Ben Aronoff was the son of an immigrant from Sheepshead Bay. He attended school at Brooklyn College and worked briefly as a gym teacher. He had a run of commercial success in a New Jersey construction company, before going bust and trying to make a fresh start in Miami. It was in Florida that he discovered his true passion in speed boat racing. This film is a chronicle of a kid with a dream, the joy he found in building and racing boats, and his fall from grace when his life become enmeshed in the world of crime.
The film was based on the true story of Don Aronow, whose name has been slightly changed in the screenplay. John Travolta makes the film worth a view for his portrait of the likable yet gullible addict to boat racing, power, money, and women. While the production values were good, especially the boat racing sequences, the film artists failed to age Travolta properly. The action of the film extended from the mid-1960s to the late 1980s, yet Travolta looked the same age throughout the film. The same problem persisted for the treatment of the character of Meyer Lansky, who died at age 81, yet never appeared to be more than 50 in the film.
Ben Aronoff is described in the film as contractor, entrepreneur, husband, and father. As portrayed by Travolta, he had an insatiable appetite for the thrills involved in high-speed boat racing. Unfortunately, the film never made it clear why Aronoff would ever get himself involved with Meyer Lansky and other figures of organized crime. He was not personally involved in drug trafficking, and any criminal activity appears to be the result of coercion by thugs from the underworld. In one land transaction, he was beaten up and held at gunpoint to sign the deed. He should have been working with the authorities during their investigation of Lansky and his shady nephew, Robbie Reemer.
Aronoff had skills as an inventor in his dynamic boat designs that even appealed to George H. W. Bush, who apparently was involved in boat transactions with Aronoff's sleek racing boat called the "Cigarette." Bush '41 had a long history with boats that may have gone back to the 1950s and '60s fifties in his stewardship of the Zapata Off-Short Company. Russ Baker's book "Family of Secrets" demonstrates how the story of "Pappy" Bush ties directly into the themes of this film, plus the arcane world of American intelligence.
"Speed Kills" is a genuinely American story, one of rise-and-fall of a hustler and the ultimate tragedy of an energetic man in pursuit of the American Dream.
The film was based on the true story of Don Aronow, whose name has been slightly changed in the screenplay. John Travolta makes the film worth a view for his portrait of the likable yet gullible addict to boat racing, power, money, and women. While the production values were good, especially the boat racing sequences, the film artists failed to age Travolta properly. The action of the film extended from the mid-1960s to the late 1980s, yet Travolta looked the same age throughout the film. The same problem persisted for the treatment of the character of Meyer Lansky, who died at age 81, yet never appeared to be more than 50 in the film.
Ben Aronoff is described in the film as contractor, entrepreneur, husband, and father. As portrayed by Travolta, he had an insatiable appetite for the thrills involved in high-speed boat racing. Unfortunately, the film never made it clear why Aronoff would ever get himself involved with Meyer Lansky and other figures of organized crime. He was not personally involved in drug trafficking, and any criminal activity appears to be the result of coercion by thugs from the underworld. In one land transaction, he was beaten up and held at gunpoint to sign the deed. He should have been working with the authorities during their investigation of Lansky and his shady nephew, Robbie Reemer.
Aronoff had skills as an inventor in his dynamic boat designs that even appealed to George H. W. Bush, who apparently was involved in boat transactions with Aronoff's sleek racing boat called the "Cigarette." Bush '41 had a long history with boats that may have gone back to the 1950s and '60s fifties in his stewardship of the Zapata Off-Short Company. Russ Baker's book "Family of Secrets" demonstrates how the story of "Pappy" Bush ties directly into the themes of this film, plus the arcane world of American intelligence.
"Speed Kills" is a genuinely American story, one of rise-and-fall of a hustler and the ultimate tragedy of an energetic man in pursuit of the American Dream.