The Fast and the Furious

The mid-1900s was a time when film was still working its way into being less conservative for certain thematic material. Unlike today, when somebody hears the term "fast" or "furious" in the same sentence, many people think of the Universal Studios' billion dollar franchise that has soared to endless heights with its insane car stunts and character driven writing. Jumping back into the middle of the 20th century there's this film that Universal had acquired the title rights from and it's important to understand times were much different then. Not only is it super tame in its action and stunts but several other elements are slimmed down as well. Kiss those 130-blockbuster minutes goodbye, this feature rolls in at a tiny 72 minutes; barely enough to pass as a theatrical film these days. Believe it or not, these points don't sound promising but the film does stand on its own. It's just not anything beyond a one-time watch.

The story is about a wrongly convicted truck driver named Frank Webster (John Ireland) who is trying to escape to Mexico before the authorities can get a hold of him. Upon leaving a diner, he takes a lady named Connie Adair (Dorothy Malone) and her brand new Jaguar cruiser hostage in order to escape quickly enough from being arrested. The film was directed partially by main actor John Ireland and Edward Sampson; both of which were relatively new to directing. This was Sampson's first credit, Ireland's second and their last for both. For directing quality, it's focused but more or less uninspired. The script that was originally conceived by Roger Corman and then adapted by Jerome Odlum and Jean Howell is slightly better because the viewer will get an understanding of how and why Frank Webster is who he is. Also, those who fondly enjoy The Fast and the Furious (2001) will be able to see what pieces of the script of this film were lifted from. Other than the title and fast cars; sabotaging trucks, street races and wrongly convicted individuals go hand-in-hand with that of the 2001 film.

The screenplay still has its problems though with character motivations and dialog. Most likely due to the short run time, the speed at which characters change their opinion on certain matters feels unnatural or is just illogical. The problems with the dialog are simple to notice too. Much of the dramatic heft and delivery of lines range between cheesy 50s acting to stiff as a board. The cheesiness comes from when police officers are trying to get information from a suspect and it feels overly silly. The actor that is the most rigid in their role is surprisingly John Ireland. Considering Ireland had practically a decade to hone his acting chops, his deliver is emotionless here. Plus, what may be annoying to some viewers is that Ireland's character was written to always have the last word in a conversation. Yes, we understand Frank Webster is not a man to be messed with, but making him get in the last word to every conversation makes him sound immature.

For racing action, a lot is seen that it is all stock footage. For 1955, people most likely believed or found this to be adequate special effects. For today's standards of course not, but it should be appreciated for what is depicted and the effort that went into making it look as realistic as possible. There are some moments where producer/writer Roger Corman did act as a stunt driver and its not the easiest to tell actually. The time when Corman is a stunt driver is about as equally concealed as to today's films that try to hide certain stunts into a film. Either way there is some swift moving, sleek looking cars shot in this movie. If there's one thing this film highlights, it's how races used to be conducted back in the 1950s. Something of which many people don't see anymore and is a much different experience. There are also some crash and burn moments too but again, it is much less than what today's audiences have seen.

The cinematography handled by Floyd Crosby was decent too. Crosby, best known for working on House of Usher (1960) along side Corman demonstrate his ability to keep the camera focused on what's important on screen. Unfortunately it does suffer from shaking occasionally but not from today's "shaky-cam" issues. The problem arises more from the fact that some shots are filmed of which looked like the camera was physically on the back of a car. At that point in time back then, it is most likely that the right technology hadn't been created yet, or the budget did not allow for such fancy gadgets. But for as problematic as it may sound, those shots are actually the best because they feel the most real in the film without using green screen or other cheap effects. The music composed by Alexander Gerens was okay. It wasn't anything special with a main theme but it did give the film that classic 1950s sound that only a certain era of film making could provide. Can't knock that.

It's by no means even a very involving film, but it does have decent effects, camera-work and music. It also showcases retro cars along with other things that are different from that time. It's screenplay even gives somewhat of an understanding to where the parts in The Fast and the Furious (2001) came from. However, the rest of writing has shifty character motives and some unimpressive acting. At least it's only an hour or so long; it'll go by quick.

This may be one of very few opportunities to see real racers in real race cars on a real - late and lamented - racetrack. Pebble Beach was an early Mecca for road racing fans, and while there are some discontinuities and incongruous events in the story, some of what is shown on-screen will be of value to motor sport historians, who should be able to identify the drivers and cars. As a novelty, perhaps, but valuable.

John Ireland and Dorothy Malone went on to do some creditable work, and are not bad here, but to be honest, they don't have that much to work with. Not entirely a time-waster, at any rate.

Frank Webster, (John Ireland) is a truck driver and is accused of killing another truck driver by driving him off the road and John breaks out of jail and finds a diner to eat and meets up with Connie Adair, (Dorothy Malone). John's identity is questioned in the diner by a man and is very suspicious of him and John knocks him out and grabs Connie and takes off in her sports racing jaguar. Connie and Frank go for very speedy rides through out California to Mexico and they even enter a car race with the police following them all the way. Connie & Frank manage to get along after fighting with each other all the time and there eventually becomes a romantic relationship between the two of them. John Ireland was also the director of this film and Dorothy Malone looked very young and attractive and they both gave an outstanding performance in this black and white B Film by Roger Corman.

John Ireland plays a man who escaped from prison and is trying to make his way to freedom in Mexico. Along the way, he takes a hostage (Dorothy Malone) and steals her car. Most of the movie consists of this journey together to freedom.

When I saw that John Ireland starred in this film, I made extra sure to see it as he's one of my favorite "unknown" actors from Hollywood in the 40s and 50s. I love his films because he was a great Film Noir star--kind of ugly and tough--exactly what you'd expect for the genre where "pretty boys" are unwelcome. However, while this film has a few Film Noir qualities (after all, it's about a man wanted for murder), it really isn't exactly Noir and Ireland's character lacks the delicious evilness that I'd hoped to see. While tough and full of snappy dialog, his character is just too likable and the plot too upbeat to be considered Noir by us purists. In addition, having Malone and Ireland fall in love was just wrong--making no sense and thereby damaged the film's sense of realism--something imperative to have in Noir. Plus, all the grainy stock footage of auto races just seemed cheap and out of place. As a result of all these factors, I was very disappointed and so would be other fans of Noir and it's a low budget time-passer and unfortunately not much else.

This wonderful little picture proves that not every movie shot in black and white on a low budget in the early '50's, with plenty of cops, crooks, and guns is film noir. It starts out hinting that direction, though.

Frank Webster is serving time for murder until he breaks out of jail. Webster is all fatalistic about life and depressed about his circumstances, because he's been falsely convicted. Seems he's trying to make an honest buck as a trucker and his biggest rival tries to put him out of business by running him off the road. It is one of the rival's flunkies who is killed in the attempt, and this is the murder that Webster is framed for.

Enter the femme fatale, Connie Adair (Dorothy Malone). Webster kidnaps her and forces her to drive him to Mexico. Connie is plenty femme but not much fatale. She's decent, you see, wants Frank to give himself up and face a jury, where she is sure when his story is told, he will be exonerated. That pop sound you hear is the sound of my film noir balloon bursting.

Though it didn't live up to my expectations of what it would be, what it is turns out to be pretty good. John Ireland and Dorothy Malone give good performances, though they're the only ones who do. Ireland always presents to me as a Robert Mitchum clone, and he sure did here. Malone is stunning. Webster (Ireland) comments at one point on her figure, to which Connie (Malone) replies, indignantly, "There's *nothing* wrong with my figure!" Webster's response: "I noticed." And, he's not the only one.

Bottom line: This was American International's first picture, and they would go on to do many worse. I liked this picture, even if it wasn't film noir. 7 out of 10.