Speed (1994)

Speed is a 1994 American action thriller film directed by Jan de Bont in his feature film directorial debut. The film stars Keanu Reeves, Dennis Hopper, Sandra Bullock, Joe Morton, and Jeff Daniels. Its premise revolves around a bus that is rigged by a terrorist to explode if its speed falls below 50 miles per hour. Released on June 10, 1994, it became critically and commercially successful, grossing $350.4 million on a $30–37 million budget, becoming the fifth-highest-grossing film of 1994 and winning two Academy Awards: Best Sound Effects Editing and Best Sound. A sequel, Speed 2: Cruise Control, was released on June 13, 1997 without Reeves’ involvement. The latter film would go down in infamy as one of the worst sequels of all time.

Plot.

LAPD SWAT officers Jack Traven and Harry Temple thwart an attempt to hold an elevator filled with passengers for a $3 million ransom by an extortionist bomber, but as they corner the man in an elevator, he takes Harry hostage. Jack intentionally shoots Harry in the leg, forcing the bomber to release him. The bomber flees and activates a bomb which was strapped to himself, seemingly dying in the process. Jack and Harry are praised by Lieutenant “Mac” McMahon, with Harry being promoted to detective. Having survived the incident, however, the bomber watches the ceremony on TV from an unknown location.

Jack races through freeway traffic and boards the bus, but the bomb is already armed because the bus exceeded 50 mph. He explains the situation to Sam Silver, the bus driver. However, one passenger unknowingly draws his gun, accidentally wounding Sam. Another passenger, Annie Porter, takes over for Sam, but when she tries to decelerate to get help, Jack explains about the bomb, much to the passengers’ dismay. Jack examines the bomb underneath the bus and calls Harry, who works to identify the bomber. After a harrowing adventure through city traffic, the police clear a route to the unopened 105 freeway.

When Jack learns part of the freeway is incomplete, he persuades Annie to accelerate the bus to full speed so they can jump the gap. They succeed, and head to an airport to use the unobstructed runways. Meanwhile, Harry identifies the bomber as Howard Payne, a former Atlanta Police Department bomb squad officer. Harry leads a SWAT team to Payne’s home, which was booby trapped; the explosives detonate upon entry and kills the team.

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Writing.

Screenwriter Graham Yost was told by his father, Canadian television host Elwy Yost, about a 1985 film called Runaway Train starring Jon Voight, about a train that speeds out of control. The film was based on a 1963 concept by Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa. Elwy mistakenly believed that the train’s situation was due to a bomb on board. Such a theme had in fact been used in a 1975 Japanese film, The Bullet Train. After seeing the Voight film, Graham decided that it would have been better if there had been a bomb on board a bus with the bus being forced to travel at 20 mph to prevent an actual explosion. A friend suggested that this be increased to 50 mph. The film’s end was inspired by the end of the 1976 film Silver Streak.

Yost’s initial script would have the film completely occur on the bus; there was no elevator or subway scene, the bus would have driven around Dodger Stadium due to the ability to drive around in circles, and would have culminated with the bus running into the Hollywood Sign and destroying it. Upon finishing the script, Yost took his idea to Paramount Pictures, which expressed interest in green-lighting the film and chose John McTiernan to direct due to his blockbuster films Die Hard, and The Hunt for Red October.

Casting.

Jeff Speakman was originally attached to star in Speed when the project was under Paramount’s management, but was dropped from the project when it was sold to 20th Century Fox. Stephen Baldwin, the first choice for the role of Jack Traven, declined the offer because he felt the character (as written in the earlier version of the script) was too much like the John McClane character from Die Hard. According to Yost, they had also considered Tom Cruise, Tom Hanks, Wesley Snipes and Woody Harrelson. Director Jan de Bont ultimately cast Keanu Reeves as Jack Traven after seeing him in Point Break.

Filming.

Principal photography began on September 7, 1993, and completed on December 23, 1993, in Los Angeles. De Bont used an 80-foot model of a 50-story elevator shaft for the opening sequence. While Speed was in production, actor and Reeves’s close friend River Phoenix died. Immediately after Phoenix died, de Bont changed the shooting schedule to work around Reeves and decided to give him scenes that were easier to do. “It got to him emotionally. He became very quiet, and it took him quite a while to work it out by himself and calm down. It scared the hell out of him”, de Bont recalls. Initially, Reeves was nervous about the film’s many action sequences but as the shooting progressed he became more involved.

Two of them were blown up, one was used for the high-speed scenes, one had the front cut off for inside shots, and one was used solely for the “under bus” shots. Another bus was used for the bus jump scene, which was done in one take. The buses were painted in livery and colors approximating those of the Big Blue Bus serving Santa Monica, although the transit agency (Santa Monica Intercity Lines) and route (33 Downtown) were fictionalized for the film. One of the buses used for filming was sold at auction for US$102,000 in 2018. Many of the film’s freeway scenes were filmed on California’s Interstate 105 and Interstate 110 at the stack interchange known today as the Judge Harry Pregerson Interchange, which was not officially open at the time of filming.

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In the scene in which the bus must jump across a gap in an uncompleted elevated freeway-to-freeway ramp while still under construction, a ramp was used to give the bus the necessary lift off so that it could jump the full fifty feet. The bus used in the jump was empty except for the driver, who wore a shock-absorbing harness that suspended him mid-air above the seat, so he could handle the jolt on landing, and avoid spinal injury (as was the case for many stuntmen in previous years that were handling similar stunts).

Box office.

Speed was released on June 10, 1994, in 2,138 theaters in the United States and Canada and debuted at the number one position, grossing $14.5 million on its opening weekend. It set opening records for Fox in Brazil with a gross of $669,725 and in South Africa with a gross of $267,140. The film stayed in the number 1 spot before being taken by Wolf. When The Lion King debuted on its third weekend, Speed continued to remain in second place. It spent eight consecutive weeks at number one in Australia and ten in Japan. It grossed $121.3 million in the United States and Canada and $229.2 million internationally for a worldwide total of $350.5 million, well above its $30–37 million production budget.

Home media.

On November 8, 1994, Fox Video released Speed on VHS and LaserDisc formats for the first time. Rental and video sales did very well and helped the film’s domestic gross. The original VHS cassette was only available in standard 4:3 TV format at the time and in October 1996, Fox Video re-released a VHS version of the film in widescreen allowing the viewer to see the film in a similar format to its theatrical release. On November 3, 1998, 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment released Speed on DVD for the first time.

Cast:

Keanu Reevesas Officer Jack Traven
Dennis Hopperas Howard Payne
Sandra Bullockas Annie Porter
Joe Mortonas Lieutenant Herb ‘Mac’ McMahon
Jeff Danielsas Detective Harry Temple
Alan Ruckas Doug Stephens
Glenn Plummeras Maurice
Beth Grantas Helen
Hawthorne Jamesas Sam Silver
Carlos Carrascoas Ortiz
David Kriegelas Terry
Natsuko Ohama as Mrs. Kamino
Daniel Villarreal as Ray
Margaret Medina as Officer Robin
Jordan Lundas Bagwell
Robert Mailhouseas Young Executive
Patrick Fischleras Friend of executive
Patrick John Hurley as CEO

Speed (1994) Biography, Plot, Writing, Casting, Filming, Box office, Trailer.