Chevelles
(and
other A-bodies) in Movies and TV (1973-77) -- the disco decade
Back in
the days, this was a time in which OPEC imposed an oil embargo, and this
resulted in the first energy crisis of 1973, and 1979. This was a
time in which the 60s vehicles were in a transition phase, when Detroit
managed to focus on safety concerns and stringent EPA regulations.
Keep in mind that what is seen in movies and TV are immortalized for life.
Before Cleo goes to a drug pusher's
apartment, a group of street kids are seen, and a 1973 El Camino is seen
in traffic.
Right after a kidnapped mobster is
dumped in front of a couple of high rise buildings, a traffic scene is
depicted, where a 1973 Cutlass S coupe is seen in traffic. During
the chase sequence, a 1973 LeMans coupe is seen in traffic.
One of the Asian thugs drives a 1973
Pontiac LeMans Colonnade coupe.
When McQ (Duke) conducts a stakeout,
a 1973 Chevelle Laguna station wagon is seen, when Duke uses a telephoto
lens to snap a mugshot to ID a hitman.
At the beginning of the film, a 1974
Chevelle 4-door is seen as the "picture car", where the first victim, House,
is bleeding in the back seat. The car was driven by two white kids
"makin' it" in the woods. In a later scene, where Jim Brown is being
fired at by white supremacists (in a 1969 Plymouth Fury and a 1970 Ford
Galaxie 500), a 1973 Pontiac Grand Prix is seen in a parking garage.
During the opening credits, a 1973
LeMans is seen, parked on a downtown Chicago street. After Sheba
exits the El-Train, a 1974 Cutlass S Colonnade coupe is parked on the street
corner, before she goes to her office. Sheba (Pam Grier) assaults
a hitman in an amusement fairground, and a 1969 Buick Skylark is seen in
the background, as well as a 1973-75 Pontiac Grand Prix. Outside
the Shayne Loan Co., a 1971/72 Pontiac LeMans is parked outside, and during
the end credits, which takes place in Chicago, a 1971/72 Grand Prix is
seen.
Burt Reynolds parks his 1971 Mustang
convertible next to a 1973 Grand Prix, when he arrives at LAPD Central
Headquarters. In a later scene, where Burt Reynolds goes to the Hollinger
home, a 1973 Monte Carlo is seen, parked across the street.
In several traffic scenes, a 1976 Cutlass
Supreme is briefly seen.
A 1977 Pontiac LeMans sedan (Buford
T. Justice's squad car) is used throughout the film, and is abused frequently.
(1) the LeMans loses its roof; (2) the driver's side door is bashed off
the car; (3) the right front rim falls off the car in the final scene.
Several 1976/77 LeMans sedans were seen as police vehicles throughout the
film, since Pontiac Motor Division provided the vehicles.
Clint Eastwood is at a phone booth,
and a helicopter hovers over, with a sniper. When he and Sondra Locke
flee on a stolen Harley Davidson Softail (watch for the scene where Clint
Eastwood gives a lecture about the use of reasonable suspicion to a motorcycle
gang!), a 1973 Buick Century or Regal coupe is seen, parked across the
phone booth.
Trivial note: Steve McQueen
and Barbra Streisand were considered for the cast, but McQueen pulled out
of the project after the two didn't get along. Clint Eastwood was
interested, and took over the project, and replaced Barbra Streisand with
his live-in girlfirend Sondra Locke for the part as the female lead.
This film is an influence for fans of Quentin Tarantino flicks, since the
plot twists serve as an inspiration for modern-day "plot twist" flicks.
During the opening scene, a 1973 Monte
Carlo is seen, parked next to a Cadillac limousine and a Texas DPS squad
(1973 Plymouth Fury III). Other 1973-77 A-bodies are seen as picture
cars, which include a 1973-77 El Camino and 1976 Century Colonnade coupe
(seen when William Devane pulls into a gas station). In a later scene,
in front of a Juarez brothel, a 1976 Grand Prix is seen in traffic, where
he spots James "Rosco" Best.
Flashback memorabilia: regular
leaded fuel used to sell for $.49/gallon, which was noticeable during the
gas station scenes. Another gas station scene (where a TX DPS squad
pulls in) had a sign with $.51/gallon for regular leaded. Compare
this to today's $1.61 average for 87 octane (due to federal and state taxes).
A 1973-77 Buick Regal is briefly seen
outside the 2001 Odyssey Disco, after Tony forces himself on Stephanie
in the back seat of the Impala.
When Charles Bronson arrives in Calgary,
Alberta, Canada, a 1976 Malibu Classic sedan is driven by Lee Remick.
In a later scene, which supposedly takes place in Houston, TX, Donald Pleasence
(Halloween, and best known as Ernst Stavro Blofeld in You Only Live Twice)
walks to his rented car (a 1977 Ford LTD station wagon), a few GM A-bodies
are seen. They include a 1974/75 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme and a
1975 Malibu Classic coupe (parked on a street corner).
Factual error: the downtown
skyline that is briefly seen (the sequence reads: Houston, TX) is some
other midwestern city. There is no railroad track in front of a downtown
area, but the REAL Downtown Houston has a rail line that runs above Buffalo
Bayou. The street scene depicted in the Houston sequence is a two-way
street, and the only streets in Downtown Houston that aren't one-way streets
are Main, Franklin Street, and Commerce Road. This also includes
a highway scene which has an Interstate 45 road sign.
A 1966 Chevelle hardtop is seen, parked on the street, when
Chevy Chase commandeers a 1969 Chevrolet C20 pickup (the pickup has Colorado
plates). This particular scene takes place after he crashed a 1974
Lincoln Continental into a pizzeria. A 1973 Chevelle is seen as an
SFPD squad car, when a corpse is found in the bay, after Chevy Chase arrives.
A 1977 Monte Carlo is seen, parked
in a garage. Michael Myers is hiding in the back seat, and the victim
is killed.
A 1977 Cutlass Supreme 4-door is seen,
when Joan Hart (Elizabeth Shepherd) spots Damien at the military academy.
The Cutlass breaks down on the highway, and this is where the graphic scene
with a raven (the icon of evil) occurs. (Note: after watching
this particular scene, one should take a trip to the restroom and vomit.)
In an earlier scene, Sylvia
Sidney (Mars Attacks!) was the third victim after staring at the raven.
When Richard Thorn goes to NYC (the NYC sequences were filmed in Chicago),
the first place that he goes to is a church, and a 1976/77 Cutlass Supreme
coupe is seen, parked on a street corner.
Trivial note: Lance
Henriksen appears as a military academy commandant, and would later
end up on James Cameron's alumni list. He would later star in the
Cameron flicks Piranha II: The Spawning, The Terminator, and Aliens.
His other roles include the TV series Millenium, and a psychotic biker
in Stone Cold. Meshach Taylor (the victim that ends up hacked in
half in an elevator) has a bit part as a doctor, and is well known on the
TV series Designing Women and the Mannequin movies.
During the town scene, a 1973-77 GM
A-Special coupe is seen as a picture car.
Factual error: there is no
town named Merrysville, Texas. The town scenes were filmed at the
Burbank Studios, which is the home of Warner Bros. Studios, and the small
town sequences are familiar with The Dukes of Hazzard. The Houston,
TX sequences seen briefly were second unit shots (which includes a scene
in Memorial Park and the Astrodome, as well as the Interstate 10 West -
IH45 South ramp.
A 1976 or 1977 Monte Carlo is seen
in a row of parked cars, when the castaways make it into port.
Trivial note: the part of
Ginger, played by Tina Louise in the original series, was recasted with
Judith
Baldwin as the replacement. Baldwin would portray Ginger in the following
two Gilligan's Island telepics. Tina Louise wanted a higher salary
demand, but the network executives at NBC recanted. To this day,
Tina Louise has disassociated herself with Ginger from the original series,
and refuses to comment on anything related to Gilligan's Island.
Judith Baldwin might be known as
the "other" Ginger, as well as the woman that strips off her bra in the
film No Small Affair (1984).
This particular scene takes place in Jon Cryer's bedroom. One silly
line stated in the Gilligan's Island TV movie was that she refused to do
any nude scenes in a feature film, but did so in a later film.
The highway scene, which takes place
before crossing the US-Mexico border, a 1977 Grand Prix is seen on the
highway (C & C are in a green van, made from marijuana sheets).
80's-Era
Movies
1990s
and Beyond
A-Car
Sightings
*Listed in WhoWhere
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2001 P-n-B Productions (a Cheap Times
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