Nappaland Screen Gem

The Fast and the Furious
by Amy Nappa

“I live my life a quarter mile at a time.” - Dominic Toretto

Rewind

The Story: An undercover cop—Brian O’Conner—infiltrates a street-racing gang to find out who’s behind a series of high-speed highway hijackings. Meanwhile, some truckers have decided to take matters into their own hands…

Play

The road is a lonely place, especially if you earn a living as an over-the-road trucker. If that’s the case, you might find yourself in a place like this unlucky driver, rumbling through the desert in the early hours of the morning, nothing but road behind you and miles of empty freeway ahead.

Or is it empty?

Seemingly from out of nowhere, three sleek, black, souped-up Honda Civics appear. Speeding along effortlessly, they quickly over take the lone truck on the freeway. Two cars flank the defenseless semi-trailer rig. The third, piloted by gang leader Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel), pulls in front of the surprised trucker, preparing to attack.

Without warning, a helmeted rider—a gang member named Vince (portrayed by Matt Schulze)—pops open the sunroof and turns to face the truck.

He’s holding a high-powered rocket launcher.

With a calm, steely eye, the man fires a metal claw directly into the cab of the semi-trailer truck! The small missile, attached to a cable, blasts into the windshield and takes hold. In seconds, Vince has pulled the broken glass free with the cable.

And loaded another claw missile.

Fwoom!

This time, the cabled claw plants itself in the passenger’s seat of the truck. Now, like pirates in days of old, it’s time to board the conquered vessel.

Vince clamps his end of the cable onto his belt, climbs onto the roof of the car, and jumps from there onto the hood of the semi. His intent is to work his way inside the cab, knock out the panicked driver, and escape with the truckload of expensive electronic equipment.

Piece o’ cake.

Vince has done this many times.

Aah, but this time there’s a glitch. You see, or victimized trucker isn’t as panicked as one would expect. In fact, this guy seems like he was almost expecting a hijack attempt…and he’s got a sawed-off shotgun to prove it.

Boom!

The driver fires off a rifle blast, and the look on his face reveals what he’s thinking: This semi isn’t going to be hijacked. Not today. Not ever.

Hurtling through space at eighty miles an hour, Vince finds himself pinned to the grill of the speeding truck!

Dominic Toretto wastes no time, expertly maneuvering his high-performance Honda as close as possible to the big rig.

“Vince, give me your hand!” he shouts to his comrade. “I’m gonna pull you off the rig!”

Vince is scared now. He can see his life flashing before his eyes—and it’s not a pretty sight. But just as he’s about to leap to the safety of Dominic’s car, the truck driver slams on his brakes, throwing Vince through the air and leaving him hanging by the cable on the passenger’s side of the truck. Arm bleeding and wound up in the cable, Vince is now trapped like a fly in molasses, stuck inches above the speeding pavement and unable to free himself.

And the trucker has reloaded his gun.

Bullets fly. The trucker senses victory and, like a boxer pounding a weakened opponent into the ropes, he fires his shotgun at Dominic’s car, deflating a tire. Next, the trucker swerves, slamming his big rig into another hijacker, sending her car careening off the side of the road. The other sports car drops out to assist the driver. Another shotgun blast, this time to the engine, eliminates Dominic’s car for good.

Now only Vince is left, beaten, bruised, and carrying a bullet wound in his hip. He’s dangling off the cable, desperately close to becoming simply a smear in the road, and feeling the pain tear through his arm as he hangs on for dear life.

Just when all seems lost for our injured hijacker, a new car—a red one—enters the scene. It’s Brian O’Conner (portrayed by Paul Walker), undercover cop, and Dominic’s sister, Mia (Jordana Brewster).

In a stunt of extreme bravery (or stupidity), Brian doesn’t hesitate. Turning the wheel over to Mia, he leaps from his car to the running board of the big rig.

The trucker reloads.

Working feverishly, Brian frees Vince from the cable and hurriedly throws the wounded man into his car.

The trucker is none too pleased.

He takes aim at the new guy and looses one final blast from the shotgun. Just before it’s too late, Brain hurdles off the truck and onto the roof of his car.

The tires squeal and the red speed demon spins wildly off the road until it finally stops in the desert sand, leaving Vince badly hurt, but alive.

Brian’s risky stunt has saved the day…and made for one thrilling action sequence in the movie, The Fast and the Furious.

Pause

Wow. This remarkable action stunt from The Fast and the Furious looks superb on the big screen.

Cars flying through the air. People leaping from one vehicle to another. Ultrafast driving. It’s almost too amazing to be true…and in fact it is.

We all know moviemakers use stunt people, computer-generated images, and careful editing to make us believe what we’re seeing is the real deal. But even with all the technology available to us, there are times when actors have to get into the action.

The moviemakers hired a stunt double to do the risky jumping-from-car-to-truck and flying-through-the-air-with-the-greatest-of-ease parts, but Matt Schulze (who played Vince) didn’t get off scot-free. He had to appear to be hanging on by the cable—in great danger of falling right off the truck and losing life and limb on the pavement—so that the other actors could seem to pull close for the rescue.

That meant that Matt had to actually be tied to the side of the semi-trailer truck.

Once Matt was fastened in place, a driver accelerated the truck up to speeds of 55 to 65 miles per hour, while other cars and cameramen sped along beside it. Although there was little risk that the actor would actually fall off the truck, this movie stunt still put Matt in great danger.

So why did he do it? Why not insist a stunt double do the work, and have the image digitally altered later to appear to be Matt?

Simple. Matt Schulze trusted the stunt coordinator, the director, and the drivers involved in choreographing the sequence. Trusted them enough to let himself be tied to the side of a speeding vehicle, his feet dragging near the rough pavement. Trusted them, really, with his life. And that was no acting job.

Trust. It’s a pretty amazing thing. To be willing to believe in someone enough to put your life, your future, your dreams and goals and ambitions, in that person’s hands. So now we must ask ourselves the question:

Is there anyone you trust that much?

Record

Remember that guy you le arned about in Sunday school—you know, the one who got tossed into the lions’ den? Yeah. Daniel. Pretty amazing stunt, and he didn’t even get a stunt double or trick photography to help him out. But he did have something else: trust.

Read about how he put his trust in God instead of people in Daniel chapter 6. Then think ask yourself these questions: How would you have handled Daniel’s situation? How do your actions show your trust in God—or your lack of it? Would you still trust God if he had let Daniel get killed by the lions? Why or why not?

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This article excerpted from Screen Gems by Amy Nappa. Copyright © Nappaland Communications Inc. All rights reserved. Reprinted by permission. For more information, or to read more by this author, please visit the Internet magazine, www.Nappaland.com, "The Free Webzine for Families."