The greatest movie ever made..!

recommended

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

Speedway isn't much of a film, I doubt anything Elvis Presley did was.I recorded this unsure if I was going to watch it or just take a look at it, I had seen snippets of Elvis flicks before and they never looked watchable. I recorded it because it has Nancy Sinatra in it and I like some of her music. So I ended up watching it and I have to say Elvis's acting wasn't that bad, though Nancy was a real let down. The problem is there is just no film here, it is Elvis driving around in a car and doing singalongs. The little kid was cute, the Kenny character brought something to the table, but it wasn't anywhere near enough.

Elvis Presley was a hugely influential performer with one of the most distinctive singing voices of anybody. He embarked on a film career consisting of 33 films from 1956 to 1969, films that did well at the box-office but mostly panned critically (especially his later films) and while he was a highly charismatic performer he was never considered a great actor.'Speedway' is certainly not one of Elvis' worst films, it's much better than the likes of 'Double Trouble', 'Paradise, Hawaiian Style', 'Clambake' and particularly 'Harum Scarum' and 'Stay Away, Joe'. It's also not one of his best either, being nowhere near as good as 'King Creole', 'Flaming Star', 'Jailhouse Rock', 'Viva Las Vegas' and 'Loving You', all very good and nearly great films. 'Speedway' has enough to make it watchable, but from the film's tagline you'd expect it to kick high gear from the get go but it never really does.There are no qualms to be had with Elvis himself here, something that was a good deal of the time not the case in his later films. Here he looks great, actually looking in good shape and energetic without than looking under the influence, and acts with much more engagement and involvement than in some of his late 60s films where he looked like he couldn't be bothered.Bill Bixby is very entertaining, if at times a bit too manic, and his friendly and charming rapport with Elvis has genuine spark and is one of 'Speedway's' high points. Gale Gordon, William Schallert and Carl Ballantine also give good support. In comparison to the soundtracks of other later Elvis films, 'Speedway' doesn't fare too awfully while also not exceptionally. The title song is catchy, and there are two particularly good songs, "Let Yourself Go" and Nancy Sinatra makes a hit out of the sexy and groovy "Your Groovy Self". There are a few amusing moments too.Nancy Sinatra however goes through the motions and judging from her indifferent and annoyed-looking presence throughout it looked like she wanted to be elsewhere, only in "Your Groovy Self" does she lighten up. Her chemistry with Elvis is at best icy. Luckily none of the songs here are disposable and there are none also that reach rock bottom status, but two or three songs aside they are rather forgettable and "He's Your Uncle Not Your Dad" epitomises take it or leave it. The children are cute, but their scenes are rather cloying and over-enthusiastic, threatening to slow the momentum down.Director Norman Taurog has moments where confidence comes through but too often it's unsteady and at best perfunctory. Which does affect the comedy, which mostly falls flat as a pancake due to being at times over-engineered and much of the time undercooked, and the racing, which is mostly unexciting due to the cheap-looking stock look and the crippling predictability. One doesn't see an Elvis film for the story, that was obvious right from the beginning with a few well done exceptions ('King Creole', 'Flaming Star'), but here the story is paper thin and contrived.Overall, watchable but not much more than that. 5/10 Bethany Cox

One of my personal favourite Elvis films - this is in my Top 4. Once again Elvis is playing a racing driver - this time Nascar ace Steve Grayson - who is racking up a small fortune but unbeknown to him his friend and dodgy accountant Bill Bixby (Kenny) hasn't been declaring it all, and has even been losing the cash on horse bets. When Elvis' off track attention is taken by the sexy, gorgeous Nancy Sinatra it later turns out she's an employee for the IRS monitoring his every earning and reporting it back to "Uncle Sam" (hence the reason for fun song and funny scene "He's Your Uncle, Not Your Dad") After being hauled in to see the tax man it turns out Grayson and Kenny owe the government close to $50,000 thus losing their lavish lifestyle (in it, perhaps a bit nudge-nudge, wink-wink to his real life persona) Grayson generously donates large sums of money and cars to struggling individuals whom he believes to be decent people. I suppose if you were going to be critical, there isn't really a point to 'Speedway'. Elvis never recoups all the money he owes the government in the movie, and he doesn't even win the big race at the end in this Movie - he gets collected and taken off the track by two lapped cars tangling...but nevertheless it's still a really good, entertaining movie with some great dialogue, better humour and a more modern feel than any other Elvis movie in the 60's up to this point (Viva Las Vegas excepted!) and the chemistry between Elvis and Bill Bixby is good. Elvis looks fantastic in 'Speedway' too. It was filmed shortly after his wedding to Priscilla in 1967, and he really looks great - as does Nancy Sinatra who is quite possibly Elvis' closest opposite Ann-Margret aside. Not the best of actresses by her own admission, but stunningly beautiful and in "Your Groovy Self" she sings arguably the song of the film. It's a tough call between that and "Let Yourself Go" which is one of my Top 10 Elvis songs. Bill Bixby is also good in this I thought...despite being a sleazy lech and not a particularly good friend to have around!!

Here, Presley is seen in his usual style 1960's vehicle. With song, love interest and usual music. As with most Presley movies of the 60's, this movie lacks a good script, story plot and unbelievable scenes. Presley must have been tired of doing movies where he sang to everyone whether the situation called for it or not.In Speedway, Presley is a race car driver on a winning streak, when he meets up with Nancy Sinatra everything starts getting into the way including his old buddy, Bill Bixby. If your a Presley fan you won't want to miss this but if your looking for a well made movie this isn't the once. I rate, Speedway a 2.