The Fast and the Furious

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.

You have to be kind of cruel not to give this film points for efforts. Despite an o0bviously low budget and tight schedule, Everyone involved in the film is making a real effort to give us a brief wild ride into the inner torment of a good man done wrong. The emphasis here on social class is especially striking, and the temporal tie that wraps the film - film begins when escaped con commandeers car to run away, ends when he leaves it to stop running - drives a remarkably even pacing throughout. John Ireland turns in a great performance (and is given co-directing credit), Roger Corman proves he can deliver for less, and compared with other cheapies of the time, much of the film has a real polish, overcoming flaws critics rightfully notice. Finally there is the script, with strong dialogue throughout. A film that looks lovingly backwards on film noir (but also with respect on Hitchcock's "39 Steps" from which the core relationship between Ireland and Malone is borrowed), and cautiously forward to the JD movie, which was only beginning to develop into a genre of its own. Actually, a remarkable achievement from all concerned, better than average b-movie of its time.

Hi, Everyone, This is a good movie for anyone who likes old cars and fast girls. The police drove Nashes. Dorothy Malone looked great. John Ireland does a good job being the quiet, likable kidnapper type.

Snub Pollard from the Laurel and Hardy days is here in a small role. Look for his mustache.

A fill up of gasoline and a check of the oil comes to $4 at full service. That seemed a little high, but it was a name brand station.

The plot is your basic girl/race car driver being kidnapped by the only young guy in town. This is after she is hit on by the local truck driver/detective wannabe senior citizen who remains unconscious for most of the film.

This was probably an excellent movie for a rainy night at the drive-in theater. This film has some nice moments.

If you like John Ireland, watch Red River for one of his earlier roles. Dorothy Malone did a movie I enjoyed called The Last Voyage.

Tom Willett

An escaped killer kidnaps a girl, steals a roadster, and escapes by joining a road race to Mexico.

Well, the movie does make me nostalgic for years ago when a teen in our town rode around in his Jaguar XK like it was a royal coach. Of course, to the rest of us, it was. Anyhow, unless you like vintage sports models and fast cars, skip this otherwise turgid production. Corman shot it in 9 days and it shows. There's plenty of riding around the scrubby LA area, plenty of clumsy process close-ups, an awkward on-again off-again script, and maybe one interior set. In compensation, however, there's the incomparable Iris Adrian doing her patented cheap waitress bit.

I'd love to know what this meagre effort cost the notoriously pinch-penny Corman. He had a real coup, however, getting the luscious Malone, then on the brink of an A-film career, Battle Cry (1955), Written on the Wind (1956). Heck, she even lets her face get dirty. But you've got to hand it to our drive-in impresario. Corman quickly caught on that there was an untapped teen audience out there looking for just such things as silly stories, fast cars, and half-clad women. F and F stands as a stumbling early entry in that direction. His notorious rubber monsters and alien invasions would come later.

Surprisingly solid production with an obviously very low budget (this was producer Corman's first film, I believe, and he is true to form). About a man on the run who kidnaps a lovely lady in a sports car. Of course, she falls in love with him when he gives her a picnic. Strictly stock footage and poor rear-projection for the race scenes. Some nice touches in the dialogue. It's actually surprising that this film emerges as watchable, but it even ends up being likeable. Well, it took me years to find it, but I can't say I ever expected it to be any good, so I guess I wasn't disappointed. First film for American International Pictures (then known as American Releasing Corporation or ARC, under the auspices of the infamous Alex Gordon, Jim Nicholson, and Sam Arkoff), whose only producers at that time were Gordon, Corman, and (eventually) Herman Cohen, if I got all the names right. Anyway, as most drive in fans know, these guys changed the world of movies, and I guess this little film is where it all started. Well, fast cars and girls in danger is a good film formula, so I guess they didn't pick a bad place to start off.