Grade:  C+/C

Comedy-musical

Not rated (would be PG)

The “formula” Elvis Presley picture was a thinly plotted, quickly filmed excuse to string a few new equally slapdash songs together so audiences hungry for All Things Elvis could get their fix at a time when “The King” wasn’t touring. Elvis movies were a phenomenon in the sixties—a part of the cultural milieu before Vietnam and Civil Rights demonstrations rocked the American landscape so much that wholesome light and fluffy escapist fare like these instantly became extinct.

But back in the day, rare were the teens that didn’t go to movie theaters to see Elvis, although (or perhaps because) they knew what they were going to see:  a number of songs (some good, some not so good), at least two pretty women pursuing Elvis, lots of silly-to-watch-now dancing, and a light tone that was an important part of the formula.

Elvis made 31 movies between 1956 and 1969, with the first “formula” picture coming in 1960 with G.I. Blues. Spinout was released in 1966, when the Elvis films were already steering toward self-parody, with more silliness, overused running gags, and minor characters leaning closer to caricatures.

Spinout was the second of three movies that Presley made opposite former teen star Shelley Fabares, who played daughter Mary on the popular TV series The Donna Reed Show and scored a #1 hit in 1962 with her song “Johnny Angel.” Fabares actually plays well off Presley, so it’s easy to see why producer Joe Pasternak went to that well more than once. Onscreen she has a wholesome perkiness tempered by impertinence. In this one she plays a spoiled rich girl who flat-out tells racecar driver Mike McCoy (Elvis) that she always gets what she wants, and she’s set her sights on him. So has an older woman (Una Merkel, in her last film) who does undercover research for how-to tell-all books about understanding American males. And he’s the intended subject of her next book.

Fans of Westerns will recognize the former star of Sugarfoot, Will Hutchins, who plays a cop with a food fetish and also turns up in a more major role in Clambake in a Prince and the Pauper variation as a rich Texan who trades places with poor water skiing instructor Presley.

The formula had been getting so old and obvious that the filmmakers felt compelled to throw in a third love interest:  the band’s tomboy drummer Les (Deborah Walley, of Gidget Goes Hawaiian fame). Figuratively speaking there’s even a fourth person who’s  after Mike:  the rich girl’s father (played by Fabares’ TV dad from Donna Reed) who wants him to drive the racecar he designed in an upcoming race—with nary a seatbelt that I could see.  

It didn’t matter how much they tried to freshen up the formula. Despite moments when Fabares and a couple of Presley songs brighten things up, Spinout isn’t in the same class as the best of the Fabares-Presley films, Girl Happy (1965), and isn’t even as good as Clambake (1967), a film that provoked mixed reactions. Maybe fans need to clamor a bit for Girl Happy, because MGM does seem to be listening. With this release they added a song index where fans can watch all the songs being performed, without having to try to guess the scene selection chapters.

Auto racing fans should enjoy seeing a Cobra, Cheetah, and McLaren Elva being put through their paces before CGI, and Elvis fans might relish seeing him play a twin-necked guitar. But Presley’s best racing film is Viva Las Vegas. 

Entire family: Yes (see below)

Studio/Distributor:  Warner Bros.

Aspect ratio:  2.35:1

Featured audio:  DTS-HDMA 2.0 Mono

Bonus features:  C

Trailer

Amazon link

Not rated (would be PG for implied adult themes)

Language:  1/10—Euphemistic swearwords if anything; Elvis movies were pretty clean and wholesome

Sex:  2/10—Elvis kisses a number of women and it’s implied that he spent each night with a different woman apart from the three who are after him in the film; there’s also a pool scene with lots of skin and bikinis and briefs

Violence:  0/10—Usually there was a fist fight in the typical Elvis picture, but not this one; just a few cars run off the road

Adult situations:  1/10—Some characters have champagne, and the whole idea of women scheming to marry Elvis is adult, though the situation now is dated and sexist

Takeaway:  Come on, Warner Bros. Put Girl Happy in your Elvis queue, and Girls! Girls! Girls!—both of which are more entertaining formula flicks than this one