"Speed"
                            A film review by
                           Linda Lopez McAlister
                           on "The Women's Show"
                         WMNF-FM (88.5), Tampa, FL
                               July 16, 1994

   Especially during the summer you run into these weeks when there is nothing
playing in the theaters that fits even remotely under the heading "Women and
Film" and I am reduced to scouring the video stores or going to see what I
call "boys' films." This week I did the latter, with extremely mixed results.
I actually saw two boys' films this week, one, KIKA, allegedly a comedy, and
the other, SPEED, in the action genre.

   To me, the latter was by far the more enjoyable. Speed has been around for
several weeks now and is still doing pretty good business because it has been
almost universally favorably reviewed and it's clear why. Of its kind, it's
truly a superlative example. If you like the kind of film in which the
suspense is so great it makes you squirm in your seat and gets the adrenalin
pumping away, this is your picture. This one is about the LAPD bomb squad
(especially two of its members played by Keanu Reeves and Jeff Daniels) and a
diabolically clever mad bomber who was himself once a police bomb squad
member.

  The film is one nail-biting, hair-raising crisis after another.
  One of the reasons I like to check in on big mainstream films every now and
again is to see how non-feminist filmmakers are portraying women these days.
SPEED, I think, does quite a creditable job with its one important female
character, Annie (played by Sandra Bullock). She's a bright, with-it young
woman who is capable, independent, caring, and, above all, courageous. In the
long bus sequence in which the bus has been wired by the bomber to blow up if
its speed falls below 50 mph after the bus driver has been shot Annie takes
the wheel and does some incredible driving (often with Reeves just standing by
watching). At one point when Reeves's character looses it after hearing that
his fellow cops have been blown away by the bomber, it is Annie's cool head
and smart psychology that gets him back on track trying to save the bus full
of people from a similar fate. No shrinking violet this, but no macho female
action hero either--just the kind of strong, centered, appealing young woman
you'd be happy to know. So this is a boys' film that is not offensive to
women and is enjoyable if you like this kind of action thriller genre.

 
   For the WMNF Women's Show this has been Linda Lopez McAlister on Women and
Film.

   Copyright 1994 by Linda Lopez McAlister. All rights reserved. Please do not
reprint this review without the permission of the author.