The Fast And The Furious (1955)

A man (John Ireland) falsely accused of murder breaks out of jail and kidnaps a beautiful woman (Dorothy Malone) driving a Jaguar. He then plots to enter her car in an international auto race from Southern California to Mexico in order to escape undetected. Though it shares its title with the Vin Diesel/Paul Walker franchise of the same name, the resemblance ends there. This early Roger Corman (he produced and co-wrote it) "B" effort is a quickie (shot in ten days) and it looks it. The film benefits from being shot in real locations and not a studio though the close ups of the actors "driving" are clearly in front of a rear projection screen. But the actual racing sequences are done very well and appear to be from an actual race rather than stunt drivers which lends an authenticity to the film. The film's narrative is yet another in a long line of riffs on Hitchcock's THE 39 STEPS, that of a falsely accused innocent forcing a lovely woman into fleeing with him against her will and, of course, romance develops. Malone and Ireland make for an attractive couple and Ireland does double duty here. In addition to being the movie's leading man, he also co-directed the film along with Edward Sampson. With Iris Adrian doing her usual brassy number, this time as a waitress.