Fast Company Reviews

The work of David Cronenberg forms perhaps the most consistent oeuvre of any major filmmaker, but FAST COMPANY is the exception. A formula B movie about race car drivers, it's competent, but unmemorable as anything other than a footnote in Cronenberg's development. Veteran racer Lonnie Johnson (William Smith) heads a touring team sponsored by the Fastco Oil Company. Fastco's track representative Phil Adamson (John Saxon) is interested only in promoting his product and keeping within his budget. When Lonnie's car is wrecked, Adamson blames modifications he made to help it run faster. He tells Lonnie he'll fight with the company to have them build a new vehicle, but in the meantime demands that he take over the "funny car" seat from teammate Billy Brooker (Nicholas Campbell). Lonnie unhappily agrees to do so, and beats competing driver Gary Black (Cedric Smith), an independent who resents Johnson's corporate backing. When Lonnie discovers that Adamson lied about getting him a new car, he belittles Fastco in a radio interview. Adamson tells his bosses at Fastco that Lonnie is a washed-up drunk, and hires Gary's mechanic Meatball (George Buza) to sabotage his car. After the car fails in a race, Adamson fires the team and takes the car. Lonnie and his team steal the car back and enter it against Gary, who's now backed by Fastco, in a race at the Edmonton International Speedway. Just before the race, Lonnie decides to let Billy drive. Gary learns that Adamson and Meatball have done something to sabotage the lane in which Billy will be driving. At the last second, Gary cuts Billy off and takes over his lane, where sparks from his car ignite a pool of gasoline left by Meatball; Gary is killed in the explosion. Adamson tries to escape by plane, but is killed in a crash as Lonnie chases him down the runway. Lonnie and his team plan to return to racing after raising money independently. FAST COMPANY isn't a bad movie, particularly if you're a racing fan and know the lingo. But it certainly has nothing to do thematically with any other film David Cronenberg has ever made (with the possible exception of 1997's CRASH, another film about people and cars). Cronenberg did the film as a work for hire at a time when the Canadian government was offering generous tax incentives to film investment. In the book Cronenberg on Cronenberg, edited by Chris Rodley, the director says, "It was a labour of love: it wasn't a hack job," and speaks of his interest in cars and in accurately portraying the day-to-day lives of race drivers. FAST COMPANY is aided by a trio of B-movie veterans — William Smith, John Saxon, and Claudia Jennings (little more than window dressing as the hero's long-distance girlfriend). But it's thin on plot, with too much time given to a score of Springsteenish rock songs. FAST COMPANY had only a minimal release in the US, and remains largely unseen. (Violence, nudity, sexual situations, profanity.)