#spinout

[imkeepinit]

Movie poster by Reynold Brown for the 1966 Dutch release of the MGM motion picture Spinout.

[deke-rivers-1957]

I noticed you said before that in some of Elvis's movies, they tried to make fun of counterculture (such as the infamous yoga scene in Easy Come Easy Go).

You mentioned in one of the asks about Spinout that the sixties were a turning point for women's rights at that time, so I wonder if them trying to make Les (a contemporary woman by that decade's standards) into a joke (and her only really being happy at the end with marriage to a man) was them trying to send a message about how women won't be satisfied if they try to be too independent? Because it seems that way.

...I'm sorry, I'm probably not making any sense at all lol!

It makes perfect sense anon.

The writers (and they're surprisingly not always the same people but still men) seem bound to the status quo of society.

Even if society is marching on, not everyone marches along with it at the same rate. In the ECU, there's countless examples of subtle misogyny where women stay with Elvis despite the very glaring lack of compatibility. I say it's misogynistic because it comes down to the reality that most female characters do not have the same agency that Elvis or other male characters do.

In Les's case, the whole film relies on the status quo that as a woman she has to get married. Mike can be a bachelor all he wants while the women can not be anything but brides even when not all the pairings make sense. The scene where she glows up and kisses Mike ties back to the reality that she isn't given the same agency that Mike has. By this point, she was already moving on from him and going out with Officer Tracy.

I know it's all meant to be comedies therefore the ECU is not a good place to look for social commentary, but when watched with a modern lens the character writing betrays the implicit bias that existed in society at the time: women are meant to be the dutiful wife or partner lest they be comedically punished by the status quo.

But at the end of the day, I don't think every instance of this is meant to be a direct clap back to social movements but just bad character writing based in the agenda of making it all about Elvis. There's a reason why he eventually only had tv actors as supporting cast and it wasn't just because of the money.

[deke-rivers-1957]

I'm curious; are you a historian, or do you work in Hollywood yourself? I ask because you seem to have a lot of knowledge about films.

Neither I'm I guess you could say ironically an accountant. I just try to find something interesting about what will otherwise be a boring film to watch. Sometimes the points I make require research so I can accurately critique it. For example, me criticizing how Les was written in Spinout involved me searching for when women started to wear pants in their every day life. That's how I knew with more certainty that the whole joke about Les being mistaken for a man was very outdated even in 1966.

If I was a professional in that realm, I guess my official credit for Elvis films would be a script doctor. I might not be able to write an entire script from scratch, but I can look at worked for me and what didn't. Then I would write it so those flaws can be fixed. Which in some cases might as well end up with me writing a whole new script with how poorly written a film was.

Thanks for asking!

[deke-rivers-1957]

Okay, I know Elvis's movies weren't always the best in terms of plot, but...Spinout just confused me. I don't understand why these women all wanted to basically marry Mike on the spot. There's no sense of logic.

Les, I sort of understand, because she's presumably been with the band a long time and thus would know a lot of Mike's quirks and such; she'd obviously know him a bit better than the others.

But...I don't understand what makes Mike so attractive to the other two women. Yes, he's good-looking and sings well, but that's about it. Mike doesn't really have a stable job/ income, and he doesn't appear to have a stable place to live either as he's moving around a lot. I don't know about you, but those two things would seriously factor into who I choose to be my partner for the rest of my life. And I would want to know my partner's interests, quirks etc. before deciding to settle down with them.

This movie in particular just seems to have no logic.

Perhaps it's because modern women have more desires than just marrying a man to have a breadwinner. I honestly wonder what women in those days thought of this movie since the 1960s was a good transitional period for women's rights. Les feels like a contemporary woman, but she's treated as a joke.

It would've made sense if the movie is explaining why Mike is the perfect American male. Have him be chivalrous even when turning a woman down. Have him actually take interest in a woman's interests and accurately pair her up with a man who shares them.

The main fault is that Mike is so shallowly written that all you can say is:

[deke-rivers-1957]

Mike McCoy's Rank

Not even a shove was issued in Spinout. Mike will not get a rank.

Tagging: @eapep, @mercsandmonsters, @atleastpleasetelephone, @almightybigbrain, @without-him,

@vampireego, @elvispresleyxoxo, @thelonelyheart, @vintagepresley, @arrolyn1114,

@angelelvis, @southcarolinawoman, @smokeymountainboy, @hooked-on-elvis, @underthememphissun,

@prettyporcelaindolly, @elvispresleysdearestfangirl, @roustaboutelvis, @elvisbdoll, @valloos,

@xanatenshi, @thetaoofzoe, @oh-my-front-door, @kittyyaponia, and @generouskittendragon.

[deke-rivers-1957]

Here's something I never got in Spinout (and I think this is a recurring theme in any of Elvis's films where he has a woman chasing him without his consent); why couldn't Mike just tell these women "no?" Like, just be respectful, tell them something like "I'm flattered by your interest in me, and this has nothing to do with you as a person, but I have no desire to get married or be in a serious relationship right now." If they don't listen, get a restraining order.

So much of these movies' "conflicts" would be solved by the characters simply being straightforward with one another.

Also...maybe it's me, but when I first saw Phillip in Spinout, I thought it was William Shatner at first. I don't know, but to me, they seemed to have similar facial features.

It all stems back to the concept that men aren't victims. That a man cannot possibly be a victim to a woman's stalking or unwanted advances.

As much as the writers wanted to do something different by having Elvis stay single without dying, they likely didn't know how to fully buck the system. Elvis still has to flirt with these women so the target audience of teenage girls can still fantasize that this can be them.

What's going wrong is that Elvis is progressively getting on the wrong side of 30 so continuing to appeal to teenage girls just doesn't work. It either a. gets to the point where Elvis is really too old to comfortably appeal to them or, the teenaged girls grow up to become women and wouldn't have the same needs anymore.

At the same time, you had this strange family-friendly restraint when other films at the time were toeing the line more. So now you have a situation where in trying to appeal to everyone, no one's really winning. That's why you now have this sense of diminishing returns where yes Elvis still made money, but he wasn't growing. He stagnated until his core audience eventually moved on.

As for Phillip, I can't really comment on that since in my review I do mention that I'm not always great on recognizing people.

[deke-rivers-1957]

Tracy and Les were the only parts of Spinout that I really found interesting. The movie would've probably been better if they focused on them and their love of cooking. Or on the sweet old couple going on their second honeymoon; it'd have been interesting to see them rediscover their love for each other.

Yes, those two plot lines could've worked well together if the end goal was Mike realizing he could be a matchmaker.

In something that doesn't make sense, Colonel was the one who said no on making an autobiographical film so the writers felt stuck in a corner. I suppose because it was MGM, at the time Colonel might have had a little more sway in that if he didn't like something it wouldn't be in the movie.

Elvis of course still went along with it because he was still a guaranteed money maker and that was something he cared more about. "Why take a chance and risk losing out on 40% of the profits?"

A lose lose situation where sticking to what you know is receiving diminishing returns to the point where even outside writers don't know how to write Elvis formulaic vehicle scripts. You see it with Tickle Me where comedic writers can't write a formulaic Elvis romance to save their lives.

[deke-rivers-1957]

Spinout Review

Originally pitched as an autobiographical film, the idea was quickly tossed out after Colonel Parker vetoed it. Instead MGM would turn to Theodore Flicker (who eventually left the project for another film) and George Kirgo to write a script. Flicker leaving the project likely resulted in many previous story elements being repeated such as Elvis playing the singing racer a la Viva Las Vegas. Even various supporting cast members throughout the years would return.

With working titles such as "Never Say Yes, Never Say No", "The Singing Racing Car Driver", and surprisingly enough "Clambake" it was clear the film lacked an identity before Spinout was decided upon for the US release and "California Holiday" for the UK release. But does having an issue with titling the film bear any warning signs that the film is just as lacking in identity? Or will there be a unique interpretation on previously used storylines that buck the trend of Elvis films? Let's find out.

Can anyone tell me what Spinout is supposed to mean? I looked up the meaning and the only definition that even somewhat makes sense is "a skidding spin by a vehicle out of control". I suppose you can say it relates to the racing aspect, but this is an Elvis film. Racing will never be considered as important as the romance. The titular song is typical 60s opening credits faire. I will say the minimalist background and the segmentation of "the girls", "the boys", and "the Ranleys" is a neat touch. Unless a character really stands out or I have seen them in a previous Elvis film, I will forget who an actor plays. Even the ones that I have seen, I sometimes need a minute to realize it's the same person.

So we open in the middle of nowhere as Mike McCoy is seen driving his car in front of what looks like rear screen projection. Right away we get a recurring supporting cast member in Shelley Fabares. Simply based on this first scene where Mike McCoy avoids crashing into her by going off road into what looks like a retention pond, I don't like her. The snark Mike gives to her suggests that unless either character changes, this will not be the end game. A woman dressed in white stalks Mike with binoculars. You know full well if gender roles were reversed people would be in an uproar but since this is the 1960s "ha ha men should enjoy being stalked by women".

This is the dumbest band name ever. How do you even say this out loud. "One Plus 2 Plus One and a Half"? Is this a math equation where it's "3 and a Half" because Les is a woman? I mean it would be a funny inside reference to when I called Elvis's backing band the 3 Blind Mice, but I didn't write this script. Maybe it's a reference to the 3 Stooges since two of the members are named Larry and Curly. This is the type of detail that shouldn't be this hard to tie to the Mod movement while still being memorable yet here we are. "Stop Look And Listen" takes a surprising step back into Elvis's rockabilly roots as he even takes on a higher register. "Adam And Evil" is now back to your typical 60s Elvis song where it just isn't memorable. What is the identity of this group? Mod, rockabilly, easy listening? I have no idea since the band's lineup reminds me of Elvis's original group The Blue Moon Boys where Elvis is the lead, there's two guitarists and a drummer. I wonder if this was intentional since the original plan was to make this autobiographical.

After a very awkward scene involving Mike looking at every woman who wants him badly, with one even kissing him out of complete nowhere, Mike runs into Mr. Foxhugh of Foxhugh Motors. Since Mike is a professional racer on top of being an upcoming singer, he basically bribes Mike to sing at his daughter's birthday. Three guesses as to who it could be and the first two don't count. As odd as it sounds, I like how Mike sticks to his guns and doesn't take the bribe. Granted it only makes the inevitable conflict of Mr. Foxhugh forcibly canceling their California tour all the more irritating. It also raises the important question of why Mike is so attractive to every woman since even Mr. Foxhugh's daughter wants him. As far as I can see, any attraction to Mike is strictly shallow which is oddly fitting since this is turning into a shallow movie where no one does more than the one trait they're given.

I had to really look for this but Larry is actually one of the original 3 Blind Mice from Girl Happy while Curly I was pleasantly surprised to see again (he was originally Stanley in Tickle Me). Too bad their only running gag is referring to Les as male when she is very obviously a woman. Yes this is the 1960s but her having the Beatles cut, an oversized sweater and actual pants doesn't automatically make her a man. In fact, she is fond of Mike just like every other woman which is all the more reason why I think it's shallow since I don't consider him to be that attractive here. However with this shallow attraction comes the comedic tragedy of Les's character: Mike will never see her as an actual woman because she is not entirely gender conforming. And yet I love her personality so much. Probably in my top 5 favorite female characters in the ECU.

Meanwhile the woman stalking Mike is Diana St. Clair, an in universe famous author. Since she wants her next book to be about the perfect American male. Obviously Mike is her guy so she's been studying him for research. Again why? What is it about him that women like when I have seen nothing of value. This whole plot line is one where I genuinely wonder if this is meant to mock Elvis's own fans. Especially the concept of Mike saying he wants to stay single only to kiss just about every woman he sees. He even sings the typical ballad that has no meaning in "Never Say Yes". I say it has no meaning because I feel nothing for these characters. Mike wanting to maintain his bachelor standing means that Diana is no different than Cynthia (the brunette from earlier).

To the surprise of no one, the tour is canceled until Mike and his band perform for Cynthia, who is also to the surprise of no one, Mr. Foxhugh's daughter. I have no idea how old she's supposed to be but either of the two options doesn't bode well. If she's a teenager.... there's your Priscilla aspect. If she's meant to be in her early 20s.... that makes her prissy princess characterization less tolerable since she's a grown woman who still wants daddy to buy her everything. As if we need to get bashed in the head with the storyline that Mike wants to stay single, Mike sings "Am I Ready". As in "am I ready to get married" which isn't made better when he actually kisses Cynthia for no reason. Why would he do that when he clearly didn't even want to be there and had beef with her earlier.

Even though Mike fulfilled his obligation against his will, Mr. Foxhugh still isn't done. He sends the best secondary character Lt. Tracy Richards (who also played Tom Wilson in Clambake) to not only kick them out of their camp spot but out of town entirely. It's a total ploy of reverse psychology that Mike falls for since they somehow know he would go back to argue. No sane person would do that. Lt. Tracy was perfectly fine with letting them stay the night and leave in the morning. He's aware that Mr. Foxhugh has a lot of pull in town, but is more interested in the fancy French cooking Les has on the table. He even asks if they can swap recipes and honestly I never want this man to leave my screen. So if you know that the police doesn't care when you leave as long as you leave, why bother arguing when you can just move on. Having to sit through Mike fall into the obvious trap that doesn't even make sense for him to fall into is not a good time. Watching him set up these women with other suitors so he can stay single however would be a great time. I would love for the writers to have the guts to write Elvis as someone who doesn't like the attention and tries to make himself unattractive to women only to utterly fail. That would be interesting. That would be funny.

But since we don't live in that reality we're stuck watching a pointless story that doesn't need to exist. To get back at Mr. Foxhugh, Mike somehow convinces this old couple to relive their glory days while him and his band house sit. As much as I like the Ranleys and their butler, Blodget, again this whole subplot is pointless. If you know the ending and the character remains static, why tease the audience? Mike is the most flat character in an Elvis film that came out at the time so why would should we care about his love life? Answer: we don't. "Beach Shack" is filler since it's nothing but a pool party song. In fact the next half hour give or take is filler once you know how it ends since it's basically everyone trying to pull Mike in their direction like he has no agency of his own. The only entertaining part is Les and Lt. Tracy bonding over their love of cooking. She even reveals that her real full name isn't Leslie but Lester. Why? She is clearly a woman. Stop trying to tell us she's not a woman just because she doesn't wear a dress. Women wearing pants isn't new as you had Lucille Ball wearing pants on her iconic tv show I Love Lucy IN THE 1950s. Over a decade ago.

Even though we kind of get back on track by having Mike test drive a car, it's just boring. I never understand how anyone can watch racing since scenes like this is full of nothing but dead air. And to make this fake drama of who Mike will marry even longer, Diana just appears in the house like a ghoul and acts out everything he just said that is synonymous with a trad wife. Just to be clear, being a trad wife is not something to be ashamed of. If a woman enjoys cooking and providing a loving home for her man, that's perfectly fine. My point is that we are wasting time with this concept since we at the end of the day know Mike is going to stay single. Especially since Larry and Curly want to keep Mike single so the band wouldn't get broken up by hosting another party.

Mike sings "Smorgasboard" which given how many pairings we see in the film, I think this would've been the perfect title if you want to confuse the audience on the first viewing. What comes after it is the most garbage piece of writing I've seen. I'm actually fine with the cliche "makeover" Les has but how it's handled is just awful. She kisses Mike as if she did that for him. Mike has been completely ignorant of her feelings towards him. Lt. Tracy meanwhile has reciprocated and is going out of his way to be around her because he was interested in her. Not because of her looks but because he shares the same interests as her. She should've done all that for him. In fact, I would forgive all the boring aspects of this film if we had this exact set up where Mike sees how beautiful she is, goes to kiss her, only for her to push him aside. That would signify "I'm not doing this for you. I may have liked you before but I'm over you now. I've moved on". That's actual character development. That if anything would've been the perfect catalyst for Mike to realize women have more value than just their wilds. That women can actually have great personalities and looks.

Instead, we got Les saying that she was in love with Mike the whole time when Lt. Tracy was right there. If there was a time for a cliche fight scene that was it. Lt. Tracy actually loves Les for who she is and probably would've said that she didn't need to dress up just to impress him. An actual healthy relationship was right there for the taking. It didn't have to be this way when we know at the end of the day, Mike wouldn't marry her. Mike is only in love with the fantasy of having a trad wife and neither of these women fit into that mould: Cynthia is too prissy and wants things her way, Diana is a career girl and would never fully commit to being a trad wife and of course Les who's entire source of comedy is that she's not wife material because she's too much like a boy.

We have a little less than 15 minutes left and we finally get to the big race. While the party was going on, Mr. Foxhugh gets sweet on Diana as he's fond with her books; and Cynthia decides that her father's assistant Phillip will be the perfect guy to boss around. Even though we are starting to see the foundation of other relationships all three women are still sweet on Mike for no reason. This race if anything just feels like a way to make Mike a winner when he's done nothing to deserve it since we know he won't get the girl at the end. In universe he says he won't choose who he'll marry until after the race, but at the end of the day, there is no choice. The telegraphing of the three guys and three girls make it too obvious that he'll marry no one.

One of the few humorous moments in the film is that Phillip decides he wants to race. I know I haven't talked about him until now, but there's nothing to really say. He's the spineless young man who faints at everything. So now he wants to race to prove to Cynthia that he actually does have a spine. So why is this now funny? Because the manic energy of Phillip realizing that he somehow got in front of the other racers is in total contrast to his meek personality. He finally got a chance to live life to the fullest and he's starting to enjoy it. Too bad none of this matters since Mike gets the last laugh and wins the race anyway. Again what was the point? What purpose does it serve to have him win when the stakes have nothing to do with him winning or losing? It only makes the drama even more pointless when you have Mike in a tuxedo, kissing every bride, only to gift them to their actual husbands? Why? Why would he kiss a bride on the lips only to marry them to someone else? Is there some cultural thing I completely missed because I've never seen that happen. Why go through all that drama only for Mike to go "ha ha nothing changed I'm still single the end".

Actually this is not the end. We have an epilogue of what I can only guess is the triple wedding reception. Les has officially been replaced by Susan (who plays Jo from Easy Come, Easy Go), a woman who we only see in one other scene and I honestly forgot about her that's how forgettable the movie can be at times. "I'll Be Back" in relation to the movie makes no sense. Mike is again not in love with anyone, so it makes no sense for him to sing a song one would sing to their lover that they'll be back one day.

I will say it's sweet to see the respective couples all at their own tables. Each couple has more personality in this scene than Mike does in the whole movie. It really makes you wonder what this movie could've been if getting these couples together was the goal from the start. Where was this over a half hour ago? Mike could've actually learned the importance of compatibility and personality. Maybe he can even decide that he doesn't want to stay single anymore and we end with him going "I'm still single" only to see Susan catch his eye and go "but maybe I won't stay single for long". That's character development. That's a progressive story. Not a road to nowhere. It says a lot that the side characters had more development than the main character.

I have no idea what to say. How can you possibly consider what we saw with Mike as good writing? What was his conflict or ultimate goal in the film? If the conflict was women being in love while he wanted to be single, why would he string them along by reciprocating their kisses? If the goal was for him to race, we don't even get the race until the last 15 minutes. If the goal was for the band to be successful, I can see how at the start Mike playing the long game with Mr. Foxhugh can work. But then we just forget that they're even a band because we focus so much on the love maze. We just meander around over absolutely nothing.

What rating best defines my feelings for this film? It's not a 0/10 since that would imply I hated every single minute. It's also not a 5/10 since that would imply there was an equal balance of good and bad. I liked Les and Lt. Tracy as well as the Ranleys. 4/10 therefore sounds accurate since there are characters that work as is. I wouldn't recommend watching this as Elvis not only didn't improve the bland material he was given, but he gave up. Regardless of what he might have said in relation to his effort, the final product only shows a leading man going through the motions. This movie is called Spinout which once again is "a skidding spin by a vehicle out of control" and a definition that is too perfect for movie. After all this is an "Elvis vehicle". An Elvis vehicle stuck spinning its wheels as it hangs over the cliff of irrelevance. But based on how even in this fandom so few even talk about it, we might unfortunately already be there.

An: Today is my birthday so here's my gift to you. I tried my best to tag everyone but for whatever reason not all of your blogs got linked. If you don't see a tag but your name is on the list, please let me know.

Tagging: @sophia1946, @presleyelvissksblog, @thetaoofzoe, @codalysssssworld, @presleysweetheart, @smokeymountainboy, @arrolyn1114, @peaceloveelvis, @mercsandmonsters, @eapep, @atleastpleasetelephone, @without-him, @lucy114505, @blighted-star, @rjmartin11, @elvisbdoll, @dragonkingsdaughter, @ifyouloveweedletsgosmoke, @ilovequeen978, @fuzzymusic94, @mywoodenheart, @tacozebra051, @hooked-on-elvis, @lola-1013, @father-of-2cats, @southcarolinawoman, @elvisflowerchild, @i-r-i-n-a-a, @xanatenshi, @thelonelyheart, @vintagepresley, @iloveelvis2, @elvisfangirl92, @angelelvis, @agentcoltslaw, @velvetelvis, @elvistup77, @ahundredlifetime, @alienelvisobsession, @eptodaytommorowforever, @freudianslumber, @wanderingelvis, @lustnhim, @lvrdollep, @georgefairbrother, @bioshockpunch, @luckydaye777, @stitchlover0112, @your-nanas-house, @leopardandstuds, @joecartwright1842, @arianatheangel-girl, @lett-them-eatt-cake, @heart-of-ep, @southernvirtuoso, @joons, @elvissluttiestwhore, @presley-elvis, @presleyslilbaby, @scarlettlight06, @yourapple56-blog.