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deke-rivers-1957 · 5 months

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Roustabout Review

Marred by pre-production issues, Roustabout took about 3 years to put out. Announced in 1961, Elvis didn't start filming until March 1964 at 29 years old (well after he stopped playing bad boy characters). This film also had Colonel's influence as he wanted the film to be portray carnival life as a respectable profession.

Made after VLV and Kissin Cousins, this is the last film from Elvis' 2nd Hollywood phase (lighthearted musical comedy travelogues). Does Roustabout have enough of a gritty yet colorful edge to make it enjoyably different, or was it trying too hard to capture a movement and emotion that was no longer relevant? Let's find out.

The titular song "Roustabout" gets us off to a great start. The colored lights are tolerable for those who are photosensitive. The song itself is very enjoyable but I'm not sure if it fits the movie's characterization of Charlie. He's characterized as a ruffian with a chip on his shoulder. I personally recommend looking up "I'm A Roustabout", an alternate opening title song that I think better suited Charlie's character.

So we get introduced to some college kids that only show up for this one scene and I don't like their attitudes. They get all uppity with a waitress who insists on giving them non-alcoholic drinks despite one of them claiming they're all 18 (unless this takes place in Louisiana, states even back in 1964 had the purchase age at 21 to buy alcohol so that argument is moot). The establishment has the right to enforce underage drinking laws, so regardless of their actual age, the waitress has to at least check.

This is the first example of the movie telling us to think one way about Charlie despite showing evidence suggesting otherwise. The college students start heckling him and then get mad when he heckles back. "Poison Ivy League" is an entertaining song that calls out the rich college students and has a unique sound for an Elvis song.

When the song is over, we're made to believe that Charlie is some type of bad boy who picks fights because he's got a chip on his shoulder for being an orphan. That isn't the case at all because Charlie didn't start the fight. Him being an orphan has absolutely nothing to do with this interaction. The college boys started it by making remarks and if you look closely, the one in the blue actually started to swing first. Despite this, Charlie is the only one who gets arrested then gets slapped by the waitress who bailed him out. She's upset that he wouldn't take her with him, when in reality he's not obligated to do anything more than pay her back.

"Wheels On My Heels" is a good song that properly fills in what otherwise would've been dead air. You want to believe that Charlie is content with being on his own as he travels to his next job. However, given the circumstances that lead to this, you still don't get the idea that he's a bad boy. He's acting like a relatively reasonable person that doesn't like getting blamed for things he didn't do.

Which is what makes Joe running off the road so frustrating. Charlie flirts with his daughter, Cathy, and he just completely loses his mind. He verbally stated his intents on killing Charlie, yet still makes it like it was Charlie's fault. What's worse is that, Charlie is forced to work with Maggie and the family until his motorcycle is fixed. Instead of offering to buy him a new bike all together, this family makes like Charlie should be honored to work there as opposed to being held against his will.

We get a walk through of the carnival and I immediately get the idea that Colonel contributed to the script. Cathy uses all this carny talk and then compares it to doctors using Latin because it separates them from the common man. I'm all for wanting to break stereotypes, but Cathy saying this makes her come off as nothing but high in mighty. At least with Cody and the other carnival workers, they have a realistic perspective of trying to take pride in their work despite their low status. It's just a shame none of them show up again to do literally anything. Charlie so far is quite personable and even tries to be nice to Cathy by going on a Ferris Wheel ride singing "It's a Wonderful World." It's a beautiful song with unique tracking shots of the Ferris Wheel moving.

Joe is still unreasonably awful when he's not even the boss. He would literally rather pick on Charlie than accept his half dollar coin for using a ride. We later find out that Maggie is also an irresponsible carnival owner for keeping him employed there. Joe as we learn, was drunk on the job and rigged a ride that ended up killing someone. As a result of not having insurance, Maggie now owes the bank compensation. Instead of doing literally anything, she still insists on keeping Joe employed and only blames herself for letting the insurance lapse. In reality, she'd likely be forced to shut down her business and Joe would definitely be out of a job. There's no way she'd be in business if she kept Joe working there as she'd be complacent in his negligence.

It's the first night of the carnival and while there is business, Cathy simply isn't doing enough to get money at her booth. So what does the bad boy Charlie do? He sings "It's Carnival Time" to attract business on a toy ukelele. Wow that's such a bad boy move /s. Charlie was so bad that he actually manages to earn the carnival a lot of money for that game.

The song itself is still good but I don't think it was lip-synched well. In the shots like this one, Elvis sometimes isn't even moving his lips while he's singing. But ultimately I still buy the idea of using him to attract customers since his songs are entertaining. If only the movie also properly utilized the Wall of Death since we know Charlie is a motorcycle rider.

We get a double header of "Carny Town" and "Hard Knocks" which both do a good job of entertaining the crowd. In the meantime, we get an introduction to the so called "villain" of the movie. Harry Carver is meant to be this no good carnival owner that buys out dying businesses. However, given what we know so far about Maggie and co. I don't hate this man at all. Maggie has shown that she's unwilling to get rid of Joe despite him actively being cruel to other workers, while Harry Carver actually comes off as a reasonable man who just wants to provide the highest quality entertainment possible.

When Charlie's show ends up being a success, Joe still can't even have the guts and admit that he was wrong. He still thinks Charlie is the bad guy here. So of course when Charlie is still salty about the damages Joe caused, Cathy is mad at him for being ungrateful when Maggie gave him a new guitar. Do you see how messed up that is for Cathy to not only defend her father's awful actions, but then have the gall to get mad at Charlie like he's the heel? I'm sorry but the movie is actively trying to gaslight its audience into think Charlie's this bad boy when in reality Charlie's the victim. I just can't support this downright unreasonable and unlikeable family.

At Charlie's next show we get "One Track Heart" and it's one of the best songs in the movie for how entertaining it is. That being said, I have no idea why Charlie changes his mind out of nowhere when he signs Maggie's contract. Nothing we've seen indicates any major change in his status there. This is where not giving his relationship with the other male carnies any development, really hurts the movie. It just feels like the script is forcing Charlie into this instead of naturally establishing reasons to make him change his mind. That's bad storytelling where you're telling us this is what needs to happen as opposed to showing us how Charlie grows.

Cathy also comes off as being super unlikeable by getting mad at Charlie for so much as being with Estelle, the fortune teller. They are not dating and she didn't even tell Charlie how she felt. Charlie is not at all obligated to stay loyal to her. She just comes off as high and mighty like Charlie should never dare have affections for another woman and it's very annoying. I just don't get any chemistry from these two at all and it's another aspect of the story that just feels forced.

After signing the contract with Maggie, Cathy is seen running the dunk tank with Joe and my god do we get the most obnoxious couple I've ever seen in my life. This couple actually makes me feel bad for Joe when they accuse him of stealing their wallet when they have been nothing but a nuisance and started a fight with Charlie. Then again, this family gets mad at Charlie having dared feel concern over Cathy's wellbeing. I was so mad at Cathy when she slapped Charlie because I have no idea why I'm supposed to get at someone who just wants to help. How I'm supposed to like anyone in this family over Harry Carver when they've all treated Charlie as nothing but dirt?

Estelle the fortune teller and Cathy are just awful love interests. They wanna make like they're interested in Charlie, but just when Charlie shows interest back, they get all disgusted. That's not a bad boy. A bad boy wouldn't listen to Cathy when she says she's not a one night stand type of girl. Like Estelle gets mad at Charlie even though she was the one who wanted him to have sex with her. It comes off as these women being so flakey and unlikeable as opposed to Charlie actually being wrong for pushing.

So he finds the wallet and like a good friend decides that Joe needs time to get sober. The next morning, he gets his bike back and is about to leave when he sees the Wall of Death. In a scene that absolutely serves no purpose outside of wasting time before the big reveal, Charlie tries his hand at it. Once he had his fun, Charlie tells Maggie and the other carnies that he found the man's wallet last night. As rational, reasonable people, every single person gets mad at Charlie for betraying Joe. They think Charlie was a heel for having dared think it was a good idea to keep a drunk man in jail longer than he should've been.

I just can't stand any of these people. Charlie actively tries to keep an absolutely terrible person in jail just long enough to sober up and HE'S THE BAD GUY! I think everyone in this carnival is insane. The colonel wanting to make this a specially coded business with rules ended up making this a straight up cult. If you don't drink the kool aid and support your fellow carny no matter how much of a horrible person they are, you're the bad person. I want this carnival to fail and go out of business because of how awful they are. That's a complete failure on the writers part to just completely fumble the ball when making Charlie this "bad boy" who has to change his ways. I want Charlie to get as far away as possible from these people.

Charlie of course signs with Harry Carver and I refuse to believe he's supposed to be the bad guy like the movie wants to make him. He's an actually reasonable man who runs a far superior business. This is a whole theater with numerous performers providing a quality show. However, "Little Egypt" is by far the weakest song in the movie. I hate the sound effect used as it hurts my ears and is completely unnecessary. It ruined what would've otherwise been an absolute banger and a good reason to believe that Charlie is a good performer.

We see Maggie's carnival and of course it's failing. It's almost like they didn't realizing casting Charlie out would have consequences. Cathy and Estelle talk and despite literally watching her kiss Charlie multiple times, Estelle says "she didn't even get to first base". I have never seen a movie completely mess up on its own continuity this badly. It gives you this feeling of anxiety that you're being gaslight as the movie tells you one thing despite being shown something completely different. We never once see Charlie use anyone like Estelle says he did and it's completely ridiculous.

I love "Big Love, Big Heartache". It's the quintessential Elvis ballad but if Charlie had an actual character arc this is the perfect way to show that he actually does love Cathy. It's such a shame that he doesn't have any character arc at all. Cathy just shows up because she wants to manipulate Charlie into coming back and he does. I think Charlie is absolutely insane for leaving a legitimately superior job for an actually toxic work environment. Based on what we're shown, no one at Maggie's carnival is likable enough to make Charlie want to be there.

I honestly feel bad for Harry Carver because he's a reasonable man who actually cares about his business. He even cares about Charlie being in love with Cathy and tries to give him advice. Charlie just gives him the shaft because we're near the end and this has to have a "happy" ending where Maggie's carnival is saved.

This is the most forced ending I've ever seen in an Elvis movie. Absolutely nothing is earned here. Absolutely nothing in this movie was properly developed as we're introduced to things like Charlie being an orphan and the wall of death only to have neither of those things matter. It's not like Loving You where Deke being an orphan actually matters as he learns how to heal and accept that he's good enough to have friends. With the Morgans you can't help but think this is the most unlikeable family you've ever seen. It's so badly written that the only way you can make sense of it, is to come up with the conspiracy theory that Joe is abusive towards both of them. It would other wise make zero sense for Maggie or Cathy to defend Joe.

Charlie can't accept the Morgans as his family because despite "There's A Brand New Day On The Horizon" telling us things are going to get better, I just don't think it will. Joe didn't have his epiphany and realizes Charlie is a good guy. Joe only accepts Charlie coming back because it's the end of the movie and the script tells you that he does. It's all so forced and I have no reason to believe Joe will get better. A complete mess of a story that is absolutely frustrating to watch.

I said in my Clambake review that it was the hardest film to develop a solid opinion on whether I liked it or not. Roustabout to me is like a Clambake but in reverse. Clambake had bad production and some bad songs but had the best character writing I've seen in a mid 60s Elvis movie so far. Roustabout meanwhile had good production and an amazing soundtrack (outside of the sound effect used in Little Egypt.) but the worst character writing I've ever seen in an Elvis movie.

Since the writing is the worst part of the movie that singlehandedly ruined my ability to enjoy it, I have to give it 5/10. This movie's production and soundtrack just wasn't enough overcome the failures of basic story telling. I personally didn't vibe with it so I can't say I'd recommend it but if you're someone who only watches Elvis films for the songs or doesn't care as much about the writing, then I think you would have a great time.

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AN: Thank you @xanatenshi for requesting this review as well as @thedaisymaisy for providing input about the film. If anyone wants to send a request, feel free to send it in.

Tagging: @lynettethemadscientist, @motht-eeth, @ash-omalley, @spooky-hazex, @teamnefarious, @blighted-star, @ab4eva, @oh-my-front-door, @father-of-2cats, @stormie-ryan23, @yksuwyksud, @tacozebra051, @alienelvisobsession, @vintageoldsoul, @ohmygiddd, @lovininapinkcadillac, @stephthestallion, @mistyspresley, @bisexualwvtson, @ahundredlifetime, @karel-in-wonderland, @elvispresleywife, @georgefairbrother, @moonchild-daniella, @musiclover712, @worldofyns, @sillybookmarks, @g00d2balive, @leighpc, @generoustreemystic, @peskybedtime, @thetaoofzoe, @renegadewarrior, @vintagepresley, @tupelomiss, @myradiaz, @pinkcaddyconfessions, @kiankiwi, @presley72elvis, @delulubutidontcare, @januarypresley1969, @livelaughelvis, @all-hookedup-on-elvis, @slayingjd, @ilivebecauseiamforced, @dusintv, @cattcb, @jaqueline19997, @richardslady121, @iloveelvis2, @lett-them-eatt-cake @if-i-can-dream-of-elvis and @lookingforrainbows.

#elvis presley #elvis film #elvis film review #elvis fandom #roustabout #charlie rogers #1964

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lllsaslll · 1 year

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Joan Freeman & Elvis on the set of "Roustabout"

#1964 #elvis #elvis presley #joan freeman #roustabout #elvis movies #my edit #60s elvis #elvis photos #old hollywood #hollywood #hollywood elvis

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presleypictures · 1 year

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Elvis and The Colonel messing around with cigars on the set of Roustabout, 1964.

#elvis #elvis presley #elvis history #elvis presley history #elvis photos #elvis presley photos #music history #movie history #roustabout #elvis in the 60s #60s elvis #king of rock n roll #elvis aaron presley #1960s #1964

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alienelvisobsession · 1 year

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The Quentin Tarantino Connection

When he was a teenager in the late 1970s and early 1980s, Quentin Tarantino was by his own admission way into ‘50s rockabilly music. “I was like the second coming of Elvis Presley. I dyed my hair black. I wore it in a big ole pompadour”, he said in an interview. In his recent book Cinema Speculation, he writes about discussing cinema with his mom’s black friend Floyd, who was into blaxploitation. He loved hearing Floyd’s first-hand accounts of being a black Elvis fan back in the 1950s, also rebuking claims that the King of Rock ‘n Roll was racist. He even included “Elvis impersonator” in his early résumé and it must have paid out because he was cast as one in an episode of the sit-com The Golden Girls in 1988. Incidentally, Tarantino was born in Elvis’ home state of Tennessee, where his mother is from, and as a kid was even left there for a year, describing his family as “hillbilly alcoholics”.

Elvis often comes up in his movies. For example in a deleted scene of his now classic film Pulp Fiction (1994), Mia Wallace uses a hand-held video camera to interview Vincent Vega with either/or questions. She explains the game as follows: “There are only two kinds of people in the world, Beatles people and Elvis people”. Mia has no doubts about Vincent’s allegiance. With his swagger, callback to “Grease” and dance moves, John Travolta is an Elvis man through and through.

Of course, Mia and Vincent later go a to ‘50s themed diner called Jack Rabbit Slim’s, where they have the famous twist contest dancing to Chuck Berry’s “You Never Can Tell”. The waiters are all dressed like dead stars from the 1950s, such as Marilyn Monroe, James Dean and Buddy Holly. Even though, as Vincent would put it, the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll must have had the night off, in Mia’s words “an Elvis man should love it”. Tarantino said that the design for the diner, where the guests sit in booths made like ‘50s vintage cars and the dance floor looks like a tachometer, was partially inspired by the nightclub with race car motifs in one of Elvis’ movies, Speedway (1968).

Tarantino references Elvis here and there in his work. In the novelization of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood that he wrote, for example, Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio in the movie) is described by his agent Marvin (Al Pacino) as having spent all his career “running pocket combs through his pompadour”, which by 1969 not even Elvis has anymore.

His biggest Elvis homage came very early on in his career, though. As a matter of fact, to finance what would become his first movie, Reservoir Dogs (1992), Tarantino auctioned a script that he had written, True Romance. It was made into a movie by Tony Scott and it ultimately came out in 1993. True Romance begins with a casual conversation about pop culture in the style of Mr. Brown with his infamous “Like a Virgin” theory in Reservoir Dogs. Clarence (Christian Slater) is at a bar, chatting up a girl. Like Tarantino, Clarence prefers ‘50s Elvis and praises Jailhouse Rock (the movie not the song) where Elvis was everything that rockabilly was about: “Mean, surly, nasty, rude”. And then, obviously interested in picking up the girl, he continues: “Elvis looked good. I mean, I ain’t no fag, but Elvis was prettier than most women, you know. Most women. You know, I always said if I had to fuck a guy – you know, I mean, had to – if my life depended on it, I’d fuck Elvis”. Tarantino establishes the rules for his story right away: just like you have fantasies where you wish you were Elvis or as cool as Elvis, or you wish you could fuck him, this movie is a whole fantasy where you wish you were a hero who had a crazy adventure and passionate love story involving pimps, drugs and guns.

Clarence, an alter ego for the author, falls madly in love with Alabama (Patricia Arquette), a call girl. Clarence loves martial arts movies, comic books, hamburgers and Elvis, just like the film director. He also wears Elvis glasses and drives a purple Cadillac. Throughout the movie, Elvis pops up several times, in magazines, on T-shirts and on furniture or posters. The most striking appearance is obviously when Clarence sees Elvis (Val Kilmer) in the bathroom mirror, dressed in his gold lamé suit but anachronistically sporting his ‘70s big glasses. Elvis tells Clarence that he has to kill Alabama’s pimp, and there the adventure begins.

In Cinema Speculation, which sits halfway between film criticism and memoir, Tarantino goes back to Elvis several times. He writes that Elvis could have been the biggest movie star of the 1960s, if it weren’t for Colonel Parker’s greediness and for the weight of his own enormous success in the music business. He even mentions excitedly that Elvis was considered for the role of Sundance in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) opposite Warren Beatty, before the roles went to Paul Newman and Robert Redford.

Tarantino has always took a liking for B movies, so it doesn’t come as a surprise to learn that he’s not dismissive of Elvis movies as a whole and writes about a few of them in detail. He considers Flaming Star (1960), for instance, to be “a truly great fifties Western, and maybe the most brutally violent American western of its era.” According to him, the film director, Don Siegel, who would go on to direct Dirty Harry (1971), was a master when it came to film fistfights and chase sequences. This was because of his background in editing and his penchant for violence. Tarantino also praises Don Siegel’s unexpected use of shocking bouts of violence, of which there are several in Flaming Star. His protagonists, including Elvis’ Pacer, were often at odds with the society they lived in, which reflected the way Siegel felt around film executives and producers. “Pod people” is how he called them, in reference to his movie The Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) and in this category he included Elvis’ nefarious manager, Colonel Tom Parker.

Tarantino recognizes that Elvis movies weren’t real movies but “ElvIs movies”, but he’s a fan of Roustabout (1964) nevertheless. He describes it as: “a pretty entertaining little picture chock-full of cool elements, Elvis entering the movie on a motorcycle—dressed head to toe in black leather […], a strong Big Valley era Barbara Stanwyck as his colead, a one-line bit at the beginning by Raquel Welch, the best soundtrack of any of Elvis’ color films, including a rarity for the King on film—Elvis singing a cover of somebody else’s hit, the Coasters’ Little Egypt, and the only film where Elvis gets to demonstrate his Ed Parker-taught karate moves.” Because of course Tarantino loves martial arts movies, just like Elvis did. And blaxploitation, hamburgers, comic books and being over the top. They would have been great friends.

Read here my previous posts on Elvis connections. So far I’ve written about Jimi Hendrix, Andy Warhol/Bob Dylan, the Clash and Jim Morrison.

#quentin tarantino #elvis presley #elvis #1990s cinema #elvis movies #true romance #pulp fiction #don siegel #flaming star #film criticism #1960s cinema #speedway #roustabout #tarantino #tarantino movies

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hooked-on-elvis · 24 days

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"I'm a Roustabout"

Unused soundtrack recording written by Otis Blackwell & Winfield Scott.

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This song was recorded in March 3, 1964 at Radio Recorders, Hollywood, and it was meant to be a part of the soundtrack for the movie "Roustabout", released in 1964, but it was denied as such when producer Hal Wallis preferred "Roustabout", written by Bill Giant, Bernie Baum and Florence Kaye, as the title song.

Here is the official title-song for the "Roustabout" movie:

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"I'm a Roustabout" was first released only in October 2003, in the Elvis Presley compilation album, "2nd to None".

Which song do you prefer?

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Note: If you want a good review on this movie, I recommend you take a look on THIS REVIEW written by @deke-rivers-1957. JL has great in-depth reviews of many of Elvis' movie [on her way to cover all of them, hopefully -- (No pressure, friend lol ♥ Thank you for your work! I learn a lot from all your reviews)].

#don't know about you but I like the Blackwell/Scott song better #Roustabout #1964 #Paramount #elvis presley #otis blackwell #winfield scott #elvis music #elvis #elvis the king #elvis fans #elvis fandom #elvis history #60s elvis #Youtube

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headfullofpresley · 1 year

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I neeeeed some angsty Charlie Rodgers. Maybe he and reader are dating, but he's too focused on his motorcycle or maybe the circus gig. And reader begs him to treat her the way she wants and more attention. But he doesn't, she leaves. He begs for her back, ensueeee fluff.

𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐩 𝐑𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐔𝐩

Word count: 3,1K

Warnings: angst(ish), reader being a lil petty, fluff. that's about it, i think?

A/N: i am hopelessly in love with charlie- roustabout is one of my fave movies, so i love you for this, stef 🥺. ofc this turned out a little different than i had in mind (woops), but i hope you'll still like it!! 💕

masterlist

Being a carny was in your blood- your entire family had been in the business since way before you were born, so it wasn’t strange for you and your siblings to follow the same faith.

Charlie was as far from a carny as possible.

Your boyfriend was a free bird who didn’t like having his wings clipped or being shoved into a cage. He hated having the same routine day after day and would much rather burn rubber on his motorcycle and spend his evenings performing in tea houses and small pubs for a little cash.

But as he was forced to follow your brother to the carnival that belonged to your family after crashing his motorcycle, he didn’t have a choice but to stay while waiting for his little baby to get fixed.

Seeing it was during the weekend, he had to wait until Monday before he’d get his bike back.

On Friday, he hated being surrounded by your big – and sometimes crazy – family but by Sunday afternoon he had been in no hurry to leave. The moment he laid eyes on you, he followed you anywhere you went- he was so smitten that he didn’t even care that you put him to work to get every thing ready for the visitors.

Charlie never imagined himself to become a carny, but he developed a genuine interest in the business and he was good at pretty much everything. Be it putting up a show in the tent or working the joints or grabs, he did it effortlessly. He was also bringing in a lot of new and younger customers, so you and your family weren’t complaining.

Well, your family wasn’t- you were.

It had been a year since you and Charlie became a couple, living together in your own little caravan. While you had played a bit of hard to get in the beginning and made him work for your attention, the two of you were very close and you could really see yourself spending the rest of your life together with this man.

Although Charlie had no idea what the future held in store for him, and whether that was at the carnival or not, he knew that he wanted you to be in it. He loved you dearly, but he felt the shift in your relationship just as much as you did.

While you’d always used to spend your mornings having breakfast together before you’d start work, Charlie had developed a new routine after he became one of the performers in the “Wall of Death” attraction.

You did not like him being part of the little show at all- it was dangerous and although he was an excellent driver, he wasn’t a professional. He had never broken any bones riding his motorcycle up the walls of the round attraction, but you were prepared for him to get hurt at any time.

Not only were you living in constant stress every single day, you could feel you and your boyfriend drifting apart. He was so focused on preparing and practicing for the show that he barely paid any attention to you and in between shows, he was hanging around with the guys- either on carnival grounds, or they’d take their bikes for a spin outside of it.

Sometimes he didn’t come home until the middle of the night or early morning.

You tried to push aside your feelings at first and focus on your own work, but you knew that something needed to change if you wanted to make this relationship work. Charlie wasn’t much of a talker and every time you brought up the topic, he told you to either just drop it or stormed out of the caravan angry only to return in the morning and make it up to you.

You wished you were strong enough to ignore your worries and just leave him be, being content with the fact that he was your boyfriend no matter what, but that wasn’t the case.

You missed your boyfriend and wanted him to spend more time with you- was that so wrong?

Charlie stood you up once more for a little dinner date outside of your caravan that the two of you had planned. You knew exactly where he was and as you stormed through the crowd of people on the carnival grounds, all the workers knew where you were off to.

The Wall of Death show hadn’t started yet, but it was about to. People were already lining up in front of the attraction, waiting to be led onto the balcony so they could watch your boyfriend and brother ride around together.

Noticing your brother standing at the top, you figured it was Charlie’s motor that you heard rumbling inside. You were quick to manoeuvre your way through the line of customers and opened the little gate, running up the stairs.

“Get him to stop,” you told your brother as you slapped his arm, nodding to Charlie a floor below. Your brother wasn’t that surprised by your visit since Charlie often confided in him to vent about your relationship problems and since he did not want to get in the middle of it, he called out to Charlie to stop.

Once the motorcycle came to a halt and Charlie took off his helmet before looking up, he widened his eyes a little as he saw you looking at him with fire in your eyes. “Shit,” he mumbled to himself, getting off his bike and leaving it parked in the middle of the attraction.

He was next to you in the matter of a few seconds and before he could say anything, you had already grabbed his wrist and were pulling him downstairs, away from his job and the people that came to see him. He looked over his shoulder, silently begging your brother for help who crossed his fingers at him, watching you pull Charlie into the crowd of people.

If he wanted he could easily stop you, but with your nails digging into his flesh he knew better. This time he really had crossed a line, because he had never seen you this determined and this angry.

You apologized to the line of people as you arrived at the Hall of Mirrors, but they stopped protesting as soon as they saw who you were and who you were dragging along.

Both you and Charlie were familiar with the attraction you kidnapped him to, but in your frantic state you bumped into the glass walls a few times, causing Charlie to bump into you because you were still holding onto him. It didn’t seem like you were planning to stop dragging him further and further into the attraction, so he quickly grabbed your other arm and halted you in your movements.

As you turned around, he inhaled a deep breath of air and gently grabbed your hands.

“Baby, I completely forgot about tonight- I know we had plans to eat together, but there was somethin’ up with the engine of my bike and I had to take it for a test spin before the show and-“

“Oh, just shut up, Charlie!” you yelled at him, taking him by surprise. He dropped your hands, looking at you with wide eyes; you had never yelled at him. You were always soft spoken and kind, the kind of girl that made sure everyone was comfortable and having a wonderful time.

But you were fed up- he pushed you too far.

“It’s always the same excuses- ‘My bike broke down’, ‘We lost track of time’,” you mocked him, pulling off the colorful scarf you were wearing around your head, running a hand through your hair.

He frowned, placing his hands on his hips as he felt himself get a little annoyed. He knew he probably did not have the right to, because you were right about exploding like this, but instead of apologizing he felt the need to defend himself.

“You were the one who got me to work here, Y/N!” he yelled back, neither of you caring about the carnival go-ers that were trying to find their way outside and as far away from your fight as possible. “I enjoy being here now, I enjoy working the attractions- isn’t that what you wanted? What else do you want from me?”

“I want you to be with me, Charlie- are you too damn blind to see that? I want to spend time with you, the way we used to, and not sit around and wonder when the hell you’re coming to bed every night- if you do at all!”

The two of you fell silent for a second as a mother and her young daughter walked by, giving her a small apologetic smile. Charlie quickly pointed her in the right direction before he took a step closer to you, lowering his voice a little.

“We live together, we see each other every day. Isn’t that enough?”

You scoffed in his face, shaking your head as you looked down at the silk scarf in your hand. You blinked your tears away as much as possible, not wanting him to see you cry right now. You did not feel he deserved your tears.

“No, it isn’t,” you sighed deeply, looking back up at him. “I love that you found your place here and that you get along with everyone, but that isn’t enough to make this relationship work. I need you to be there for me, with me- that’s all I’m asking,”

He sighed deeply as he ran his hands up and down his face before placing them at the back of his neck, folding his hands together while looking down at you.

You couldn’t read the expression on his face, something you had struggled with before when it came to him because he was simply terrible at talking about his feelings. Instead of opening up and making things right with you, he seemed to shut down.

“The carnival life is hard work, it’s unpredictable- you told me that yourself,”

You sighed as you rolled your eyes up to the mirrored ceiling, quickly wiping a tear from your cheek as you nodded, looking back at your boyfriend.

“Yeah. Yes, it is, but love isn’t and it shouldn’t be,”

Pushing him away, you made your way out of the mirrored attraction, giving one of the doors a twirl with extra force so you could lose him before he’d decide to follow you.

Before Charlie could get to your shared caravan, you had already packed all your stuff and moved it into one of your sister’s caravans.

He spend the rest of his night knocking on everyone’s doors and windows, asking for you. When he reached Jane’s door, the sister who you decided to vent to and stay with, she told him that you were here but you didn’t want to see him- feeling bad for her brother in law, she told him to give you some time and that you’d find him if you wanted to talk.

He knew better than to push you in a situation like this- doing so would only get you angrier with him and that’s the last thing he wanted.

You avoided Charlie like the plague for about three days and Jane gave you the time to cry your tears, but she was starting to feel more and more bad for Charlie and forced you to pick yourself up and go back to work.

You knew you had to talk to him eventually and make a decision on what direction you were going to take your relationship in, but you wanted him to come to you.

You wanted him to apologize. You wanted him to change.

You made sure you worked one of the food stands that was furthest away from the big tent during the time Charlie was performing there, but as you noticed people coming out of the tent again an hour later, you traded places with Jane who came from one of the ball throwing games near where Charlie was.

Ofcourse, you wanted to run into him.

Taking your place, you grabbed some balls and put on your sweetest smile, drawing in people with your bubbly personality and kindness to little children. The fact that you weren’t too bad on the eyes helped too- the fathers would often spend more time at the games when you were working them.

You were always friendly, but never flirty- until tonight. As soon as you saw Charlie coming out of the tent and walk to the pizza stand across from you, you cheered on the handsome father that was currently playing the game with his little son extra hard and extra sweet.

Charlie took a bite of his slice of pizza, nearly burning his tongue on the melted cheese as he saw you interacting with the men that were lining up at the booth.

“Step right up, step right up, folks! You over there- handsome fella with the green jacket, you look like you got a mean throw,” you yelled happily, pointing at a guy that walked by and he immediately made his way over to you, buying a ticket so he could play.

Charlie handed his slice of pizza to a random kid, jogging over to the booth to squirm his way through the crowd and step onto the table of the attraction, jumping down next to you. He grabbed your arm and pulled you aside a little, looking down at you with an angered look in his eyes.

He was practically seeing green with jealousy.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

“I’m working, Rogers,” you simply told him, yanking your arm out of his grip. “You know, the one thing you’re so obsessed with and are willing to lose your girlfriend over,”

You knew you were being petty, but you wanted him to realise that you were done being neglected.

The guy in the green jacket threw down all cans and you clapped your hands excitedly, handing him the prize he chose.

“I’m sorry if this is too forward, but.. would you like to go for a bite to eat when you’re done working?” he asked you, making Charlie widen his eyes. Your boyfriend stepped next to you immediately and grabbed your upper arm again, looking at the customer.

“She’s taken, buddy- try the Ferris Wheel,” he snapped at him, knowing Emily, your other sister, was at the wheel right now. The guy put up his hands and stepped out of the crowd, leaving Charlie to deal with you.

“You didn’t have to be so rude,” you told him, greeting some people and selling tickets in exchange for a few balls. Stepping aside so people had enough space to throw, Charlie followed and looked at you again, hiding you from the customers as he had his back turned to them and his hand placed on his hip.

“Baby, can we just… stop this bullshit?” he sighed deeply, his features softening a little as he placed his other hand on the side of your neck. “You were right- I haven’t been there enough for you, I should give you more attention and that’s exactly what I’m gonna do from now on. I promise you, I promise it from the bottom of my heart,”

His hand that was on his hip was moved to his chest, slapping it softly as if to emphasize his words. You knew saying all of this was already hard for him, but you still hadn’t heard the words you wanted to hear most.

Crossing your arms, you raised your chin a little and looked at him. “And?”

He sighed softly, looking over his shoulder in hopes to see a customer that needed help. Everyone was still happily throwing the balls they bought- he couldn’t get out of this.

“And I’m sorry,” he mumbled softly as he looked back at you. You heard him crystal clear, but to spite him a little more, you cupped your hand over your ear, leaning in closer.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t quite catch that,”

He shot you a glare, grabbing onto your shoulders as he laughed softly. “I am sorry,” he spoke extra loud, mouthing the words theatrically, making some customers look at the both of you. “I really am sorry- you know I love you and I don’t want us to break up or anythin’. You scared the hell out of me when you moved all your things out of the caravan,”

You squinted your eyes at him a little, but couldn’t stop your smile from breaking through your facade. Hearing him apologize and say all those words made you instantly feel better, and you had already forgiven him as soon as the words rolled off his tongue.

“I love you too, Charlie, and thank you for apologizing,” you smiled at him, wrapping your arms around his neck as he lowered his hands to your hips, snaking his arms around your waist. “I just miss you, you know? I don’t want us to grow apart up to the point where we become strangers,”

“I know, baby, I don’t want that either,” he sighed, pushing you up against his chest as he smiled down at you. “Now can I finally kiss you? It’s been three days- I was close to losin’ my goddamn mind,”

You let out laugh as you nodded, deepening the kiss as soon as he pressed his lips against yours and his tongue met yours. The feeling made butterflies errupt all throughout your tummy and you dropped the balls that had been in your hands, holding your boyfriend close to you.

Some of the male customers huffed out disappointed groans and grumbles at the sight of you being kissed by another man.

This made Charlie pull back from the kiss, slowly letting go of you to turn around and walk to the customers. He grabbed some balls out of a grown man’s hands and handed them to his daughter that stood there next to him, pouting.

“If you ain’t here to play the game, move along, folks! The lady is spoken for!”

You laughed as the men without children slowly moved away from the booth, trying their luck elsewhere, and you made your way over to Charlie. Kissing his cheek, you took a step aside as the little girl started throwing the balls he had handed her.

“You’re so mean- sending all my fans away,” you teased with a grin on your face.

He shot you a feigned glare, laughing softly as he slipped an arm around your waist to pull you into his side, throwing some balls in the air which he caught with his free hand easily. He looked at you and gave you a cheeky smile as he planted a firm kiss on your lips.

“The only fan you need is me,”

If there was one thing about Charlie Rogers, it was that he was right- most of the time.

In this case, he was certainly was though. You only needed one fan, only one man, in your life and that was him.

Taglist: @breadsquash @feverkitten @woundmetender @returntoelvis @prayerstopresley @ab4eva @elvisabutler @marriedtopresley @steph-speaks @wonka-gifs @ellie-24 @dollksj @webbedwebs @re3kin @wivette

#elvis x reader #elvis presley x reader #elvis x you #elvis presley x you #elvis x y/n #elvis presley x y/n #elvis drabble #elvis presley drabble #elvis drabbles #elvis imagine #elvis presley imagine #elvis movies #roustabout #charlie rogers #elvis #elvis presley #tamwrites

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valkaryah · 1 year

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ROUSTABOUT (1964)

#roustabout #elvis presley #elvis #joan freeman #presleyedit #usercinemagifs #uservintage #userfilm #cinemapix #fyeahmovies #moviegifs #filmgifs #60s #sixties #retro #vintage #elvis presley gifs #my gifs #e

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seredelgi · 1 year

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Elvis Presley and Jocelyn Lane in “Tickle me” (1965)

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ccridersworld · 3 months

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Elvis meet Jim...1964

#elvis presley #elvis photos #jim brown #roustabout #rio conchos

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iloveeap · 1 month

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compilation of my letterboxd reviews for the elvis movies

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deke-rivers-1957 · 2 months

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ECU Film Ranking Part 1

This will be a 3 part series where after 10 or so movies, I'll rank them in reverse order with 10 being the worst and 1 being the best. My ranks are based on how much I liked the movie, how much I liked Elvis' character, and how well made it was. Each entry will have an explanation so I hope my opinions make sense. If you have any disagreements feel free to share them. Enjoy!

Roustabout

The problem with this movie is simple: it completely misses the point of Charlie's character. When you think about what the movie wants us to believe, Charlie is supposed to be a grown man who's got a chip on his shoulder about being made an orphan and wants his respect. While the movie does show him as pushing back when he's being disrespected, Charlie isn't a jerk who needs to get rid of the chip on his shoulder. If anything Charlie is a saint for having to deal with people who actively hate him. In fact outside of bit characters and Mr. Carver, everyone else is infinitively times worse. How are we supposed to think Charlie needs to learn his lesson when the whole time we're on his side of most confrontations? Overall, it was a good story concept with terrible execution as it a completely wasted potential storylines and an amazing soundtrack.

(John Lennon wrote Revolution 9.)

Wild in the Country

On paper this should be an absolute banger of an Elvis movie: An angry young man who has no faith in himself until he meets someone who inspires him to be better. Too bad the movie felt like it had no idea on how to work with that concept. You get the feeling that each writer had a different story idea but was never able to execute it from start to finish. For instance, the ending was supposed to be tragic but instead became bittersweet in the most mild way possible. Given how this movie initially sets this serious tone where a character's bad actions will have consequences, the ending does a complete 180. Nothing of consequence happens and the movie suffers because of it. If the most intense part of the movie is done and over with in 5 minutes with no time to even digest what happened before we see Glenn go off to college you just sit there thinking "what was the point of that if nothing came out of it?" It's slightly better because at least the first third gave us some of Elvis' best character moments with Glenn giving an emotional monologue about his life.

Love Me Tender

Story wise it's a step up from the other two, but still suffers from executing a vision. The entire 3rd act destroyed whatever character arc Clint had going for him. I get the idea that Clint suddenly turning on Vance and Cathy just because practical strangers filled his head with ideas was something that was added at the last minute to make Elvis more relevant despite an originally smaller role. I can understand Clint being insecure about his manhood and doubting his wife's loyalty, but the execution of that was terrible. Just fix Clint's character arc in the 3rd act, and this movie would've been fine.

Paradise, Hawaiian Style

There's nothing wrong with Rick as a character. The problem's that he's boring. He doesn't have much of a character arc as it's not like him saving Danny showed a new side of him. His womanizing is his character flaw and the driving factor of his irresponsibility. Him rescuing Danny doesn't change that and it definitely doesn't give his romance with Friday any weight as I simply don't believe they have any chemistry. Then again, the only vision this movie had was to showcase actual Hawaii and the Polynesian people. For the 1960s they did that in a pretty respectful way. Drums of the Islands is a great finale song with beautiful visuals. It's a nice finale to conclude an otherwise boring movie. But what a finale it is.

Clambake

As much as I love Scott's character arc, the songs are a mixed bag and the production at times is bad. I also wasn't that enthused about Scott and Dianne's relationship as I thought Dianne was boring. The side characters are fine but again nothing to write home about. I do think that if this was given more time it would've been better, but as it stands it's not at all the worst story. The ballads keep the soundtrack from being completely terrible. It's in general a very mediocre movie with an amazing character arc.

(Joe DiMaggio wore the number 5.)

Production wise this is easily the worst one as some of the effects are so bottom of the barrel of what they wanted to achieve. The story had elements that would've been amazing but simply never expanded on them. However, JODIE IS PEAK. Way more interesting than Josh and easily could've been the main character. The revelation that he's not Pappy's son alone should've been talked about in the movie as opposed to being a throwaway line. His ballad for Midge easily the best song in the movie. Such a shame this movie was rushed out. I genuinely think if they had Elvis just be Jodie, it would've been an absolute banger. The side characters have more personality than Josh and it carries what would've otherwise been a boring movie.

Jailhouse Rock

This movie is ICONIC but character wise Vince falls a bit flat and I have mixed opinion his relationship with Peggy. Vince waffling between liking Peggy and being cold to her is strange. Especially since Peggy simply disappears for a long period of time. When they get together at the end it's like all of the justification for why things were forgiven happened off screen as opposed to naturally seeing it play out. If you simply boil it down to a cocky young man falling off his pedestal and opening up to people, then the movie works. It's very well made but there are still wrinkles that keep it from being in my top 3.

(2 and 3 are interchangeable. They're about even so the difference is simply what I like a little bit more today.)

GI Blues

Story wise I don't see anything that's really wrong with this movie. I think Tulsa is a good character. Any criticisms I have boils down to how I would've written the same story but in a different way. I guess the one criticism I do have is that we get the lie reveal plot element over in done with so little time, that there was no point of even including it. Overall, it's still a well made and enjoyable movie but it doesn't blow me away.

Girl Happy

This is low key one of the best stories in an Elvis movie. It does the lie reveal cliche right as it gives this plot element enough time to develop, climax and then resolve itself naturally. Nothing about this is forced therefore everyone involved feels like they're real people. The point of the conflict is that Rusty is supposed to watch Valerie without her knowing that he's been asked to watch her. If Valerie knew, then she wouldn't want to be around him and would only become more sneaky. The emotional conflict of her finding him and Deena together isn't anyone's fault as it wasn't like anyone wanted to act out of malice. Everyone reacted within reason and despite the miscommunication, this is a situation where telling the truth would've only complicated things. You feel bad for everyone involved and regardless of who you think is in the right, you can totally understand where the other side is coming from. The songs are still very much a mixed bag and that's why I can't put it as my number one, but as a love story it's very underrated.

(You know I had to do this lol.)

Loving You

What can I say it's Elvis' story if he had an actual happy ending. As much as I don't like how Glenda is as a character the ending makes you think she will change. Deke is such a lovable character and it only makes you wonder why he doesn't have a lot of friends. I was angry for Deke when he just forgave Glenda that quickly by coming back. I'm not sure if it's simply because that's who Deke is, or if it's on the writers for not showing us his thought process. It's similar to my criticisms for GI Blues segment. It's simply a matter of "good concept, I just would've executed it a little differently". The songs are all functional to amazing. The movie is very well made as it doesn't feel the need to blast you in the face with color. If anything Deke going from generic "farmer's clothes" to a vibrant white/red combo is so fitting. When Deke is on stage he really comes to life. Even in his regular clothes, it's like they added a brightness to them. Unintentional I'm sure but it's incredible how Deke's clothes reflect his rise from nothing. He goes from being lonely and having low self esteem to feeling joy knowing he isn't alone anymore. Such a shame it's lost in the shuffle of his other 50s movies. This one definitely stands out on its own.

AN: Thank you all for following along with my reviews. If I missed a tag I'm real sorry.

Tagging: @arrolyn1114, @thedaisymaisy, @that-hotdog, @peaceloveelvis, @imaginationlast, @fuzzymusic94, @helen06dreamer, @sfull12345, @briefpandatimemachine, @alittlemoreelvis, @lynettethemadscientist, @motht-eeth, @ash-omalley, @spooky-hazex, @teamnefarious, @blighted-star, @ab4eva, @oh-my-front-door, @father-of-2cats, @atleastpleasetelephone, @xanatenshi, @crazymadpassionatelove, @burnthheparaphilia, @aliengoth3, @smokeymountainboy, @stormie-ryan23

@yksuwyksud, @tacozebra051, @alienelvisobsession, @vintageoldsoul, @ohmygiddd, @lovininapinkcadillac, @stephthestallion, @mistyspresley, @bisexualwvtson, @ahundredlifetime, @karel-in-wonderland, @elvispresleywife, @georgefairbrother, @moonchild-daniella, @musiclover712, @worldofyns, @sillybookmarks, @g00d2balive, @leighpc, @generoustreemystic, @peskybedtime, @thetaoofzoe, @renegadewarrior, @vintagepresley, @tupelomiss, @myradiaz, @pinkcaddyconfessions, @kiankiwi, @presley72elvis, @delulubutidontcare, @januarypresley1969, @livelaughelvis, @hooked-on-elvis, @slayingjd, @ilivebecauseiamforced, @dusintv, @cattcb, @eapep, @jaqueline19997, @richardslady121, @iloveelvis2, @lett-them-eatt-cake, @if-i-can-dream-of-elvis, and @lookingforrainbows.

#ecu discussion #elvis films #elvis fandom #girl happy #clambake #gi blues #jailhouse rock #loving you #kissin cousins #wild in the country #love me tender #paradise hawaiian style #roustabout

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