The Fast and the Furious (1954)

The Fast and the Furious
Starring: John Ireland, Dorothy Malone
Director: John Ireland and Edward Sampson
Genre: Crime/Mystery
Year: 1954
My rating: 
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(Note this movie shares its title with a more recent film. Apart from the name and the presence of allegedly fast cars, the two films have nothing in common.)

If you like the interaction between the two main characters, then you'll almost certainly like THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS (1954). However, if -- like me -- you find the relationship shallow and unbelievable, then the rest of the movie will probably fail to impress you too. The problem is that there isn't much else to the film outside of that relationship

The plot is overly simple. A man (John Ireland), wrongly accused of murder, is on the run from the authorities. By necessity, he kidnaps a woman (Dorothy Malone) to make use of her car. It turns out that not only is the car a souped up sports car, but the woman is a race car driver on her way to an international car race (starts in California, crosses into Mexico). Ireland's character decides this is the perfect way to escape the US police and plans to enter the race despite never having raced before.

I can certainly appreciate what the film was attempting. It's a character study. Put two dissimilar people in close quarters and see what happens. Unfortunately, while I like the theory, for me, this film lacks in execution. I just didn't think that the characters had as much substance as the movie thought they did. And the way they eventually feel about each other comes across more as contrived than natural.

I don't understand why Connie (the kidnapped woman) begins the film with absolutely no fear of the criminal. She doesn't know he's an innocent man. All she knows is that he's wanted for murder and has escaped from jail. She's seen him beat a man to unconsciousness. He has a gun and threatens to use it on her and their pursuers. I find it unfathomable that she would be so blasé about the situation. Shouldn't she act at least a little scared of this guy?

There are lots of little moments of illogic throughout this film. Why are the cops so mindbogglingly stupid? At one point a spectator comes up to the man and young woman in a Jaguar, tells them how the police are searching for a man and a young woman in a Jaguar and then obliviously heads off with a cheery farewell. Oh, and in another sequence, a rescue of a car crash victim takes place in which the rescuer actually encourages the head of the victim to flop around all over the place. Neck injuries, guys!

As this is a Roger Corman produced film (more on this later), film buffs will know to expect a very low budget. However, apart from some obvious back-screen projection filming during the driving sequences, the production doesn't really suffer from the lack of money. The problems with this movie stem from the script and not from the production values or the acting.

As an aside, along the way, the "innocent" man gets in a scuffle and assaults a rather large truck driver (by the way, I'm not sure it's exactly justifiable to commit loads of other crimes while on the run from a crime of which you're innocent). I couldn't figure out why this man was familiar to me until I consulted the Internet Movie Database. It's Bruno VeSota, who I fondly remember from the mocking that the MST3K guys gave him in THE GIANT LEECHES (another Roger Corman produced film). Small world.

I'm reviewing the Digiview Productions release of this movie, and their lack of packaging care has struck again. The text on the back of the box proudly states, "The Fast and the Furious was the second film directed by legendary director Roger Corman [...]" Leaving aside the "legendary" descriptor, there is a rather obvious blunder in the statement. Namely that Roger Corman is not the director of this film. According to the credits (and confirmed by the Internet Movie Database), the co-directors were Edward Sampson and star John Ireland. Corman produced the film, he suggested the story, but he did not direct it. Apart from that, the description is flawless.

Despite the problems with the Digiview DVD box, the movie itself is in decent condition as far as sound and picture are concerned. It's not great; there are some places where the film skips and drops out. But it's certainly watchable.

THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS is a film I didn't like, though I can concede to understanding how others would. Even ignoring the central relationship, I found the movie too full of people acting stupid just because the plot requires it. You can get this movie cheap if you look in the right places, but I don't think it's particularly worth it.