Speedway (1968)

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Most of the movies Elvis made for director Norman Taurog of MGM from '65-'68 have little to recommend them and this is a prime example / offender. Elvis plays a NASCAR driver with unpaid taxes and Nancy Sinatra is his IRS watchdog / love interest. There is a big race coming up. No points for guessing the rest. Yawn. There is a decent song and dance number set in the waiting room at the IRS building (really!!) and some very good racing action. NASCAR stars such as Buddy Baker and Richard Petty did the driving and it looks very real, at least until we see Elvis in close up in front of an obvious rear projection screen. Man, I hate those things. Elvis and Nancy have about 5% of the on-screen chemistry Elvis and Ann- Margret had in Viva Las Vegas and the songs are about 5% as good. Watch that one instead. It's even about racing, too, but road racing rather than NASCAR, so I guess this one is supposed to be different... Not awful, really, but about as formulaic, derivative and forgettable as Elvis' movie output ever got.

Speedway (1968) *** (out of 4) Elvis plays a race car driver with a heart of gold who gives away all of his money to poor people as soon as he wins it. This gets him into trouble with the IRS so they send a woman (Nancy Sinatra) to keep eyes on him but they soon end up falling for one another. I was pleasantly shocked to see how much I enjoyed this thing because there's really nothing overly special about it. What I did like was all the race car stuff and this is coming from someone who hates Nascar and all of that stuff. The races were very well photographed and put you right down into the action. Another added bonus was the relationship between Elvis and a little girl who he helps support. There scenes together were very warm and heartfelt. Sinatra also makes for a good co-star and the two do nice work together and actually make you feel like you're watching a couple. The songs aren't all that memorable and a couple of them get in the way of some pretty good scenes but this is certainly a major step up from some of the other Elvis films I've watched from this period.

I really enjoy Elvis movies as they are just sheer entertainment and you can switch off and enjoy rather than having to think about everyone's motivation...!! Speedway is a good 'romp' - that's the word that comes to mind for me when I think of the movie. I don't' think it's in the same league as Blue Hawaii or Fun in Acapulco though.Worth seeing 'Let Yourself Go' the number at the beginning!I find it a struggle seeing films with cutesy kids in it and this has it's share but, again, not so bad that I would say to give the film a miss. Being honest, I'm glad I've seen it for completism but whether it will hold in my memory a month from now is another matter!!

Dusty, repetitious stock car comedy-musical with Elvis Presley as the driver being hounded by an IRS agent looking for taxable winnings. According to all the Elvis books I've read, "Speedway" opened with the usual Presley fanfare but died out quickly. Why? With sexy platinum blonde Nancy Sinatra as the love-interest, ostensibly rousing locales and races, and the usual quota of songs, this should have been another "Viva Las Vegas". Unfortunately, the two stars are a surprisingly icy match, creating no sparks, and Bill Bixby gets stuck with the agonizing part of the proverbial flunky. The stock car sequences are visually dull and, although director Norman Taurog supplies a few funny comic touches, the film has no life, no pep. It is also curiously anachronistic, playing like something coy from 1963, but this was 1968! No wonder Elvis was so unhappy in Hollywood. *1/2 from ****