AshUnow This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Brainsbell The story-telling is good with flashbacks.The film is both funny and heartbreaking. You smile in a scene and get a soulcrushing revelation in the next.

Kirandeep Yoder The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

Mathilde the Guild Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

TheLittleSongbird Elvis Presley was a hugely influential performer with one of the most distinctive singing voices of anybody. He embarked on a film career consisting of 33 films from 1956 to 1969, films that did well at the box-office but mostly panned critically (especially his later films) and while he was a highly charismatic performer he was never considered a great actor.'Roustabout' is not one of Elvis' better overall films, not being as good as the likes of 'King Creole', 'Flaming Star', 'Jailhouse Rock', 'Viva Las Vegas' and 'Loving You'. This said as far as his mid- 60s onwards efforts go, 'Roustabout' generally is one of his better faring ones.Very rarely were the script and story strong suits in Elvis' films, quite often being weak links even. 'Roustabout' is not an exception. The story is paper thin and formulaic, with neither the friction between Charlie and Joe or the romance between Charlie and Cathy ever igniting and structurally it's all too pat and obvious. The former due to too much immature silliness and not enough grit, which one kind of expected when you have the rebellious sort of character that Elvis played in the 50s in films that did have tension and grit, and the latter due to the chemistry not being there and Joan Freeman being somewhat bland.The songs generally are less than stellar and mostly very forgettable. A few do work, and they will be mentioned later, but most suffer from lacking sound mixing that give them a cheapness, sloppy lip-synching, fitting awkwardly and from being too short. "Carny Town" and "It's Carnival Time" especially apply here. The script has its fun and good-natured moments, as well as its tragic ones, but over-silliness and corn run all over it as well.However, 'Roustabout' is a good-looking film, it's beautifully shot with a great atmosphere and the rural scenery is colourful and evocative. A few of the songs are good, the title song and "Little Egypt" being knockouts. The tender "Big Love, Big Heartache", the acid "Poison Ivy League" and the energetic "One Track Shot" also stand out. The choreography has a good deal of energy, the carnival atmosphere is just magical and the Wall of Death scene hits hard.A good cast helps and 'Roustabout' has that (Freeman excepted), John Rich also directing more than capably. Elvis is not at his very best and has been in better shape, but there is still an easy-going charisma and vigour to his performance. Barbara Stanwyk provides compelling realism and effortless command to her role, while Sue Anne Langdon adds a good deal of lustre and Leif Eriksson relishes his unsympathetic character. Familiar faces such as Pat Buttram, Steve Brodie and Jack Albertson are fun to see, and the film also boasts short appearances from Racquel Welch, Richard Kiel, Teri Garr and Billy Barty.Overall, not great but decent likable fun. 6/10 Bethany Cox

SanteeFats This is another movie vehicle for Elvis and his music. He plays a singing motorcycle rider with a big chip on his shoulder towards college kids and people in general. He gets run off the road by an angry carny driving a jeep when Elvis tries to pass him. Barbara Stanwick is the carnival owner riding in the jeep. Since the bike is not ride able and his guitar is smashed she offers him a job as a roustabout until his bike and guitar are fixed/replaced. Of course there is a love interest in the carnival. She is the daughter of Joe. Joe is the reason the carnival is in hock to the bank because he was drunk when he set up a ride and customers got hurt. Elvis's singing starts to bring in a lot of customers including teens so the financial out look is very good as long as he stays. Staying with the bad boy image he liked but really couldn't carry off he finds trouble at the carnival. Finding a wallet lost by a customer he keeps it for several hours. He is finally on his way to return it and get, guess who?, Joe out of the clink. Sidetracked in the cycle dome he falls, the wallet comes out, and the girls think he stole it. Getting ready to leave Joe shows up and punches him a few times. Elvis does not defend himself, probably since Joe is an old drunk and his love interest's father. Elvis leaves and signs with a big time carnival run by Mr. Haney from Green Acres. The daughter goes to the new carnival to get Elvis back but she can't go through with it. Elvis decides to go back to the first carnival and saves it for Barbara and, oh yeah, gets the girl naturally.

Pat McCurry Welcome to 1964. Elvis is still stuck in movie limbo, the Beatles are ready to conquer America, and this movie pops up. Elvis has one of his better roles since Flaming Star, as he plays a angry young man named Charlie Rogers, who is not that likable at all. After Charlie gets sprung for getting in a fight with some college students, he heads down the road to nowhere for the next gig. That's when he meets Maggie, Cathy, and Joe. Joe runs him off the road and destroys the Big E's guitar and 'cycle in the process. Maggie offers him a job as a roustabout in her carnival until his bike is repaired.Elvis sheds the family friendly 60s image for this role. He is a cross between likable and a jerk. He has the benefit of working with a fine supporting cast. Barbara Stanwyck shines as Maggie, who lives and breathes the carnival life (She also keeps this film from being just average). Joan Freeman is great as Cathy, a love interest that plays much harder to get than any other Elvis movie femme fatale. Even Billy Barty shows up in a short role. Steve Brodie and Iris Adrian show up again to reprise their loud, annoying husband/wife roles (they just have different names and backgrounds in this one). The King manages to belt out 11 forgettable songs that include his better than average take on "Little Egypt". This film also shows an era when the carnival was a profitable business (I laughed at seeing an orchestra pit inside a carnival tent). The 'Wall of Death' scene was also the basis of the Irish film, Eat The Peach. All in all, a better than average performance for Elvis in a standard formula film.

kwbucsfan In this movie, Elvis plays Charlie Rogers who has a really bad attitude. This character has quite a chip on his shoulder. It took some time until this character grew on me. This was his last very strong movie until Charro! Once again the plot was great as was the supporting cast which featured the late Leif Erickson the late Barbara Stanwick to name a few. I give this movie five stars