Band singer/race driver Mike McCoy (Elvis Presley) must choose between marrying a beautiful rich girl and driving her father's car in a prestigious race.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, who had control of Presley's career. Working titles included "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.Elvis in the 1960s is already a step away from the wholesome Elvis of the 1950s. Girls are shaking their bottoms, Elvis is offering to spank them... and multiple women are trying to get Elvis to go to bed with them. This is the free love 1960s with Elvis running the show. I have to wonder if this somehow influenced "Speed Racer", as that show came out shortly after and featured a very similar car.

Elvis is Mike, a racer/singer/gypsy living free soul who impresses a spoiled rich girl (Fabares) and her dad (Betz), who desperately wants Mike to race his car and NOT marry his daughter. Along for the ride is an author (McBain) who also wants to marry Mike and a tomboy drummer in his band (Walley) who's quite obviously vying for his affections. As formulaic as Elvis's later flicks tended to be; but somehow a little better. The goofy atmosphere is energetically played out by a willing cast, the slapstick humor works surprisingly well and the songs aren't too shabby. Granted; "Adam and Evil", "Beach Shack" and "Smorgasboard" are no "Love Me Tender", "Jailhouse Rock" or "King Creole" but they're quite fun and fit well in the movie. Elvis isn't quite as front and center here as in most other flicks and supporting players get room to breathe and develop a little. The racing scenes here, as was the case with "Viva Las Vegas", are fairly impressive as well. Make no mistake; this is pretty shallow stuff and Elvis looks a little bored at times. But as far as Elvis's later flicks go; "Spinout" rates pretty high.

remove 2-3 very silly songs...add some funny jokes...and it's watchable. but no...reality says, another Elvis coulda-shoulda mediocrity, utilizing 40% of his talent.gonna cut to the chase...in this case, a racing car track: has a lot of groovy stuff: (it appears) that RCA insisyed Elvis use a Producer to oversee his recording sessions, which were yielding less and less good stuff (Elvis stuck with picking the best of mediocre demos). here we can actually hear the band, and there are some nice touches by running a guitar through a Leslie speaker here and there. we have a real rock and roll song called STOP, LOOK, AND LISTEN, also recorded by fellow '50s rockers, BIll Haley & Ricky Nelson. a terrible tune, SMORGASBOARD is somehow made audible by a great bass arrangement, well mixed. Elvis' voice is too far forward again but there's some real "pop" to the soundtrack on film and on record. we also have a real hit record AL THAT I AM...a huge hit in UK, a modest B-sider here...but it was pretty darn good, and the violins actually worked! I read that Tony Bennett even covered it...can't find any evidence yet.I'LL BE BACK was arranged by Charlie HOdge and it captures some real '50s walking blues flavor, not dissimilar to MONEY HONEY, from 1956! to the frames: great to watch under rated Debbie Waley as the girl drummer and the sensuous Shelly Fabares (like Elvis) playing a not very hip 20 year old.there's even a real Duesenberg on hand....great performance....sorry yes we have CArl Betz , Shelly's real TV Father from the Donna Reed show, playing her Dad here. of course he's the backer for Elvis' racing gigs...and she's the sorta spoiled rich kid...but guess what? the ending is NOT what you might expect!

Spinout (1966) ** (out of 4) Mindless but sometimes fun film about a stockcar driver (Elvis) who must choose between marrying a rich girl (Shelley Fabares) or driving her mean father's car in a big race, which could get him a lot of money. Elvis sings nine songs in this movie and they're actually all pretty bad and they make for the worst part of the film. The movie story once again features Elvis involved and having trouble with various women but it plays out okay with a nice ending but the real fun comes from all the racing footage, which certainly looks fake but it's still fun. It's also fun seeing Elvis drive 100 mph without messing up his hair. The supporting cast are decent but Cecil Kellaway and Una Merkel steal the show with their few scenes. Elvis also gives a nice performance in the scene he does with them teaching them that being old doesn't mean things are over.