#spinout

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.