Spinout | |
---|---|
Directed by | Norman Taurog |
Written by | |
Produced by | Joe Pasternak |
Starring | |
Cinematography | Daniel L. Fapp |
Edited by | Rita Roland |
Music by | George Stoll |
Production company | |
Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
Release date |
|
Running time | 93 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Box office | $3,000,000 (est. US/ Canada rentals) [1] |
Spinout is a 1966 American musical comedy film starring Elvis Presley as the lead singer of a band and part-time race car driver. The film was #57 on the year-end list of the top-grossing films of 1966. It was titled California Holiday in the UK.
Mike McCoy (Elvis Presley), the lead singer for a traveling band who is also a part-time race car driver, enjoys his carefree single life, which is threatened by three women who seek to marry him.
Enter Cynthia Foxhugh (Shelley Fabares), a spoiled heiress and "daddy's girl," who is determined to get what she wants, no matter the cost. Such as was the case when Cynthia's millionaire father Howard (Carl Betz) tricks Mike and his band into interrupting their music tour to travel to Santa Barbara and serenade Cynthia with "Am I Ready" for her birthday. Cynthia becomes first of the three women who want to marry Mike. Also, apparently knowing about Mike's racing skills, Howard is determined to hire Mike to drive Howard's Fox Five car in an upcoming road race, but Mike prefers to race his own car, a Cobra 427 sports car, which he tows around the region with his 1929 Model J Duesenberg.
Meanwhile, Mike is stalked and spied upon by Diana St. Clair (Diane McBain), an author of books for women about men. Diana is in the process of writing her new book, The Perfect American Male, and uses Mike as one of her subjects. Actually, she later reveals to Mike that he is the "perfect American male," thereby planning on Mike to marry her—to the point of already making wedding arrangements.
The female drummer of Mike's band, Les (Deborah Walley), is looked upon by Mike and the other band members as a tomboy, and becomes fed up with such treatment. Mike and his other band members are taken aback when at a party, Les picks her moment and reveals her true feminine side, walking back out from a room dressed up in an evening dress. She reveals herself as the third woman who wishes to marry Mike.
Faced with this predicament, Mike must decide which of the three women he will marry—after the race (which Mike wins in a car he does not even own). So, he decides to marry all three of them—to other men. Mike marries Cynthia to Phillip (Warren Berlinger), a nervous employee of Howard's who is prone to fainting (he had a secret crush on Cynthia since he has known her, which he finally picks up the nerve to tell her). Next, Mike marries Diana to Howard, who fell in love with each other after they met at one of Mike's parties. And finally, Mike marries Les to Lt. Tracy Richards (Will Hutchins), a police officer whom Les won her way to his heart through his stomach (he likes her gourmet cooking). This allows Mike to reclaim his single and carefree life, which he dearly enjoys.
The film was shot from February 21 to April 7, 1966. [2]
Presley was paid $750,000 plus 40% of the profits. [3]
The racing scenes were shot at Paramount Ranch Raceway.
The script was written by Theodore Flicker and George Kirgo. They originally pitched the idea of a film based on Presley's life, but this was vetoed by Col. Parker. Working titles include Never Say No, Never Say Yes, and The Singing Racing Car Driver. Flicker eventually left the project to work on The President's Analyst and Michael Hoey worked on the script uncredited with Kirgo. [3]
There is a scene in the film where Mike was discussing with his band members the pitfalls of marriage and settling down, and Mike mentions being on the Ed Sullivan Show . This line was likely written as an inside reference to Presley's 1956 appearances on Ed Sullivan.
There is also a scene where Mike and his troupe are having dinner at their makeshift camp when they are approached by a stray dog. Although the dog appeared to be a Labrador Retriever, Mike suddenly exclaims, "Look, a hound dog!" This line was also likely written in as a play on Presley's hit song.
Jack Mullaney, who also appeared with Presley in Tickle Me (1965), plays Curly, one of the male band members.
Jimmy Hawkins, who plays Larry, the other male band member, also appeared with both Presley and Fabares in Girl Happy and coincidentally portrayed one of Presley's band members in that film, as well.
Carl Betz (Howard) and Shelley Fabares (Cynthia) had played father and daughter before, on The Donna Reed Show .
A. H. Weiler of The New York Times called the film a "minor variation" on Presley's previous pictures. [4] Variety declared it "an entertaining Elvis Presley comedy-tuner ... Well-produced by Joe Pasternak and directed with verve by Norman Taurog." [5] Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times called it "perhaps [Presley's] best picture yet," with a "first-rate" cast, while writers Theodore J. Flicker and George Kirgo "have managed to parody the typical Presley plot so deftly that they neither insult Elvis nor alienate his devoted fans." [6] The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote that the film was "delivered with sufficient joie de vivre to make its nonsensical compound of ballad and beat, car racing and unlikely romantic complication, entertaining enough in its own way," though the review noted that Presley "largely maintains a rather morose demeanour" throughout the film and that "even his singing style seems to have lost some of its old bounce and energy." [7]
Filmink felt Presley and Fabares had none of the chemistry they showed in Girl Happy. [8]
The film was included in the 1978 book, The Fifty Worst Films of All Time (and How They Got That Way) , by Harry Medved, Randy Dreyfuss, and Michael Medved. [9]
Dolores Agnes Fuller was an American actress and songwriter known as the one-time girlfriend of the low-budget film director Ed Wood. She played the protagonist's girlfriend in Glen or Glenda, co-starred in Wood's Jail Bait, and had a minor role in his Bride of the Monster. After she broke up with Wood in 1955, she relocated to New York and had a very successful career there as a songwriter. Elvis Presley recorded a number of her songs written for his films.
The Donna Reed Show is an American sitcom starring Donna Reed as the middle-class housewife Donna Stone. Carl Betz co-stars as her pediatrician husband Dr. Alex Stone, and Shelley Fabares and Paul Petersen as their teenage children, Mary and Jeff. The show originally aired on ABC from September 24, 1958, to March 19, 1966.
Blue Hawaii is a 1961 American musical romantic comedy-drama film directed by Norman Taurog and starring Elvis Presley. The screenplay by Hal Kanter was nominated by the Writers Guild of America in 1962 in the category of Best Written American Musical. The film opened at number two in box-office receipts for that week and, despite mixed reviews from critics, finished as the 10th top-grossing film of 1961 and 14th for 1962 in the Variety national box office survey, earning $5 million. The film won a fourth place prize Laurel Award in the category of Top Musical of 1961.
Elvis and Me: The True Story of the Love Between Priscilla Presley and the King of Rock N' Roll is a 1985 memoir written by Priscilla Presley, with Sandra Harmon. In the book, Priscilla talks about meeting Elvis Presley, their marriage, and the factors and issues that led to the couple's divorce.
Paul Petersen is an American actor, singer, novelist and activist.
Michele Ann Marie "Shelley" Fabares is a retired American actress and singer. She is best known for her television roles as Mary Stone on the sitcom The Donna Reed Show (1958–1963) and as Christine Armstrong on the sitcom Coach (1989–1997), the latter of which earned her two Primetime Emmy Awards nominations. Her film roles include playing the leading lady to Elvis Presley in Girl Happy, Spinout and Clambake.
G.I. Blues is a 1960 American musical comedy film directed by Norman Taurog and starring Elvis Presley and Juliet Prowse. The movie – Presley’s fifth, but his first after discharge from the US Army – was filmed at Paramount Pictures studio, with some pre-production scenery shot on location in West Germany while Presley was stationed there. The movie won a 2nd place Laurel Award in the category of Top Musical of 1960.
Norman Rae Taurog was an American film director and screenwriter. From 1920 to 1968, Taurog directed 180 films. At the age of 32, he received the Academy Award for Best Director for Skippy (1931), becoming the youngest person to win the award for eight and a half decades until Damien Chazelle won for La La Land in 2017. He was later nominated for Best Director for the film Boys Town (1938). He directed some of the best-known actors of the twentieth century, including his nephew Jackie Cooper, Spencer Tracy, Mickey Rooney, Judy Garland, Deanna Durbin, Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly, Deborah Kerr, Peter Lawford, Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis, Elvis Presley and Vincent Price. Taurog directed six Martin and Lewis films, and nine Elvis Presley films, more than any other director.
Girl Happy is a 1965 American musical romantic comedy and beach party film starring Elvis Presley in his eighteenth feature. The movie won a fourth place prize Laurel Award in the category Top Musical of 1965. It featured the song "Puppet on a String", which reached #14 on the Billboard Hot 100, #3 on the Adult Contemporary chart and in Canada, and was certified Gold by the RIAA.
Tickle Me is a 1965 American musical comedy western film directed by Norman Taurog and starring Elvis Presley as a champion rodeo bull rider and bronco buster.
Clambake is a 1967 American beach party musical film directed by Arthur H. Nadel and starring Elvis Presley, Shelley Fabares, Bill Bixby, Gary Merrill and James Gregory. Written for the screen by Arthur Browne Jr., the film is about the heir to an oil fortune who trades places with a water-ski instructor at a Florida hotel to see if girls will like him for himself, rather than his father's money. Clambake was the last of Presley's four films for United Artists. The movie reached number 15 on the national weekly box-office charts.
Speedway is a 1968 American musical action film starring Elvis Presley as a racecar driver and Nancy Sinatra as his romantic interest.
Live a Little, Love a Little is a 1968 American musical comedy film starring Elvis Presley. It was directed by Norman Taurog, who had directed several previous Presley films. This was to be Taurog's final film, as he went blind shortly after production ended. Presley shares the screen with fellow legendary singing idol Rudy Vallee, whose career dated to the 1920s, but Vallee, in his late 60s, did not sing in the film.
Sid Wayne was an American songwriter, lyricist and composer, who wrote a number of well-known songs from the 1950s to the 1980s. Almost every Elvis Presley film contained one or more works written by Wayne and his partner Ben Weisman.
Will Hutchins is an American actor most noted for playing the lead role of the young lawyer Tom Brewster, in the Western television series Sugarfoot, which aired on ABC from 1957 to 1961 for 69 episodes.
Randy Starr is an American dentist and singer-songwriter known for writing twelve songs for Elvis Presley.
Red Line 7000 is a 1965 American action sports film released by Paramount Pictures. It was directed by Howard Hawks, who also wrote the story. It stars James Caan, Laura Devon and Marianna Hill in a story about young stock-car racers trying to establish themselves and about the complicated romantic relationships in their lives. The title refers to the red line on the RPM meter which was then placed at 7000 rpm, beyond which the engine was in danger of blowing. The film features multiple sections of real life racing and crashes interspersed with the plot.
Spinout is the 14th soundtrack album by American singer and musician Elvis Presley, released by RCA Victor in mono and stereo, LPM/LSP 3702, on October 31, 1966. It is the soundtrack to the 1966 film of the same name starring Presley. Recording sessions for the film songs took place at Radio Recorders in Hollywood, California, on February 16 and 17, 1966. The album was augmented with three non-film songs recorded earlier in the year. It peaked at number 18 on the Top Pop Albums chart.
All Hands on Deck is a 1961 American DeLuxe musical film in CinemaScope directed by Norman Taurog and starring Pat Boone as a naval officer. It is based on the novel Warm Bodies by Donald R. Morris.
Max Balchowsky was a prominent 1950s and 1960s American race car builder and driver, and was involved in the film industry as a stuntman and an automotive mechanic. He is remembered for his crude but spectator-popular underdog Old Yeller Specials that competed against many of Europe's most exotic and expensive sports cars.