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'''The Fast and the Furious''' 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.

Contents

Plot

Cast

Impact

Box office

Reception

Video game

Featured cars

References

Plot

A gang of hijackers target trucks for their cargo of expensive electronic equipment. All the LAPD and the FBI have to go on is that the hijackers drove Sport Compact cars. Undercover cop Brian O'Conner (Paul Walker) attempts to find out who exactly is stealing the equipment by infiltrating the local racing community with the help of a local auto parts dealer. Brian suspects Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) is the leader of a street racing gang that are doing the hijacking, but his suspicions also target other gangs, most noteably Johnny Tran's (Rick Yune) gang.
After O'Conner loses his Mitsubishi Eclipse to Dominic in a race for "pink slips" and then loses it again when they are confronted by Tran, O'Conner tries to gain the trust of Toretto by working on repairing and upgrading a burned out Toyota Supra to hand over to him. While doing this, O'Conner is constantly pressured by his superiors to bring the investigation to a satisfactory close, leading him to face a stark choice between the community he has embedded himself into and the woman he has become close to Dominic's younger sister Mia (Jordana Brewster), or discarding his cover and discovering who from the street gangs is carrying out the hijackings.
According to interviews with director Rob Cohen, the plot serves as a vehicle to convey the street racing culture to mainstream audiences. The story follows the framework of a classic western: the "bad guys" in black Honda Civics hijack an 18-wheeler in the opening sequence. This is an allusion to western cinematography in which the "bad guys in black" hijack the proverbial stagecoach (the 18-wheeler). The scene concludes with a Civic brazenly ducking beneath the moving semi to avoid a collision with highway construction, which is a modern substitute for the chase concluding with a drop from a steep cliff.

Cast

★ Paul Walker - Brian O'Connor

★ Vin Diesel - Dominic Toretto

★ Michelle Rodriguez - Letty

★ Jordana Brewster - Mia Toretto

★ Rick Yune - Johnny Tran

★ Chad Lindberg - Jesse

★ Johnny Strong - Leon

★ Matt Schulze - Vincent

★ Ted Levine - Sgt. Tanner

★ Ja Rule - Edwin

★ Thom Barry - Agent Bilkins

★ Vyto Ruginis - Harry

Impact

Although met with mixed reviews, ''The Fast and the Furious'' is credited as the first cinematic insight into America's illegal sport compact racing community. Because of this novelty as well as a variety of groundbreaking race visuals and unprecedented engine sound fidelity, ''The Fast and the Furious'' became one of the most well-known movies around the turn of the millennium, and introduced modified Japanese compacts into American popular culture. It also features the performance largely responsible for Vin Diesel's launch into superstardom.

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.

Reception

Initially, media watchdog groups blamed the film for an increase in illegal street racing. 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 the precedents decades ago.
The movie became the stereotypical template blamed for flooding the streets with Rice burners, largely because of the "all show and no go" nature of the cars and the exaggeration of the effects of nitrous oxide. Some believe this has led to young adult viewers of the films, ignorant of the real nature of motor vehicle maintenance and tuning, modifying their cars with largely superficial modifications (such as body kits and ground effects, fluorescent lighting, and excessive aerodynamic wings) which would not positively affect racing performance due the added weight.
Early on, the script drew criticism from die hard tuner enthusiasts for a variety of reasons, mostly technical inaccuracies and for its use of the word "NAWWWS" (aka "NOS", Nitrous Oxide System) - a registered trademark of Holley Performance Products - to refer generically to various forms of nitrous oxide injection: in various scenes of the film, both Holley's NOS and Nitrous Express's NX systems are displayed prominently. This gaffe was corrected in the sequel, ''2 Fast 2 Furious'', wherein nitrous oxide injection systems were referred to by the more generic (and proper) designation "nitrous," a move which disappointed fans of the original movie who had become fond of the less generic (and proper) designation "NAWWWS."
The movie struck a chord with audiences despite mistakes and received good reviews from early audiences who found that although the cars and dialog weren't without flaws, the engine's sounds were faithfully reproduced. With the engine sound chord struck, the movie recouped all money invested.
The movie spawned video games, two sequels, and a top selling DVD, all with the faithful chord-striking engine sound. The branded franchise is estimated to be worth $500M to $1 billion dollars for Universal Pictures.
Universal underestimated the movie's ability to draw audiences, the resonance of the chord that was struck. In early testing, the movie scored so well with test audiences, particularly in the areas of engine sound, that a Super Bowl commercial was rushed to release. 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 wrap party was held in the grand ballroom of the Hotel Tropicalia, catered by area craft services firm "LA Snax".

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 Xtreme Racer Zero'' which is part of the influential long running Shutokou Battle series itself inspired by the ''Freeway Speedway'' 1980s movies.

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	Black	1970[4]	Dominic Toretto [5]	Wrecked after colliding with the front-end of a semi-truck while racing with Brian's Toyota Supra.
Mitsubishi Eclipse RS	Neon Green	1995	Brian O'Connor[6]	Shot at by Johnny Tran; destroyed after ruptured nitrous tanks explode; not 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	2000	Johnny Tran
Honda Civic	White	1992-1995	Danny Yamato
Mazda RX-7 FD3S	Red	1993	Domonic Toretto [7]	Stashed away in a parking garage. Last seen driven to Domonic's house to see the Dodge Charger in his garage.
Nissan Maxima	Blue	1995-1999	Vince
Nissan Skyline R33 GT-R	Yellow	1995	Leon
Toyota Supra (JZA80)	Orange	1993	Brian's second car[8]	Dom fled with it after crashing his Dodge Charger R/T and Brian handed his car keys to him.
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, not clear whether he lives or dies.
Acura Integra GS-R	Turquoise	1993	Mia Toretto
Ferrari F355 F1 Spyder	Black	1999	Neal Moritz - 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]
Chevrolet Chevelle SS	Red/Black Stripes	1970	Dominic Toretto	Shown at the end of the movie in when Dominic is in Baja, Mexico
Honda Civic	Gold	1992	Hector

References

1. http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=fastandfurious.htm
2. ''The Fast and The Furious'' arcade video game official website
3. Kris Palmer ''The Fast and the Furious The Official Car Guide'' Motorbooks
4. According to the book ''The Fast and the Furious The Official Car Guide,'' Pgs 26-27, the Charger combines parts from a 1970 and 1969 Dodge Charger, but for the sake of the film, it is officially listed in the book as a 1970s model. Both years share the bar tail-light across the back, while the 1970 model wears the chrome ring around its nose.
5. Kris Palmer ''The Fast and the Furious The Official Car Guide'' Pgs 26-27
6. Kris Palmer ''The Fast and the Furious The Official Car Guide'' Pgs 10-13
7. Kris Palmer ''The Fast and the Furious The Official Car Guide'' Pgs 14-17
8. Kris Palmer ''The Fast and the Furious The Official Car Guide'' Pgs 22-25
9. Kris Palmer ''The Fast and the Furious The Official Car Guide'' Pgs 18-21