The Fast and the Furious

Director: John Ireland, Edward Sampson John Ireland

Overview

In this actioner, a fugitive takes off after being framed for murder. He travels with a woman in her zippy sports car. The police are in hot pursuit.

Product Details

Release Date:	01/05/2018
UPC:	0889290261489
Original Release:	1954
Source:	Film Detective
Language:	English

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

John Ireland	Frank Webster
Dorothy Malone	Connie Adair
Bruce Carlisle	Faber
Iris Adrian	Wilma Belding
Marshall Bradford	Mr. Hillman
Bruno Ve Sota	Bob Nielson
Byrd Holland	Doctor
Larry Thor	Detective Sergeant
Henry Rowland	Motorist in Park
Jean Howell	Sally Phillips
Dick Pinner	State Trooper
Jon-Mikl Thor	Police Sergeant
Edward Sampson	Actor
Robin Morse	Gas Station Attendant
Lou Place	Det. Faraday
Snub Pollard	Park Caretaker
Roger Corman	Roadblock State Trooper
Jonathan Haze	Connie's Rescuer
William Woodson	Officer Samuels
Alexander Gerens	Composer

Technical Credits

Jerome Odlum

Jean Howell

Roger Corman

John Ireland	Director
Edward Sampson	Director
Jerome Odlum	Screenwriter
Jean Howell	Screenwriter
Roger Corman	Screenwriter,Producer
David Kramarsky	Producer

Editorial Reviews

The Fast and the Furious (1954) was the movie that began Roger Corman's business relationship with Samuel Z. Arkoff and James H. Nicholson, and their American Releasing Corporation (later American International Pictures). On that basis alone, it's an important movie for establishing the link between one of the best low-budget filmmakers of the 1950s and '60s and the distribution company that issued most of his best work from those same decades, as well as for helping to establish that same company. Nicholson and Corman had known each other previously, when the former had worked at Realart Pictures, and while Corman had sold his first produced feature, Monster From the Ocean Floor, to another company, they'd stayed in contact and discovered, along with Nicholson's new business partner, Sam Arkoff, that each had something to offer the other. Corman initially had been unable to get John Ireland to star in the proposed movie for a fee below his normal asking price, but then Ireland came back and agreed to do it if he were allowed to direct it as well -- as Corman needed a director anyway, as well as needing Ireland for his star power, he agreed immediately. Ireland proved to be more than competent in his debut behind the camera, and the resulting movie was one of the more exciting and satisfying B-movie action thrillers of its period -- the racing scenes, which Corman worked on, and in which he was one of the stunt drivers, were handled exceptionally well, given the low budget and short shooting schedule (nine days total), while the dramatic sequences by Ireland and Dorothy Malone were consistently rewarding. Interestingly, Ireland showed a subtly vulnerable side in his portrayal of a man on the run that one seldom got to see in his screen work, while Malone was a memorably independent and self-actualized female screen figure for the early 1950s. The Fast and the Furious is one of the more enduring titles out of Corman's early output as a producer, and plays well even 50 years later, with the added allure that many of the racing cars shown in the rally sequences have since become classics in their own right.