Speedway (1968 film)

1968 musical film directed by Norman Taurog, starring Elvis Presley

Speedway

Theatrical release poster

Directed by| Norman Taurog
Written by| Phillip Shuken
Produced by| Douglas Laurence
Starring|

* Elvis Presley
* Nancy Sinatra
* Bill Bixby
* Gale Gordon
* Carl Ballantine

Cinematography| Joseph Ruttenberg
Edited by| Richard W. Farrell
Music by| Jeff Alexander

Production
company

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Distributed by| Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Release date

* June 12, 1968 (1968-06-12) (US)

Running time

| 94 minutes
Country| United States
Language| English
Budget| $3,000,000[1]
Box office| $2,000,000 (US/ Canada)[2]

Speedway is a 1968 American musical action film starring Elvis Presley as a racecar driver and Nancy Sinatra (in her last film role) as his romantic interest.

## Plot

[edit]

Steve Grayson (Presley) is a generous NASCAR race car driver with a heart of gold who feels compelled to bail friends and acquaintances out of financial hardship. However, Steve's manager and best friend Kenny Donford (Bixby), a compulsive gambler, had been mismanaging Steve's winnings to support his gambling habits, landing Steve in deep trouble with the IRS for nonpayment of back taxes and causing many of Steve's valuable possessions to be repossessed. This proves to be a problem for Steve in his efforts to continue racing competitively and support those who depend on his intense generosity.

Enter Susan Jacks (Sinatra), an IRS agent assigned to keep tabs on Steve and apply his future prize money toward his $150,000 debt, but she ends up taking a romantic interest in him as well. Both Steve and Susan also sing, which adds to the plot line.

## Cast

[edit]

* Elvis Presley as Steve Grayson
* Nancy Sinatra as Susan Jacks
* Bill Bixby as Kenny Donford
* Gale Gordon as R. W. Hepworth
* William Schallert as Abel Esterlake
* Victoria Paige Meyerink as Ellie Esterlake
* Carl Ballantine as Birdie Kebner
* Ross Hagen as Paul Dado
* Charlotte Considine as Lori
* Sandy Reed as Speedway Announcer

## Production

[edit]

Jacket worn by Elvis in Speedway (Museum of Style Icons, Ireland)

Speedway was originally planned as a film to star Sonny & Cher. However, after their first movie, Good Times flopped at the box office, Columbia sold the rights to MGM, which retooled it for Elvis.[3] Elvis was paid $850,000 plus 50% of the profits.[1]

Petula Clark and Annette Funicello were offered the lead female role, but both turned it down.

Filming began on 26 June 1967. Speedway was the first film about NASCAR and has been credited as a major proponent in increasing knowledge about the sport.[4]

Scenes were shot at the Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina. The film features guest appearances by several of the top stock-car—better known now as NASCAR—drivers of the day including Richard Petty, Buddy Baker, Cale Yarborough, Tiny Lund and more. They were shown individually with their names in the film's opening credits.

This would be the final "formula" musical film of Presley's career. His remaining films would be less musical and more adult in tone. The film was a smash hit in 1968.

Steve Grayson's generosity portrayed in the film was based loosely on Presley's real-life generosity, in which Presley would give cars, homes, and other expensive items to Memphis Mafia members (the media's nickname for his close group of friends and coworkers), family and friends, and even total strangers.

## Release

[edit]

Although the film was completed in the early summer of 1967, it was not released in theaters until June 1968. It was a box-office success placing at #40 for the year on the Variety weekly national box office list.

The only guitar to be featured in the film is during one of the film's closing scenes, during the performance of "There Ain't Nothing Like A Song", where a sunburst Fender Coronado is used.

## Soundtrack

[edit]

Main article: Speedway (album)

## Reception

[edit]

By 1968, Presley films had long become formulaic. Renata Adler of The New York Times wrote that Speedway was "just another Presley movie — which makes no great use at all of one of the most talented, important and durable performers of our time. Music, youth and customs were much changed by Elvis Presley 12 years ago; from the 26 movies he has made since he sang "Heartbreak Hotel" you would never guess it."[5]

A review in Variety declared: "Under Norman Taurog's know-how comedy direction even some of the silliness in the Phillip Shuken script gets by as entertainment, but the story lacks the legitimacy of the better Presley starrers. However, with Presley in there swinging in his usual style and his own particular brand of lightness the feature stacks up as an okay entry."[6]

Roger Ebert gave the film two stars out of four, writing: "'Speedway' is pleasant, kind, polite, sweet and noble, and if the late show viewers of 1988 will not discover from it what American society was like in the summer of 1968, at least they will discover what it was not like."[7]

Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times wrote that the film "has a script that ran out of gas before Elvis Presley was born. Presley pictures can be unpretentious fun, but this one is both uninspired and too much of an imitation of too many of his previous movies ... There aren't even very many songs to break up developments too predictable to outline here." He thought Nancy Sinatra's one song was "the high point of the picture."[8]

## Home media

[edit]

Speedway was released to DVD by Warner Home Video on August 7, 2007 as a Region 1 widescreen DVD.

## See also

[edit]

* List of American films of 1968

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b Michael A. Hoey, Elvis' Favorite Director: The Amazing 52-Film Career of Norman Taurog, Bear Manor Media 2013
2. ^ "Big Rental Films of 1968". Variety: 15. 8 January 1969. "Please note this figure is a rental accruing to distributors."
3. ^ "Speedway (1968) - IMDb". IMDb.
4. ^ "How Elvis Presley, Tom Cruise Helped NASCAR Grow". Autoweek.com. Retrieved June 9, 2025.
5. ^ Adler, Renata (June 14, 1968). "Screen: Elvis on the Stock-Car Circuit". The New York Times: 43.
6. ^ "Speedway". The New York Times: 18. May 22, 1968.
7. ^ Ebert, Roger (June 28, 1968). "Speedway". Rogerebert.com. Retrieved July 26, 2018.
8. ^ Thomas, Kevin (August 8, 1968). "Elvis Presley Featured in 'Speedway' Citywide". Los Angeles Times. Part V, p. 12.

## External links

[edit]

* Speedway at IMDb
* Speedway at the TCM Movie Database
* Speedway at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films
* Review of Speedway by Bill Treadway at DVD Verdict, 3 August 2004.
* Review of Speedway by Jeff Rosado at digitallyObsessed!, 1 August 2004.

* v
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Elvis Presley

* Awards
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Studio albums|

* Elvis Presley
* Elvis (1956 album)
* Elvis' Christmas Album
* Elvis Is Back!
* His Hand in Mine
* Something for Everybody
* Pot Luck
* How Great Thou Art
* From Elvis in Memphis
* From Memphis to Vegas / From Vegas to Memphis
* That's the Way It Is
* Elvis Country (I'm 10,000 Years Old)
* Love Letters from Elvis
* Elvis Sings The Wonderful World of Christmas
* Elvis Now
* He Touched Me
* Elvis (1973 album)
* Raised on Rock / For Ol' Times Sake
* Good Times
* Promised Land
* Today
* From Elvis Presley Boulevard, Memphis, Tennessee
* Moody Blue

Soundtrack albums|

* Loving You
* King Creole
* G.I. Blues
* Blue Hawaii
* Girls! Girls! Girls!
* It Happened at the World's Fair
* Fun in Acapulco
* Kissin' Cousins
* Roustabout
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* Harum Scarum
* Frankie and Johnny
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EPs|

* Love Me Tender
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* Flaming Star
* Follow That Dream
* Kid Galahad
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* Tickle Me
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Live albums|

* Elvis (1968 album)
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* Aloha from Hawaii via Satellite
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* Elvis in Concert
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Budget albums|

* Elvis Sings Flaming Star
* Let's Be Friends
* Almost in Love
* C'mon Everybody
* I Got Lucky
* Elvis' 40 Greatest
* Pure Gold

Compilation albums|

* Elvis' Golden Records
* For LP Fans Only
* A Date with Elvis
* 50,000,000 Elvis Fans Can't Be Wrong
* Elvis' Golden Records Volume 3
* Elvis for Everyone!
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* You'll Never Walk Alone
* Elvis: A Legendary Performer Volume 1
* Elvis: A Legendary Performer Volume 2
* The Sun Sessions
* Welcome to My World
* He Walks Beside Me
* Mahalo from Elvis
* Elvis: A Legendary Performer Volume 3
* Greatest Hits Volume 1
* Elvis' Gold Records Volume 5
* Blue Christmas
* Amazing Grace: His Greatest Sacred Performances
* Command Performances: The Essential 60s Masters II
* Elvis 56
* Greatest Jukebox Hits
* Tiger Man
* Memories: The '68 Comeback Special
* Sunrise
* Suspicious Minds: The Memphis 1969 Anthology
* The 50 Greatest Hits
* ELV1S: 30 #1 Hits
* 2nd to None
* Elvis at Sun
* Hitstory
* Elvis Inspirational
* Elvis Rock
* Elvis Christmas
* The Essential Elvis Presley
* Christmas Duets
* If I Can Dream
* Way Down in the Jungle Room
* The Wonder of You
* Where No One Stands Alone

Greatest hits albums|

* Elvis

Box sets|

* Worldwide 50 Gold Award Hits Vol. 1
* The King of Rock 'n' Roll: The Complete 50's Masters
* From Nashville to Memphis: The Essential '60s Masters
* Walk a Mile in My Shoes: The Essential '70s Masters
* Peace in the Valley: The Complete Gospel Recordings
* Live in Las Vegas
* Today, Tomorrow, and Forever
* Elvis the King
* The Complete '68 Comeback Special
* The Complete Elvis Presley Masters

Biographical media|

* Elvis (1979 film)
* Elvis and Me (miniseries)
* Elvis (1990 series)
* Elvis Meets Nixon
* Elvis (2005 miniseries)
* Elvis & Nixon
* Elvis (2022 film)
* Agent Elvis (2023 series)
* Priscilla

Documentaries|

* The Pied Piper of Cleveland
* Elvis: That's the Way It Is
* Elvis on Tour
* This Is Elvis
* The New Gladiators
* Elvis Presley: The Searcher
* Return of the King: The Fall and Rise of Elvis Presley
* EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert

TV specials|

* The Frank Sinatra Timex Show: Welcome Home Elvis
* Elvis ('68 Comeback Special)
* Aloha from Hawaii via Satellite
* Elvis in Concert

Stage shows|

* Cooking with Elvis
* All Shook Up
* Elvis. The Musical
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* Viva Elvis
* The Elvis Dead

Related people|

* Lisa Marie Presley (daughter)
* Riley Keough (granddaughter)
* Priscilla Presley (ex-wife)
* Brandon Presley (second cousin)
* Sam Phillips
* The Blue Moon Boys
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* June Juanico
* Memphis Mafia
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* George C. Nichopoulos
* Judy Spreckels
* Linda Thompson
* Ginger Alden
* Larry Geller

Related articles|

* Graceland
* Audubon Street House
* Impersonators
* Elvis and Gladys
* Elvis and Me
* Elvis: What Happened?
* Elvis-A-Rama Museum
* Sun recordings
* Million Dollar Quartet
* Cultural depictions of Elvis Presley
* Songs about Elvis
* Elvis Presley Enterprises
* Elvis Presley Lake
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* Elvis Radio
* FBI files on Elvis Presley
* Military service
* Eight Elvises
* Triple Elvis
* Elvis Presley's Pink Cadillac
* Elvis Presley's guitars
* Elvis Presley single
* Elvis Presley Forever stamp
* Elvis sightings
* Elvis sandwich
* Fool's Gold Loaf
* Elvis' Greatest Shit
* List of memorials

* Category

* v
* t
* e

Films directed by Norman Taurog

* Lucky Boy (1929)
* The Diplomats (1929)
* In Holland (1929)
* The Medicine Men (1929)
* Troopers Three (1930)
* Sunny Skies (1930)
* Hot Curves (1930)
* Follow the Leader (1930)
* Finn and Hattie (1931)
* Skippy (1931)
* Forbidden Adventure (1931)
* Huckleberry Finn (1931)
* Sooky (1931)
* Hold 'Em Jail (1932)
* The Phantom President (1932)
* If I Had a Million (segments "Prologue" and "Epilogue", 1932)
* A Bedtime Story (1933)
* The Way to Love (1933)
* We're Not Dressing (1934)
* Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch (1934)
* College Rhythm (1934)
* The Big Broadcast of 1936 (1936)
* Strike Me Pink (1936)
* Rhythm on the Range (1936)
* Reunion (1936)
* Fifty Roads to Town (1937)
* You Can't Have Everything (1937)
* The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1938)
* Mad About Music (1938)
* Boys Town (1938)
* The Girl Downstairs (1938)
* Lucky Night (1939)
* Broadway Melody of 1940 (1940)
* Young Tom Edison (1940)
* Little Nellie Kelly (1940)
* Men of Boys Town (1941)
* Design for Scandal (1941)
* Are Husbands Necessary? (1942)
* A Yank at Eton (1942)
* Presenting Lily Mars (1943)
* Girl Crazy (1943)
* The Hoodlum Saint (1946)
* The Beginning or the End (1947)
* The Bride Goes Wild (1948)
* Big City (1948)
* Words and Music (1948)
* That Midnight Kiss (1949)
* Please Believe Me (1950)
* The Toast of New Orleans (1950)
* Mrs. O'Malley and Mr. Malone (1950)
* Rich, Young and Pretty (1951)
* Room for One More (1952)
* Jumping Jacks (1952)
* The Stooge (1953)
* The Stars Are Singing (1953)
* The Caddy (1953)
* Living It Up (1954)
* You're Never Too Young (1955)
* The Birds and the Bees (1956)
* Pardners (1956)
* Bundle of Joy (1956)
* The Fuzzy Pink Nightgown (1958)
* Onionhead (1958)
* Don't Give Up the Ship (1959)
* Visit to a Small Planet (1960)
* G.I. Blues (1960)
* All Hands on Deck (1961)
* Blue Hawaii (1961)
* Girls! Girls! Girls! (1962)
* It Happened at the World's Fair (1963)
* Palm Springs Weekend (1963)
* Tickle Me (1965)
* Sergeant Deadhead (1965)
* Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine (1965)
* Spinout (1966)
* Double Trouble (1967)
* Speedway (1968)
* Live a Little, Love a Little (1968)

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