As usual showing anger just wasn't in his repertoire. That scene in the trailer with his girl friend where he's angrily telling her how tough he's had it is cringe worthy, imo.
I actually think Elvis would've played this role much better in the 50's. His exact character from Jailhouse Rock could have been dropped right into this movie and it would have worked great. Elvis was what, 30 years old at this time, way too old to play the "troubled young man trying to find his way"
I really like the songs also. And Elvis sounds great on "Big Love" but as I posted earlier he sounds speeded up on the faster numbers. His voice is too high and tinny to me. Is it just me? Anybody know if they sped up any songs on Roustabout? Do you think his voice sounds weird?
I've never thought his voice sounded unusual on these songs, and I've never heard anything about any tracks being sped up. And tellingly, the alternate takes of the title song (the only track for which alternates exist) are the same speed as the master.
I have not noticed any speed or sound anomalies on either the RCA album box set or the FTD version of Roustabout, but I did notice some sound issues on a video version of of Little Egypt on Youtube.
I listened to the soundtrack again yesterday and it occurred to me that it's the first soundtrack for a while that doesn't include any, to me, embarrassing songs - even Viva Las Vegas had Yellow Rose of Texas... It's Canival Time gets close, but I wouldn't skip it, so IMO all the tracks are good-great.
My only real memory of the film is Elvis' character riding in that circular horizontal motorcycle thing!
Mine is Elvis smashing his motorcycle on the road. There were pictures of him bleeding as he actually crashed for real.
That's a great photo! Do we know if Elvis crashed and then the script was adjusted to fit, or was there always supposed to be a crash scene, but with a stunt double, and they then used Elvis' real crash?
