(Warning: Spoilers forward for The Fall Man film.)
Sure, The Fall Man relies on a TV sequence.
In case you weren’t conscious of that, it’s possible since you’re of a youthful technology that wasn’t alive or sufficiently old to recollect the sequence, which hasn’t precisely re-entered the zeitgeist within the 4 a long time because it went off the air. (An unscientific scan of social media reveals various people who had no thought of the unique IP.) However for moviegoers of a sure age, there are references to the sequence that encourage nostalgia.
The present, which aired from 1981-86, starred Lee Majors as a stuntman who moonlighted as a bounty hunter. The film stars Ryan Gosling within the lead function, who can also be a stuntman. Whereas the film shouldn’t be an actual copy of the present, there are a number of methods during which the movie references and pays tribute to the unique. Learn on to see how — and the place the film differs from the present.
The Characters
Gosling and Majors each performed characters named Colt Seavers, who’re stuntmen. Whereas Majors’ model of the character labored as a bounty hunter as a facet gig, Gosling’s model will get drawn right into a felony investigation on the request of a movie producer with whom he’s labored for a number of years. In the meantime, Emily Blunt performs Seavers’ ex-girlfriend, named Jody Moreno, which is a nod to the present’s character Jody Banks, performed by Heather Thomas. Nonetheless, whereas Blunt’s character is a camerawoman-turned-director, Thomas’ Jody was a stuntwoman.
The Truck
Within the movie model, Gosling drives a GMC Sierra, which is taken instantly from the present, during which Majors’ character drives the identical car (although, clearly, an older mannequin). Within the film, Gosling’s character borrows the truck from the set of the movie that Blunt’s Jody is directing.
The Stunts
Every episode of the sequence featured a slew of stunts, as you’d count on. However one stunt particularly was iconic to the present and was repeated all through the sequence: Seavers’ GMC Sierra leaping over numerous obstacles and boundaries whereas chasing the dangerous guys. Within the film, Gosling’s character additionally jumps over boundaries within the truck. Director David Leitch, himself a former stuntman, has stated that among the stunts in his movie paid homage to these within the present. “The primary … truck soar within the film, it’s impressed by the Fall Man tv present,” he stated. “Each episode, you’d see the truck — the GMC Sierra — enter the chase from behind a hedge or bushes or over a wall. And it was at all times type of this basic, like, listed below are the dangerous guys, and they’d are available in sizzling pursuit. And so we needed to type of do that very same type of soar with the brand new Sierra.”
The Theme Tune
It doesn’t present up till the top of the film, however the basic theme track, titled “Unknown Stuntman,” does make an look, however with some adjustments. The unique was sung by Majors himself (although the top credit amusingly credited “Colt Seavers” because the singer). Blake Shelton covers the track for the film, and it performs over the top credit.
Nonetheless, the lyrics have been tweaked for a 2024 viewers. The unique featured references to a number of of the preferred stars of the ’80s, together with Farrah Fawcett (who was as soon as married to Majors), Bo Derek, Sally Discipline, Cheryl Tiegs, Raquel Welch, Robert Redford and Clint Eastwood. Whereas Shelton’s cowl retains lots of the identical lyrics (and each tunes are, at their coronary heart, love songs), the brand new model does away with the movie-star references. For instance, the unique track consists of these lyrics within the refrain: “I’d fall from a tall constructing / I’d roll a model new automobile / ’Trigger I’m the unknown stuntman / That made Redford such a star.” However the brand new model tweaks the lyrics: “I’d fall from a tall constructing / I’d roll a model new automobile / ‘Trigger I’m the unknown stuntman / Who’d die to havе your coronary heart.”
The Cameos
As one would count on with a movie based mostly on a basic present, there are some acquainted faces who pop up (acquainted, at the least, to those that’ve seen the sequence). Main and Thomas each seem in a mid-credits scene the place moviegoers discover out what destiny in the end befalls the dangerous guys; the actors play officers who present as much as arrest them.