Speedway

Speedway
June 12, 1968
MGM
Musical, Comedy
VHS
D+

Not only doesn't this match the fun of Spinout, I actually enjoyed this movie less than Fireball 500 and Thunder Alley.  Yes, part of the problem is there's way too much time spent on the races.  (As always, Sandy Reed is the announcer.  You could probably make a drinking game out of every time he remarks that a driver emerging from a car looks like he's OK.)  But a much bigger problem is the way that two of the characters are treated by Elvis and by the script: the one played by Bixby and the one played by Sinatra (both blonde this time).

Bixby's character is Elvis's best friend and manager, enabling him to steal Elvis's money and lose it gambling.  He also "seduces" girls, including partially tearing the clothes off one, who turns out to be waiting for Elvis to come home.  "No wonder you kept fighting me!"  Bixby is presented comedically (although there are no actual laughs), and he's never punished or even scolded.  Elvis looks at most mildly annoyed.

Meanwhile, Sinatra plays a tax collector, working for Gale Gordon.  The poor woman is just doing her job, but she gets called an "iceberg" and is later bullied by Elvis (in a hotel, not while working) because she won't listen to his excuses.  This leads to him kissing her and then them falling in love.  Ick!

I'm not sure if it's cute or icky that Elvis sings a song to a little girl of about seven (she's got four younger sisters) explaining that he can't marry her because it "isn't her time yet."  (And, yes, in real life Elvis had recently married Priscilla, who was 14 when they fell in love.)  The little girl's father is played by William Schallert, who for once doesn't seem like the smartest guy in the room.

The two songs you should actually listen to-- the reason why this isn't graded lower than Meet Me in St. Louis-- are Nancy's "Your Groovy Self," which is as silly as it sounds, but has that "Boots Are Made" touch, and "He's Your Uncle, Not Your Dad," which is actually sillier than it sounds.  It's set in an IRS office and it shows that Taurog must've learned something at AIP, since it would've fit in just fine in Sgt. Deadhead.  (The "uncle" is Uncle Sam.)  Both numbers are easy to spot, so fast-forwarding or scene-selecting should be no problem.  Otherwise, stay away, Joe.

Claude Stroud, who plays a drunk here, was the pianist in All About Eve.  Go-go dancer Sharon Garrett was a yoga girl in Beach Party.  Gari Hardy, who plays "Dumb Blonde," was a harem girl in John Goldfarb.  "Miss Beverly Hills" was in I'll Take Sweden.  Courtney Brown was in Birds Do It.  Charlotte Considine, who plays Lori the crying waitress, was Miss Reynolds in Doctor, You've Got to Be Kidding!

Sheryl Ullman was in Spinout.  Elvis's buddy Charlie Hodge, who was a barber in Clambake, is a guitarist here.  Arlene Charles was also in Clambake.  George Cisar, who's "Portly Bald-Headed Man," would be Charlie the Doorman in Skidoo.

Clambake

Clambake
December 4, 1967
United Artists
Musical, Comedy, Romance
VHS
C+

I'd put this on a level with Girl Happy, which was also set in Florida and had Elvis romancing Shelley Fabares.  Here she has very dark hair, which is as odd as Bill Bixby being blond, although he plays his usual playboy.  Both Elvis's and Bill's characters are rich, but Elvis has switched identities with Will Hutchins in order to see if he can get a girl who doesn't care about money.  So he romances Shelley, who's playing a gold-digger.  Well, logic is never a strong point in Elvis movies.  The music, when it's not too silly ("Claaaambake, gonna have a clambake!"), is pretty good, especially Elvis's rendition of the oft covered "You Don't Know Me."  But the movie is most interesting for its cast, including Gary Merrill looking out of place but making the best of things.

Yes, that's Hal "mmmyes" Peary as the doorman, but I think this is the only one of his movies I have.  Christopher Riordan plays "a beach boy," as he did at AIP.  Lee Krieger, who's the bartender, was in Beach Ball.  Suzie Kaye, as Sally, isn't given much to do compared to her role as Deborah Walley's friend in It's a Bikini World.  This time, Elvis's friend Red West plays the Ice Cream Vendor.  Elvis's other friend Joe Esposito has a bit part.  Teri Garr supposedly is in this, but I couldn't spot her.  (I also failed to recognize Corbin Bernsen as one of the kids at the playground.)

Charlie Hodge, who plays Mr. Hayward's barber, would be a guitarist in Speedway.  Arlene Charles, who had a bit role in Spinout and plays Olive here, would also show up in Speedway.  Dal McKennon, who plays the Bearded Gas Station Attendant, would be the Old Soldier in Did You Hear the One About the Traveling Saleslady?  Angelique Pettyjohn, who plays Gloria, was in The Cool Ones and would be in Where Were You When the Lights Went Out? Robert P. Lieb, Mr. Barasch here, would be Rayfield in The Love God?*  The LG? would also have New-York-born James Gregory (probably best known for his appearances on Barney Miller), who's never quite convincing here as Elvis's Texan daddy.


*If you're noticing an increasing tendency towards titles that are long and/or questions as the '60s go on, you're correct, but I'll talk about that when we get to '68.

Doctor, You've Got to Be Kidding!

Doctor, You've Got to Be Kidding!
May 10, 1967
MGM
Comedy, Romance, Musical
VHS
B+

Surprisingly funny (mostly intentionally) and surprisingly sweet story of how a "nice girl" winds up pregnant and unwed, despite not one but four suitors!  Meanwhile, her mother wants her to have a singing career.  Sandra Dee plays the girl, Celeste Holm is well cast as her mother, and George Hamilton, Bill Bixby (as "Dick Bender"), Dwayne Hickman, and the comparatively obscure Dick Kallman play the suitors.  Mort Sahl, then 40 and past his peak, but still hilarious, plays the soft-hearted but cynical and rock-hating club owner.  (I may be wrong, but I think he's the only surviving cast member.)

Besides the way the pregnancy is handled-- more obviously than in The Miracle of Morgan's Creek almost a quarter century earlier but still not too bluntly-- the film shows its era in a few ways.  Yes, the music-- with The Wild Affair as Dee's back-up band!-- and fashions, but also such touches as the coffeehouse Hickman likes to take Dee to (a bit more hippie and less beatnik than the one in Dee's Take Her, She's Mine four years earlier.)  Also, this is probably the first of my movies to have a few Negroes (as they would've been known at the time) in speaking roles, most memorably none other than Nichelle "Uhura" Nichols as Dee's fellow secretary.

I think one reason that this movie seems more intelligent than you'd expect is that it's based on the book of the same name.  It was adapted by Philip Shuken, who would go on to write Speedway, which also stars Bill Bixby.  Christopher Riordan, who's done several of my other teen and post-teen flicks (or as Sahl would say, "post-college, pre-life"), plays a nightclub patron.  Allison McKay, who plays the cigarette girl that Bixby makes out with, would be in the Pufnstuf movie.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=it3Ju9wX3F8

It's pretty clear who done it, what with the fireworks and all.