David Cronenberg has taken some odd roads in his unusual career, but Fast Company has to be the damnedest project he's ever made. A racing drama with William Smith, John Saxon, and Claudia Jennings? It sounds more like a typical American redneck movie from the seventies.
Or maybe it isn't as strange as it appears to be at first glance.
A recurring theme in Cronenberg movies is the emergence of something dangerous erupting from within his characters. Shivers, Rabid, The Brood, The Fly, and even The Dead Zone and A History of Violence. Is the subject of internal combustion engines so dissimilar? Especially when the movie specifically deals with extremely explosive top nitro fuel?
I used to see Fast Company mentioned now and then in books and magazines, and it seemed like a lost movie. Legal snafus prevented it from American release, where it conceivably could have seen its biggest success.
Blue Underground managed to obtain the rights in the 2000s, and the movie was issued on DVD. The special edition included a second disc with Cronenberg's early short films Stereo and Crimes of the Future. The latter bears no relation to the director's most recent feature film.
So is Fast Company worthy of a test drive?
Opinions will vary, but I give a resounding yes. I loved this movie. It's a drama more concerned with behind the scenes corruption from team sponsors than a story about racing thrills. Though there are some choice scenes of the cars in action.
William Smith is his usual convincing self as Lonnie "Lucky Man" Johnson, a celebrity driver who works for FastCo engine treatment. Lucky Man is getting older, and he's ready to let his young protege take the spotlight. John Saxon is a FastCo bigwig who wants Lonnie to stay behind the wheel. He's good for profits, and we all know how hard it is to say no to John Saxon.
Fast Company is a fascinating and utterly convincing look into the race industry of the seventies. It's a straightforward story without a lot of laughs or exploitative devices. The drivers love the thrill of high speed and the dangers involved, but the money people sour the entire industry. Same as it ever was.
Playmate of the Year Claudia Jennings is Lucky Man's girlfriend. From Truck Stop Women to The Great Texas Dynamite Chase, she specialized in these kind of movies, but Fast Company was her final performance. Jennings was ironically killed in an auto accident after filming wrapped. She was only twenty-nine years old.
Fast Company sure ain't Videodrome or Dead Ringers, but I wouldn't let that stop Cronenberg fans from giving the movie a whirl. I think it's one of his most accessible and out-and-out enjoyable movies, and I had a great time watching it.
Written by Mark Sieber
Or maybe it isn't as strange as it appears to be at first glance.
A recurring theme in Cronenberg movies is the emergence of something dangerous erupting from within his characters. Shivers, Rabid, The Brood, The Fly, and even The Dead Zone and A History of Violence. Is the subject of internal combustion engines so dissimilar? Especially when the movie specifically deals with extremely explosive top nitro fuel?
I used to see Fast Company mentioned now and then in books and magazines, and it seemed like a lost movie. Legal snafus prevented it from American release, where it conceivably could have seen its biggest success.
Blue Underground managed to obtain the rights in the 2000s, and the movie was issued on DVD. The special edition included a second disc with Cronenberg's early short films Stereo and Crimes of the Future. The latter bears no relation to the director's most recent feature film.
So is Fast Company worthy of a test drive?
Opinions will vary, but I give a resounding yes. I loved this movie. It's a drama more concerned with behind the scenes corruption from team sponsors than a story about racing thrills. Though there are some choice scenes of the cars in action.
William Smith is his usual convincing self as Lonnie "Lucky Man" Johnson, a celebrity driver who works for FastCo engine treatment. Lucky Man is getting older, and he's ready to let his young protege take the spotlight. John Saxon is a FastCo bigwig who wants Lonnie to stay behind the wheel. He's good for profits, and we all know how hard it is to say no to John Saxon.
Fast Company is a fascinating and utterly convincing look into the race industry of the seventies. It's a straightforward story without a lot of laughs or exploitative devices. The drivers love the thrill of high speed and the dangers involved, but the money people sour the entire industry. Same as it ever was.
Playmate of the Year Claudia Jennings is Lucky Man's girlfriend. From Truck Stop Women to The Great Texas Dynamite Chase, she specialized in these kind of movies, but Fast Company was her final performance. Jennings was ironically killed in an auto accident after filming wrapped. She was only twenty-nine years old.
Fast Company sure ain't Videodrome or Dead Ringers, but I wouldn't let that stop Cronenberg fans from giving the movie a whirl. I think it's one of his most accessible and out-and-out enjoyable movies, and I had a great time watching it.
Written by Mark Sieber
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