Fast Company
1979 Directed by David Cronenberg
Synopsis
An early departure from director David Cronenberg's canon of visceral horror, 1979's Fast Company profiles one of his personal passions, racecars, in a gritty melodrama that also features exciting racetrack footage. Veteran toughguy William Smith is top-billed as a champion drag racer who clashes with the unscrupulous oil-company executive (John Saxon) who sponsors his team.
Recent reviews
More-
A race car driving champion refuses to be exploited by his manager and corporate sponsors. The only bomb in David Cronenberg's otherwise flawless filmography.
-
Did you guys know Cronenberg made a movie that has a theme song. He did. This is it. I don't really like it too much, but I'm glad it exists.
-
There's a reason why this film is mostly ignored in Cronenberg's career. And no, it's not because it doesn't belongs to the horror genre, at least that's not the prime reason. It's because is terrible! The director was well-intentioned by making a harmless adventure movie. It tries to be that. It also tries to be a character study. Unfortunately, it fails in both aspects, terribly so. It's just flat and uneven. Passionless. Boring. Amateurish. It's kind of embarrassing. But I guess we can just forget it, right?!
-
Nothing special. Yet, for what it is - a movie about drag racing - it's quite servicable. Smith brings charisma (and, uncannily, the voice of present day Mickey Rourke), Jennings the looks. You probably won't remember this film for long but if you, like me, want to complete Cronenberg's filmography, it's a pleasant enough watch.
-
Typical 70s B movie schlock. It's not horrible, but it's certainly the odd duck in Cronenberg's filmography.
-
It's easy to consider this the black sheep in the family that is Cronenberg's filmography, but that phrase suggests a sameness to the rest of his material that frankly doesn't exist. Yes, the man has a distinctive style, and the word "Cronenbergian" conjures certain things to mind very effectively, but he is a versatile artist whose thematic and stylistic leanings have manifested themselves in hugely divergent ways. Where this early outing does single itself out, though, is in its damn dullness. Cronenberg is a lot of things; boring certainly isn't one of them. Even in his lesser works—I consider Stereo his "worst" film (I use quotes to avoid implying it's particularly bad)—there's always something to engage the mind or emotions,…