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Book Vs Movie: “The Fast and the Furious”

The 1998 Kenneth Li article from Vibe Vs the 2001 Film 

Since the Pandemic started in Mach 2020, we gave committed to bringing a weekly show and that means we often use shorter literary sources as the basis for the episode. Novellas, songs, plays, and yes–magazine articles which is happening in this show. 

In 1998, Daily News writer Kenneth Li was writing tech and feature stories when he heard about a racing circuit happening late at night in New York City. Instead of muscle cars of yore, these new riders used brands like Mitsubishi and Nissan and take off at top speeds to evade the police and have some bragging rights. “Racer X” appeared in the May 1998 Vibe magazine and caught the eye of producer Neal H. Moritz who moved the action to the West Coast and the next thing you know–a franchise is born! 

The first to sign up was hunky young actor Paul Walker (RIP) and the rest of the cast featured a variety of races and attitudes which appealed to a larger audience. The first movie (which we discuss in this episode) was directed by Rob Cohen and went on to make over $200 million worldwide box office. 

F9: The First Saga was just released at the time we are recording this episode. 

So, between the article and the movie–which did we prefer? Have a listen and find out! 

In this ep the Margos discuss:

  • The background on Kenneth Li’s article (and that he interviewed one of the Margos in 1999 for a tech story!) 
  • The legacy the sequels have on the movie industry and its fans
  • The special effects and stunt work. 
  • The cast: Paul Walker (Brian O’Conner,) Vin Diesel (Dominic Toretto,) Michelle Rodriguez (Letty Ortiz,) Jordana Brewster (Mia Toretto,) Rick Yune (Johnny Tran,) Chad Lindberg (Jesse,) and Ja Rule.  

Clips used:

  • Brian joins the race
  • The Fast and the Furious  trailer
  • Example of music on top of the music 
  • Vin Diesel yelling 
  • Music by BT

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Margo D. @BrooklynFitChik www.brooklynfitchick.com [email protected]

Margo P. @ShesNachoMama https://coloniabook.weebly.com/ 

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Check out this NEW episode of Book Vs. Movie!