Car Movies

[Cees Klumper]

I just updated the post on 'intersection' with a silver Pagoda as the lead character.
Another car movie with, incidentally, even 'better' crash scenes (one could call them 'worse' just the same) is Le Mans, a great movie with Steve McQueen, from approx. 1972. I got it a few weeks ago and have already watched it maybe three or four times: it seems very realistic, especially watching it on a larger screen.

Any other 'rally/racing car movies' out there that we all might enjoy?

Cees Klumper in Amsterdam
'69 white 280 SL automatic

[hauser]

One movie that comes to mind is Tucker with Jeff Bridges.  The story of one mans' quest to build a better car only to be roadblocked by the Big Three.  The Tucker automobile was ahead of its time.  The installation of safety belts, roll over protection, taller door oppenings, rear mounted engine and a center mounted light that would pivot in the direction of the turn.

1969 280sl 5 spd        1999 ML320          Gainesville,Fl.

[mdsalemi]

It goes without saying to those "in the know" that one of the finest "car movies" ever made was the ORIGINAL "The Italian Job".  It doesn't get any better then Remy Julienne's fabulous chase scenes.  Lots of cool cars from 1969.  An all star cast featuring the ubiqutious Michael "Alfie" Caine; Bennie Hill, and the incomparable Noel Coward in his last film role.  For years (prior to the NEW Italian Job being made) we only had a "bad" VHS version available in poor EP format.  Aside from this you could occasionally catch it on late-night TV.  For those that love this film, here are some cool websites related to Remy, The Italian Job, etc.:

http://www.theminifarm.com/Remy%20Julienne.htm
http://movies2.nytimes.com/gst/movies/filmography.html?p_id=96474&mod=films
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0432293/
http://www.miniresource.com/italjob05.htm
http://www.geocities.com/fridaysaturdaymovie/italianjob69.html
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/08/20/1061261202623.html?from=storyrhs&oneclick=true
http://www.mini35.co.uk/italian_job.php

The of course we have the original "The Blues Brothers" which features a tongue in cheek send-off of car chases with a fabulously ridiculous scene near the end when they wreck dozens of Chicago Police cars.


Michael Salemi
1969 280SL
Signal Red w/Black Leather
Restored

[n/a]

I love Ronin with Robert Deniro. It has a 450 SEL 6.9 playing a big part in a great chase sequence. Of course, The Road Warrior spends the last half zooming and crashing. I remember Herbie the Love bug as having lots of very cool 60s race cars. The new Borne movie has a nice chace in it at the end. Crappy Russian cars, but great driving.

Shawn Rock
Philly, PA USA
1968 280 SL 4 speed

[Albert-230SL]

quote:Originally posted by cees klumper

I just updated the post on 'intersection' with a silver Pagoda as the lead character.
Another car movie with, incidentally, even 'better' crash scenes (one could call them 'worse' just the same) is Le Mans, a great movie with Steve McQueen, from approx. 1972.

Any other 'rally/racing car movies' out there that we all might enjoy?

Hi Cees,

I also have "Le Mans" movie in DVD, and it's a great film. For me one of the best car movies.

There's another excellent racing car movie: "Grand Prix" (directed by John Frankenheimer), from 1966... with Yves Montand, Eva Marie Sant, James Garner. I didn't find it in DVD, I just recorded it from the TV (it seems is available in VHS, according to Amazon info). It's probably the best racing car movie, together with "Le Mans".
More info about "Grand Prix" here: http://www.biosstars.com/film/60/grandprix/grandprix.htm
And the cover of the video tape: http://images.amazon.com/images/P/6304366078.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

Last weekend I was in Paris, and bought "Michel Vaillant - La victoire a un prix" movie in DVD. The director of this French movie entered two cars in the "24h Le Mans" real race, one or two years ago, in order to have real racing footage for the film... As soon as I see it, I will report here. More info here: http://trans.voila.fr/ano?anourl=http%3A//michelvaillant.free.fr/filmdvd.htm&anolg=65544

There's also a very special movie (only 9 minutes) by Claude Lelouch, the director of "Un Homme et une femme" (A man and a woman). The title is "C'était un rendezvous", it's a crazy lap in Paris (real images with on board camera and fantastic sound) in... probably a Ferrari (the car doesn't appear in the film, only its sound). More info about this film, and even short videos of it, here: http://www.conecam.com/rendezvous/

Best regards

Albert de la Torre Chavalera
Barcelona (Catalunya/Spain)
Feb.'64 230 SL Euro 113042-10-002432

[peterm]

Dennis Weaver in Duel has always been one my favorites, poor special effects but an eerie concept in keeping with a Stephen King mentality.  Then of course there's Bullit which requires careful attention to detail to count the number of hubcaps that fly off the chasing plymouth (hint theres more than 4).

[Benz Dr.]

One car movie that comes mind is '' The quick and the dead '' from about 1973-1974. Not a real movie and more like a documentary, it shows how dangerous Formula One racing was back then. Shows actual footage of crashes and fires where people die. A bit dated but still interesting.

Another movie is '' Winning ''from about 1968 starring Paul Newman. This film is about Indy cars and touches on the terrible crash and fire that killed several dirvers during that time.
He enjoyed the role some much he got into racing sports cars and was actually a pretty good driver too. Went on to create Newan-Haas racing team.

Daniel G Caron

[Ben]

quote:Then of course there's Bullit which requires careful attention to detail to count the number of hubcaps that fly off the chasing plymouth (hint theres more than 4).

........sorry to be pedantic but the chasing car was the ubiquitous Dodge Charger, vintage circa 68/69 !  This film must win the record for the worst continuity as far as damage to cars goes !

Anyone rememver the film "Driver" with Ryan O'Neal. There's a scene in an underground carpark where he proceeds to demonstrate his skills by thrashing an ornage W108 saloon !

Later there's a good chase involving a pick up truck and a Camaro !

Also the French Connection has some good high speed car stuff !

Regards,
Ben in Ireland.
'64 230SL 4sp.
'03 CLK Kompressor

[Albert-230SL]

More info about the Michel Vaillant film, here (a nice site, with videos of the film): http://michelvaillant-lefilm.com/

According to Automobile Magazine, November 2003: "In the canon of car films, the Holy Trinity is John Frankenheimer’s Grand Prix (1966), Lee H. Katzin’s Le Mans (1971) with Steve McQueen, and Claude Lelouch’s C’Etait un rendezvous (1976)..."

Albert de la Torre Chavalera
Barcelona (Catalunya/Spain)
Feb.'64 230 SL Euro 113042-10-002432

[Mike Hughes]

How about just about any James Bond flick from any decade?  Many of them even feature a Mercedes or two (almost always driven by the bad guys  :twisted: ), doing some pretty outrageous stuff!

- Mike Hughes  -ô¿ô-
  1966 230SL Auto P/S
  Havanna Brown (408)
  Light Beige (181)
  Cream M-B Tex (121)

[mdsalemi]

Just to let you know, I saw an advertisement in Car & Driver this morning for the DVD of the famous movie C'etait un Rendezvou from 1976.  Don't know if there are any 113's in it but apparently it has a car-mounted camera filming a 9-minute chase scene through Paris; they say it make "Bullitt look like a cartoon"  It is available from

http://shop.caranddriver.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=183&HS=1

Michael Salemi
1969 280SL
Signal Red w/Black Leather
Restored

[Mike Hughes]

I've had a boot leg copy of this for many years.  It is one of my fauorite 9 minutes of film.  Rumor has it that it was banned in France for many years, supposedly to prevent copy-cats from tearing around Paris.  Maybe 10 years ago it became available on VHS (through Classic MotorBooks, I think!) and more recently it has been released on DVD, using the original master.  I believe the opening sequence has the camera car blasting out of the same tunnel in which Diana and Dodi met with their accident some years later.

- Mike Hughes  -ô¿ô-
  1966 230SL Auto P/S
  Havanna Brown (408)
  Light Beige (181)
  Cream M-B Tex (121)