Surprisingly incoherent and boring

Not even bad in a good way

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

Sure, Elvis isn't the best actor in the world, but his persona works well here.The plot involves Elvis, a young man who fights a drunk man in a bar and inadvertently kills him. The man had been accosting a young woman in the bar and Elvis didn't like it and punched him, which led to the brawl. Anyway, Elvis ends up being convicted of manslaughter and is sentenced to 1-10 years in jail. While in jail, he meets Mickey Shaughnessy, a has-been country singer who seems to have been in the clink for a while. Shaughnessy hears Elvis sing and promises to teach him how to play the guitar. He later convinces Elvis to perform in an upcoming inmate variety show which is also televised. After the appearance, Elvis receives gobs of fan letters. Jealous, Shaughnessy arranges to make sure Elvis doesn't receive his fan letters. He then convinces Elvis to sign a "contract" promising to cut him in for 50% of the profits if Elvis becomes a star.After almost two years, Elvis is released from jail, he gets a job at a nightclub where he meets a beautiful young woman, Judy Tyler. Tyler's story is tragic. Just days after completing production on this film, her first big role, she and her husband were killed in a gruesome car accident. She was only 24. I really liked her in this film. She also had a beautiful speaking voice. I think she would have made something of herself in the movie business had fate not intervened. Anyway, after hearing Elvis sing onstage (during an impromptu performance), she convinces him to record a demo for a local record studio. Elvis' song ends up being stolen by another artist and he and Tyler form their own record label to produce his music. Elvis' career takes off and so does his ego.Elvis' character seems to be a bit quick tempered as he hits people frequently throughout the film. I thought that Tyler's character somewhat evened out Elvis' character. If he had a tendency toward being impulsive, she was more level headed and rational. Shaughnessy's character was also interesting as he was a bit of a sleaze but you also felt bad for him as well.The songs in the film were good too, my favorite though being "Jailhouse Rock", which is part of a prison-themed performance planned for the television special that Elvis is to appear in and shows Elvis in all of his glory.Certainly less formulaic than the 60's Elvis films, I really enjoyed this one.

This is Elvis Presley at his very best! He plays Vince Everett jailed for manslaughter after a bar fight.This is a damn good movie in its own right. Moodily shot in black and white with Elvis making a good job of playing the rebel Vince Everet. The Jailhouse Rock sequence is superbly handled and the entire movie smokes. Along with the famous and quite brilliant title song we also get "Treat Me Nice," "Baby, I Don't Care," "I Want To Be Free," "Don't Leave Me Now" and the lovely tender "Young & Beautiful". Absolutely love this movie. Love the music and Elvis of course. A very enjoyable film showing Elvis in his raw rock and roll singing and acting days. Nostalgic, interesting and fun. Really good to watch..

This corny, formulaic "rags-to-riches" tale (which takes place within the competitive world of rock'n'roll music) just barely managed to squeak by with a 5-star rating. Just 22 at the time, Elvis Presley plays first-class heel and ex-con, Vincent Everett, a guy with a mean mouth, a hair-trigger temper, and an upper lip that's forever curled up into a belligerent sneer.As Vincent steadily climbs his way up the ladder to fame and fortune, it seems that no matter how many times he actually manages to alienate those around him (or else decks them with a swift right-hook to the jaw), all is immediately forgiven once he begins to swivel those hips and sing one of his hit songs to everyone's hand-clapping delight.Filmed in b&w, Jailhouse Rock, from 1957, contains some really priceless dialog. Its highlights were Presley singing "Treat Me Nice", as well as the absurdly choreographed, homo-erotic, shimmy-shaking' title tune.

Elvis Presley plays "Vince Everett" who goes to jail after accidentally killing a man in a bar fight. While in the big house he is paired in his cell with Hunk Houghton (Mickey Shaughnessy), an ageing country singer whose best days are behind him. The pair strike up a friendship and Houghton teaches Everett to play the guitar, however, it's apparent that Everett is all about the voice. Reckognising this fact, Houghton is quick to strike up a contract with Everett so that once both are on the outside they can make some money in the music industry. Paroled well early into his stretch, Everett meets Peggy Van Alden (Judy Tyler), a record company talent scout, who eventually gets won around by Everett and they record a song. Although there are initial problems with the industry, the song takes off after the pair set up their own record company. But with fame comes internal conflict and Houghton is now released and wanting to call in on his and Everett's prison contract.Chances are that if you asked a group of film lovers to name an Elvis Presley motion picture, the majority would say Jailhouse Rock. Now that's not to say that is because it's the best film from The King because that would be King Creole or Flaming Star. Or that it's the most fun film of the 31 pictures he made, because that would be Viva Las Vegas. Its standing probably has more to do with the title song than the actual film itself. Which is actually a shame because although Jailhouse Rock is a weak film in many ways, it's also a film where Preseley got to play a moody, rebel like character. The like of which we would not see again. This was Presley's third feature length film, and the first for MGM. Shot in black & white by Robert J. Bronner, it's directed by Richard Thorpe and penned by Guy Trosper out of a story by Nedrick Young.The problems exist within the weak plot that has holes the size of Leavenworth Prison. Characters come and go without any purpose or meaning and Thorp uses shortcuts to keep the film's running time as trim as Presley's waist line was here. Yet to me these are forgivable issues as Presley embraces his rebel with a heart and gives it the full tilt lip snarling treatment. His Vince Everett is the guy that girls want to bed (lots of Elvis bare torso here girls) and the guy that guys want to be. And of course there is also a great set of songs and the choreography to lap up at every other turn. Along with the famous and quite brilliant title song we also get "Treat Me Nice," "Baby, I Don't Care," "I Want To Be Free," "Don't Leave Me Now" and the sublimely tender "Young & Beautiful". The latter of which stops this particular viewer in his tracks and instills a warmth that normally only Judy Garland gives me when warbling over the rainbow. Yes I love this film in spite of its obvious failings.The sad footnote to the film concerns co-star Judy Tyler who along with her then husband, Greg Lafayette, was killed in an automobile accident a couple of weeks after filming had finished. Thus never even getting to see the film released. Elvis was shattered and is said to have never watched the film as it would have been too painful. So as Elvis sings "Young & Beautiful" it becomes, one feels, a fitting tribute to a young actress cut down in her prime. In 2007 a Deluxe edition of the film was released on DVD, remastered in sound and picture, it's a triumphant release that really does the film justice. For now, Elvis, Judy and those wonderful songs, have never looked or sounded so great as they do now. 8/10