Jake Speed is a 1986 American action adventure comedy film directed by Andrew Lane, and written by Lane and Wayne Crawford, who also stars in the title role, alongside Dennis Christopher, Karen Kopins and John Hurt.
When a girl named Maureen is abducted in Paris, her grandfather has an idea: call for a man named Jake Speed to go and rescue her. There's just one problem: Jake Speed is a character in a series of 1940s-style pulp fiction novels. However, as it turns out, there is a Jake Speed (Crawford), as does his sidekick, Desmond "Des" Floyd (Christopher), as Maureen's sister Margaret (Kopins) finds out; the novels are based on Jake and Des's real-life adventures, and they work for nothing, seeing action and excitement (and another novel) as their reward.
Jake reveals that Maureen was kidnapped by white slavers, and is being held in an African country, so Jake, Des, and Margaret fly to the nation (which is in the middle of a civil war) to rescue her, where they discover that Jake's archenemy, Sid (Hurt), is behind the ring, and soon, Margaret is also captured by it.
This film features examples of:
- Affectionate Parody: Of 1940s-style pulp fiction stories, to the point the title character is believed to just be one... until it turns out he really does exist after all.
- Bond One-Liner: In a rare villain exaples, when his getaway car crashes, Sid shoots his own driver out of consternation after having previously bribed him with money, and has this to say to him:Sid: You're not getting rich.
- Direct Line to the Author: The film has the premise that pulp novel heroes like Mack Bolan (from The Executioner), Remo Williams (from The Destroyer), the title character of Doc Savage, and the eponymous Jake Speed are all real; it's the authors that are fictional. (They use the proceeds from the novels to fund their adventures.) The hero even has a ghostwriter for a sidekick.
- Disproportionate Retribution: When one of Sid's manservants does the unthinkable crime of interrupting him during the auction, Sid shoots the guy dead on the spot. He then threatens to shoot Maurice (his brother, mind you) when the latter chides him about getting blood in the carpet.
- Evil Brit: Sid is a consummate, self-proclaimed "bad guy", complete with a Cockney accent!
- Human Trafficking: Jake comes to the conclusion that Maureen was kidnapped by Sid to be sold to white slavers in an African country.
- I Have You Now, My Pretty: Sid gleefully threatens untoward designs toward Margaret after taking her hostage, even licking her, which creeps out even Jake.
- Motive Rant: Sid pulls out a pretty tragic one, even after his cartoonishly over-the-top villainy over the course of the film.Sid: I'm a bad guy. I lie. I cheat. I steal. I kill! I take great pride in having never lived up to anything!
- Real After All: When Maureen and Margaret's grandfather first suggests Jake Speed, the suggestion is brushed aside due to him being the character of a 1940s-style pulp fiction novel... until it turns out that he reall does exist after all; he just has his adventures turned into novels.
- Vanity License Plate: The license plate on the title character's weaponized Land Cruiser reads SPEED. As an added bonus, it's a New Hampshire plate, with that state's "Live Free or Die" motto emblazoned across the top.
