Speedway (1968)

User Rating:

5.1/10   

Director:

Norman Taurog

Writer:

Phillip Shuken (written by)

Release Date:

12 June 1968 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Musical

Tagline:

Smooth, fast and in high gear!

Plot:

Poor bookkeeping saddles stock car driver Steve Grayson with a huge bill for back taxes which hampers his ability to continue racing competitively.

Plot Keywords:

Tax | Stock Car | Speedway | Tax Return | Bridal Boquet

Cast

Elvis Presley	...	Steve Grayson
Nancy Sinatra	...	Susan Jacks
Bill Bixby	...	Kenny Donford
Gale Gordon	...	R.W. Hepworth
William Schallert	...	Abel Esterlake
Victoria Paige Meyerink	...	Ellie Esterlake (as Victoria Meyerink)
Ross Hagen	...	Paul Dado
Carl Ballantine	...	Birdie Kebner
Poncie Ponce	...	Juan Medala
Harry Hickox	...	The Cook
Christopher West	...	Billie Jo
Beverly Powers	...	Mary Ann (as Miss Beverly Hills)
Richard Petty	...	Himself
Buddy Baker	...	Himself
Cale Yarborough	...	Himself

Runtime:

94 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:L | Finland:S | Sweden:11 | UK:U | USA:G | West Germany:o.Al.

Filming Locations:

Lowe's Motor Speedway - Speedway Parkway, Concord, North Carolina, USA

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

Racing sequences was filmed with 10 cameras.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: In all the scenes at the hangout, there is a band playing, yet none of the times are any of the guitars plugged in.

Quotes:

Mary Ann: [Referring to Kenny] You mean you let him take care of your money?
Steve Grayson: Why not? I like to live dangerously.
Mary Ann: Does that go for girls too?
Steve Grayson: That goes for everything?
Mary Ann: Honey, I'm going to leave the driving to you.
[They kiss]

Movie Connections:

Featured in The Definitive Elvis: The Army Years (2002) (V)

Soundtrack:

Western Union

SPEEDWAY (Norman Taurog, 1968) **1/2

This is basically a neat reworking of IT HAPPENED AT THE WORLD’S FAIR (1963) by the same director, no less: Bill Bixby replaces Gary Lockwood as Elvis’ scoundrel sidekick (and results in being quite amusing), Nancy Sinatra stands in for (and easily upstages) Joan O’Brien – Ol’ Blue Eyes’ daughter, a singing star in her own right, makes a better-than-usual match for The King – and, instead of one Asian child, we get six homeless kids and their ex-racer father, etc. Besides, the songs are also above-par and rockier than usual and even Sinatra gets her own “impromptu” number.

The instances of crazy comedy – usually brought on by Elvis’ frustration with I.R.S. ”agent” Sinatra’s doggedness – are also present here and anticipate the next, and last, Presley/Taurog collaboration, LIVE A LITTLE, LOVE A LITTLE (1968); among the highlights are Elvis punching through a hotel-room door and knocking out a passerby and then punching his racing rival in the hotel lobby who consequently slides on his back all the way into an empty elevator! The racing-car scenes themselves are okay – a milieu with which Elvis was quite familiar, having already played similar roles (or so I hear) in both VIVA LAS VEGAS (1964) and SPINOUT (1966).