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This article is about the 2001 film in the franchise. You may be looking for the The Fast and the Furious (disambiguation) page..

"If you have what it takes... you can have it ALL!"
―Tagline

The Fast and the Furious is a 2001 action film directed by Rob Cohen and starring Paul Walker, Jordana Brewster, Michelle Rodriguez, and Vin Diesel. The Fast and the Furious is first film in the The Fast and the Furious franchise, distributed by Universal Pictures. The film was released June 22, 2001 and grossed $207.3 million. In 2003, The Fast and the Furious was followed by the sequel 2 Fast 2 Furious.

Official Description

Brian O'Conner is an undercover Los Angeles cop who aspires to become a detective. When he is tasked to stop hijackers led by Dominic Toretto from stealing expensive electronics equipment off of trucks, Brian must choose between his obligation to the LAP and his friendship with Toretto after he becomes good friends with his family.
— Official Description

Plot

First Truck Hijacking

The Assault on the Rodgers Truck

The film opens at a dockyard where a container is loaded onto the trailer of a semi-truck. The truck then departs the dockyard and one of the dock workers makes a phone call to an anonymous party on the other end, informing them on how to identify the truck. After sunset, the truck is traveling down a highway when three identical black Honda Civic Coupes with green neon approach it rapidly from behind. As they get close to the truck, they go in an aggressive formation, one in front, one on the right and the third taking up the left. The leading Civic's sunroof opens and a hijacker with a motocross helmet emerges with a modified crossbow rigged with a grappling wire.

He fires through the left side of the truck's windshield and removes the pane of glass, then fires a second shot into the passenger seat, securing himself to the truck. He then leaps from the Civic to the semi and enters the cab where the truck driver tries to fight off the hijacker with a baseball bat. The hijacker then fires a tranquilizer dart into the driver's arm, subduing him and thus commandeering the truck.

Brian's Eclipse - Side View

O'Conner driving

The next day, Brian O'Conner is in the parking lot of Dodger Stadium with his Mitsubishi Eclipse performing a test run. He manages to run a test quarter-mile in which he reaches a maximum speed of 140mph and subsequently nearly loses control of his vehicle. Frustrated, he departs the stadium. Following his trial run, he visits Toretto's Market & Cafe in his work truck, a Ford F-150 SVT Lightning, and takes a seat at the counter inside and orders a tuna fish sandwich.

While his food is being prepared, he takes notice of Dominic Toretto in the back. As Brian eats his lunch, a team of import street racers arrive at the shop, all friends of Dominic and Mia's—the shop's proprietors. Vince is aggravated that Brian is still coming around the store and instigates a fight with Brian, which Dominic is forced to break up. Dominic warns Brian not to come around the store again and reprimands Vince for starting the fight.

Brian returns to his job at a local performance parts store, The Racer's Edge, where he also rents a room in the back. He tells his boss, Harry, that he needs a Nitrous system for his Eclipse and that he'll need it installed by that night. After sunset, a large group of street racers begins to form in a back alley with Brian eventually arriving. One of the legends, Hector, takes notice of Brian's car and approaches him, followed by Edwin.

Dominic and his team arrive and the festivities set to begin. Dominic organizes a single race for the evening with $2,000 buy-in to participate. Brian expresses that he does not have the cash to buy into the race but that he'll offer the pink slip to his Eclipse. After Jesse inspects Brian's car, the other participants agree to Brian taking part in the race and the alley empties as everyone leaves for the road.

Everyone arrives at a four lane road where Dominic, Brian, Edwin and a fourth racer line up side-by-side for a quarter mile winner-take-all event. Leon, one of Dominic's entourage, monitors the police scanner for any signs that their illegal activity has drawn the LAPD's attention. With the coast clear, Hector initiates the race. Brian begins with a rough start but eventually catches up with the pack.

Dom, Danny & Brian - Street Race

The Street Race Gathering

Halfway through the race, he engages his nitrous system and passes everyone except Dominic. Near the end of the race he engages the nitrous again, causing the floorboard to fall out but he manages to pass Dominic. Seeing Brian's Eclipse surpass him, Dominic engages his own hidden nitrous system on his Mazda RX-7 and soundly beats Brian as the race nears the finish line. The race then is finished and Dominic is acknowledged as the winner, mocking Brian in front of everyone for his amateur racing style. Leon then intercepts a dispatch for the LAPD to go after the street racers. Leon then informs Hector and the group disperses.

Dominic, his team and Brian manage to get away in time with Dominic stashing his RX-7 in a nearby parking garage and attempting to escape the rest of the way on foot. However, an LAPD patrol unit recognizes Dominic and commands him to stop. Dominic runs down an alley with the officer closing in, until Brian intercepts Dominic and orders him to get into his car after which he outruns the officer and whisks Dominic away to safety. However, due to excessive nitrous use, Brian's Eclipse suffers extensive damage to its intake manifold.

Soon after, a group of bikers appear and the leader (Johnny Tran) commands Brian and Dominic to follow them. The two then inadvertently end up in Little Saigon which is Tran's territory and are escorted to an abandoned parking lot. After they arrive at the lot, Brian and Dominic are confronted by Tran and his cousin Lance Nguyen, with Tran inquiring why Dominic had disregarded their truce to stay off each other's turf.

Dominic attributed the mishap to Brian, his "new mechanic," getting lost. After Tran and Lance admire Brian's car, their gang departs—with Tran and Lance immediately returning and opening fire with submachine guns, igniting the nitrous tanks, blowing up the vehicle. Brian and Dominic subsequently depart on foot. The two share a taxi back to Dominic's house where Brian says farewell to Dominic, but as Dom is about to step inside his house, where an after party is going on, he invites Brian to join it.

Brian is not well received by Dominic's team, with Vince asking Dom why he brought the "buster" to the party, and Dominic replying that it was the "buster" that kept him out of handcuffs. Dominic leaves up stairs with his girlfriend Letty, and tensions mount when Brian is left alone with Vince, Leon and Jesse. However, Mia interrupts and pulls Brian away from the trio to join her for a drink in the kitchen. She points out to Brian that her brother Dominic likes him and that it is unusual.

The following day, Brian is pulled over by an unmarked police car and "arrested." The car arrives at a residence where Brian is then removed from the car and his handcuffs are removed, revealing that his "arrest was a ruse" in case he was being watched, thus revealing that Brian is in fact an undercover police officer. The house he was brought to is, according to Sergeant Tanner, a former home of Elizabeth Taylor bought for her by Eddie Fisher in the 1950s, and has now been re-purposed for a base of operations by an LAPD/FBI task force. Brian is brought into deliver intelligence he had gathered to Tanner and Special Agent Bilkins of the FBI. He expresses that he doesn't have anything yet but that he needs more time, which Bilkins informs him that they're in short supply of.

The next day, Brian returns to Dominic's shop with a tow truck dropping off a totaled Toyota Supra. Dominic and his team laugh at the car, failing to recognize its potential until Dominic pops the hood and notices that most of the parts under the hood are in good shape. Brian, Dominic and his team set to work restoring the vehicle and preparing it for Race Wars, a large-scale legal street racing event where Dominic expects Brian to repay the debt from the original race.

In the meantime, Brian and Mia form a closer bond until it culminates in Mia asking Brian out to upset Vince and her own interest. Prior to the date, Dominic takes Brian aside and drives him to his house where he reveals in the garage a pristine 1970 Dodge Charger R/T. Dominic educates Brian on the cars back story, saying that his dad used to race and that it was a source of father-son bonding for them.

However one day a driver named Kenny Linder had clipped his father's bumper during a race and caused his dad to crash into a wall at 120mph, which caused the fuel tanks to rupture and his father to burn to death. Dominic says the next time he saw Linder he had a wrench in his hand and he hit him once, he continued to hit him until he couldn't lift his arms when he was done. Dominic was subsequently banned for life from the race tracks and Linder could never drive again.

That night, Brian and Mia go out on their date and discuss themselves, Dominic and the team. In the middle of the date, Mia offers to take Brian for a drive. She amazes him with her excellent driving skills, and they take a late night drive to the beach. Brian is now even more infatuated with Mia, but as he is with her later that night, Sgt. Tanner covertly contacts Brian by phone to inform him that the truck hijackers had struck again, and that Bilkins had made a decision to move on Johnny Tran and his crew as they are the most obvious and likely possible suspects in the investigation. Brian suspects Tran may very well be the culprit, and he gives his consent and hangs up.

The next day, the LAPD and FBI simultaneously serve arrest warrants on Tran, Lance and the rest of his crew for the hijackings of the semi-trucks. However, after the arrest, it was proved that Tran and his crew were not the perpetrators of the crime, as all of the electronic equipment they had was purchased legally. This result led to the conclusion by Bilkins, Tanner and Brian that the perpetrator is in fact Dominic and his crew.

Following the bust on Tran, Brian and Dominic are set to test the newly completed Supra. They take it down the Pacific Coast Highway where they race it against a Ferrari F355 Spyder, the Supra soundly beating it. Immediately after the race, Brian pulls into the parking lot of a crab shack on the beach where he and Dominic eat lunch and discuss business. Brian, with time against him now, becomes more aggressive towards Dominic, inquiring as to how Dom makes all of his money—because he surely does not earn it all from selling groceries and doing tune-ups. Dominic glances at Brian and then hands him a slip of paper with directions on it to Race Wars, informing him that they'll talk afterwards.

At Race Wars, Brian arrives with the team already there. After being there only a short time, he finds Jesse about to race Tran for pink slips, despite Jesse's Volkswagen Jetta being severely outmatched by Tran's Honda S2000. Jesse engages Tran anyway, with his amateur status becoming evident when he engages his nitrous system prematurely. Thinking he has the lead he let his guard down, when Johnny engages his nitrous and viciously pulls past Jesse for the win.

In a state of panic, Jesse promptly departs from Race Wars. Tran drives up to where Dominic and his team are hanging out, and provokes Dom by demanding that he “fetch” his car from Jesse. Dominic denies the provocation initially, until Tran informs hims about the police raid and then accuses him of being the snitch that caused it. Dominic whirls around and punches Tran in the jaw, knocking him down, then climbs on top of him and repeatedly beats the biker until he is pulled off by two Race Wars security officers.

Later, that night, Brian goes looking for Mia and peeks through the window in her trailer to see her arguing outside with Dominic. Following the argument, Dom and the team depart and Mia returns upset. Brian aggressively inquires why she is upset and where the team is going until he reveals to her that he is a cop and that Dominic and the team could be in trouble, hoping to convince her to help.

Brian and Mia leave Race Wars in his Supra in pursuit of the team. Brian calls a police operator identifying himself as an officer and asks for assistance tracing Dominic's cell phone in hopes of intercepting them before they hijack another truck. The team arrives to a remote site outside of Thermal, California, where the Honda Civic's were being stashed and prepares them for the job. They depart the site and head down a small two-lane highway after a semi-truck.

The team takes up the same formation as in the beginning of the film, only this time after Vince leaps onto the truck, he is met with multiple shotgun blasts in his direction by the truck driver. The team tries to improvise a rescue but to no avail and after multiple attempts, Vince winds up tangled in his own grappling wire on the side of the truck pinned against an exhaust pipe.

The truck driver manages to disable both Letty and Dominic's cars, with seemingly no hope for Vince, Brian arrives on the scene with Mia and they perform a daring rescue as the truck driver reloaded his shotgun—Brian narrowly missing being shot in the head. After Leon retrieved Letty and then Dominic, the three catch up with Brian and Mia who have taken Vince out of the car and out into the field as they try to dress his wounds.

Forced with an unappealing ultimatum, Brian blows his cover open in Dominic's presence by calling for an medivac to save Vince's life. Dominic is enraged at Brian's deception, but before he can respond, he returns to the car with Mia and the four depart back to the city as the paramedics loads Vince into a helicopter.

Brian returns soon after to confront Dominic, just as the street racer is leaving to track down Jesse. Dominic is armed with a shotgun and Brian tries to order him to drop the weapon. Mia attempts to interfere, but Dominic tells her to avoid into the argument. As Brian and Dominic are arguing, Jesse returns to Dom's house, apologizing profusely for his mistakes. As Jesse explains the situation, Brian and Dominic both hear dirt bikes approaching in the distance and then see Tran and Lance rapidly approaching with suppressed submachine guns. They open fire in a drive-by-shooting on Dominic's house, narrowly missing Dom but killing Jesse.

Brian fires off a couple of rounds on the two bikers, then jumps in the Supra and races after them while Mia and Dominic mourns over Jesse's dead body. In a fit of rage, Dominic gets into the Dodge Charger and pursues Tran and Lance as well. Brian stays close behind Tran and Lance, until Lance maneuvers himself behind Brian hoping for a kill shot.

Just in time, Dominic emerges in the Charger, swinging the rear-right quarter panel around causing Lance to collide and launch off a steep incline on the side of the road, his impact effectively and fatally injuring him. Brian stays in hot pursuit of Tran until they reach and overpass where Brian swings his car around and opens fire on Tran, striking him twice in the left side of the rib, causing him to tip over and collide into a curb and crash, killing him.

As Brian checks Tran's body, he sees Dominic waiting for him at the top of the hill. Brian yells to someone to call 911 and rushes to his car and chases after Dominic where he finds him at a red light. As Brian pulls up, Dominic tells Brian that he used to race at the spot during high school, and that the railroad crossing ahead of them marks a quarter mile from where they are at the traffic light. When the light turned green, Dominic launched off the line, causing the Charger to wheelie for several feet before setting down on the ground. Brian barely managed to keep up with the Charger's raw power; however after engaging his nitrous he closed the gap between them. The railroad crossing guards descended as a train was on approach, yet the two continues their race—now racing against a train.

Brian engaged a second shot of nitrous to keep up with the Charger and hopefully beat the train. The race edged closer until the two launched across the railroad tracks, narrowly missing the train. With the race seemingly over, the two breathed a sigh of relief. Dominic looked ahead only to see a semi-truck starting to pull out from a side street, causing his Charger to launch off of the front end and barrel roll over Brian's Supra, crashing on the street in front of Brian and flipping multiple times before coming to a rest. Brian slammed the brakes and ran to Dominic's side, with Dominic informing Brian that "that's not what he had in mind" for a race. Fortunately the Charger's roll cage had spared him worse injury. Dominic crawled out of the Chargers wreckage, with emergency services and police approaching the scene of the crash. Brian looked at Dominic with a sense of understanding and offered up the keys to the Supra acknowledging that he owed Dominic a ten-second-car from the first race. Dominic nodded and took the Supra keys, departing before the police could reach them, Brian turned to face the oncoming LAPD.

Following the end credits, a bright sun is shining over a bright blue ocean. Dominic is shown in Baja, Mexico driving a 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle SS, repeating the famous line from earlier in the movie."I live my life a quarter mile at a time. For those ten seconds or less, I'm free..." Dominic then drives into the sunset.

Alternate Ending

An alternate ending, named "More than Furious" was released on the Blu-Ray bundle for all five movies from 'The Fast and the Furious' to 'Fast Five'.

In the ending, Brian had resigned from the LAPD, then Tanner drops him off at the empty house in Echo Park. Brian goes to the garage to see Mia packing up, informing him that she's moving away. Brian then tells her about his resignation from LAPD and that he wants another chance. Mia says it won't be that easy, to which Brian remarks: "I've got time."

Cast

Principal Cast

Supporting Cast

Cameo Cast

Events

Featured Vehicles

The following list of major vehicles used in "The Fast and the Furious"
Name Model Year Driver Status
1994 Acura Integra GS-R DB8 1994 Mia Toretto Active
1996 Acura Integra GS-R DC2 1996 Edwin
1970 Chevrolet Chevelle SS 1970 Dominic Toretto
1970 Dodge Charger R/T Damaged
Ferrari F355 Spider 1995 Unknown Active
1992 Ford Crown Victoria 1992 Tanner
Ford F-150 SVT Lightning 1999 Brian O'Conner
1998 Honda CBR 600 F3 1998 Johnny Tran
1997 Honda CBR 900 RR Fireblade 1997
1993 Honda Civic Coupé EJ 1993 Street Racer
1993 Honda Civic Coupé EJ1 Letty Ortiz Destroyed
Dominic Toretto
Leon
1996 Honda CR 125 1996 Lance Damaged
2000 Honda S2000 AP1 2000 Johnny Tran Active
Kawasaki KLR 650 2001 Damaged
1993 Mazda RX-7 FD 1993 Dominic Toretto Active
1995 Mitsubishi Eclipse RS 1995 Brian O'Conner Destroyed
1997 Nissan 240SX S14 1997 Letty Active
1999 Nissan Maxima (A32) 1999 Vince
1995 Nissan Skyline GT-R R33 1995 Leon
1994 Toyota Supra MK IV JZA80 Brian O'Conner
Dominic Toretto
1995 Volkswagen Jetta Jesse Damaged

Featured Locations

Production

In early 2000, after filming on The Skulls finished, Paul Walker was approached by the movie's director Rob Cohen and producer Neal H. Moritz, who asked him what he wanted to do next. Walker said he wanted to do a mash-up of "Days of Thunder" and "Donnie Brasco" where he would play both a police officer and a race car driver, so Cohen and Moritz showed him a Vibe magazine article about illegal street racing in New York City. The producers decided to give Walker a strong co-star.[1] Originally, Universal agreed to green-light the movie if the producers could get Timothy Olyphant to play the role of Dominic Toretto. However, Olyphant refused, leading to Vin Diesel being cast instead.[2]

The original screenplay for the movie, titled "Racer X", was written on January 7, 2000. Another screenplay was written by Gary Scott Thompson on April 20, 2000, by then the working title had changed to "Redline".

The title rights (but not the story rights) of the 1955 film The Fast and the Furious were purchased so that the title could be used on this project, another film about racing. According to an interview found on the original DVD release, Cohen was inspired to make this film after reading a Vibe magazine article about street racing in New York City and watching an actual illegal street race at night in Los Angeles.

The film was shot in various locations within Los Angeles and parts of Southern California. Key locations included Dodger Stadium (on the opening scene where Brian tests his Eclipse on the parking lot), Angelino Heights, Silver Lake and Echo Park (the neighborhoods around Toretto's home), as well as Little Saigon (where Tran destroys the Eclipse) and the San Bernardino International Airport (the venue for Race Wars, which attracted over 1,500 import car owners and enthusiasts). The entire last rig heist scene was filmed along Domenigoni Parkway on the South side of San Jacinto/Hemet in the San Jacinto Valley in California near Diamond Valley Lake.

Prior to filming, both Jordana Brewster and Michelle Rodriguez did not have driver's licenses, so they took driving lessons during production. In one scene at Toretto's home, the gang is seen watching Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story, another film directed by Cohen. For the climactic race scene between Brian and Toretto, separate shots of both cars crossing the railroad and the train crossing the street were filmed, then composited together to give the illusion of the train narrowly missing the cars. A long steel rod was used as a ramp for Toretto's car to crash through the semi-truck and fly in mid-air.

Rejected cars

In an interview with technical advisor Craig Lieberman, he said the cars chosen for the movie had to fit the character, be suitable for action sequences and fit into $2 million car budget, and for one character, four identical cars were required. Only cars that were easily available in the United States in 2000 were allowed, and since the movie was to focus on tuner cars, only one commonly known European car was to be featured.

Right-hand drive cars were ruled out, because using them would have required shipping over three more from Japan, and purchasing body kits and wheels, which would have caused time and budget constraints, and it was thought RHD cars would confuse audiences.

British (Aston Martin and Jaguar) and Italian (Ferrari, Lamborghini) brands, also Mercedes-Benz were ruled out because of cost constraints and not seen as fitting into street racing scene - "back in 2000, not too many teenagers were bringing modded Benzes to the street races and Dom's crew wasn't rich". This was also reflected in the original script, where after Brian's first car (Eclipse in the movie) is destroyed, Tanner offers him a Porsche from the Wilshire Official Police Garage, which Brian rejects because the "Race Wars is about tuner power". Other Italian brands like Fiat and Alfa Romeo were ruled out since they were not sold in the US at the time.

Korean cars, like Hyundai and Kia were rejected outright because they were regarded as economy cars with an extremely poor quality, and not held in high regard in the tuner market with a lack of bodykits and power mods.

Volkswagen Beetle, BMW Z3 and Mazda Miata were rejected because they were considered "unmanly". Originally, Miata was one of the cars considered for Johnny Tran. Another reason for rejecting the Z3 was it being a convertible, which would have made it harder to hide the stunt driver's face. For that reason, Tran's S2000 is always seen with the top up.

Domestic sport compact cars (Chevrolet Cavalier, Pontiac Sunfire, Saturn, Ford Focus) were rejected because they were not popular with tuner culture and were not seen as exciting for audiences, more seen as "cars one can rent from the airport".

Mazda 323 and 626 were rejected because of a lack of cosmetic and performance modifications, and their unpopularity with the street racing scene.

Opel Speedster/Vauxhall VX220 were rejected because of the design and lack of aftermarket modifications, and not being available in the US. However, they still sat in the Picture Car Warehouse.

Brian's car would have required a one-piece targa roof, since the scene at the last truck heist where he ejects Supra's roof was included in the script from the beginning. That ruled out Nissan 300ZX, which features a two-piece roof, and Mitsubishi 3000GT would have been considered, but the examples shown failed to impress the production team.

Dom's car was intended to be Mazda RX-7 from the beginning. However, the roll cage had to be removed because Vin Diesel could not fit in the car.

Jesse was originally supposed to drive a BMW E36 M3 or Audi A4/S4 to highlight his "techie guy" status, but the examples shown failed to impress Rob Cohen.

Originally, Vince's car was to be a Toyota MR2 (SW20), however, Matt Schulze couldn't fit in the car, nor into a Honda Civic or Honda Prelude. A Lexus GS (S140 or S160) was also suggested, but failed to impress Rob Cohen. This led to Lieberman's Maxima being rented.

After the MR2 was seen as a bad fit for Vince, it was then considered for Letty. However, the 240SX was selected instead because it was easier to mount cameras and lights to it than to the MR2.

Leon was intended to drive a "hardcore project car", such as Toyota AE86, or a Toyota Celica. However, where one wasn't found, a white Nissan Skyline R33 GT-R was rented from MotoRex through Sean Morris, then painted yellow and decals added. No stunt cars or clones of it were built.

With Mia being a nursing student (art student in the original script), her car was to be more toned down, for that reason, in the original script, she was to drive a Honda Accord.

Johnny Tran was also to originally drive a Mustang, but since it was not popular with the tuner crowd, it was rejected. Since "bad guys" had to have black cars, the black S2000, which belonged to the movie's co-technical advisor R.J. de Vera, was rented. No stunt cars were built.

Hector's Honda Civic and Edwin's Acura Integra, were were simple rentals with no changes made, no clones or stunt cars of them were built. Danny Yamato's Civic was one of the extra Civics delegated for the heist sequences with visual modifications added, and no clones or stunt cars were built.[3][4]

Marketing

Originally, Universal Pictures' intention was to release The Fast and the Furious during the Spring of 2001. Peter Adee, former head of marketing for Universal Pictures explained, that the film was not produced with "a great deal of money", but when the film was screen-tested in Sacramento, "the audience loved it".[5]

The positive response from the audience convinced Universal to change the release date of the film to Summer. Competition against other majors Summer releases (chief among them, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, Swordfish and Dr. Dolittle 2), Universal increased the marketing campaign of the film significantly. The decision garnered The Fast and the Furious the initial global box office gross of $175 million, which was considered impressive because the film lacked major star power.[5]

Music

Various Artists Soundtrack

Two Various Artists soundtracks were released for The Fast and the Furious. The first soundtrack featured a predominant hip-hop and rap selection, and included the film's theme "Furious" performed by Ja Rule. The second soundtrack, titled More Fast and Furious, featured alternative metal, post-grunge and nu metal songs.

At the time of it's release, More Fast and Furious was criticized by listeners for its use of copy-protection software, which rendered it unplayable not only on computers with CD-ROM drives, but also on regular CD players and other CD-based devices.[6]

Music Videos

Original Score

The score for The Fast and the Furious was composed by music producer Brian Wayne Transeau, better known under his stage name "BT". BT composed the score, blending electronica and hip-hop with industrial influences.

Home Video Release

The Fast and the Furious was released on DVD on January 2, 2002. A second print known as the "Tricked Out Edition", released on June 3, 2003, featured Turbo-Charged Prelude, a short film that set the tone to the film's sequel. An abridged version of the short film is also on the DVD of that sequel.

The film was released on HD DVD along with 2 Fast 2 Furious on September 26, 2006, along with The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift on DVD, and on Blu-ray disc on July 28, 2009 along with Fast & Furious on DVD and Blu-ray.

Merchandising

Racing Champions released diecast metal replicas of the film's cars in different scales from 1/18 to 1/64.[7] RadioShack sold ZipZaps micro RC versions of the cars in 2002.[8] 1/24 scale plastic model kits of the hero cars were manufactured by AMT Ertl.[9][10]

Re-Release

May 25, 2016, the official YouTube page for the Fast & Furious franchise uploaded a teaser trailer announcing the re-release of The Fast and the Furious, to commemorate the film's fifteenth anniversary release on June 22, 2016.[11] Following the trailer's release, a revamped version of the original poster was released to the press and featured in an Entertainment Weekly exclusive interview with Vin Diesel.[12]

Critical Reception

The Fast and the Furious was released on June 22, 2001 in North America and ranked #1 at the box office, earning $40,089,015 during its opening weekend. Its widest release was 2,889 theaters. During its run, the film has made a domestic total of $144,533,925 along with a foreign total of $62,750,000 bringing its worldwide total of $207,283,925 on a budget of $38 million, making it a financial success.

The Fast and The Furious received generally mixed reviews from critics, earning a score of 53% based on 146 reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, as well as a metascore of 58 on Metacritic from 29 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews. Todd McCarthy of Variety called the film "a gritty and gratifying cheap thrill, Rob Cohen's high-octane hot-car meller is a true rarity these days, a really good exploitationer, the sort of thing that would rule at drive-ins if they still existed."

Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times called it "an action picture that's surprising in the complexity of its key characters and portents of tragedy." Vin Diesel's portrayal of Dominic Torretto won praise In particular with Reece Pendleton of the Chicago Reader writing "Diesel carries the movie with his unsettling mix of Zen-like tranquility and barely controlled rage."

Other reviews were more mixed. Susan Wloszczyna of USA Today gave the film 2 out of 4 stars, saying that Cohen "at least knows how to keep matters moving and the action sequences exciting." Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly gave the film a C, saying it "works hard to be exciting, but the movie scarcely lives up to its title." Rita Kempley of The Washington Post gave the film a scathing review, calling it "Rebel Without a Cause without a cause. The Young and the Restless with gas fumes. The Quick and the Dead with skid marks." Paul Clinton of CNN wrote that Cohen "created a high-octane, rubber-burning extravaganza" but he criticized the film for "plot holes you could drive the proverbial truck through" and an idiotic ending.

Differences from the Screenplay

Main article: The Fast and the Furious (Screenplay)

Sequel

Main article: 2 Fast 2 Furious

Trivia

  • The Volkswagon Jetta driven by the character Jesse was later bought by Malcolm in the Middle-star Frankie Muniz.[13]
  • To makes cars stand out in the film, director Rob Cohen asked that the owners of the houses in Los Angeles suburbs visible in race sequences to paint in muted colors.[13]
  • The 1970 Dodge Charger R/T driven by Vin Diesel is the same model used in The Dukes of Hazzard, the General Lee.[13]
  • Despite the popularity of The Fast of the Furious, video games for the film or the franchise, in general, were not produced until 2004 (The Fast and the Furious) and 2006 (also named The Fast and the Furious) for American and Japanese arcades by Raw Thrills and for the Playstation 2 and the Playstation Portable by Eutechnyx. In 2015, Playground Games developed a Furious 7 themed Expansion Pack for Forza Horizon 2. Cars from the films also appear as downloadable content in Forza Motorsport 6 and Forza Motorsport 7. Originally, a Fast and the Furious game was going to be released in 2003 by Genki, which would be open world and have street racing, but was canceled for unknown reasons, presumably due to the graphics.
  • The Fast and the Furious is often credited for popularizing import tuner culture that later influenced established Racing games like Electronic Arts's Need For Speed and Midnight Club, and television series' like McG's Fast Lane and the 2004 film Torque (produced by Neal H. Moritz).
  • The movie has cameo appearances by real people. R.J. de Vera, a journalist who was later hired as a consultant to work for the franchise, portrays Danny Yamato, one of the street racers who take on Brian and Dom. Ja Rule, a rapper who did the song Furious (originally F*ck You), portrayed Edwin, another street racer who also took on Brian and Dom. Producer Rob Cohen makes a cameo as a pizza delivery man who is forbidden entry at the street race. Director Neal H. Moritz also makes an appearance as a driver of a Ferrari F355 Spider who is given a challenge by Brian and Dominic.
  • Prior to the street race, one of the racers is shown playing Gran Turismo on his Playstation hooked up on a Honda Civic, driving a Mitsubishi GTO 3000GT on the game and crashing it just as the race was about to start. Gran Turismo was a popular racing game for the Playstation, which was critically successful and spawned sequels for its successors. In the same year, the Playstation 2 was released and Gran Turismo 3 was released for the console.
    • The game is also shown at a party inside 1327, where it is paused.
    • Chad Lindberg and Johnny Strong were both born on November 1, 1976 which means that they were born on the same day.

Gallery

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The Fast and the Furious Wiki has a collection of images and media related to The Fast and the Furious (film).

References

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