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After a sneak preview on September 13, 1966 MGM rolled out "Spinout" nationwide on November 23rd. In the USA and Canada it earned rental fees of 3 million USD, so it can be estimated that it grossed 6 million USD at the box office. By using the factor 15 we can translate these results to the present. Today "Spinout" would have grossed 90 million USD, leaving 45 million USD to MGM. After two movies with falling revenues in a row Elvis was back. At least, so it seemed.
Abroad the movie was often called "California Holiday", because outside of the US nobody knew what "Spinout" meant. In Germany MGM used one of the working titles and named the product "Sag Niemals Ja", a translation of "Never Say Yes". By the way, here the movie premiered on June 9, 1967.
Mike McCoy (Elvis) is the singer of a beat band and a race car driver. Three ladies fall for him and in the end he walks all of them down the aisle - as best man.
Joe Pasternak (producer), Norman Taurog (director), Theodore J. Flicker und George Kirgo (script), George Stoll (music), Daniel L. Fapp (camera), Rita Roland (editor).
Elvis Presley (Mike McCoy), Shelley Fabares (Cynthia Foxhugh), Diane McBain (Diana St. Claire), Deborah Walley (Les), Dodie Marshall (Susan), Jack Mullaney (Curly) und Will Hutchins (Leutnant Tracy Richards). The German voice of Elvis was dubbed by Rainer Brandt.
MGM put more effort in "Spinout" than in "Harum Scarum". There were more location shorts and a longer period of filming. Besides that, the studio tried to modernize the concept of the movies. Once again Presley was the singer of a beat band, but this time they put a woman behind the drums and used an organ, strings and a harder played electric guitar to update the music. Elvis himself was also in better shape. He had lost several pounds and appeared to be motivated again. Colonel Parker's reaction was the extensive use of new promo shots for record covers and photo cards.
"Spinout" was shot between February 26th and April 6th, 1966. Besides the studio lot in Culver City the production team also used the Ascot Park Speedway in Gardena, the Doger Stadium in Los Angeles, the Hidden Valley in Thousand Oaks and the Malibu Lake. Elvis was paid a fee of $750,000 and a profit share of 40% after the deduction of the fee. Using our factor 15 the king would have made 11.25 million USD today plus a profit share of at least 13.5 million USD.
RCA Victor released a single and an album which sold 3.75 million units combined. A tap on the covers leads to the reviews.
In August 2023 Warner Brothers released a newly mastered version of "Spinout" as part of their "Warner Archive Collection". For a review tap on the cover..
In general "Spinout" is on the same level as "Roustabout" (1964) or "It Happened At The World's Fair" (1962). It's well produced and fairly entertaining. But the times had changed and even with all the efforts to update the product it appeared somewhat outdated.
Movie Posters (C) MGM, DVD Cover (C) Warner Brotherst, Record Covers (C) RCA Victor