The 2018 action-drama film “Speed Kills” follows Ben Aronoff, a prolific speedboat designer and businessman ( John Travolta), as he builds his empire in the beautiful city of Miami in Florida.
He tries to win over the next several decades. He is larger than life speedboat mogul who wins many famous boat races in boats of his own design. He also becomes a familiar face to the wealthy and powerful of Florida.
Aronoff’s boats attract the attention of drug smugglers, and he soon finds himself on their dark web. He is constantly in danger, even as he tries to resist his criminal tormentors. With its multi-decade storyline, the story seems almost biographical. Let’s see if the main character in Speed Kills is based on an actual person.
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Does a Real Racer inspire Ben Aronoff?
It turns out that Speed Kills is based on Donald Joel Aronow, who was a larger-than-life boat builder and racer who founded Magnum Marine in Florida in 1966. The company’s high-speed boats, which he raced often, won an amazing number of races. The Cigarette and Formula speedboats were some of his most popular models.
Aronow’s boats won a staggering 350 offshore races. The film also shows that the boat builder won many championships. He was the winner of two world championships as well as a three-time US off-road racing champion. He also had to deal with drug traffickers who reportedly used fast boats to smuggle drugs. Aronow, who was 59 years old, was shot and killed by an assailant on February 3, 1987. He was driving up to his Mercedes white sedan. Aronow was walking from his USA Racing office at 188th Street in Miami when the incident occurred in the middle of the street.
The assailant escaped at the time and shot the boat builder three times. It is interesting to note that it took years for Aronow’s killers to be found. The mysterious central character of Speed Kills is a true inspiration. How much of the movie is true to the story of Don Aronow’s life? Let’s take another look.
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Is Speed Kills a true story?
Speed Kills largely inspired by the life of Aronow, with some minor embellishments to his name and changes to many details. Based on Arthur J. Harris’ book of the identical name, the script follows the same story and explores the events leading to Aronow’s death. The script changes minor details such as character names (Aronow’s widow was actually Lillian), but it remains true to the names of the iconic boats, and the race wins they won. Aronow’s most well-known boat model, the Cigarette, is prominently featured in the film.
The screen adaptation leaves the murder of the central character and the people responsible relatively unaffected. The movie focuses on Aronow’s life in Miami from the time he entered the speedboat building industry to his death. The movie doesn’t reveal details about the real-life relationship between Benjamin Barry Kramer and the boat builder, although he is shown to have been involved in criminal affairs. The script does not include the six years spent by the authorities searching for the murderer.
The truth is that the Miami-Dade Police tracked down Aronow’s murderer for six years before finding Robert’ Bobby” Young guilty of the crime. Further, it was discovered that Kramer had paid $60,000 to Young for the murder. Both men were in prison for multiple offences, including drug trafficking and gun possession. However, there is still speculation about the motive for Aronow’s death, which could be attributed to a bad deal.
Speed Kills is a film that was undoubtedly inspired by a true story but only touched on a small portion of the real-life events. The film portrays the public persona of Don Aronow through its protagonist Ben Aronoff. It doesn’t go into details about his business or the intricate details of his murder.
