Main Cast: Elvis Presley, Nancy Sinatra, Bill Bixby, Gale Gordon, William Schallert
Release Year: 1968
Country: US
Run Time: 90 minutes
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
Victoria Meyerink - Ellie Esterlake; Ross Hagen - paul Dado; Carl Ballantine - Birdie Kebner; Poncie Ponce - Juan Medala; Harry Hickox - The Cook; Beverly Hills - Miss Charlotte Speedway 100; Harper Carter - Ted Simmons; Robert H. Harris - Lloyd Meadows; Michele Newman - Debbie; Courtney Brown - Carrie; Dana Brown - Billie; Patti Jean Keith - Annie; Gari Hardy - Dumb Blonde; Carl Reindel - Mike; Charlotte Considine - Lori; Sandy Reed - Race Announcer; Teri Garr; Robert James; Gary Littlejohn; Burt Mustin; Richard Petty; Ward Ramsey; Christopher West - Billie Joe; Cale Yarborough; Ralph Adano
Credit
George W. Davis - Art Director, Leroy Coleman - Art Director, Alex Romero - Choreography, Dale Hutchinson - First Assistant Director, Norman Taurog - Director, Richard W. Farrell - Editor, Jeff Alexander - Composer (Music Score), William J. Tuttle - Makeup, Joseph Ruttenberg - Cinematographer, Douglas Laurence - Producer, Henry W. Grace - Set Designer, Don Greenwood, Jr. - Set Designer, Carroll L. Shepphird - Special Effects, Franklin E. Milton - Sound/Sound Designer, Phillip Shuken - Screenwriter
This would be the final "formula" musical film of Presley's career. His later films would be less musical and more adult in tone.
Although the film was completed in the early summer of 1967, it was not released in theatres until the spring of 1968. It was Elvis's last real box-office hit.
The soundtrack songs were recorded at MGM Studios in Culver City, California in June 1967. Included is Nancy Sinatra's rendition of "Your Groovy Self" and her duet with Presley, "There Ain't Nothing Like A Song", the only time a non-Elvis track was allowed on one of his soundtrack albums (see Viva Las Vegas). The music album was released in June of 1968 to coincide with the motion picture. This was the last Presley film to have a full soundtrack album (not counting the later Elvis: That's the Way it Is concert film), and in fact is the only one of Presley's last six acting films to be given that honor. The soundtrack LP was also the last Presley album to be released in both stereo and mono editions, as mono musical releases were finally phased out by RCA. The extremely rare mono album (LPM-3989) can fetch four figures in excellent condition and has become a sought-after item among die-hard Elvis collectors. The soundtrack album is also noted as being the final Presley album release prior to NBC-TV Special, which is acknowledged as the start of his so-called 1968 Comeback, which marked a modernizing of arrangements and song choice for him.
