Speed (Exclusive Series) (HBO Max)

Initial release date: June 10, 1994

Studios: 20th Century Fox/The Mark Gordon Company

Tagline: Get ready for rush hour

Plot: LA police officer Jack angers a bomber by foiling his attempt at taking hostages. In revenge, the bomber arms a bus with a bomb that will explode if it drops below 50 MPH. With the help of spunky passenger Annie, Jack and his partner Harry try to save the people on the bus before the bomb gets off, while also trying to figure out how the bomber is monitoring them.

Cast

Keanu Reeves - Jack Traven

Dennis Hopper - Howard Payne

Sandra Bullock - Annie

Joe Morton - Captain McMahon

Jeff Daniels - Harry

Alan Ruck - Stephens

Richard Lineback - Norwood

Beth Grant - Helen

Hawthorne Jones - Sam

Carlos Carrasco - Ortiz

Writer: Graham Yost (FXs Justified; The Last Castle)

Director: Jan de Bont (Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life; The Haunting; Twister; Speed 2)

Rated R for violence and language (116 minutes)

No matter how many times you see the bus make that jump. No matter how many times you watch the insane action that ‘Speed’ delivers. This 1994 action flick will always be one of those guilty pleasures that will keep you entertained until all of the insane action stops at the end.

The action starts right off the bat and doesn’t let up until the movie’s conclusion. In fact, it’s almost kind of like ‘Die Hard’ with a bus.

Some of the action that has to do with the bus can be extremely ridiculous and probably couldn’t realistically happen. But, that’s part of the fun with ‘Speed.’ It’s roughly two hours of mindless action that is really, really entertaining.

And, before I wrap up this mini review - Dennis Hopper does an amazing job being a bad guy!!! And, also, stay away from ‘Speed 2: Cruise Control’!!!!!!

Here are quite a few interesting tidbits for ‘Speed’:

• Reeves breaking the glass on the bus door in the beginning of the movie was an accident, however it was left in the final cut.

• A Fox producer realized they might have a hit movie on their hands when he noticed that, during test screenings, audience members would walk backwards when they needed to go to the bathroom, so they would miss as little as possible.

• The bus jump scene was done twice, as the bus landed too smoothly the first time. The bridge was actually there, but erased digitally.

• The movie literally ran out of money before it was completed. When it was first previewed for an audience, the subway scenes were animated storyboards. The audience loved them so much, the studio came up with the funds to shoot the scenes properly.

• Jan de Bont cast Dennis Hopper because he didn’t want a typical villain. He wanted Payne to be a regular guy who just snapped one day.

• Reeves did approximately 90% of his own stunts.

• Ten buses were used in the making of the movie. Each one had two steering wheels, one for Bullock, the other for the stunt driver, which was more often than not, on the roof of the bus.

• Voted one of AFI’s Top 100 Heart-Pounding Movies of All Time - No. 99.

• The producers paid the owners of Payne’s house $5,000 to blow it up. They also rebuilt it for them after filming.

• Principal photography began on Sept. 7, 1993 and completed on Dec. 23, 1993 in LA.

• ‘Speed’ was released on June 10, 1994, in 2,138 theaters in the US and Canada and debuted at the No. 1 position, grossing $14.5 million on its opening weekend. It grossed $121.3 million domestically and $229.2 million internationally for a worldwide total of $350.5 million, well above it;s $30 - 37 million production budget.

• In 1997, a sequel, ‘Speed 2: Cruise Control,’ was released. The sequel is considered one of the worst sequels of all time.

https://youtu.be/8piqd2BWeGI