It has been nearly 25 years since the Fast and Furious franchise first began, and while the series has grown to incredible heights in the years since, The Fast and the Furious quotes offer a reminder of the fun and charm of the movie that started it all. 2001’s The Fast and the Furious gave the franchise a more toned-down beginning while also introducing some of the most beloved characters of the franchise, like Dom, Brian, and Letty.
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Apart from the colorful cars and exciting racing sequences, another thing that makes the Rob Cohen project such a memorable installment, is the dialogue. There are a lot of tough and intimidating lines thrown around by this crew of likable criminals. Fans also get to hear quotes that establish key themes that are still a part of the franchise decades later as well as lines that offer a glimpse of Dom’s perspective on the world.
15 “Ask Any Racer. Any Real Racer. It Don’t Matter If You Win By An Inch Or A Mile. Winning’s Winning.”
Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel)
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The over-the-top action sequences of the Fast and Furious movies are a lot of fun, but it is a shame that they have moved so far away from the street racing origins of the franchise. It is an exciting world to be introduced into and Brian serves as an audience surrogate character as he enters into this community and learns its rules.
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During his first race with Dom, Brian suggests that he came close to winning, but Dom gives him this lesson. It is likely that Dom has never really had his victories called into question, but his outlook on a race is very simple and clear-cut — one racer crosses the finish line first and nothing else matters. It speaks to the nice simplicity of the sport while also suggesting that it’s part of the appeal that Dom sees in it. He likes things to be uncomplicated and the idea that a win is a win means there is no other argument to make.
14 “You Almost Had Me? You Never Had Me — You Never Had Your Car.”
Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel)
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Though Brian loses his first race against Dom while also destroying his car, it’s clear that he is immediately hooked on racing. He even takes the race as a small victory as he cheerfully boasts that he always had Dom beat. However, Dom proves that he is a much more seasoned driver as he suggests that Brian was never even in control of his car.
This first race sets up a recurring dynamic between Dom and Brian throughout the franchise and the question of which character is the better racer. It helps to establish the brotherly bond these two have, as Brian is like the younger brother chasing the older one and trying to prove he is faster. This moment also helps to establish the friendship between Brian and Dom, as Dom is mostly amused by Brian’s assertion.
13 “I Owe You A Ten-Second Car.”
Brian O’Conner (Paul Walker)
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As part of their bet for their first race, Brian promises Dom a ten-second car if he loses. While he does lose, Brian’s car is hardly in good working order when he delivers it to Dom. This helps to further strengthen their relationship and the two men begin working together to make the car into something Brian promised him. It is a subtle moment of Brian keeping a promise to Dom and hinting at his growing loyalty.
Indeed at the end of the movie, Brian is put in a position of arresting Dom or letting him go. He chooses the latter, handing over the keys to his own car, explaining that it is what he owes to Dom. It is the moment that solidifies the brotherhood between the two iconic characters. Brian is willing to give up his career and possibly put himself into trouble because he feels as though he owes his friend.
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12 “You Can Have Any Brew You Want… As Long As It’s A Corona.”
Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel)
After Brian helps Dom evade arrest, he is formally introduced into the crew as Dom takes him to a house party they are throwing. As they enter the party, Dom offers him a beer but insists that it has to be Corona. The moment is an obvious bit of product placement in the movie which can often be a turn-off for audiences. However, The Fast and the Furious gets away with it because of how much it becomes engrained in the franchise.
Dom’s love of Corona and intolerance for anything else is a fun recurring gag in the movies. When Mr. Nobody offers Dom some of his own special craft beer in Furious 7, Dom insists he will stick with Corona. While it is a silly detail to have, it can also be seen as a comment on how important loyalty is to Dom, even if it is about a brand of beer.
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11 “On Green, I’m Going For It.”
Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel)
The moment Dom realizes that Brian is a cop shatters the friendship they had been building. However, while Dom is a dangerous man to his enemies, he still cannot see Brian as one. After they team up to take down Johnny Tran, Dom decides that the two men are going to settle their situation the same way that they first formed their bond — in a race.
With each man in their own car, Dom sits at a stop light with Brian beside him and he lets him know that when the light turns green he is going, and Brian can just try to catch him. While Dom could have just run right away, it seems that he knows there is a possibility that he is going to prison and decides to go out doing what he loves. On the other end, it says a lot that Brian is willing to handle things on Dom’s terms.
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10 “You Break Her Heart, I’ll Break Your Neck.”
Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel)
Brian and Mia have one of the best relationships in the Fast & Furious franchise and the first movie is where their initial romance begins to blossom. Brian falls for Mia as soon as he befriends Dom. Of course, Dom is an intimidating guy to have around when Brian is dating his sister, and despite their friendship growing strong, Dom offers a stern warning that ensures Brian he does not want to mess this up.
There’s no doubt that Dom means what he says because, at that particular moment, Mia is the only blood relative he has. His relationship with her has always been a deep one too. She supports him and tries her best to be part of the life he has chosen, even though she is generally laid-back. In future installments, she is seen revealing her secrets to Dom before she does to Brian.
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9 “Why Don’t You Girls Pack It Up Before I Leave Tread Marks On Your Face?”
Letty (Michelle Rodriguez)
As much as the first movie is more focused on Brian and Mia’s romance, the relationship between Dom and Letty has become the heart of the Fast Saga in many ways. Though Dom initially seems like a man not overly eager to settle down, Letty has the kind of toughness that can handle him. In the early stages of the movie, Letty arrives at a nighttime racing event and spots two women flirting with Dom. Without hesitating, she lets them know that it would be in their best interest to walk away.
Dom is just as impressed as the viewers when he sees Letty warning them off since he understands that she is doing it out of love. She isn’t just making an empty threat either. Throughout the franchise, Letty has proven herself to be one of the most impressive fighters out of all of the heroes.
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8 “The Only Thing That Pulled Me In Is You. Being Friends With Your Brother Is Just A Bonus.”
Brian O’Conner (Paul Walker)
With Brian no longer featured in the Fast Saga due to Paul Walker’s tragic death, it is a shame that audiences no longer get to see the relationship between Brian and Mia unfold over the movies. The first movie sets up their romance, which comes unexpectedly and compromises Brian’s undercover mission. While alone with Brian, Mia goes on to praise Dom, claiming that everyone is always pulled to him. Brian disagrees, arguing that it isn’t Dom who attracted him to the crew but her.
Brian isn’t being truthful because what actually pulled him in is his desire to take down the crew. However, as for what made him change his mind, that’s his love for Mia. If she wasn’t in the picture, he probably would have gone ahead and finished the job instead of warning Mia that the police were after Dom.
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7 “I Live My Life A Quarter-Mile At A Time. Nothing Else Matters… Not The Mortgage, Not The Store.”
Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel)
As much as there are a lot of fun qualities to the first Fast and Furious movie, it is likely that the franchise would never have become what it was had it not been for the character of Dominic Toretto. As audiences are introduced to the world of street racing, Dom’s passion and dedication to this world enhance the story. Dom has a heart-to-heart conversation with Brian in the garage where he explains his life principles. He states that driving is all that matters to him. With every quarter mile he covers on the road, he forgets all his problems.
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Dom does indeed have plenty of tribulations to deal with. He is short on cash, and that’s why he keeps conducting heists on trucks. Additionally, he has plenty of enemies, chief among them, Johnny Tran. However, none of that bothers him. So long as he is able to step on the gas each day, he is happy. It’s such a philosophy that makes him one of the best movie drivers of all time.
6 “If You Want Time, Buy The Magazine.”
Agent Bilkins (Thom Barry)
Given the heights that the Fast Saga has grown to over the years, it is easy to forget that the movies first started with what was essentially a knockoff of Point Break. The undercover cop storyline with Brian might not be original, but it does make for some great movie cop moments, such as this one. The FBI’s Agent Bilkins soon starts pestering Brian for taking too long to take down the Toretto crew. Brian insists he needs time but Bilkins sarcastically advises him to buy Time Magazine if he needs time.
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Bilkins is right to pester Brian because the sooner the job gets done, the better it will be for everyone. A part of him also suspects that Brian is stalling. Since Brian has fallen in love with Mia, he is having doubts about participating in the arrest of Dom and his crew. The Fast Saga has also been able to lean into cheesy jokes like this and it works partially because of how earnestly it is delivered.
5 “Spirit. Thank You. Thank You For Providing Us With Direct-Port Nitrous Injection And Four-Core Intercoolers. Thank You.”
Jesse (Chad Lindberg)
One of the recurring ideas in the Fast Saga is seeing these tough criminals gathering together and saying grace at their traditional family dinners. These moments highlight the sense of togetherness and family these characters share. Interestingly, looking back at the first movie, there are some key members of the Fast Family who are no longer around in the franchise, including Jesse.
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The young member of Dom’s crew is somewhat awkward as he struggles through his turn to say grace at the table. However, his unique take on the blessing showcases the shared interests that brought these people together and helped to make them so close to one another. It really solidifies them as an atypical family with their own values but also highlights the love that is always at the center of these movies.
4 “Brian Earl Spilner? Sounds Like A Serial Killer Name. Is That What You Are?”
Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel)
The first-ever conversation Dom has with Brian happens when he stops a fight between the undercover cop and Vince. Dom checks his license to see who he really is and when he reads his name, he goes on to throw shade at him. Obviously, Brian’s superiors didn’t give him the best-sounding undercover name but it works because Dom dismisses him as nothing but a troublemaker.
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Dom is usually the stern and stoic leader of the crew, but the first movie allows him to loosen up a little more, which is fun to see compared to where the character goes later in the franchise. It is rare to see him crack jokes like this in the other movies, but seeing him teasing Brian helps to establish the brotherly bond they have in the movies, and that is first cemented in The Fast and the Furious.
3 “You Want A Piece Of A**, Go To Hollywood Boulevard. You Want An Adrenaline Rush, That’ll Be Two Large.”
Letty (Michelle Rodriguez)
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While Letty goes on to have a much more significant role in the later movies, The Fast and the Furious helps to establish her as one of the standout characters in the story. It is not hard to see why she was brought back into the fold as Letty is a charming love interest for Dom, but she is also allowed to be her own strong and independent woman. This is shown at the Race Wars when a man tries to flirt with her only for Letty to quickly shut him down and make it known that she belongs in the race as much as anyone else there.
The line perfectly sums up the no-nonsense style of Letty and her demand to be taken seriously in this male-dominated world. The delivery from Michelle Rodriguez also makes Letty even more likable. Instead of sounding as if she is angry or insulted by the man, Letty simply sounds bored, because he is clearly not worth her time.
2 “Even The Cops In Hollywood Are Hollywood.”
Brian O’Conner (Paul Walker)
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Brian’s role in the first movie sees him jumping back and forth between the criminal world and the police world as he deals with this undercover assignment. A subtle yet effective detail in this is the different ways in which both worlds are depicted. Dom and his crew live a subdued and modest life as modern outlaws while the police headquarters is set up in a lavish Hollywood mansion. Without realizing it, the audience takes sides with the more down-to-earth criminals.
When Brian sees the extravagance of the police’s base of operations, he comments on it in a somewhat dismissive and unapproving way. This is another small detail that shows where Brian is more comfortable. Over the course of The Fast and the Furious, it becomes clear that Brian is pulled towards to lifestyle of Dom and the others more than his police officer path.
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1 “It’s Not How You Stand By Your Car, It’s How You Race Your Car.”
Edwin (Ja Rule)
The Fast Saga has a long tradition of bringing in rappers and musical artists to play roles in the movies. Before the likes of Cardi B and Ludacris joined the franchise, Ja Rule was the first rapper-turned-actor to get a role in the franchise as racer Edwin in one of the movie’s first racing sequences. Not only does he set up a fun trend that continues in the franchise, but he also offers some sound advice to Brian as he prepares for his first race.
Brian runs the risk of coming off as a poser in this world and Edwin seems to pick up on the fact that he is new to the game. Though Edwin is not a big character in the movie, and even gets humiliated in the first race, his words to Brian echo the kind of philosophy that Dom has with racing. In this community of outlaws, nothing speaks louder and gains more respect than skills behind the wheel.
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8/10 The Fast And The Furious PG-13CrimeActionThriller
The first film in the Fast & Furious franchise, The Fast and the Furious introduces Brian O’Conner (Paul Walker), an undercover cop tasked with infiltrating Dominic Toretto’s (Vin Diesel) gang of street racers in order to investigate a string of vehicular heists. Falling in love with both Toretto’s sister and the world of street racing, O’Conner finds his sense of duty strained to the limit by loyalty to his newfound friends.
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*Availability in US Director Rob Cohen Release Date June 22, 2001 Cast Jordana Brewster , Michelle Rodriguez , Rick Yune , Vin Diesel , Paul Walker Runtime 106 minutes