ELVIS: SPEEDWAY!(1968):
This movie is a lot of fun! Not much in the way
of music, but the story is pretty good(Elvis is a
race car driver who's behind on his taxes big time!),
and some really decent co-stars!
With Elvis is Nancy Sinatra(who doesn't get to
sing much here), Bill Bixby (returning for a
second time to an Elvis movie), Gale Gordon
(The Lucy Show) and William Schallert(the
father on both The Patty Duke Show and The
Hardy Boys, as well as being in the Star Trek
TOS episode The Trouble With Tribbles!)
This also has several top-notch race car drivers
from the past: Richard Petty, Cale Yarborough
and Buddy Baker!
The movie moves along pretty good, with several
good chuckles! Worth a watch or two! B+
From another reviewer at Amazon:
Elvis looks sleek and cool in Speedway, a decided
improvement over the pasty indifference he
displayed in his middle-era range of pictures. The
movie itself is standard Presley formula, with the
King again playing a race-car driver, this time in
trouble with an IRS agent (Nancy Sinatra) over his
taxes. (There's even a production number about
taxes. Argggh.) On the plus side, a bunch of scenes
are set in the Hangout, a Pulp Fiction-esque diner
with booths shaped like cars and lots of dancers
doing the frug. Nancy sings a cool-weird Lee
Hazlewood tune, "Your Groovy Self," which
should have been picked up by the Austin Powers
folks. The plot reflects Elvis's real-life penchant
for giving money and cars away, although it's mostly
predatory manager Bill Bixby who causes the
financial problems. As ho-hum as this outing is,
you'll probably want one of Elvis's racing-stripe
windbreakers after you see it. --Robert Horton