This blog will expand on themes and topics first mentioned in my book, "The Automobile and American Life." I hope to comment on recent developments in the automobile industry, reviews of my readings on the history of the automobile, drafts of my new work, contributions from friends, descriptions of the museums and car shows I attend and anything else relevant. Copyright 2009-2020, by the author.
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Elvis and American Car Culture -- "Spinout" -- 1966
Hi folks-- Taking a break at Five Seasons Sports Club today, I watched parts of the 1966 film starring Elvis entitled "Spinout" while on the exercise bike. its funny how I used to dislike those Elvis films when I was a teenager, but now see them through different eyes, so to speak. Yes, Elvis was stiff and certainly was not paid because of his acting. nevertheless, the cars in his film were often iconic and the girls -- well, they were so beautiful. And then I began to wonder, if it was Elvis' film "Blue Hawaii" where he drivers an MGA that got me a few years later to yearn for a car that absolutely no one in my family had ever owned or even talked about.
"Spinout" featured a Cobra as well as a 1929 funky Duesenberg and an Elva (#5). My point is that these movies had weak plots, weak acting, silly scenes, but the impression of the automobiles and girls on young adolescent boys cannot be underestimated. It certainly contributed to the car as an object of desire in American life during the 1960s.
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