06.14.16
Pasadena Elvis Presley Film Festival: “Roustabout”
It’s 1964 and the Beatles have made Elvis virtually irrelevant. But I saw “Roustabout” as Saturday matinee in Pine Grove, PA. With a screwdriver cup of soda and bag of popcorn, fitting for a carnival movie.
The music in “Roustabout” is mostly pocket lint. But the opening number after the title sequence, “Poison Ivy League,” is great, particularly for what follows. Elvis karate chops three of America’s privileged into submission (one actually runs away) in a parking lot. Elvis was really into the karate chopping. And in every movie, no matter how lousy, if there’s a fight scene, he always gets one in.
Anyway, Elvis as Charlie Rodgers, a character virtually indistinguishable from his Deke Rivers in “Loving You,” except for a far superior sneer, gets backed into being a carny.
You know how it works: Eventually he saves the nearing bankruptcy business when he sees how he’s let those with better character down. Barbara Stanwyck takes half the show. And outside of “Poison Ivy League,” “Hard Knocks” is all you want to hear.
“So loaded with cash/They give me a rash,” the chorus from “Poison Ivy League” cries out for revival.