Harold Lloyd in "Speedy" (1928)

Everybody in New York City "is in such a hurry that they take Saturday's bath on Friday so they can do Monday's washing on Sunday". But in one slower-paced, "old-fashioned corner of the city", Pop Dillon (Burt Woodruff) owns and operates the city's last horse-drawn streetcar. His granddaughter Jane Dillon (Ann Christy) is in love with Harold "Speedy" Swift (Harold Lloyd).
Speedy, an avid New York Yankees fan, is working at a soda shop. As well as doing his work, he takes frequent telephone calls during Yankees games and passes the line scores on to the kitchen staff by arranging food items in a display case (such as doughnuts for zeroes). But he loses the job after he is ordered to deliver some flowers and lets someone close a car door on them when he gets distracted by a display of baseball scores in a shop window.
Streetcar magnate W.S. Wilton (Byron Douglas) comes to Pop's home to ask for his price to sell the car line, but Speedy spots a newspaper article and realizes that this is part of a plan to form a streetcar monopoly in the city. He surreptitiously raises Pop's written price from $10,000 to $70,000. Wilton angrily refuses and threatens to force Pop out instead.
Speedy is unworried about being unemployed; he is very much used to losing jobs and finding new ones. He and Jane go to Coney Island, where they greatly enjoy themselves despite various mishaps, such as Speedy ruining his suit jacket by leaning against wet paint. On the way home along with a stray dog that decided to follow them, Speedy proposes to Jane, but she will not marry him until her grandfather's affairs are settled.
Speedy is hired as a taxi driver, but for some time a series of mishaps prevents him from actually taking a passenger, and he antagonizes a policeman. Then, to his delight, Babe Ruth (playing himself) hails the cab to get to Yankee Stadium. Although terrified by Speedy's driving, he offers Speedy a ticket to the game; but the taxi owner is there, sees Speedy in the seats when he should be working, and fires him.
At the stadium, Speedy happens to overhear Wilton on the telephone. Wilton has learned that if Pop fails to operate the horsecar every 24 hours he will lose his right to the line, and orders goons to be sent to disrupt the operation. Speedy rushes home and arranges with small-business owners on the street to organize a defense. The goons are beaten off with the help of Speedy's dog, but return and steal the horse and car.
Again helped by his dog, Speedy finds out where the car has been taken and manages to steal it back. In a madcap chase scene, he brings it back across the city to Pop's tracks, stealing fresh horses, tricking police to avoid being stopped, and replacing a broken wheel with a manhole cover.
Wilton sees the horsecar in place, and agrees to meet Pop's price. Speedy says Pop is a bit deaf and won't hear him until he offers $100,000. Wilton agrees, and Speedy suggests to Jane that they plan a visit to Niagara Falls by horsecar.
A 1928 American black & white silent comedy film directed by Ted Wilde, produced by Harold Lloyd, written by Albert DeMond (titles), John Grey (story), J.A. Howe (story), Lex Neal (story) and Howard Emmett Rogers (story) with uncredited assistance from Al Boasberg and Paul Gerard Smith (dialogue sequences) starring Lloyd, Ann Christy, Bert Woodruff, Babe Ruth, Byron Douglas, Brooks Benedict, and King Tut the Dog.
Shot on location in New York City. The slums scenes, however, were built and shot on a backlot in Los Angeles. Lloyd was such a popular star at the time, the Coney Island scenes had to be filmed secretly, with the camera hidden from view, to avoid attracting mobs of adoring fans.
"Speedy" is Harold Lloyd's real-life nickname, given to him by his father. This was Lloyd's last silent film to be released theatrically, and the last silent film directed by Ted Wilde. Ruth's famous New York Yankee teammate, Lou Gehrig makes a cameo appearance walking by as Babe Ruth gets out of the cab. The director wanted to shoot footage of Babe Ruth actually hitting a home run during a game. They were prepared to film a few games, but Ruth hit a home run in the second inning of the first day of filming. Ruth and Gehrig's teammate, Bob Meusel, is also seen in the film batting after Ruth hits the home run at the game Harold attends. Meusel's at bat was not filmed for the movie but was taken from newsreel footage.
During the Coney Island magic mirror scene, Lloyd gives the middle finger to his reflection in the mirror. This obscene gesture was permitted by censors in motion pictures prior to the enforcement of the draconian Hayes Code in 1934. This was debatably the first depiction of "the finger" gesture on film.
The last horse-drawn trolley made its final trip on July 27, 1917 on the Bleecker Street & Fulton Ferry line.
One of only two films to ever receive an Oscar nomination for Best Directing of a Comedy Picture, and the only film to lose in this particular category.