The Fast and the Furious is a 2001 action film directed by Rob Cohen from a screenplay by Gary Scott Thompson, Erik Bergquist, and David Ayer, based on the Vibe magazine article "Racer X" by Ken Li.

The first installment in the Fast & Furious franchise, it stars Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Michelle Rodriguez, Jordana Brewster, Rick Yune, Chad Lindberg, Johnny Strong, and Ted Levine.

In the film, undercover cop Brian O'Conner (Walker) infiltrates a street racing crew to investigate a series of hijackings and finds himself developing a complex friendship with the group's leader, Dominic Toretto (Diesel).

The Fast and the Furious entered development in late 1998, its concept inspired by Li's Vibe article about illegal street racing.

Various actors were considered for the roles of O'Conner and Toretto, with Walker cast in 1998 and then Diesel in early 1999, with the pair attending actual street races in preparation for the film.

Principal photography began in July 2000 and finished that October, with filming locations primarily including Los Angeles and the surrounding area in southern California.

Outside Los Angeles, a heist crew driving three heavily modified Honda Civics hijack a semi-truck trailer carrying electronic goods and escape into the night along Terminal Island Freeway.

Meanwhile, LAPD officer Brian O'Conner is sent undercover as part of a joint LAPD-FBI task force to locate the crew responsible.

Brian rescues him, helping him escape, inadvertently venturing into territory held by a rival racing gang led by Johnny Tran and his cousin Lance.

While investigating one of Hector's garages, Brian is discovered by Dom and Vince; he convinces the latter he is researching Tran's gang's vehicles in preparation for Race Wars.

In the process, the three discover a large number of electronic goods, which Brian reports to his superiors, LAPD Sergeant Tanner and FBI Special Agent Bilkins.

Bilkins then informs Brian that the truck drivers have begun arming themselves to kill the hijackers and notifies him that he has 36 hours to find them, whom the former believes was Dom all along.

[9] The role of Mia Toretto was originally written for Eliza Dushku, who declined it, and Sarah Michelle Gellar, Jessica Biel, Kirsten Dunst, and Natalie Portman auditioned before Jordana Brewster was cast.

Key locations included Dodger Stadium (the opening scene where Brian tests his Eclipse in the parking lot), Angelino Heights, Silver Lake and Echo Park (the neighborhoods around the Toretto house), as well as Little Saigon (where Tran destroys the Eclipse) and the San Bernardino International Airport (the venue for Race Wars, which attracted over 1,500 import car owners and enthusiasts).

Even Vin Diesel, despite performing several of his own stunts, acknowledged, "I'm a New Yorker, and I don’t think you can live in New York and be a car guy".

[13][15] The Fast and the Furious was one of the first Universal films to use the "Mic Rig", a modified vehicle with its back seats replaced by a frame that attached to the on-screen car.

When the truck enters a lane blocked on both sides by construction, a Honda Civic slips underneath and maintains speed using cruise control.

[30] The Fast and the Furious was released on June 22, 2001, in North America and ranked #1 at the box office ahead of Dr. Dolittle 2, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider and Atlantis: The Lost Empire, earning $40,089,015 during its opening weekend.

[2] In the United Kingdom, the film ranked in second place at the box office behind Moulin Rouge!, collecting $2.6 million during its opening weekend.

The website's critical consensus reads: "Sleek and shiny on the surface, The Fast and the Furious recalls those cheesy teenage exploitation flicks of the 1950s.

[36] Todd McCarthy of Variety called the film "a gritty and gratifying cheap thrill, Rob Cohen's high-octane hot-car meller is a true rarity these days, a really good exploitationer, the sort of thing that would rule at drive-ins if they still existed.

"[37] Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times called it "an action picture that's surprising in the complexity of its key characters and portents of tragedy.

Susan Wloszczyna of USA Today gave the film 21⁄2 out of 4 stars, saying that Cohen "at least knows how to keep matters moving and the action sequences exciting.

"[41] Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly gave the film a C, saying it "works hard to be exciting, but the movie scarcely lives up to its title.

"[43] Paul Clinton of CNN wrote that Cohen "created a high-octane, rubber-burning extravaganza" but he criticized the film for "plot holes you could drive the proverbial truck through" and an "idiotic" ending.

To account for these changes, Universal commissioned the writers to create a standalone sequel titled 2 Fast 2 Furious (2003), which starred Walker and directed by John Singleton.