Speedway (MGM) (1968)

PRESLEY PLUS SINATRA SPELLS SPEED! MGM’s new romantic comedy, ‘‘Speedway,”’ has the screen’s top singing stars — Elvis Presley and Nancy Sinatra — in a fast-paced, tuneful and rollicking story set against the exciting background of stock car racing. Here they are seen in one of the film’s imaginative production numbers. The Panavision and Metrocolor attraction co-stars Bill Bixby as Elvis’ manager. Still 1860-81 Speedway Mat 2-E Internal Revenue Service agent Nancy Sinatra is not taken in by Elvis Presley’s soft talk in this scene from ‘‘Speedway,”’ MGM’s tuneful romantic comedy set against a daredevil background of stock car racing. The new Panavision and Metrocolor fun entertainment co-stars Bill Bixby as Presley’s manager. Still 1860-8 Speedway Mat 2-A ELVIS GETS THE BEST After nine box-office successes with Elvis Presley, MGM gave him the best of everything on his latest MGM musical romance, “Speedway,” in which he co-stars with Nancy Sinatra. His director of photography on the new film was Joseph Ruttenberg, “the photographer all the stars ask for.” Ruttenberg has won four Academy Awards for “The Great Waltz,” “Mrs. Miniver,” “Somebody Up There Likes Me” and “Gigi.” And his “Oscar” nominations total ten in all. When Norman Taurog directed Elvis Presley for the eighth time in MGM’s new musical romance, “Speedway,” it marked the continuation of one of the longest and most successful star-director associations. Starting with “G.I. Blues,” made in 1960, Taurog has averaged a picture-a-year with Presley. They include “Blue Hawaii,” “Girls, Girls, Girls,” “It Happened at the World’s Fair,” “Tickle Me,” “Spinout’”’ and “Double Trouble.” 2 | WHAT HAVE ELVIS PRESLEY AND NANCY SINATRA IN COMMON? LOTS OF TALENT WACO COT OW OUOSANTANTONTONTANITOVITOITONITONITO\ITONITONITOIO\ Elvis Presley and Nancy Sinatra come from different worlds. Elvis took the back road from the backwoods to Hollywood stardom. Nancy traveled the direct route. However, they’ve landed in the same place—on screen together for the first time in MGM’s “Speedway,” a romantic comedy set in the daredevil world of stock car racing. Elvis, who portrays a champion driver in trouble with the Internal Revenue Service in the colorful new picture, was born in sleepy Tupelo, Mississippi, only surviving child of the Vernon Presleys. Economic conditions dictated a move to Memphis, where Elvis finished high school. Until the day when he rocketed from anonymity to become the greatest single singing sensation of all time, he lived a typical American life. There were jobs after school, sports on Saturdays, singing in church on Sundays. Musically, the highlight of his school days was the Tri-State Music Contest, which he entered at the insistence of his teacher, Mrs. Grimes. Elvis emerged victor with an unaccompanied version of “Old Shep.” Later, with a $12.95 guitar, he entertained friends during lunch hours at high school. Simultaneously, a drowsing world of commercial music was frantically searching for a sound to wake record buyers. The story, the singer, is now a legend. Elvis, looking into a future of weekly pay checks and a quiet married life in Memphis, turned the world of music on its ears in the period of a month and caused a never-to-be-forgotten frenzy. Nancy Sinatra was one of the many girls who followed Elvis’ every move through the late 1950’s. She knew all about his music but his early way of life would have been foreign to her. HUNGER PANGS During her big scene in MGM’s “Speedway,” in which she appears with Elvis Presley and Nancy Sinatra, little Victoria Meyerink momentarily ceased being a professional actress and turned a typical sixyear-old. In the scene, Elvis catches Victoria in the act of “borrowing” a dozen hot dogs from a vendor, Unfortunately, the sequence was filmed just before lunchtime. After the first “take,” the “Speedway” prop man could find only ten of the original frankfurter dozen! Born to Frank and Nancy Sinatra, movie studios were her playground and celebrities her playmates. Nancy’s direct route stardom took much longer than Elvis’ back road. But she, too, emerged almost overnight as a star in her own right after changing from a_ sweet-little-girl style to the sound of a grown woman who has lived in the world. “These Boots Are Made for Walking” has topped the 4,000,000 sales mark, and has been followed by hit after hit. During the filming of “Speedway,” Elvis and Nancy recalled their first meeting. When Elvis was discharged from the Army in 1960, Nancy was an official greeter at Fort Dix. She was representing her father, on whose TV show Elvis was to make his first postservice appearance. Who’d mind paying a tax if the collector looked like this! It’s Nancy Sinatra in her role as an Internal Revenue agent trailing stock car racing champion Elvis Presley in MGM’s romantic comedy, ‘‘Speedway.”’ Wait until you see these two top singing stars do their stuff together i in the happy new Panavision and Metrocolor film, Speedway Still Nancy Sinatra 5043-E Mat 1-E Nancy recalled, “The night of the show I was a nervous wreck. The thought of singing with Elvis Presley and my father before millions of people had me petrified. A few minutes before we went on, I looked to Elvis for reassurance and found him in a daze. He reminded me that it was his first time before an audience in more than two years. She added, “I suppose it went well, though. I mean, we’re both still working.” BUBUBUSUIU BUGUTUUBUBUGUBUGOE — | STELLAR COMBINATION OF ELS PRESLEY AND NANCY SINATRA OFFERS TOP SONG-AND-DANCE ENTERTAINMENT IN “SPEEDWAY” (Announcement Story ) Elvis Presley fans the world over will flip over his new MGM musical romance, “Speedway.” For in_ this song-and-dance romp, Elvis for the first time partners with a top feminine vocalist, the attractive and_ talented Nancy Sinatra, and it is a felicitous combination. As a backdrop for the fast-moving and laugh-spiced story is the excitement of stock car racing, with authentic track-thrill footage filmed by ten cameras in Panavision and Metrocolor at the Charlotte, N.C. Speedway. And wait until you witness those spills, collisions and crashes ! Written for the screen by Phillip Shuken, “Speedway” casts Elvis as a stock car racing champion whose prowess on the track is matched only by his generosity in sharing his winnings with people in need. Among the latter is a motherless family comprising a down-and-out but cheerful father (William Schallert) and his four little daughters. Of these, six-year-old Victoria Meyerink will especially win your heart, and her scenes with Elvis are among the picture’s delights. Partly as the result of his philanthropies but more largely due to the fact that Elvis’ manager (Bill Bixby) has been losing the racing champ’s winnings by betting on the horses, Elvis finds himself spectacularly in arrears on his income tax payments. And this is where Nancy Sinatra comes in, She’s the girl employed by the Internal Revenue Service to check on him. If everyone had a cutie like Miss Sinatra to do the collecting, it would be a pleasure to pay income taxes! Nothing is taken too seriously in the complications engendered by this amiable, tongue-in-cheek plot, particularly since the situations afford ample opportunity for both Presley and the fetching Miss Sinatara to sing a number of ear-tingling tunes and also to throw themselves into a frenzy of dancing in attractively staged production numbers. In addition to the title song, Elvis scintillates with “Let Yourself Go” (and he does!), “Your Time Hasn’t Come Yet, Baby” and ‘“‘He’s Your Un cle, Not Your Dad,” a captivatingly humorous number done in the waiting room of an Internal Revenue Service office filled with scared U.S. debtors who, together with no-nonsense tax collector Gale Gordon, join in the singing and dancing. Miss Sinatra gets an opportunity to shine on her own with the swinging “Your Groovy Self’ and the “Speedway” co-stars collaborate in the lilting “There Ain’t Nothing Like a Song.” It all adds up to a feast of melodic entertainment. In the end, of course, all the plot twists are unraveled, Nancy combines tracking down Elvis’ winnings with tracking down him, and there’s a grand-and-glorious racing finish. Carl Ballantine and Ross Hagen are others who add to the fun of “Speedway” under the adroit direction of Norman Taurog, with Douglas Laurence producing. One added note: the comedy has two interiors which are wonderfully “far out.” One is The Hangout, a discotheque catering to the racing crowd SSLUUTUUUUETOTUESUUUCGUOPECETTAUTTECT AA GGT E AAU EEE AGATE a CAST Steve Graysons. se scene Elvis Presley susan: Jacks...) Nancy Sinatra KennysiDonford 2:23... Bill Bixby Is Wc GD WOnt inser 2s ees a Gale Gordon Abel Esterlake-................... William Schallert Ellie: Esterake................ Victoria Meyerink OWNED cd GO! genes pee re Ross Hagen Birdie: Kebner:.2.2-__..2.5... Carl Ballantine JUOne Medd: 2: ss eee Poncie Ponce TNGHCOG KS 8 Bact a red Harry Hickox [ST] oo We mies ee GN eee 8: Christopher West IMGEY SAND cece ee Miss Beverly Hills TechicSiiminons 22: -2tee sn Harper Carter Lloyd Meadows ...............----------Bob Harris Deb Die> eet eee eee Michele Newman Camic t=. adnate” Courtney Brown Bile vet cna tee a eee Dana Brown YN 11012 SOS re eles ae ees UNO im tia? Patti Jean Keith IKON o tees. caste re eae Ae AU Carl Reindel Dumbreblondes....2-3 sen Gari Hardy | Wo) A peel een Cave RM Charlotte Considine Race Announcer.................-..----Sandy Reed Produced by Douglas Laurence, Directed by Norman Taurog. Written by Phillip Shuken. Director of Photography: Joseph Ruttenberg, A.S.C. Panavision—Metrocolor. Music Score by Jeff Alexander. Art Directors: George W. Davis and Leroy Coleman. Set Decoration: Henry Grace, Don Greenwood, Jr. Special Visual Effects: Carroll L. Shepphird. Film Editor: Richard Farrell. Assistant Director: Dale Hutchinson. Unit Production Manager: G. Rex Bailey. Dialogue Coach: Michael A. Hoey. Vocal Backgrounds by The Jordanaires. Recording Supervisor: Franklin Milton. Make-Up William Tuttle. Hair Styles by Sydney Guilaroff. Song: ‘Your Groovy Self’ by Lee Hazlewood. Sung by Nancy Sinatra. Presented by Metro-GoldwynMayer. NANCY GETS ELVIS Elvis Presley and Nancy Sinatra form the exciting and lilting new star combination of **Speedway,’? MGM?’s actionand-song-filled romantic comedy, set against the fastpaced background of championship stock car racing. Bill Bixby adds to the fun of the new Metrocolor attraction. Still 1860-96 THIS GUY KNOWN AS “EXPEDITOR” Forty-eight years ago, Mitchell Rhein went to work at the Vitagraph Studios as an extra for Norman Taurog, then the youngest director in Hollywood. He subsequently worked with Taurog as prop man, gag writer, assistant cameraman, film cutter and one day even filled in as director on a silent two-reel comedy. Since then they have been together on more than 250 projects, including all of Elvis Presley’s films for MGM. Their most recent association was on “Speedway,” starring Presley with Nancy Sinatra. Rhein, assigned as special assistant to the production unit, termed himself as ‘“expeditor.” Speedway Mat 1-D whose booths are constructed of sawedin-half racing cars. The second is The Trailer Trap, Elvis’ mobile home complete with every conceivable invention and gadget to put girls in a receptive frame of mind. Every bachelor should have one!