Pagoda SL Group
W113 Pagoda SL Group => General Discussion => Topic started by: Dick M on October 01, 2004, 20:02:34
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Really bad movie...Intersection
"Hotshot architect Vincent Eastman barrels down a slick mountain road in his classic 1968 Mercedes 280SL. He rounds a tight curve to discover a dilapidated VW van that has stalled while attempting to enter the thoroughfare ahead of him. Eastman swerves into the left lane to avoid the van -- directly into the path of an oncoming truck. The architect swerves again, loses control, and spins violently off the road."
They show repeated flashbacks of the 280SL being totaled... very sad.
Dick M
1970 280SL
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Isn't this the movie in which they used a speedometer supplied by our very own Benz Doctor Dan??
1969 280sl 5 spd 1999 ML320 Gainesville,Fl.
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Not only did the Good Doctor supply the speedometer, he forwarded inside scoop that the (six?) cars detroyed in the filming were all in various final stages of most-fatal rust cancer.
A HIDEOUSLY awful movie, but a must-watch (on DVD, frame by frame for the accident) for 113 owners.
LFrank
Washington DC
65 230 sl - auto
DB334/Hellblau
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If I remember correctly the 280SL had alloy wheels but when towed from the accident it had steel wheels with no hubcaps. Wasn't Sharon Stone in this? I must have been in shock after he wreck.
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Yup, Im famous ( sort of )
The car had steel wheels with full covers. A slow motion part shows one of them flying off the car.
The car they rolled was not the same one that hit the other vehicals and definately not the one with all the close ups. That car stayed with Mr. Geere for a few years and was eventually sold. I saw the ad in Hemmings.
They had a sort of quick detatch system rigged up so they could simply remove a damaged fender and stick another one on that was already painted silver. A small amount of body work and the next '' take '' could be filmed. The crash car and ther roll over car I think were seperate cars. Both were heavily braced and the roll over car had a roll bar with the hard top welded to it. My guess is that they used a variety of tricks to fool the viewer into thinking it was a real crash.
VERY realistic though.
Daniel G Caron
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The two women in this movie were Sharon Stone and Lolita Davidovich.
1969 280sl 5 spd 1999 ML320 Gainesville,Fl.
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Yeah, don't even ask about the mouse in a tube thing..........
Daniel G Caron
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quote:
Yeah, don't even ask about the mouse in a tube thing..........
.............so anyway.......what about that mouse in a tube thing ??
;)
Regards,
Ben in Ireland.
'64 230SL 4sp.
'03 CLK Kompressor
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hamster, is what I had heard.
I'm sure it's out there on Google somewhere
(the type of rodent, not the rodent itself!)
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Gerbil; used as a verb.
And we are here to share our love of our cars, not comment on the fact that Mr. Gere was "discovered" when his shirtless pictures from a desert romp with the late photographer Herb Ritts were submitted to Vanity Fair.
LFrank
Washington DC
65 230 sl - auto
DB334/Hellblau
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It's an urban legend. It never really happened. Men who drive Pagodas would never do something like that. I suspect the individuals who started that rumour are just jealous of his 280 SL.
Douglas Kim
New York, NY
280 SL #016220
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I thought I said, '' don't ask , don't tell ''
Probably not true. Interesting how many know about it though.........
Daniel G Caron
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Are you guys trying to get me to buy a DVD player?
1969 280SL,Signal Red, A/T, P/S, A/C, Both tops, 3.27 axle. Retired engr. West Seattle, WA
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Theengineer,
don't do it, at least not for this movie. Yes, it's fun to see Pagodas in movies, but the rest of this movie is a proven cause of mental damage. "Two for the Road" is almost as horrible, but has better scenery.
Why don't Pagodas feature in good movies? Surely they deserve better.
George Davis
'69 280 SL Euro manual
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Maybe all of the warnings on this thread caused low expectations, but I watched 'Intersection' for the first time last night, and thought it was an OK movie! Then again I also liked 'Two for the road'. I probably won't watch it every month, but for me it was good enough to sit through the 'non-Pagoda scenes' - fortunately there are a good number of them. My wife told me that this one (with Gere/Stone/Davodovich) was a remake, she saw the (french) original many years ago, which she thought was better. Anyway for Pagoda Lovers it's great to see the car in so many scenes. A few things that I noticed:
- the rocker panels seem to be painted body color rather than flat black
- nice Nardi steering wheel
- the wipers seem to move quite a bit slower than mine in the 'slow' position - and maybe they added a non-characteristic sound to them
- the exhaust note is 'Pagoda'
- we never see anyone putting on their seatbelt(s), don't see the truck driver undoing one when he takes Gere out of the car, however the medic transporting Our Hero after the accident reports that he was in fact wearing his
- Gere never locks the car, no matter where he goes (I guess this actually makes sense, what with all those film crews around?)
- the crash scene can be seen as promoting the structural strength of the car and its design: even after a horrible crash + rolling over several times, the occupants' cell is intact
Mary Alexander: thanks for sending me the DVD!!!!!!!!!
Cees Klumper in Amsterdam
'69 white 280 SL automatic
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Hello Cees,
In this movie I noticed that the car during the crash, as it rolled had no exhaust system! Probably an indication the car in the crash was a prop. It was probably a cosmetically restored parts car which was sacrificed for the sake of the movie. Gere's actual driver is probably safely at home in some owner's garage.
Joe Alexander
Blacklick, Ohio
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quote:
Originally posted by ja17
In this movie I noticed that the car during the crash, as it rolled had no exhaust system! /Joe Alexander
Hi all,
First, I must say I think some of you are a bit harsh on this movie - after all, isn't it great that our favourite car is so prominently featured in a full-length film ;) The first opening scenes, and some footage later in the movie, is almost like a W113 commercial.. love it!
I have watched the crash scenes frame by frame. As for exhaust, the car that rolls is specially prepped by the film special effects team. The exhaust is re-routed underneath. Mounted under the floor plates is an inflatable bag. When rapidly filled, this is what makes the car suddenly flip over and roll into the bushes by the roadside.
Dan Caron, Randall Farac and others have previously added information over time about the cars used in that filming. There were many, say 5 or 6 W113's, some in not very good state. Cars were auctioned out after shooting was finished. Filming was done in Canada (British Columbia).
Richard Gere has M-B in many of his films. "American Gigolo" for example prominently features a nice black R107 (movie released 1980).
/Hans in Stockholm
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We may be the only people on the face of the planet who actually discuss this movie today........ I suspect Gere and fellow cast members would prefer to put this one behind them.
(But yes, when it comes on the tube, I feel strangely compelled to watch it.)
Douglas Kim
New York, NY
280 SL #016220
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The movie came on again tonight and thanks to HDTV I was able to determine the cause of the crash: Gere was driving without a gas tank.
Douglas Kim
New York, NY
280 SL #016220
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quote:
Originally posted by Douglas
We may be the only people on the face of the planet who actually discuss this movie today........ I suspect Gere and fellow cast members would prefer to put this one behind them.
(But yes, when it comes on the tube, I feel strangely compelled to watch it.)
Douglas Kim
New York, NY
280 SL #016220
...well at least being filmed in BC, they didn't spend a whole lot of money on the movie, thankfully. It is astounding how many cities they make Vancouver look like, and the liberties Hollywood takes with our knowledge. Some years ago there was a Mel Gibson/Goldie Hawn flick out called Bird on a Wire, which had Vancouver posing as downtown Detroit (laughable) and they escaped on the "Detroit-Racine Ferry". That latter gaffe is unconscionable; Racine is in Wisconsin!
Michael Salemi
1969 280SL
Signal Red w/Black Leather
Restored
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Actual clip from Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LqoRmnJ1pwE
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As a frenchman,I have to say that the original (french!cocorico) movie, which title is "les choses de la vie" (things of life), was a much better film than the remake (as usual).The main actors (Michel Piccoli, Romy Schneider...)were, IMHO, way more convincing than Richard gere and Sharon Stone( just imagine Sharon Stone playing the deceived housewife!!!) :D
Funny enough, the car was not a pagoda, but an Alfa Romeo giulietta.
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Thanks for posting the youtube link.
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I always expect the doctor to deliver the bad news about the crash to Gere's girlfriend then gently ask if the soft top frame is for sale.....
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Work was a real drag today but I came home and happened to read this one Douglas posted a while back for the first time and had a good laugh out loud. Thanks Douglas.
quote:
Originally posted by Douglas
The movie came on again tonight and thanks to HDTV I was able to determine the cause of the crash: Gere was driving without a gas tank.
Douglas Kim
New York, NY
280 SL #016220
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2YYASI0j7E
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Wow. Thanks K. I had never seen that clip. It hurt (and I am not a Richard Gere fan...).
I think this could be part of Doug's research about the structural integrity of the hardtop...However, I think old Richard would have been catapulted out the front window sometime before the rollover.