Fast Company (1979 film)

Fast Company is a 1979 Canadian action film directed by David Cronenberg and starring William Smith, John Saxon, Claudia Jennings and Nicholas Campbell. It was written by Phil Savath, Courtney Smith, Alan Treen and Cronenberg. It was primarily filmed at Edmonton International Speedway, in addition to other locations in Edmonton, Alberta, and western Canada.

Background

Fast Company is the story of a drag racer (Smith) and his villainous manager (Saxon). The first of his features for which Cronenberg did not originate the screenplay, Fast Company brought Cronenberg into contact with cinematographer Mark Irwin, art director Carol Spier, sound editor Bryan Day, and film editor Ronald Sanders, all of whom became regular crew members on his films. Actor Nicholas Campbell, who plays William Smith's young sidekick, also went on to appear in three more Cronenberg films, The Brood, The Dead Zone, and Naked Lunch.

Although Fast Company - an all-action, non-horror, non-psychological B-movie - remains an anomaly in Cronenberg's filmography, it has never lost its place in the affections of its director, who is an enthusiast of cars and their machinery ("which I get very metaphysical and boring about"^[1]) and sometime racer.

This was the final film for Claudia Jennings before she was killed in a car accident later that year, several months after the film's release.^[2]

Reception

Fast Company received generally positive reviews. It holds a 88% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with an average rating of 6.6/10.^[3]

References

External links

• Fast Company at the Internet Movie Database
• Fast Company at AllMovie