"Elvis would be the first to admit that even the King can’t outwiggle Ann‑Margret," Rolling Stone wrote — and with that line it put Ann‑Margret back at the center of a movie moment that has outlived its era. The magazine named the film’s early gymnasium dance sequence in Viva Las Vegas one of the greatest rock ’n’ roll movie moments of all time, restoring fresh attention to a performance many remember as the scene that ultimately steals the picture.
The sequence unfolds near the beginning of Viva Las Vegas, released in May 1964, when Lucky Jackson — Elvis Presley’s character — meets Rusty Martin, the swim instructor played by Ann‑Margret, at a local gymnasium. Elvis launches into "C’mon Everybody," a song written by Joy Byers specifically for the film; the number was staged by choreographer David Winters under George Sidney’s direction, from a screenplay by Sally Benson. It is compact, highly choreographed and built to register immediately: a star-song, a chemistry spark and a piece of kinetic cinema designed to stick.
Rolling Stone’s appraisal gives weight to two separate elements of that design. On one hand the magazine wrote, "No, he’s the King because of the superhuman confidence he brings to every moment," reaffirming why Presley’s screen persona dominated the era. On the other hand it drove home a harder-to-ignore point: even with Presley’s charisma front and center, the rhythm and physicality of the gym scene belong to Ann‑Margret. The contrast — a film built around Presley’s stardom but remembered in this instant for his co-star’s audacious magnetism — is the piece that keeps the sequence alive in modern criticism.
That modern criticism matters because Viva Las Vegas has never been a hidden title. The film is widely considered the best of Presley’s film catalog, a flashy Las Vegas spectacle assembled around singing, dancing, racing and flying. Directors, choreographers and stars combined to make a commercial hit at the height of Presley’s reign on stage and screen, and the chemistry between Elvis and Ann‑Margret is frequently cited as a central reason the movie still carries weight decades later. Even Steven Spielberg has publicly named Viva Las Vegas one of his all‑time favorite movies, a high‑profile endorsement that has kept the film in wider conversations about star-driven musicals.
The friction in Rolling Stone’s description sharpens a persistent question about classic movie moments: when a scene is built to display a superstar, who owns it afterward? The magazine’s lines about Presley’s "superhuman confidence" and its conclusion that "even the King can’t outwiggle Ann‑Margret" force a reconsideration of credit. The gym dance is engineered to showcase Presley, but the memory of the scene rests largely on Ann‑Margret’s movement and presence — the very thing that critics now call scene‑stealing.
What the recognition does not settle is how the sequence ranks inside any larger, ranked list: Rolling Stone’s label of the number as "one of the greatest rock ’n’ roll movie moments of all time" cements its cultural standing without assigning a precise numeric placement or laying out a formal methodology in the material at hand. For Ann‑Margret it is nonetheless a clear reaffirmation of legacy: a short stretch of choreography from May 1964 continues to define how audiences remember both the film and her talent, and it ensures that future conversations about Viva Las Vegas will begin with her steps as much as with his swagger.
