See How They Are Similar

(Warning: Spoilers forward for The Fall Man film.)

Sure, The Fall Man is predicated on a TV collection.

Should you weren’t conscious of that, it’s seemingly since you’re of a youthful technology that wasn’t alive or sufficiently old to recollect the collection, which hasn’t precisely re-entered the zeitgeist within the 4 many years because it went off the air. (An unscientific scan of social media reveals quite a lot of of us who had no thought of the unique IP.) However for moviegoers of a sure age, there are references to the collection 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 position, who can also be a stuntman. Whereas the film is just not an actual copy of the present, there are a number of methods wherein 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 aspect gig, Gosling’s model will get drawn right into a prison 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 immediately from the present, wherein 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 collection 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 collection: Seavers’ GMC Sierra leaping over numerous obstacles and obstacles whereas chasing the unhealthy guys. Within the film, Gosling’s character additionally jumps over obstacles within the truck. Director David Leitch, himself a former stuntman, has stated that a number of the stunts in his movie paid homage to these within the present. “The primary … truck bounce 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 all the time type of this basic, like, listed below are the unhealthy guys, and they might are available in sizzling pursuit. And so we needed to type of do that very same type of bounce with the brand new Sierra.”

The Theme Track

It doesn’t present up till the tip 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 tip credit amusingly credited “Colt Seavers” because the singer). Blake Shelton covers the track for the film, and it performs over the tip credit. 

Nonetheless, the lyrics have been tweaked for a 2024 viewers. The unique featured references to a number of of the most well-liked stars of the ’80s, together with Farrah Fawcett (who was as soon as married to Majors), Bo Derek, Sally Subject, Cheryl Tiegs, Raquel Welch, Robert Redford and Clint Eastwood. Whereas Shelton’s cowl retains lots of the similar 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, not less than, to those that’ve seen the collection). Main and Thomas each seem in a mid-credits scene the place moviegoers discover out what destiny finally befalls the unhealthy guys; the actors play officers who present as much as arrest them.