The Fast and the Furious (2001 film)

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The Fast and the Furious
The Fast and The Furious poster
Directed by	Rob Cohen
Produced by	Neal H. Moritz
Written by	Ken Li (magazine article Racer X) Gary Scott Thompson Erik Bergquist David Ayer
Starring	Paul Walker Vin Diesel Michelle Rodriguez Jordana Brewster
Editing by	Peter Honess
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release date(s)	June 22, 2001 (U.S.)
Running time	102 min.
Language	English
Budget	$38,000,000 US
Gross revenue	US$ 207,283,925[1]
Followed by	2 Fast 2 Furious
IMDb profile

The Fast and the Furious (known as Wild Speed in Japan) is a 2001 car film starring Paul Walker and Vin Diesel, and directed by Rob Cohen. The Fast and the Furious was the first mainstream film to feature the Asian automotive import scene in North America. It is the first film in The Fast and the Furious film series and is not a remake of the 1955 film of the same name.

Contents 1 Plot 2 Cast 3 Box office 4 Reception 5 Video game 6 Featured cars 7 Sequels 8 References

[edit] Plot

The film begins as we see an elaborate truck hijacking involving three souped up Honda Civics and a semi carrying electronic equipment. One of the Honda's races in front of the truck, pops off its sunroof and launches a grappling hook of some kind into the truck's windshield. The windshield is pulled off and another hook is fired inside the cab where the hijackers climb inside and overtake the truck driver. The Hondas and the semi-truck drive off into the night.

In the next scene, located in the parking lot of Dodger Stadium, Brian is testing out his Mitsubishi Eclipse. He ends up almost crashing the car and is not happy with his practice racing performance due to not enough horsepower within the car. Brian drives off, clearly angry, with the Los Angeles skyline appearing behind the Eclipse and in the next scene Brian drives up in a red truck to Toretto's grocery store/small diner, owned by Dominic Toretto, head of the underground street racers. Brian has been coming to the place for weeks starting up a friendship and attraction to Dom's younger sister, Mia. Some of Dom's street racing team members, particularly Vince, don't like Brian coming around. The arrival of the team ends up in a street fight with Brian and Vince which with the persistence of Mia, Dom breaks it up then tells "Brian Earl Spilner", as he read from Brian's wallet, to never come around again. Then threatens to get Brian fired from his job at "Harry's" which is an auto shop which Dom owns.

Later that night the local street racers meet up in downtown LA where they check out each other's cars and decide on how much the bet is going to be and what the winner will get. Dom and his team show up ready to race as Brian puts himself in the race. And says if he loses the winner takes his car but if he wins he takes the money and respect. The racers head out to the street where they set up the race and once Leon, one of Dom's team members, sees his police scanners are clear the race begins. With Dom in the lead and Brian begins to make his way towards the lead. He pressed the NOS button finally passing Dom but at the last minute his computer warns him that his car is overheating of the exhaust manifold and it ends up burning out the engine before the finish line. Dom ends up winning the race and letting the Eclipse cool down but before he can take Brian's car the police show up breaking up the street racers. As Dom gets away and hides his red tuned car Mazda RX7 in a garage he's chased down by a police officer when Brian comes to get him at the right time. They out run the police and end up near Chinatown which is turf to Johnny Tran, another street racer who is enemies with Dom. Johnny Tran and his cousin Lance shoot up Brian's Eclipse leaving Dom and Brian to walk home. On the way Dom explains to Brian that Johnny's hate towards him stems from a deal gone wrong and a mistake of sleeping with Johnny's sister.

Dom invites Brian into his house for a drink where he confronts, Vince, on why he left him stranded back out on the street. Dom takes Vince's drink and gives it to Brian then soon leaves with his girlfriend and one of the team members, Letty. Before another fight can start with Vince and Brian, Mia, cuts in and takes Brian to go get her a drink then later brings him home. The next day Brian is driving to work when he gets pulled over by the police, hand cuffed, and taken to the FBI house where they're investigating the hijackings. and asks Brian "That was an $80,000 vehicle" his eclipse. The audience finds out Brian is actually an undercover cop, trying to get a detective badge, his real name being Brian O'Connor. He's been trying to get into Dom's circle for a while and the head FBI agent is getting frustrated. But with Brian's recent help to Dom he's welcomed into the team by everyone except for Vince.

With Brian owing Dom a "10 second car" he shows up at the team's garage with a beat up Toyota Supra. They decide to work on it and try to get Brian racing again so Dom can "make some money off his ass". A few days later when Hector, another street racer friends with Dom, comes to Brian in Harry's auto shop looking for auto parts for three Honda Civics, Brian gets suspicious and goes to investigate Hector's garage. When he goes there he's knocked out, after checking out Hector's cars, by Vince and taken to Dom. Vince is convinced Brian is a cop but Dom believes Brian when he tells him he's only checking out people's garage's so he won't lose another race. Brian, Dom, Vince, and the other team member Jesse go to Johnny Tran's garage to look at what cars they have. This is where Brian sees boxes of DVD players and electronics. Like the products being stolen off the hijacked semi-trucks. Before he can look further Tran and his gang come back threatening a man who didn't put there spoon engine's in their cars. They leave and Brian heads back to the FBI headquarters to tell them what he saw in Tran's garage.

After going on a date with Mia, Brian takes her back to his "room", which is in the back of Harry's shop, where he gets a call from the chief of police telling him that another hijacking had occurred and they're moving in on Tran. In the next scene a swat team enters Johnny Trans house arresting him and another team of officers arrest his cousin Lance. But later when Brian heads back to the headquarters where he finds out all the DVD players and equipment, in Tran's garage, were purchased legally. The chief tells Brian that it had also been Toretto behind the hijackings and he should learn to see passed Mia, who he has been falling in love with throughout the film.

The beat up Supra, Brian found and brought to the garage, is now fixed up and fully tuned with Brian driving and Dom in the passenger seat the test it out. They race an obnoxious guy with a Ferrari and beat him then have lunch at a small restaurant. Dom can sense Brian is ticked off about something and Brian catching on to something with his questions about where Dom gets the money to fix up all these cars and buy equipment for them. Saying that he wants in on it. Dom gives Brian directions to Race Wars or drag racing, where street racers race legally in the desert, to test out Brian's racing, obviously to try and make him part of the hijackings.

The beginning of Race Wars is when Brian gets there he sees Jesse racing his Volkswagen Jetta to Johnny Tran for slips and ends up losing because Johnny Tran has a Honda S2000 with 100 grand under the hood. Jesse drives off as Johnny pulls up towards Dom and his team asking where he's going. Then blames Dom for "narcing him out" and a fight ensues with Dom beating Johnny up. Later into the night Brian goes looking for Mia who's fighting with Dom telling him not to go out, obviously to hijack another truck. Brian confronts Mia about being an undercover cop, his feelings for her are real, and that he needs her help finding Dom and the rest of the team before every police force in LA comes down on them.

As Brian drives down the highway with Mia in the passenger side he calls in Dom's cell number to track him down. Miles away Dom, Vince, Leon, and Letty are ready to hijack another truck. Unknown to them the truck driver has a shotgun on him. Before Dom can tell Vince to get back in the car, after he sees the gun, Vince jumps onto the truck and ends up getting caught in the wire he'd shot into the truck window after the driver swerves on the road. Letty ends up crashing her car after trying to help, Leon pulls back to get her, and with a shot gun blast to Dom's car tires he stalls. But sees Brian come racing passed to the truck and get Vince off of it. With Mia turning to the drivers side Brian jumps to the truck untangling Vince and getting him off the truck before the driver can shoot at them again. They bring Vince off to the side of the road where Brian hesitates but makes a call to 911 informing them he's an off duty LA police officer. Dom hearing this looks at Brian his anger clearly rising but with Vince going into shock he goes back to his long time friend to help stop the bleeding. A helicopter comes to pick up Vince and Dom with Letty, Leon, and the hesitation of his sister Mia to stay with Brian or go with her brother leave the scene. Brian rushes back to Dom's place where Dom has his Dodge Charger parked in his driveway ready to go look for Jesse. With guns raised Brian approaches Dom suggesting he'll call in Jesse's plates so the cops will pick Jesse up before Johnny Tran gets to him.

Jesse pulls up to Dom's house where he tells him he's scared but Dom and Brian both see Johnny Tran and Lance on dirtbikes riding up the street with semi automatics where they shoot at all of them. Only hitting Jesse who is presumed dead. Brian chases after them and Dom follows. In the chase Lance is launched off the side of a cliff when Dom hits into him and Johnny Tran is killed when Brian shoots him down on an LA street.

Dom drives off after seeing Brian had killed Johnny and Brian shouting at someone to call 911 runs back to his car to follow Dom. Dom stops at a light where Brian pulls up next to him. Dom tells him he used to drag race during high school on the street to the train tracks and on green he was going for it. On green both Brian and Dom hit the gas and begin to race. As they get closer to the tracks a train can be heard approaching. Brian looks to Dom to see if he will let up but Dom accelerates as does Brian. A fault in the dodge chargers engine creates smoke from within. With the train inches from hitting them they drive over the tracks with no problem. But in an instant Dom hits the front of a semi truck and flips over Brian's car. He's mostly unharmed as Brian pulls him out of the car and cop sirens go off in the distance. They look at each other for a few moments before Brian gives him the keys to the Supra telling Dom he owes him a 10 second car and helping him to escape the police. Dom nods and walks towards the car and drives off. With the sirens getting closer Brian turns the other direction and walks off....

[edit] Cast

• Paul Walker - Brian O'Conner
• Vin Diesel - Dominic Toretto
• Michelle Rodriguez - Letty
• Jordana Brewster - Mia Toretto
• Rick Yune - Johnny Tran
• Chad Lindberg - Jesse
• Johnny Strong - Leon
• Matt Schulze - Vincent

[edit] Box office

The film was an unexpected summer hit. It grossed $40,089,015 on its opening weekend, surpassing the film's $38 million budget.^[1] It grossed a total of $144,533,925 on the domestic market, and $62,750,000 overseas, for a total of $207,283,925.

[edit] Reception

The Fast and the Furious was met with mixed reviews, and received particularly harsh criticism for what some felt was its derivative storyline, which shared many similarities with the 1991 film Point Break. Media watchdog groups blamed the film for an increase in illegal street racing^{[citation needed]}. Proponents of the film pointed out that it demonstrated both the thrills and dangers of drag racing, while still others note that movies like American Graffiti and Two-Lane Blacktop (from the 1970s) set precedents decades earlier.

The movie became the stereotypical template blamed for flooding the streets with rice burners, largely because of the flashy, decorative appearance of the cars in the film and the exaggeration of the effects of nitrous oxide.

Early on, the script drew criticism from die-hard tuner enthusiasts for its technical inaccuracies and for its use of the word "NOS" (Nitrous Oxide System, a registered trademark of Holley Performance Products) to refer generically to several forms of nitrous oxide injection: in the film, both Holley's NOS and Nitrous Express' NX systems are displayed prominently. This gaffe was corrected in the sequel, 2 Fast 2 Furious, wherein nitrous oxide injection systems were referred to as, simply, "nitrous."

The movie spawned video games, two sequels, and a top selling DVD. The branded franchise is estimated to be worth $500M to $1 billion dollars for Universal Pictures.^{[citation needed]}

At the time of the DVD release, it was one of the best selling DVDs of all time. The movie was filmed under the working-title "Redline" and it was not until months after wrapping was the title officially set.

The movie score was written and recorded by BT.

[edit] Video game

In Japan where the movie is known as Wild Speed, a self titled arcade video game was released by Taito in 2006.^[2] A trailer for the movie was included in the 2001 PlayStation 2 game Tokyo Extreme Racer Zero which is part of the influential long running Shutokou Battle series itself inspired by the Freeway Speedway 1980s movies.

[edit] Featured cars

Various modified and upgraded cars are featured in the movie, including the following:^[3]

Car	Color	Year	Driven by	Condition/Fate in Film
Dodge Charger (B-body)	Black	1970[4]	Dominic Toretto.[5]	Wrecked after colliding with the front-end of a semi-truck after narrowly missing a train; racing with Brian's Toyota Supra.
Chevrolet Chevelle SS	Red/Black Stripes	1970	Dominic Toretto	Shown at the end of the credits when Dominic is in Baja, Mexico
Mitsubishi Eclipse (Either RS)	Neon Green	1995	Brian O'Conner[6]	Shot at by Johnny Tran; destroyed after ruptured nitrous tanks explode; equipped with 4G63 motor
Honda Civic 2dr Coupe	Black (with green underglow)	1995	Dominic Toretto	Sustains critical engine damage from semi-trailer driver's shotgun blows.
Honda Civic 2dr Coupe	Black (with green underglow)	1995	Leon
Honda Civic 2dr Coupe	Black (with green underglow)	1995	Letty	Critical physical and cosmetic damage after being side-swiped by a semi-trailer
Honda S2000 (AP1)	Black (with Asian graphics)	2000	Johnny Tran
Ford xy gt	sliver	1971	Chad Bonnici
Mazda RX-7 FD3S	Red	1993	Dominic Toretto[7]	Stashed away in a parking garage. Last seen driven to Dominic's house to see the Dodge Charger in his garage and at racewars.
Nissan Maxima SE EX	Blue	1999	Vince	Seen in the beginning of the movie when they pull in and Vince askes Jesse about the Supercharger. Last seen doing a smoke show when Vince leaves in anger because Brian was at the team's cookout.
Nissan Skyline R33 GT-R	Yellow	1995	Leon
Toyota Supra (2JZ-GE)	Orange	1994	Brian's second car[8]	Dom fled with it after crashing his Dodge Charger R/T, Brian handed his car keys to him. In the movie Jesse referred to spending $10,000-$15,000 on this car. In reality there was over $150,000 dollars invested in the Supra.
Volkswagen Jetta (A3 Type 1H)	White	1995	Jesse	Shot at by Johnny Tran's gang in a drive-by at Toretto's home. Jesse is also shot during the incident.Unknown if Jesse dies or not
Acura Integra GS-R	Turquoise	1993	Mia Toretto
Ferrari F355 F1 Spyder	Black	1999	Neal Moritz (the film's producer)
Nissan 240SX (S14 Silvia) 2dr Coupe	Purple	1997	Letty
Ford F-150 SVT Lightning	Red	1999	Harry (Company car—driven by Brian)
Acura Integra	Red/Yellow	1996	Edwin[9]
Honda Civic	Gold	1992	Hector

[edit] Sequels

The film has spawned 3 sequels: 2 Fast 2 Furious, The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, and Fast and Furious. Paul Walker returned for the first sequel, teaming up with Tyrese Gibson, but sat out for the second. Lucas Black starred in the second sequel. The third sequel features Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Michelle Rodriguez, and Jordana Brewster reprising their roles from the first film.

[edit] References

v • d • e   The Fast and the Furious Films The Fast and the Furious (2001) · 2 Fast 2 Furious (2003) · Tokyo Drift (2006) · Fast and Furious (2009) Soundtracks The Fast and the Furious · 2 Fast 2 Furious · Tokyo Drift Video games The Fast and the Furious (arcade game) (2004) · The Fast and the Furious (video game) (2006) · Super Bikes (2006) · Drift (2007)