An unbelievable look back at 1920’s New York City, Harold Lloyd’s final silent feature, 1928’s Speedy, depicts The Big Apple in all of its hopeful Jazz Age glory. Featuring mind-boggling action and footage shot around the city, including old Yankee Stadium, down Broadway at beautiful Bowling Green, Coney Island in all of its former glory (Luna Park is on full display – it was ravaged by fire in 1944 and closed for good in 1946), Union Square in Manhattan, a ridiculous stunt in Washington Square Park as well as under the Brooklyn Bridge, and so many other places, it is a sweeping look at a city that has changed so very much over the ninety years since it was filmed there.
The portion set near Sheridan Square in Greenwich Village (which is actually mostly an intricate set that Lloyd built in Hollywood), features a slower paced part of the city. With it having the last remaining horse-drawn streetcar route remaining, it highlights the final place in the metropolitan that has not been replaced by the hustle and bustle of the modern age. The streetcar owner is Pop Dillon (Bert Woodruff), whose granddaughter is Jane (Ann Christy), a young woman who is dating the job hunting Harold ‘Speedy’ Swift (Lloyd) – an ardent Yankees fan.
Pop is being pressured by motorized streetcar tycoon W.S. Wilton (Byron Douglas) to sell. Speedy, knowing that the man is trying to form a monopoly, sneakily changes his soon-to-be grandfather-in-law’s asking price from 10,000 to 70,000 dollars. Flabbergasted, the knavish millionaire threatens the elderly gentleman.
Speedy, after being fired from his soda jerk job, decides to take Jane to Coney Island so they can both free their minds from the stress of the streetcar issue and his working woes. They hit all of the iconic rides, having a few kerfuffles along the way. As a side note, at one point he gives himself the middle finger into a magic mirror – one of the first bird flips in film history, if not the first. At the end of the evening, he proposes, but she won’t accept until everything with her grandfather is settled.
Two of 1928’s most iconic celebrities: actor Harold Lloyd and baseball great Babe Ruth on the set of Speedy
Soon, Speedy finds a job as a taxi driver. Though he has many troubles, it eventually leads him to his idol, Babe Ruth (played by the real baseball legend) – who asks him for a ride to the game (and eventually gives him a complimentary ticket). The unique union between these two cannot be overstated, as you have the biggest acting star in the world (top grosser of the past few years) with the biggest sports icon of the time (soon after filming his extended cameo in 1927, he went on to break his own home run record with 60). A cool fact worth noting finds the shots within the cab, with Ruth reacting to Lloyd’s reckless driving, actually being done separately – Ruth was driven around in circles near Yankee Stadium to get the reactions while Lloyd filmed his portion later. Another interesting tidbit is that the footage of Ruth playing is actually from the previous year’s World Series. Finally, you will also find another very quick cameo from another Yankee great, as Lou Gehrig walks by and can be seen through the car’s window as Ruth exits the cab – a truly glorious moment for any sports fan.
By happenstance, Speedy discovers that there is a loophole in which, if the streetcar is not operated for twenty-four hours, the owner’s right to the route is forfeited – and that the wealthy would-be purchaser is going to send a gang to disrupt its path for that very reason. Rushing home, he takes over the job of driver, rallying the help of the aged store owners living in their tightknit neighbourhood (they use the streetcar as a mens’ club at night). Will Speedy be able to save the day, helping Pop get the money he rightfully deserves?
Featuring death defying stunts (and camera tricks that made the stunts seem more dangerous than they actually were), perhaps one of the most memorable events finds the streetcar (which is being drawn by horses) crash into a steel post. This was actually no stunt, but a real accident. With it being planned that a car would drive right by the retro mode of transportation, the two drivers got their signals mixed and the streetcar veered right, missing its mark and hammering into the metal impediment. As the carriage was going so fast (the horses were moving at 15-20 miles per hour), they actually had to place a horse in it to weigh it down (eagle-eyed viewers can spot it in several sequences). The horse shifts to one side in the shot, likely throwing the weight distribution off and partially causing the crash. Instead of scrapping everything, they wrote it in (on the spot), with it adding suspense to the hurried action. All of the people on the side of the street are not extras or pedestrians, but the thousands who were observing the shoot – diehard fans of Lloyd. The production was often burdened by such crowds – shots were sometimes scrapped or cancelled due to this factor.
With a very nostalgic vibe, one of the more entertaining moments is the brawl between the octogenarians and the gang of goons. Showing the multicultural flavour of New York, it is explained that these store owners are some of the last remaining soldiers of the Civil War – putting this incredible time into perspective. It adds a deeper level to the film, while also capturing the typical fighting nature (and no bullshit attitude) of New Yorkers. They are by no means in good shape, but they use their skills (horseshoes, one leg, chickenheartedness . . .) to their advantage, playing dirty to win. The comedic cruelty of the silent era is on full display (a clear modern reference would be the Home Alone type of violence), with the best example finding a senior waking up one of the KO’d thugs with water only to bash him over the head with a blunt instrument. . . then doing it all over again for good measure.
Sometimes using guerilla-type film making to avoid the crowds (hidden cameras and such), Speedy is a mesmerizing journey through New York. Less laugh-out-loud funny than impressively enthralling, the stunts are unbelievably realistic and the locations are more than majestic. Funnily enough, it was one of only two films to ever be nominated for the short lived Academy Award for Best Comedy Director – and the only one to lose. So, I hope you’ll desire to take this streetcar driven trip back in time – it will most definitely pay off.