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Strap in for some truck jumping action as the 1980s cult TV show scores an Australian-produced feature film
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We’re not totally up on all the Hollywood Ryans, but when there’s a hint of high-riding, high-altitude GMC pickup shenanagins, our interest is piqued.
It has been reported that Ryan Gosling – star of the stuntman-come-getaway driver thriller Drive – is heading to Australia to star in a production of a stuntman-come-bounty hunter thriller ‘remake’ of The Fall Guy TV show.
Because the real star of The Fall Guy TV show was not the ‘Six Million Dollar Man’ himself, Lee Majors, nor was it the fact that Majors sang the show’s theme song, but that in every single episode the plot required ‘The Fall Guy truck’ to conduct at least one massive jump.
The 1982 GMC K-2500 Sierra Grande 4X4, in a period-correct two-tone copper and gold paint scheme, made both KITT and the General Lee look like amateurs with the long-bed pickup regularly clearing impossible heights and distances, while recovering and continuing on camera with remarkable rigidity.
Fans have noted an impressive 33-jumps made over the show’s production run, with one fan creating a supercut video of the most impressive air time. Check out the clip below, and thank me later.
The Fall Guy truck was by no means standard.
Reports note so many ‘regular’ GMC utes were destroyed early on in the show’s production that the stunt crew created ‘jump’ trucks with a mid-mounted V8 engine, off-road racing shock absorbers, and custom axles for predictable weight distribution and recoverability.
Will the new Ryan Gosling reimagining of The Fall Guy be set in the era of the 1982 GMC square-body, or will we see a modern interpretation?
While a Ram TRX may be the most technically apt, keeping the GMC badge would likely see a 2022 GMC Canyon in the roll.
The new GMC Sierra is a much bigger vehicle now, and probably not something you’d try to get airborne…
We’ll keep an eye on local production chatter and continue to hope that whatever the film ends up being, there’s at least some screen time dedicated to honouring the jumpiest truck that ever jumped for the good of a cheesy TV show.
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