The Fast Lady

Infobox Film | name = The Fast Lady


caption = original film poster
director = Ken Annakin
producer =Leslie Parkyn
Julian Wintle
writer = Henry Blyth
Jack Davies
starring =Stanley Baxter
James Robertson Justice
Leslie Phillips
Julie Christie
music = Norrie Paramor
cinematography = Reginald H. Wyer
editing =
distributor = The Rank Organisation (UK)
Continental Distributing (US)
released = 1962
runtime = 95 min
country = UK
language = English
budget =
imdb_id = 0055977

"The Fast Lady" is a 1962 British comedy film, directed by Ken Annakin. The screenplay was written by Henry Blyth and Jack Davies, based on a story by Keble Howard. It marked the film debut of Julie Christie.

Plot

Murdoch Troon (Stanley Baxter) is a dour Scot living and working for a local government authority somewhere in England. A shy young man, his main excitement comes from cycling. After he's forced off the road by an impatient car driver, he tracks down the owner, only to find that he is Commander Chingford (James Robertson Justice), the domineering and ascerbic owner of a sportscar distributorship. Chingford reluctantly pays for the damage to Troon's cycle, but more significantly, Troon meets Claire (Julie Christie), Chingford's beautiful blonde daughter. He is smitten with her and determines to buy a car so that he can take her out.

Enter Troon's friend and fellow lodger, Freddie Fox (Leslie Phillips), a used car salesman and serial cad. He sees a chance to ingratiate himself with Chingford, and also sell Troon a car. The car is a vintage Bentley, named "The Fast Lady".

Troon has his first driving lesson in a less exciting car, an Austin A40, which proves to be a comedy of disasters, with a nervous instructor (Eric Barker), but Fox then offers to teach him. The results are equally disastrous.

Unwilling to give up, and determined to prove his love for Claire, Troon bets her father that he can drive the car. An experienced racing driver, Chingford is convinced that Troon has no hope of achieving this — and bets him that he cannot.

Troon takes Chingford for a drive in the Bentley and, as expected, loses the bet. But the tables are turned when Chingford loses Troon's counter-bet. He reluctantly allows Claire to go out with Troon in the car.

The day comes for Troon's driving test. Fox has set him up with a "bent" examiner, but Troon draws the "wrong" examiner. As the test comes to an end (and the examiner is almost certainly going to fail Troon), the car is commandeered by police to chase a Jaguar car driven by escaping bank robbers. The high speed chase takes them through town and country, across a golf course (leaving in its wake, a comical trial of disaster) and eventually the robbers are (of course) caught. Chingford so admires his driving skill that he allows the couple to get engaged.

The film features cameos and performances by many well-known comedy and character actors, including Dick Emery as a car salesman, Gerald Campion, Frankie Howerd, Fred Emney, Warren Mitchell and Kathleen Harrison.

Cast

* Stanley Baxter - Murdoch Troon
* Julie Christie - Claire Chingford
* Leslie Phillips - Freddie Fox
* James Robertson Justice - Charles Chingford
* Kathleen Harrison - Mrs Staggers
* Eric Barker - Wentworth, driving instructor
* Deryck Guyler - Doctor Blake
* Terence Alexander - Policeman
* Allan Cuthbertson - Bodley, driving examiner

External links

*imdb title|id=0055977|title=The Fast Lady