Speedway

Speedway (1968)

Runtime: 94 minutes

Directed by: Norman Taurog

Starring: Elvis, Nancy Sinatra, Bill Bixby, Gale Gordon, William Schallert

From: MGM

I saw this late last night as what is more American to talk about on the 4th of July than Elvis and stock car racing? Well, this is pretty bad (even in comparison to the rest of Presley's output) and I explain why below:

Recently I realized that it's been too long since I've seen an Elvis movie; why not see one so I could review it on the 4th of July? I mean, Mr. Presley is definitely American... in both good and bad ways. So is the subject of this movie, which is stock car racing, as in NASCAR. In fact, for the few people reading this who happen to be fans of old school NASCAR, such legends as Richard Petty, Buddy Baker and Cale Yarborough briefly appear. Unfortunately, I just wish this would have been better.

The plot: Elvis is a star racecr driver and for some reason he's not only with a real son of a bitch friend in Bill Bixby (who forces himself on women... and it's played for laughs. Yeah) who not only is incredibly annoying, he does a piss-poor job of managing Elvis' money (and he also has a gambling problem) to the point that he owes a lot of back taxes... which for what I know may be true to real life when it comes to The King and Col. Tom Parker. But yes, Kenny Donford (played by Bixby) is the dirt worst... I mean, just the worst. Oh, and Nancy Sinatra is in this... as an inspector for the IRS; hey, why are you laughing? It's true, she was supposed to work as an agent for the American government that collects everyone's taxes.

While there were some inspired bits, groovy late 60's sets/clothing and songs that are passable, overall this is just not good. If Elvis would have run over his pal Kenny Donford with his car or at least have murdered him for being such a heinous human being that had a negative impact on the lives of almost a dozen people, I would rate this higher. But as he doesn't, this rating is appropriate. Not even the charisma of Elvis or his character helping out people down on their luck could save this, as that awful character is an anchor on the picture. The fact that too much of the humor is really not funny doesn't help matter either.