I was rewatching Fargo recently (as in the 1996 Cohen Brothers film, as opposed to the also-very-good TV series), and I couldn’t help thinking about how terrific a car movie it is.
It’s certainly not a cool-car movie if you’re looking for cool in the Cannonball Run mode with a plethora of commonly-accepted-to-be-cool cars, but as a movie with a bounty of perfectly-cast cars, each an interesting choice for the character behind the wheel, its role in the film, and the North Dakota setting? Fargo is pretty much a masterpiece.
The bulletproof and stalwart Panther Ford cop car is an ideal choice for equally unflappable Police Chief Marge Gunderson, while the hapless victims of the hitman’s first bullets in the movie just had to be driving a gutless Ford Tempo.
Desperation and desolation are the themes for much of the movie in depressing wintertime Minnesota, and the rather pathetic cars reflect it. Partial payment for a mock kidnapping comes in the form of one of the blandest cars of all time: a brand-new beige Cutlass Ciera.
Even the setting of a dealership full of 1987 Oldsmobiles was perfect; personality-free General Motors cars that create the fabric of a boring living hell for the protagonists.
The scene portraying the closing of a car purchase doesn’t just illustrate what the main character’s pitiful daily life is like. This might be one of the finest car-related scenes ever to appear in a film, and by far the best illustration of a car purchase. It’s spot-on and reinforces why, unlike many Autopians, I’d be happy if I never had to buy or trade another car for the rest of my life and try to do so only once a decade at most:
I was still thinking about Fargo when I caught White Noise while flipping channels a few days later, and once again I found myself musing about the well-cast cars and how they help shape the comedy-drama and its 1985 setting.
If your family didn’t have a Caprice Classic wagon like the primary characters in the film, you almost certainly had friends who did. Supposedly procuring malaise-era cars for movies today is a tough task since absolutely nobody preserved these things.
Truth be told, the eccentric family of Adam Driver’s professor character should have been cast with a beat-up orange Volvo 245DL wagon or rusting white 1977 Peugeot 504 three-row wagon. Still, the big GM wagon is perfect.
So what are your favorite “car movies” that are not-about-cars movies? Let’s talk about it!
Psychomania, the zombie biker film has some wild cars at times that have never been identified, last time I checked.
Best biker film ever just for one particular scene!
But worst bikes.
I would definitely say Every Which Way But Loose/Every Which Way You Can…what an absolute treasure chest of cars…from Filo’s Apache truck to the Black Widow’s motorcycles to all the work trucks including semi’s/box trucks/construction equipment. Some of the best movies ever.
Also, as far as shows…Seinfeld.
I love Kramer’s experimental Impala and all the 3rd gen Accords peppered throughout. Also in The Parking Garage, I love that CRX.
Also, Jon Voight’s Lebaron!
I’ll throw in a TV show: “My Name is Earl”. Earl’s Red/Blue El Camino, Joy’s Brat with the intact rear seats her kids ride in, Kenny’s LeCar, Randy’s Ranchero, Earl’s Mustang, Etc. A lot of great car casting.
John Waters as a tableaux funeral director is hard to top, though Malcolm in the Middle and the Burning Van tried.
Is Blues Brothers really a car movie? If not,I nominate Blues Brothers.