Roustabout (1964)

Viva Pod Vegas: The Elvis Presley Film Podcast

Apr 17 2023 • 1 hr 22 mins

We're closing out Elvis Presley's three-picture 1964 year in film strong (?) with a real "snow job" in Roustabout! After defining what a roustabout is, we talk about Elvis being differently creepy (and more of a bastard) than we expected, the fact that a movie finally caves and says "sure, fine, he's a singer, whatever," and how this movie seems to have come directly from within the Colonel's brain (and was produced by Big Carnival?). We discuss some wild Elvis karate lore that we're not fact-checking, the quality/caliber of songs in this movie seeming higher than normal, and yet another instance of needless conflict. Joey laments that Roustabout fails his test and makes a plea to 60-year-old movies. Mike is amazed his hope came true before comparing Elvis to Vanilla Ice and Pee-wee Herman. We compare Roustabout to 30 Rock and Fast & Furious, guess what Girl Happy is about, and explore the history of baseball as a euphemism for sex.