From the opening song to the actors making a cameo to the van they used constantly: tributes to Cascoporro
It is possible that when watching the premiere of ‘The Specialist’ you have thought “Well! At least some fresh air with a movie that is not based on anything else nor is it a sequel!”. Well, I have bad news: like ‘Mission: Impossible’ or ‘Infiltrated’, there is a fairly dark series (and not only in Spain) from the 80s on which it is based, even if it is distant. His name, indeed, ‘The fall guy’.
Falling under its own weight
For 113 episodes divided into 5 seasons, ‘The fall guy’ was broadcast on ABC and although it arrived in Argentina with the name ‘Profesión Peligro’, in Spain it seems that it did not arrive. The plot, as simple and episodic as it is: A Hollywood stuntman, Colt Seavers, dedicates his free time to being a bounty hunter. Obviously, the film has done what it wanted with the original material, but it has still maintained some nods, as reported in the Hollywood Reporter.
For example, the name of the main characters, Colt Seavers and Jody Moreno (although she has gone from stuntwoman to director), or the presence of the actors who gave them life: Lee Majors and Heather Thomas appear in a post-credits in which I’m sure you wondered “But these, who are they?”. The references go further, including the van driven by Ryan Gosling, a GMC Sierra, which, in an older model, was the one they used in each episode.
And, of course, the main theme plays, ‘Unknown Stuntman’, sung by Lee Majors himself. In fact, she released it as a single and it ultimately became the only album of her career. If you’re curious, the song plays during the end credits but They have changed the lyrics to match the new knowledge of pop culture and today’s society.
That is, they have eliminated references to Farrah Fawcett, Bo Derek, Sally Field, Cheryl Tiegs, Raquel Welch, Robert Redford and Clint Eastwood for more vague ones, in addition to replace off-color verses (“I’ve never spent much time in school, but I taught ladies plenty”) by more cunning others (“I’ve nevеr spent much time in school. Oh, but I did my learnin'”). The inevitable passage of time, I suppose.
In Espinof:
