For Harold Lloyd's final silent film he chose to shoot most of it in New York City, no doubt using the facilities of Paramount's Astoria Studios as Paramount did release this film that Lloyd himself produced. And now with the demolition of the old Yankee Stadium, there is precious little left from that time in 1928 when Speedy was shot and released to the movie-going public.

Harold is his usual shy self who just can't seem to hold down a job. He can't even go have a good time with his girl Anna Christy without all kinds of things going wrong for him. But of course in the end he does redeem himself by saving Christy's father's horse drawn trolley franchise by making the route on time in the face of overwhelming obstacles by some unscrupulous people.

There was always a common thread it seems with both Harold Lloyd and Buster Keaton and to a lesser degree Charlie Chaplin. They could be the worst kind of screw ups for most of the film, but from somewhere within always seemed to develop the intelligence and fortitude to defeat those bad guys in the end.

Old Yankee Stadium makes its appearance here and also in the film playing himself is Babe Ruth who Lloyd when he's a taxi driver gets to take to the game. The Babe was at the height of his career when he did his cameo in Speedy. He had just hit 60 homeruns the year before and in 1928 he would slip to a mere 54 homerun season.

More than Yankee Stadium were the shots of Coney Island. The fabled amusement area at the bottom end of Brooklyn is a real treasure trove of locations for Lloyd's sight gags. It's pretty run down now, but as a kid I can tell you it looked more like 1928 in the Fifties than it does nowadays. Steeplechase Park, Luna Park, a lot of the rest of it is now gone.

Speedy shows Harold Lloyd the silent comic at his best and the film itself is quite a piece of nostalgia for native New Yorkers like me.

This is simply a wonderful film and is among the greatest films of Harold Lloyd's career. Unfortunately, it was also the last silent film he made, as 1928 was a transition year in Hollywood--with a decent number of sound pictures being produced. By 1929, just about all the movies they made were talkies.

Harold is a well-meaning guy who just can't seem to hold down a job. Despite this, he takes his girl to Coney Island for an outing. While this segment of the film doesn't have a lot to do with the plot, I really enjoyed it because it gave an excellent view of Coney Island of 1928--with all the amazing old rides.

Another segment that really didn't relate to the overall plot was his brief run-in with Babe Ruth. He rushes him to the ballgame and gets to watch some of the game. Like the Coney sequence, this is a wonderful historical curio, as you get to see The Babe and Yankee stadium.

The girl's father owns a very old-fashioned non-electric trolley line in a small township in New York City. A big transit company is trying to buy him out, but he really wants to keep his business going. However, the scumbags at the big company figure out a loophole--if the small trolley line fails to operate for 24 or more hours, the contract is canceled and the big guys can steal the trolley line. So, they order a group of thugs to steal the trolley and hide it. Harold, up until then had been a lovable loser. However, he shows his mettle and goes to the rescue--leading to an amazing and fun extended chase as Harold tries to keep the trolley from missing its rounds.

Overall, this may not be the very best Lloyd film (I still think THE FRESHMAN is a tiny bit better), it is definitely among the very best and a great example of silent comedy at its best. Definitely on-par with the best of Chaplin or Keaton.

SPEEDY is one of Harold Lloyd's most delightful movies, a fast-paced love letter to 1920s New York City. It's certainly one of his funniest movies, with a lot of clever gags and flourishes. The title cards are great too; out of all the silent comedians and comediennes working during this decade, I don't think a single one had better titles in their pictures than Harold Lloyd did.

The story is simple: Harold "Speedy" Swift is a go-getter who goes from one job to the next, though he never lets his spotty luck get him down. When his girlfriend's grandfather is in danger of losing his horse-drawn streetcar to the forces of modernity and big business corruption, Lloyd has to help the old guy from having his business sabotaged by greedy businessmen. The story is very loose: about twenty minutes of this eighty-six minute movie are devoted to Speedy and his girl having fun at Coney Island, with little that happens in those twenty minutes contributing to the overall story in any big way, but it does not matter. The movie is more about clever sight gags, the energetic NYC atmosphere, and likable characters, which makes it a good film to relax with after a long day at work.