“So keep that love light burnin’, I’ll be back”

Spinout was released October 17^th, 1966. It is a musical comedy which stars Elvis as a lead singer to a band and also a race car driver. The film made $3 million at the box office. For his performance, Elvis was paid $750,000 plus 40% of the profits. The original pitch for the film was based on Elvis’s life, but Colonel Parker decided against the idea. Never Say No, Never Say Yes and The Singing Race Car Driver were in talks for the original title for the film, but Spinout clearly won. Theodore Flicker and George Kirgo were the writers for the original script about Elvis’s life, but because of the decision to cut that idea Flicker left to work on another film.

Spinout

Elvis stars as Mike McCoy who is a singer in a band and a race car driver. He loves his carefree lifestyle of being single and has no plans to ever change that. Soon, these plans become threatened when 3 different women are trying to trap him into marriage. Cynthia Foxhugh (portrayed by Shelley Fabares who also stars in Girl Happy and Clambake), is a spoiled daddy’s girl and she is determined to get Mike even if she has to pay for him.

Stop Look & Listen

Howard Foxhugh (Carl Betz), Cynthia’s father, tricks Mike and his band by cancelling their tour until they agree to perform for Cynthia’s birthday. Knowing about Mike’s racing history, Howard is determined to hire Mike to race his car. Mike, however, wants to race his own car and represent himself in the race.

Am I Ready

https://youtu.be/w3bNoWRhPM0

Diana St. Clair (Diane McBain) is stalking and spying on Mike in order to write a book about trapping men. She is writing a book titled The Perfect American Male and is using Mike as a reference. Ultimately, she decides that Mike is her perfect man and she is going to marry him. The third woman after Mike’s heart is the drummer in their band, Les (Deborah Walley). Mike and the other bandmates consider her to be one of them and tend to forget she is, in fact, a woman. Les also has another man after her heart and uses the kitchen to show his affection.

With all these women pining after Mike, he must decide which woman is going to be Mrs. McCoy. Mike races in Howard’s car and wins the race. After the race, he decides to marry all 3 of the women. He marries Cynthia to Phillip (who is her father’s assistant), Diana to Howard, and Les to a police officer. Mike remains single and carefree to enjoy his life as he wishes.

I’ll Be Back

https://youtu.be/JCzt3pSkLYU

I always loved this film. Partially because Shelley Fabares was in it, though annoying in this movie, I still wanted her wardrobe. Elvis was just so cool in this movie that you could not help but love him. Though the storyline is pretty far-fetched, it is still an enjoyable movie. Also, the title song ALWAYS gets stuck in my head!

TCB,

Little Sister