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!
Chevy Chase’s original Vacation movie — Family Truckster was a perfect vehicle for the time era.
I am shocked, I haven’t seen twister listed here yet, its not about cars but every car is an extension of the character driving it. Is baby driver considered a car movie or a heist film? The hitmans bodyguard is a road trip film, and every car is perfect for how it’s used. The equalizer trilogy he does some impressive things with nondescript sedans, and every bad guy drives something that matches their personality.
I’ll nominate the 1966 film Arabesque, with Sophia Loren’s striking red Mercedes-Benz 230SL and the sheik’s sinister black Rolls Royce Phanton IV.
The Australian movie ‘Malcolm’ – a Honda Z that splits in two to become two separate ridable motorcycles used as getaway bikes!
Deadend Drive-In for the classic cars, and for simulating a 165 foot jump in a police truck in Australian fashion by actually leaping a truck 165 feet through a neon sign!
Bishop, as the son of a “Distinguished Scholar”(among other things), I could not agree with you more about the woody wagon being the wrong car. Your pics were good but I would add Hondas and Subies to that list. Vanderbilt faculty parking looked like a quirky European/Japanese used car lot back in the 80s. For years, driving a Honda was a sign of intellect and sensibility as well as almost mandatory in academia. Besides, getting published and expanding your vita are what really matters in academia, not how stylish or cool you or your car looks- hence some of the waaay passe dress attire worn by many a Professor/Lecturer.
For the list, The Blue Brothers for many reason, especially their auction bought retired police car. That car is one of the stars from the first scene is in some of the greatest car chase scenes ever filmed. For a musical comedy, it sure was a baddass car movie! It’s also one of the very best collections of iconic musical artists in a single non-festival movie. Hell, James Brown, Aretha, Ray Charles, John Lee, Steve Cropper of The MGs, other backing band legends, and even Cab Calloway in one movie! Even Steven Spielberg and Frank Oz(Kermit, Yoda, and many other voices) do non-musical cameos. But that car is definitely one of the stars!
*Your picks were good but…
Hoping to win the award for most obscure car movie not about cars…I humbly submit….The Hidden. A 70s sci fi flick that starts off with a Bank robber fleeing in a Ferrari 308GTB! Awesome chase seen with the Ferrari totaled and then…it gets crazier. Turns out that an alien has landed on earth and really likes Ferraris, heavy metal music, and borrowing Earthling bodies!!! He uses up a body…he just takes over a new one. Even a dog when he has to. Ferrari Mondial is featured. A 77 Cadillac sedan DeVille… And cocaine! Movie is great considering not many special effects. But well developed characters make it special. Stars Kyle McLachlan and Micheal Nouri. The strip club scene is killer…Thank goodness for the good alien who saves the day. And yes..it has a happy ending. The Hidden. Today’s Movie Recommendation
Hope you find it and enjoy it. I wish you many happy miles of motoring. And now back to our regular scheduled program…
Yes! One of the best beginnings to a movie ever! The security camera footage was key. I used to get that movie mixed up with Rowdy Roddy Piper’s They Live that happens to have one of the best realistic fight scenes between him and Keith “The Voice” David to appear in a movie.
Thx for your support! Going for a 100 likes! C’mon people! LMAO
I would be remiss if I didn’t point out that your comment deserved a Spoiler Alert because you gave away the entire movie plot. I’m not trying to be a D. I just wanted to give you the heads-up for future movie posts.
Yes but…it’s such an obscure movie I hope that if I threw enough enticements out there more people would find it and watch it. Chances are the synopsis usually with the movie listing will give spoilers too. You
the opening scene was awesome, mentioned security footage so I think we’re both guilty as charged. When the world comes to an end it won’t matter! Rock on my Avanti Brother.
With today’s movies I just check my brain at the door, turn on the heated lounger and try to be entertained.
I completely understand and hope people will be enticed to see it by your prose.
But I’ll try to do better…:-)…Just remember, you can’t hurt my feelings, , my first wife took care of those! May the universe smile upon you!
Damn, that’s funny and know exactly what you meant. May the universe smile upon your face as well.
Mr & Mrs Smith! At its core, not a car movie at all. Seeing what both characters drive though – the cars add to their personalities. He’s in a Cadillac CTS, she’s in a Mercedes C-Class. A Lincoln Town Car is borrowed for some sort of chase. The final chase scene uses a 2002ish Dodge Caravan. It’s brilliant.
Burying the lede there with the chase scene in the Dodge Caravan. It’s probably one of my favorite chase scenes of all time just for the sheer glorious genre breaking of a high-speed chase in one of the most (whether fairly or unfairly) maligned classes of vehicles and how much they actually take advantage of it’s features.
The 3 BMW 5 series were such a great bad guy chase car casting
I didn’t read many of the comments yet, so at the risk of repeating someone else’s post: The Original Perry Mason. Showcase of late 50’s to early 60’s Fords? Check. Suits and cool dresses? Check. Day drinking and smoking? Ya sure youbetchya!
A number of custom sports cars and possibly early kit cars as well.
And early car phones.
The problem with the Ciera in Fargo is it keeps changing years depending on the scene. In some it has the squared-off tail lights and in others it has the later rounded ones. Drives me nuts!
Death Proof. Cars are a focus but not the plot itself and they’re all amazing.
Trapped in Paradise.
If they’re TV episodes that were released as “movies of the week”, I think they count, right? Reason for the disclaimer is that I recently retreated from the modern hellscape of life and the evening news into watching episodes of “Columbo”. I was very young when the earliest episodes were shown originally (like..infant, toddler, small child) so I never really saw them. Watching them now is like an absolute time capsule of cool ass cars just being used as regular cars. Most of the baddies in these early episodes are rich/important/upstanding citizens, and their cars reflect that. Lots of high option Caddies, Mercedes, Buicks, and even the odd Ferrari (which was awesome) and Jag show up. One tier below that are the bread/butter cars – the Furys, Newports, Impalas, Valiants, etc. In one of the best car castings of this era, the “hero” car driven by the rumpled Columbo is an equally rumpled Peugot 403 Cabrio.
Apart from the cars, it’s also delightfully fun to watch a show from an era when everybody openly smoked everywhere and drank hard liquor at every turn – hell, every office has a fully stocked bar (with ice that just happens to be there). Just old enough to remember this as a waning reality when I entered the working world in the late 80’s. To be sure, I’m not pining for any of that, just more of a “damn…that really was a thing” realization.
Anyway…cars – lots of cars.
Rockford Files for clearly having special cars planted in the background by Garner, sometimes in key roles.
Harry O, possibly inspiring Rockford Files, detective owning a British sports car that rarely ran, so often used mass transit.
His car was once stripped in daytime.
Adam 12 for numerous now rare performance cars.
Beg pardon but that Cierra isn’t beige
All Cierras were beige to the core, regardless of the paint color on the outside.
woah…so true…
Oldsmobile never even bothered with a mildly spicy version as far as I can remember. Chevy had the Celebrity Eurosport, Buick had the Century T-Type, and Pontiac had the all-mighty 6000STE, but Oldsmobile, nothin’ but yet another Gutless Cutlass.
Tan Ciera! Tan Ciera!”
One car that jumped out the most is the yellow Citroën 2CV driven by James Bond’s “mistress” in For Your Eyes Only. It was probably the world’s most underpowered get-away car that succeed in escaping from the nemesis and villains.
I would say the choice of vehicles is excellent in Ronin, especially Audi A8, Jeep Cherokee (XJ), and Mercedes-Benz 450 SEL 6.9.
Go backwards forwards quickly!
Donnie Darko and Uncle Buck
Three pages of comments, and nobody said Sixteen Candles? Jake Ryan’s red Porsche 944? Grandpa’s Olds wagon that The Donger put into “lake – big lake”? The football goons’ big black Lincoln Continental land yacht with a trunk big enough for Bryce and Weez to get a ride home in? Mom’s Town & Country wagon and Dad’s Buick Century? “THIS IS A MOTHERF– This is a Rolls Royce, Jake”?
You are all penalized ten GenX points. Oh well, whatever, never mind.
Joe the Drummer, tap rap tap, rap tap and bring the beat. Gen X. We don’t care, it’s what we do. Unless someone criticizes the John Landis and John Hughes movies that insinuated themselves into the very fabric of our adolescent/teen/young adult perspective. The Kiddo is astounded by the sheer numbers of 1980s movie quotes that are casually bandied about by my siblings, cousins and friends. Some quotes have become so reflexive that the movie origin has been lost or misrepresented and the quote itself lacks any temporal significance. “That coffee is two hours cold.” *peers intensely at coffee cup, begins sip* “I put a cigarette out in it.” *shrugs*
What is important for us is that the vehicles on the movie screen reflected our everyday experiences at the time.
‘Live and Let Die’ offered up AMC’s finest…in a British spy film. ‘Smokey and the Bandit’ “I need a speedy car.” *cash shuffling* “Speedier than that!” “I’d like to kick his a** just once!” made it seem that every car on the road was either a Poncho or a Plymouth patrol car. ‘Cannonball Run/Run II’ brought exotic supercars, Mitsubishi Starions (with Jackie Chan!), hearses, Bert Reynolds and Dom Deluise in an ambulance (Captain Chaos!), NASCAR stock cars driven by Mel Tillis and Terry Bradshaw, and Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr. as priests. *bloopers, holding a rosary* “I’m going to shove these bleeds right up your nose!” “These bleeds? These bleeds right here?” There was ‘The Wraith’, with an not-yet-substance addled Charlie Sheen as the pilot of the Dodge M4S Interceptor. ‘Red Dawn’ (I saw some of it being filmed) with Chevy 4x4s. ‘Better Off Dead’ with the Ford Country Squire, Blaine’s Black Camaro, the Ree brothers “one doesn’t speak any english at all, The other learned to speak english while watching Howard Cosell. What do you think is better?” orange Falcon. Ricky’s exploded mother, “Sorry your mother got blown up, Ricky.” ‘One Crazy Summer’ with the Ferrari that becomes the yacht motor. the 1964 Chevelle SS in ‘Repo Man’. And, of course, the Wagon Queen Family Truckster. “You think you hate it now, wait ’til you drive it!”
John “see you next Wednesday” Landis brought us ‘Animal House’, with Flounders’ brother’s Deathmobile Lincoln, Otter’s Corvette, Greg’s MGA, and the DePasto Olds Dealership parade cars. There was Carrie Fisher’s red Grand Prix, the Purple MurphMobile Caddy, a car dealership in the mall “The new Olds are in early this year!” hundreds of wrecked police cars, and, of course, the “cop shocks, cop brakes, cop suspension, 440 mill that runs good on regular gas” Bluesmobile from the Blues Brothers, plus the Mercedes limo from Trading Places.
John Hughes, however, knew the cultural influence and importance of automobiles to his Gen X audience, from Jake’s Porsche 944 and Rolls “this is a motherfu..this is a Rolls, Jake!”, as well as the K-Car, Grandpa’s Olds wagon, and others in Sixteen Candles, the Karmann Ghia in Pretty in Pink, the cars that establish economic and class divisions as they disgorge the detention-bound in Breakfast Club, and of course, the Sacred Ferrari in ‘Farris Bueller’s Day Off’. Uncle Buck’s 1977 Grand Marquis “you know how whipped a car has to be to blow like that?” and Sharee’s Bronco II. The Chrysler Town and Country Convertible in ‘Planes, Trains and Automobiles’ “THOSE. AREN’T. PILLOWS!”. They spoke to us then, and now, they are the loose thread that tugs us away from today and lets us disappear and re-enter into a world without email, cell phones, social media, Zoom meetings, at least for an hour and a half at a time. But we don’t care. We are Gen X.
Wow! You win for the most in depth response to today’s question! Nicely done. But sorry I’m out of Gold Starions !
“All right, which one of you is the U-boat captain?”
How is Better Off Dead not a car movie?
There is even a car building montage!
Oh, it is. It’s just masquerading as a teen romance.
They referenced as many movie styles as they could manage.
I still see “My two dollars” references in new films.
Probably thought of as a car movie, but Bobby Deerfield, with Al Pacino and Marthe Keller, was quite fine. Lots of racing, but a lot of other stuff going on besides that.
“Are you still driving around in circles, Bobby Deerfield?”
That line cracked me up and has somehow stuck in my head nearly 50 years later.
I should see if there’s a way for me to stream it and see how it’s held up over the years.
GoodFellas. Henry’s Grand Prix with a deer paw stuck in the grill.
Ha! Reminds me of the original Godfather. “Leave the gun. Take the cannoli.” One of the least-expected lines in my movie-going life.
Michael’s heavily be-tail-finned 50s Chrysler limo in Part 2. ????
Nah. https://youtu.be/35fLKn2Tq3o
Cool car though. No idea what it is but I’m sure it’s on the internet somewhere.
Oh, I know they weren’t the same car. I was just suggesting another one from the series that stands out to me.
Ok I read a lot of comments looking for this but no one brought it up.
HBO MAX has a new series called Duster. It centers around a guy who drives for a mob boss (of sorts) and drives… a Plymouth Duster.
I have no idea why his car model is the show title honestly but it’s a period show set in the 70s and is quite good with many period correct (and a few minor incorrect) cars. There is truly scene after scene of great 1970s metal.
If I must choose a movie specifically then fine. How about the late 80s, Corey Haim cheesiness that is Licensed to Drive. I guess it is sort of a cat movie since it is about a coming of age, getting your license movie but so much greatness in that movie.
“Tonite’s episode of Duster – Sponsored by Liberty Mutual.”
And it was canceled on Monday. No season 2. HBO’s boardroom is full of money hungry MBAs wit h bad taste.
What? Damnit why is it every show I like ends up cancelled? It was such a good show.
The reason HBO cited was that it did not hit the desired Nielsen numbers.
Same reason cited for ending John From Cincinnati, best thing they ever produced!
Surf noir, but some great car moments.
It’s a bummer they didn’t set Fargo a couple years in the future, I would have loved to see a 98 Touring Sedan amongst the cast.
Easy:
Cars.
The movie isn’t about cars, the characters are simply cars.
It’s literally a car movie.
Where do we stand on Rainman as a car movie or not? It doesn’t feel like a car movie, but timely grey-market Lambos and the inherited Roadmaster are both major plot points.
I’m going to fudge with a TV Series, Crime Story. It was set in the early to mid sixties and all the cars are gems, starting with the hero 1957 Chrysler 300C. Watch the first 10 minutes of episode one to see car chase heaven. Also, Archer. It’s animated but every car, even the background cars, are real recognizable vehicles. One of my favorite quick takes was a two second shot of a Matador LA police cruiser straight out of Adam-12.
The scene in the mall parking lot in Jackie Brown (Leeeeewwwwissssssss, when you robbed banks, did you forget where your car was then too? ) has a great assortment of cars.
https://youtu.be/bXy8AgE7jBo?feature=shared
Not a movie, but The Americans had a fabulous automotive cast, from Philip and Elizabeth’s Delta 88 to Stan’s government-issue Diplomat (or Fury) and all the ’60s to ’80s iron running around in the background.
So many great suggestions for stuff I now want to watch that I have never seen. Thank you!
In French class back around 1970, the teacher showed us a movie about the Tour de France, and I was entranced by the support cars following the peloton, tires howling around the corners, with the spare bikes mounted on the roofs. (My first introduction to the Peugeot 504.) The title of the movie didn’t stick, and of course the dialog was far above my half-way through the first-year level of trying to learn. And I wouldn’t understand most of it now.
I’ve been through all the comments at this point and one that I haven’t seen yet is The Peacemaker with George Clooney and Nicole Kidman. Not the central point of the movie, but there is a lot of vehicular mayhem in this scene:
The Peacemaker – George Clooney & Nicole Kidman Car Chase Movie Clip – S500 W140
Pulp Fiction. Checker Cab, vintage Civic, Chevy Nova, HD Chopper, Malibu Convertible, oh and a freaking NSX speed piloted by the Wolf