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hermosahills1950
Reviews
Roustabout (1964)
ROUSTABOUT IS TOP ELVIS ENTERTAINMENT!
The best of his HAL WALLIS/PARAMOUNT PICTURES of that decade. So much better than the bland MGM outing he made before this: VIVA LAS VEGAS (1964), where he had to share talents with ANN-MARGRET, both singing some of the worst songs for an ELVIS flick ever (and talk about boring!!). Here then, is the excellent entertaining ELVIS in ROUSTABOUT with a TOP SOUNDTRACK ALBUM that made #1 in sales! This is Top ELVIS, in every department, a different role in a serious outing from the HAL WALLIS/PARAMOUNT crew. The script is really good, and songs are terrific and talk about a great little co-star cast--Leif Erickson is hilariously perfect as CATHY'S alcoholic father pouncing on Elvis' intentions while Barb (mom, and Carnival boss) pesters the temporary 'ROUSTABOUT she hired- to sing to the crowd instead of selling candy apples; and CATHY can't see a future for them with a ''one-night stand'' .I have always been a top ELVIS fan and I surmise ROUSTABOUT as his best film since his first four and best films of his filmography: (LOVE ME TENDER, LOVING YOU, JAILHOUSE ROCK and KING CREOLE- (1956-59). Then the 60's with FLAMING STAR, FOLLOW THAT DREAM, and KID GALLAHAD--believing those to be all excellent performances from Elvis along the way, leading to ROUSTABOUT (1964). I was fortunate enough to see it on it's first run at an old downtown picture palace. Needless to say that it looked terrific on the gigantic theater screen! Also think this the last good ELVIS flick, exception being SPINOUT (1966), which was probably his BEST TITLE of the MGM rot that he that he had to make for them for the rest of the 60's-- and then to play a doctor (wha...?) in the last of his theatricals at, of all, places--UNIVERSAL! (huh?) (what the --??!!). GOOD OL'COL TOM...!
Hound-Dog Man (1959)
The Fabulous FABIAN in his First Starring Role!!
This film is a wonderful little gem that has not gathered any good reviews simply because it has never been shown or seen by anyone since it's 1959 theatrical release! Not on TV or cable, so it remains a real curio item. The songs are pleasing, the story is simple; no real plot, just a lots of fun with this co-starring cast of old-timers along with the newcomers. Great little characters long the way played to mold the good corn: L. Q, Jones-over the top with one of his early intended humor''in-yor-face hysterics-roles'-breaking his leg after getting thrown by a horse; Claude Akins gets almost trigger happy when he threatens the boys camping fun warning them '' not to have them dogs take to getting his Hogs all chawed-up along the creek"!! There's Jane Darwell in one of her last pictures as a grandma who warns ''of all that liquor flowin' at the barn dance that would will surely cause a ruckus!!'' . AND Betty Field, Arthur O'Connell, and one-hit wonder Dodie Stevens singing at the barn dance, too! I guess you'd have to be among the baby-boomers to identify with this cast, so I guess it's one of those movies that will melt away in memory since it has not been released on video. Films of that wonderful era are getting farther away from us in time- and they will be forgotten simply because all of the old classic stuff has been dwarfed by all of the new-century menu of rapidly-edited super charged items that are no longer MOVIES, to begin with--presented like action-packed video games with awfully bland no-name actors among some who are sometimes animated, anyway! HOUND DOG MAN is simply a lot of CLEAN fun with a great little cast from that era, about two young brothers going on a hunting trip--the time set in the beginning of the last century, Filmed near BIG BEAR LAKE, CA when it was still an uncrowded paradise in 1959. Neat songs, too! But of course you SHOULD like, the not- hard- to- like FABIAN, who went on to co-starring roles at FOX, then more movies and music generating a fabulous career. Don Siegel directed ELVIS next, in FLAMING STAR (1960). HOUND DOG MAN is a Jerry Wald Production. A 20th CENTURYFOX CINEMASCOPE PICTURE, COLOR BY DELUXE.
Mister Moses (1965)
GREAT MITCHUM!
Great Entertaiment!! Robert Mitchum returns for yet another adventure in Africa-- and beautiful Carroll Baker is with him , ( looking better than ever !). Both of them shine together in this wonderful flick. The entire cast is outstanding, in this ' LOST MITCHUM' title. This needs a video release, and it is long overdue!
Villa!! (1958)
VILLA!!--lost little gem!
Of all the many films on Pancho Villa, this is an unpolished, yet an effective little gem of a 'B' REGAL FILMS product -released by 20th CENTURY-FOX and filmed in-tandum with SIERRA BARON, on location in Mexico, is TOO short for the spectrum of it's subject, running a scant 72 minutes! This is a pleasantly -scripted story, taking place somewhere after VILLA's start,, but nowhere near his end. I really like this minor classic from 1958--which was a giant year for American Westerns. This one is lost, not out on DVD that I know of. It should be--it's worthy of a CinemaScope release. Brian Keith in his first two starring films, here, has little to do in VILLA! Playing a gun-runner who joins up with the title character on a few escapades. ( Keith fares better with a larger role in SIERRA BARON). Cesar Romero makes out well with his role as VILLA's sidekick hit-man , grumbling and hamming his way thru the cantinas' and raids thru the villages. Rodolpho Hoyos, Jr. Is outstanding in the title role, adding some humor while seriously lecturing to his men thruout; he fares better than any other actor who has played this role before or since. A sincere little co-feature that begs, I think, for another look on the big screen! For all it has going for it cast and production wise, one only wonders why this neat little western couldn't have been LONGER! Really, at 72 minutes, ??!! Both VILLA!! And SIERRA BARON , are 20th CENTURY-FOX CinemaScope Picures, Color by Deluxe, and both released in 1958.