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.

Spinout

Spinout
December 14, 1966
Comedy, Musical
MGM
VHS
B-

The Medveds selected this as one of their 50 Worst Movies of All Time, when it's not even the worst Elvis movie.  (But then, they also picked Boy, Did I Get a Wrong Number!, which isn't even the worst Bob Hope sex comedy.)  It is the most entertaining of my '66 movies, an admittedly dubious achievement.  It has some things in common with Girl Happy, notably a romance with Shelley Fabares, and Elvis leading a music combo that features Jimmy Hawkins.  In that movie, the music cues told us that Elvis's pals were three blind mice, while here they are stooges named Larry, Curly, and...Les?  Les is a tomboy drummer, played by Deborah Walley, so already we can see that the formula's being mixed up a bit.  (Since she's a redhead, it's like she's the grandmother of the Kim character in Scott Pilgrim.)   Les has an unrequited crush on Elvis, and there's a Helen-Gurley-Brownish writer pursuing Elvis, too.  In the end he "marries all of them," to other men.  (I think he means he gives them away, although this may be a very early case of people getting married by Elvis.)  Along the way, there are some songs that range from romantic to silly, Elvis lines that include the word "kosher" and a Don Adams imitation, and Carl Betz, Shelley's TV dad, playing her attractive big-screen dad.  Oh, and some racing, but it isn't as boring as in most movies, because it focuses on the competition between various characters, rather than the racing per se.

Una Merkel, of The Bank Dick and The Road to Zanzibar, has one of her last roles, as Mrs. Radley.  Dave Barry (not that Dave Barry) was much more memorable as Beinstock in Some Like It Hot than he is as Harry here.  Christopher Riordan, who was a latecomer to the AIP Beach Party series, appears in a small role.  Victoria Carroll was the shoeshine girl in How to Stuff a Wild Bikini, and she plays Award Girl here.  (She's probably best known as Mel's girlfriend Marie on Alice.)  Nancy Czar was in Girl Happy and Winter A-Go-Go.  Arlene Charles was also in Winter AGG.  Phyllis Davis and Deanna Lund were models in The Swinger.

Warren Berlinger, who plays fainter Philip, and Diane McBain, who's writer Diana St. Clair, would be in another racing movie, Thunder Alley.  Dodie Marshall, who plays Susan, the girl who takes the drumming spot, would do Elvis's Easy Come, Easy Go, Will Hutchins ("Officer Tracy," the friendly gourmet cop) Clambake, Sheryl Ullman Speedway, and Thordis Brandt Live a Little, Love a Little.  James McHale plays Shorty and would do The Love God? Two of Elvis's real-life friends, Red West, who was in Girl Happy, and Joe Esposito, who'd be in Clambake, play members of Shorty's pit crew.