Tuesday, September 9, 2014

Mustangs in movies......

After the post about Trans-Ams in movies I had quite a few people ask about Mustangs in the movies. Mustangs are fairly prevalent as they've always been a popular car. Here's some of the Instances I remember. # 1. Bullitt. Obvisusly the most famous one-The Highland Green '68 390 Fastback with Torq-Thrust mags has been copied for more than 40 years, and they still look cool.  # 2. "Diamonds Are Forever" James Bond Flick with a convoluted plot and two homosexual asassins after Bond. The only redeeming qualities are a young Jill St. John spends a lot of time barefoot in a bikini, and her and Sean Connery lead the bad guys on a decent chase through the streets of Las Vegas in a red '71 Mach 1. Otherwise its one of worst Bond Films. # 3. "The Mechanic". Charles Bronson should have got an Oscar for his portrayal of a lonely hitman who suffered from insomnia and migraine headaches, who takes the reckless son of one his victims under his wing. Great action, and his protege-a young Jan-Michael Vincent-drives a red '72 Mach 1. # 4. "Gone in 60 Seconds". To quote Tracie Thoms in "Death Proof"-"The original H.B. Halicki classic, not that Nic Cage / Angelina Jolie bullshit"  40 full minutes of automotive mayhem in a Yellow '73 Mach 1 nicknamed "Eleanor". # 5. "Charlie's Angel's" Farrah Fawcett and later Cheryl Ladd drove the white Mustang II fastback with blue stripes. Jaclyn Smith drove an orange Mustang coupe, and poor Kate Jackson got stuck with a Pinto. Come on Ford, even David Doyle ( "Bosley" ) got a T-Bird. Let's be honest no one gave a shit about the cars-guys from 14 to 40 tuned in droves to see Farrah, Jaclyn or Cheryl barefoot in bikinis, or occasionally chloroformed and tied up. Not only did she get screwed driving a Pinto-poor Kate-the "smart" one always had to stay dressed and help Bosley save the others when they were in peril. Hey-we didn't have internet porn back then, so it lasted 5 seasons.  # 6. "Basic Insticnct" All everyone remembers is Sharon Stone getting naked a lot. I remember the scene where Micheal Douglas rips Jeanne Tripplehorn's clothes off and bends her over the couch as hotter than any scene with Sharon. I also remember him bounding up hills in a '91 "5.0" Convertible after "Roxy" tries to kill him with the black Lotus Esprit. # 7. "The Getaway" 1994 version. Sorry guys-a then 41 year old Kim Basinger, while still hot in a Milf / Cougar way-compared to the 24 year old Ali MacGraw in the original? No contest-Ali all the way. In fact Steve McQueen left his wife for her, and she left producer Robert Towne for Steve, so torrid was the affair they had while filming the 1972 original. I'm not just picking on Kim-Alec Baldwin dreams he's as cool as Steve McQueen, and Michael Madsen-while good in Reservoir Dogs-can't touch Al Lettieri as the evil, sexually deviant gunfighter Rudy. And Roger Donaldson vs Sam Peckinpah for director? To plagairize MC Hammer- "Can't touch this."  However Baldwin did drive a '93 "5.0" Convertible, and James Woods was way more evil than Ben Johnson, as Jack Benyon-but that couldn't save it. The original is still way better. # 8 "Hannibal". This sequel to "Silence of the Lambs" brought back Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lecter, but had Julianne Moore as Clarice Starling. I think Julianne Moore is sexy-and if you read the books, is way closer to Author Thomas Harris's vision of Starling than dykey Jodie Foster. Anyhow- she drove an '88 Roush Mustang in the book and the movie, but sadly no car chase action. #9 "Marked for Death" This Steven Seagal stinker has him driving a sinister black '73 Mach 1, that gets wrecked, and then the big chase is between a Dodge Ramcharger and a BMW 633CSI. Yeah, right-a 318 Ramcharger could stay with a 633CSI for about half a block. Gag. I probably missed some, so feel free to chime in. Mastermind

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