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Point Break and The Fast and the Furious (Another Gatos observation)

Gatos

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Gatos is back again, here to start a thread to point out the obvious to the two members of his fan club :-D

In light of the runaway success of the "Fast/Furious" franchise I thought I should bring this up in case there is anyone who never realized. But the original The Fast and the Furious (2001) (starring Paul Walker and Vin Diesel) was essentially a remake of the 1991 film Point Break (starring Keanu Reeves and Patrick Swayze).

WARNING - SPOILERS AHEAD

Point Break: A young FBI agent, Johnny Utah goes undercover to infiltrate a group of thrill seeking surfers to catch a group of bank robbers. The group has a charismatic leader Bodhi. Utah becomes romantically involved with a female in the group. She finds out he is an FBI agent (but his love for her is real!). Bodhi disappears but Utah tracks him down and is ready to arrest him but in the end he lets Bodhi ride the most radical wave in Australia (Bodhi most likely dies catching this wave).

The Fast and the Furious: In response to a string of truck hijackings, a young cop, Brian, goes undercover to infiltrate the world of underground street racing to find the crew involved in the robberies. Brian becomes part of a "family" of racers lead by the charismatic badass Dom (He never narc'ed on nobody!). Brian falls in love with Dom's sister. She finds out he is a cop (but his love for her is real!). Action, chases, violence ensues. Brian has Dom cornered and we hear police sirens in the distance. But Dom will never go back to prison...ever. Brian understands this and lets him go.


The Fast and the Furious? I liked it better when it was called Point Break! Also, fun fact, Point Break, directed by Kathryn Bigelow!


On the next episode of "An Observation by Gatos"... Gatos will discuss the links between Dances With Wolves, The Last Samurai and Avatar.
 

Uncanny Antman

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Yeah, me and my ex laughed out loud at this during our first viewing in the cinema. There's at least one other beat-for-beat sequence too...Utah and Brian both go on a big raid of the group responsible for the crimes (the films both briefly pretend we as an audience aren't painfully aware of who the real bad guys are) only to find that they are not the ones they were hoping for.

"Ah dammit, why did we bother to arrest a gang called The Red Herrings?!"
 

Gatos

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Uncanny Antman said:
Yeah, me and my ex laughed out loud at this during our first viewing in the cinema. There's at least one other beat-for-beat sequence too...Utah and Brian both go on a big raid of the group responsible for the crimes (the films both briefly pretend we as an audience aren't painfully aware of who the real bad guys are) only to find that they are not the ones they were hoping for.

"Ah dammit, why did we bother to arrest a gang called The Red Herrings?!"

haha, right. The one in Point Break has a Tom Sizemore cameo as an undercover DEA guy "you think I like having my hair like this?!" lmao
 

TV's Frink

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Johnny Utah, worst name ever.
 

Gaith

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Next you'll be telling us The Lion King and Hamlet are somehow related! :p

No, fun post though, movie analysis is always fun.

Once, in college, my drama professor was talking about Shakespeare, and how complex his works are. "I mean, can anyone describe Hamlet in just a sentence?" He said.

"The Lion King with people," I replied.

Even he had to admit I got him there. :lol:
 

mnkykungfu

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Gaith said:
Next you'll be telling us The Lion King and Hamlet are somehow related! :p

No, fun post though, movie analysis is always fun.

Once, in college, my drama professor was talking about Shakespeare, and how complex his works are. "I mean, can anyone describe Hamlet in just a sentence?" He said.

"The Lion King with people," I replied.

Even he had to admit I got him there. :lol:

Just digging this past post up to spread the word (it goes around online but not enough imho)...

kimba_y_el_rey_leon_plagio.jpg


While the Japanese series Kimba the White Lion (1965) clearly drew on a lot of elements of Shakespeare (like several other Japanese classics such as Throne of Blood, Ran, and The Bad Sleep Well), it did add in some original plot elements and characters to lighten things up a bit.

The Lion King on the other hand, pretty much just straight copied Kimba, adapting it to be a musical and condensing it for film length.  So we shouldn't really trace it directly back to Hamlet, as there's definitely a middle-man.
 

Moe_Syzlak

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Fun fact: my wife’s two guilty pleasure movies are Point Break and F&F. Another remake that many aren’t aware of is how the Pixar movie Cars is pretty much a remake of the Michael J. Fox vehicle Doc Hollywood.
 

mnkykungfu

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Moe, you may be interested in this then:
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq/screenwriter-sues-disneypixar-claiming-cars-169543

and this:
https://www.thewrap.com/disney-pixar-sued-again-over-inside-out/

Pixar seems particularly hit by these suits, so I have to wonder...

Is it that the heads of those studios are always suggesting some ideas get worked into Pixar stories in development?  (Note that Disney won the case in that first suit...because the statute of limitations had expired.  The current Pixar exec had received those ideas at Disney over 20 years before... did he even remember where they came from?  Hmmm...)

Or is it that Pixar films just try to press buttons that will hit everyone?  They deal in common stories, universalities...the city hot-shot who gets stuck as a "fish out of water", the group of different individuals who are reluctantly banded together for a common defense (A Bug's Life/Seven Samurai), etc... These stories may seem specific until you notice the plots are really pretty common.

Or maybe it's just that every story has been told before?  If you're telling something that resonates broadly, you're bound not to be the first one who's thought of it...

Thoughts?
 

MusicEd921

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Gatos said:
On the next episode of "An Observation by Gatos"... Gatos will discuss the links between Dances With Wolves, The Last Samurai and Avatar.

Don’t forget FernGully: The Last Rainforest!
 
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