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6
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10 |
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10
= Highest Rating |
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Guest
Review by Rod
Barnett |
The
David Cronenberg film that is both the rarest and the most atypical
of his long career finally comes to DVD from Blue Underground.
Fast Company has been almost impossible
to see for years because of the financial failure of its distribution
company soon after the movie's release. It's a shame, since
even though far from the directors best it's a fun '70s B film
that might well have been a hit if it had been properly handled
in the United States.
The film's story is set
in the world of drag-strip racing and follows a racing team
fronted by veteran driver Lonnie Johnson (William Smith), whose
nickname "Lucky Man" is demonstrated in the first
competition we see. Johnson and the other members of the team
have developed a new supercharger for their dragster but the
thrust ends up putting too much torque on the car's frame —
a fiery explosion is the unfortunate result. Lonnie survives
without injury but this means that their corporate sponsor,
oil business FastCo, will have to build them a new dragster.
Company representative Phil Adamson (John Saxon) pledges his
support but in the meantime the team's only competitive member
is Billy "The Kid" Brocker (The
Shape of Things To Come's Nicholas Campbell), who's also
one of Lonnie's mechanics. Billy races a nitro burning Funny
Car and is becoming very good on the circuit. Adamson convinces
Lonnie that the crowds come to see him, that if the Funny
Car is all they have at the moment then he has to drive it in
the races until the new dragster is delivered. Lonnie doesn't
want to take The Kid's car from him but feels obligated to go
along with the sponsor's wishes.
The team accepts the change
with fairly good grace and gets back to racing, but when Lonnie
discovers that Adamson has canceled the order for a new dragster
he has a hard time being a good soldier.
His increasingly insubordinate attitude sees Adamson maneuvering
behind the scenes to replace the team with a rival group of
racers. After Lonnie punches out the FastCo rep, Adamson fires
the team and takes the Funny Car. Refusing to accept the loss
of the car, the guys arrange to steal it with the intention
of beating FastCo's new team at the next race. Adamson doesn't
take this well, and with a shady mechanic's help arranges for
an 'accident' on the track...
It really is a joy to finally see this film. I'm a big Cronenberg
fan and Fast Company has always
been the missing piece in his filmography. As I said before,
this isn't one of his best films and in a lot of ways it's almost
indistinguishable from a half dozen or more of the same kind
of films from the late 1970s. What makes it stand out and shine
is a strong directorial hand, a great cast and a simply fascinating
peek into the world of drag racing. By this time in his career
Cronenberg had made two features and several short films; his
steady handling of this material shows that he could have easily
moved into any genre he wished and succeeded. There isn't a
single misstep in the movie and he often stages sequences in
an unexpected way that pay off near the end of a scene.
The cast is a drive-in
fan's dream come true for the time period. William Smith (Invasion
of the Bee Girls) gets to play a leading
'good guy' role for only the second time in his life and does
a very good job carrying himself with confidence. John Saxon
is great as the oily villain, demonstrating his skill at playing
these types of parts without resorting to over-the-top mugging.
His Adamson is subtle, determined and quite deadly behind that
snakelike smile. Also in the cast is Playboy Playmate Claudia
Jennings as Johnson's longtime love Sammy, who joins the race
team just as things start to go bad. Even the small roles are
filled with good character actors who work together like old
friends, with Don Francks (as head mechanic Elder) being a stand
out. On the DVD's terrific commentary the director explains
his love of this film and what drew him to it. It turns out
he's a car enthusiast and loves all types of racing, so although
it seems odd that horror maven Cronenberg would make this film,
he sees it as a natural outgrowth of his interests. I just never
pictured him as a Gear Head! In the audio track he points out
that the story was envisioned as a modern western with the drag
races as shoot-outs. This conceit is subtle in the film but
plays out very well, even though I was wondering where the police
were after the movie's fiery finale. Someone has to answer for
those dead bodies!
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It's
becoming a cliché to say that Blue Underground did a great
job — but I have to say it again. The film's 1.85:1 letterboxed
image looks fantastic and along with the original Mono soundtrack,
they've included a 2.0 Surround track, a 5.1 Dolby and a 6.1 DTS
track as well. I've only sampled the 2.0, which is very strong,
but the 5.1 has been described to me as "devastating."
Also on the first disc is a great new talk with stars William
Smith and John Saxon, who are interviewed together remembering
the film and the circumstances that lead them to it. Both men
are showing their age but are still in fine form. I wish modern
casting directors would remember these guys are around and put
them in front of the camera again. (Saxon especially looks like
he could take on anything.) Next up is a brief interview with
Fast Company's director of photography
Mark Irwin. He not only talks about working on this film but the
subsequent movies he shot for the director, up through 1986's
The Fly. It's a very interesting
piece that made me want to ask Irwin more questions about those
amazing films and their disturbing images. Additional goodies
include the theatrical trailer, a still/poster gallery, and a
text bio of the gorgeous Miss Jennings. But the best extra on
disc one is the director's commentary track. Although he slows
down near the end of the film and just gets caught up in watching,
it's another in his long line of excellent tracks for DVD. I actually
felt a chill as Cronenberg describes a scene that he remembers
having to cut... right before it unspools in front of him. And
believe me, it was the thrill of hearing him so surprised that
caused the chill and not the fact that the scene in question involves
naked women and a can of motor oil!
This
first disc is so good that it alone would be well worth the asking
price of this set, but Blue Underground has truly gone the extra
mile and given us a second disc showcasing two of the director's
early short films. First there is the black & white Stereo,
which plays as if it were silent footage of a lengthy experiment
about stimulating latent telepathic abilities in humans. The only
sound in the hour-long film is the occasional voice over that
appears to be (often technically dense) readings from the report
that came from this failed experiment. Stereo
is interesting but not great. Its central idea is fascinating
but the technique of clinically observing the event distances
us from the story a bit too much. Made soon after Stereo
was Crimes Of The Future, which tells
much the same type of story. Shot in color this time, it follows
a man as he wanders between various scientific institutions attempting
to understand the grand beliefs of his unseen dermatologist mentor
Anton Rouge. Once again the film is interesting but meanders a
bit too much for my tastes. There are some fascinating ideas here
but they're couched in such detached and obtuse ways that they
make little impact. The ending is creepy though with a desperate
feeling of succumbing to desires too horrible to speak about.
Both films look very sharp and are presented letterboxed with
their original Mono sound.
Disc 2 is capped with a small still gallery and a step-through
text bio of Cronenberg. As with the enjoyable main feature of
this two-disc set, I'm glad to finally see these short films —
the folks at Blue Underground are to be commended for their hard
work in again going above and beyond to present this material
in the best possible manner.
6/05/04 |
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