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Speedway (1968)
Released By: MGM Home Entertainment   Rating: Not Rated   In Theaters: N/A
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Studio: MGM Home Entertainment
Genre: Musical
MPAA Rating: Not Rated
Director: Norman Taurog
Language: English
Official Website: N/A
Theatrical Release: N/A
Home Video Release: N/A
Cast: Bill Bixby, Elvis Presley, Gale Gordon, Nancy Sinatra, William Schallert
Published ID: 2113
UPC: 012569517721, 012569798830,
Plot: Steve Grayson (Elvis Presley) is a swinging racecar driver whose manager Kenny (Bill Bixby) has bet his money on the horses. Most of the horses didn't win, causing Steve to be visited by IRS agent Susan Jacks (Nancy Sinatra). Gale Gordon plays Hepworth, her stuffy supervisor, and William Shallert has the role of Abel Esterlake, former racecar driver who helps Steve on the track. Steve engages in the stock-car races at the Charlotte Speedway to get back the money to keep him and his manager out of jail. Presley delivers 11 songs, the most notable being Let Yourself Go. Elvis by now was just playing out the innocuous string of movies that his musically insensitive, cigar-chomping manager Colonel Tom Parker had contracted for him. Soon Elvis would undertake the most successful live comeback by any performer in history and leave these trashy features behind. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
IDDateTimeTitleReviewHelpfulVotesTotalVotes
Very good
Added 7/10/2009

This is not one of Elvis's best movies but it very entertaining and he is still the best, bar none!!!!!! Best looking too.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
Another Great Elvis Movie!!!!!!!!!
Added 4/27/2009

I LOVE THIS MOVIE! Nancy Sinatra does a great job and this movie is just so great and entertaining. It has a great message! The best thing of all is ELVIS! Anyone who loves Elvis, Nascar, or just a good classica musical move, would love this!
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
Speedway
Added 7/24/2008

Again, I'm writing this review for my husband. He loves all things Elvis. He enjoyed the movie very much.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
Racers other than Elvis
Added 2/5/2008

I give Elvis a thumbs up on this one. "Speedway" is entertaining, perhaps not his best film, but definitely worth watching. Elvis was in his prime (physically) for this entry.

But mainly, I dropped in here to let folks know that there's a movie (a pretty awful one) about Tiny Lund, who co-starred in "Speedway," and who was a REAL racecar driver. Tiny, a huge and endearing fellow, won the Daytona 500 in 1963. It's called "Tiny Lund: Hard Charger!" If you're a drooling NASCAR fan you might want to see it, although it's hard to find.

In any case, that's my two-cent's worth.

0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
Not Elvis' best, but still entertaining
Added 8/16/2007

By 1968, Elvis was wishing his film contact was over. None of his movies could really be said to have high artistic value, although his pre-army movies like Jail-House Rock had some artistic merit, and in them he showed that when he was interested in a project, he had some not bad acting ability.

His post-army films (except King Creole) were more geared toward slick entertainment, exploiting his name and image, and they were very formulaic -- BUT, his early '60's movies were also very entertaining. Viva Las Vegas, Blue Hawaii, Fun in Acapulco and GI Blues are always fun to watch, and pretty hip time capsules of pop culture in the early '60's.

Unfortunately, after about 1965, the quality of his movies took a downturn, as even he himself would say, and he began to really look bored with the whole thing in the last 3 or 4 years of his Hollywood era. The films had always been easy-going fluff, but likable. His early 60's movies had peppy songs, and were very much in touch with pop-culture of the time. By 1968, however, when Speedway was made, his image was no longer up-to-date, about 4 or 5 years out of style, as if the rest of the world had moved on, but Elvis was still stuck in 1963.

But still, Speedway is probably the best movie from the last 3 years of his movie making career. It's the third time he has played a race car driver, and this time they use actual footage of real NASCAR races. In fact, this film has some of the best existing footage of Charlotte Speedway and live NASCAR action from the mid-60's, with Richard Petty and Cale Yarbrough ontrack and in their prime during the race scenes (too bad they didn't make any cameos in the body of the film). So for NASCAR fans, this movie has historical value.

Nancy Sinatra, of the Go-Go Boots fame, could have been the sexiest co-star ever in an Elvis movies (or at least she could have tied with Ann-Margret), but the script doesn't give her much on-screen time, and there is only one scene with her wearing those trademark boots - at the very end of the movie.

One bit of irony is the theme of Elvis' character being a celebrity whose manager is cheating himout of some of his earnings, which is sadly what happened to Elvis in real life for much of his career.

Overall, though, mediocre Elvis is still more entertaining than alot of topnotch actors who specialize in long boring movies, and every Elvis fan should see this one at least once.

6 out of 6 people found this helpful.
Very good
Added 7/10/2009

This is not one of Elvis's best movies but it very entertaining and he is still the best, bar none!!!!!! Best looking too.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
Another Great Elvis Movie!!!!!!!!!
Added 4/27/2009

I LOVE THIS MOVIE! Nancy Sinatra does a great job and this movie is just so great and entertaining. It has a great message! The best thing of all is ELVIS! Anyone who loves Elvis, Nascar, or just a good classica musical move, would love this!
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
Speedway
Added 7/24/2008

Again, I'm writing this review for my husband. He loves all things Elvis. He enjoyed the movie very much.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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