Chevelles (and
other A-bodies) in Movies and TV -- 80s Era Movies
11/11/99 update: the 1980s movie section of the Chevelles on Screen
page was split into 2 sections, because the page was about to exceed 30,000
bytes. This is the remainder of the 80s-Era Movies, which covers
1985-1989. Click on the "Back" link to return to the early 1980s
movies. Everything else is similar to the first section of this page.
The scene where the wedding is taking place had a 1970 Monte
Carlo in a row of parked cars.
Note: One of Kevin Costner's favorite movies. Watch
for Suzy Amis (the granddaughter
on Titanic) as the dream
girl.
During the trailer park scene, a 1972 Buick Skylark 2-door
hardtop is seen, parked next to a trailer.
A 1965 and 1968 GTO are picture cars, and the 1968 GTO has
a blower.
This is a movie that was a pre-Ghost comedy, in which Lewis
Smith played a guardian angel, who was killed in a drag race in the early
sixties. The drag race was similar to the one in the movie Rebel Without
A Cause, in which two cars race towards a cliff. The guardian angel, later
ends up helping a young teen-ager, played by Jason Gedrick (of The
Last Don fame), to become a stud-like character in school. (Later,
the guardian angel was Lenny's real father.) There is one scene in the
wrecking yard in which a 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air ragtop was reincarnated
from the scrap heap. There were a lot of Chevrolets used in this movie,
mostly mid-eighties cars, like a Camaro and Caprice station wagon. A 1973-77
El Camino is seen in the high school parking lot. The final scene,
which was a drag race, like the one in the prologue of the movie, had two
Chevy clunker cars, where a 1967 Impala fastback hardtop and a 1972 Chevelle
four-door were used. This movie had Nancy Valen ("Samantha Thomas" of Baywatch),
who was Lenny's woman, Melissa, in the movie.
Treat Williams (Substitute 2 and 3, Deep Rising) drives a
gold 1966 Pontiac LeMans ragtop (with a GTO hood and the OEM 8-slot hubcaps),
and the car is seen where he and Laura Dern are seen in front of her home.
His LeMans has a gashed LH taillight lens, with a line that stated "Done
by crazy woman driver", the #s 33 19 17 on the LH quarter panel, and a
personalized nameplate on the LH door (Arnold Friend). A 1972 Buick
Skylark 2-door hardtop is briefly seen, and the same car is seen parked
in front of a movie theater, at the hamburger joint, and on the highway.
During the opening credits, a 1971 Cutlass 2-door hardtop
is seen, parked in front of a restaurant, and the same Cutlass is seen
where Brian Dennehy show up at Rollie Tyler's (Bryan Brown) apartment.
Later, in the impound yard scene, a 1969 Chevelle is seen in a row of police
impound specials inventoried by the NYPD.
Trivial note: Roscoe Orman (Gordon on Sesame Street)
is Brian Dennehy's boss, and in this film, he says the word "a$$hole in
front of NYPD brass. Angela Bassett's film debut (she appears as
a TV reporter). A continuity error is noticeable, when Bryan Brown
locks Agent Lipton in the trunk of a Dodge Diplomat. When Bryan Brown
backs the car up, a "Plymouth" script is seen (note that the grille is
silver), and in another frame, a Dodge Diplomat is used.
Rob Lowe's brother drives a blue 1970 GTO hardtop, and the
car is seen during the highway scenes.
Trivial note: in the director's cut version (unavailable
at the moment), Jessica Steen
(the NASA co-pilot in Armageddon)
is seen as Patrick Swayze's girlfriend.
There is a scene where Kevin Bacon is standing in front of
a mural, known as the Isle of California, and a 1970-72 Cutlass Supreme
4-door is parked in front of the mural.
A 1970-72 El Camino is seen, parked at a street corner, when
the serial killer (Brian Thompson) shoots the headlights on Cobra's 1950
Merc. The villain's car (a 1979 Plymouth Volare) ends up bashed,
like a battering ram, where the front bumper, LH fender, grille, and headlights
were beaten, and during the alley chase scene, Cobra's Merc drives over
a 1968/69 Pontiac Tempest (possibly a Pontiac Bonneville). A Ford
F250 pickup is destroyed, after Cobra fires a Jati 9mm submachine gun at
the hood.
A later scene, where the showdown takes place, a 1976/77
Malibu Classic station wagon is one of the vehicles seen at a roadblock.
The Malibu is wrecked, which is a good sight for A-car purists that love
the 1964-72 generation.
Trivial note: three cast members have a connection
with STAR
TREK. They include Andrew Robinson (DS9's
Elim Garak, as well as the Scorpio killer in Dirty Harry), Brian Thompson
(a TNG episode), and Marco Rodriguez (TNG episodes The Arsenal of Freedom
and The Wounded). More trivia can be found at this site.
A 1971 Chevelle 4-door hardtop sedan is seen in the alley,
and the top is hacked with a sword. Another 1971/72 Chevelle is seen
(a 2-door hardtop), where it ends up wrecked by a mid-1970s Ford Granada,
right after Clancy Brown (the villain in a 1975/76 Coupe De Ville) kidnaps
Roxanne Hart.
Trivial note: the 1971 Chevelle 4-door is also seen
in the parking garage scene, where McLeod is retrieving his sword.
Both the parking garage and alley scenes were filmed in England (this best
explains why a Plymouth Duster was leaving the alley instead of a Chevelle.
The Duster that leaves the alley was filmed in NYC.
Sean Penn drives a green 1970 Chevelle SS replica, with white
stripes. (Submitted by K.B.) There is a scene where Christopher
Walken said that the registration is clean, in which the Chevelle was
not stolen. In a later scene, Christopher Walken is seen driving
a red 1971 442 ragtop. Other muscle-era classics are seen, which
includes a 1969 Camaro with black stripes.
Melanie Griffith drives a 1967 Pontiac GTO ragtop, and the
GTO is ditched in front of a motel, after she and Jeff Daniels stay in
a motel room for a night.
Trivial note: Ray Liotta (GoodFellas) appears as
a psychotic, convicted felon. This is his second film role.
During the chase scene, where Charlie Sheen is driving a
stolen Porsche 911 convertible, the chase scene concludes in a wrecking
yard. Several Chevelles are seen, which include a few 1973-77 A-bodies.
When Charlie Sheen ditches the Porsche, a 1968 Chevelle Malibu 4-door sedan
is seen in a stack of cars, and the stack in front had a 1974 Malibu Classic
on top of a car stack. When the shot focuses toward a police car
(a 1980s-era Dodge Diplomat), a 1970 Chevelle 4-door sedan is seen, uprooted
in a row of cars (the front end is visible).
A 1968 Oldsmobile Cutlass convertible is seen when Eddie
Murphy locates a house to stay at, and the same car is seen again at the
end of the movie.
A 1972 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme 4-door is seen, with some
front end damage, along with a 1975 Buick Century sedan with a busted taillight.
A 1965 Chevelle is driven by the undercover cop (D.B. Sweeney)
in the early part of the movie.
A 1969 Chevelle SS 396 is seen as a chase vehicle, in which
there is a chase scene with a 1971/72 Mercury Marquis sedan. (007
babe Martine Beswick is driving the Marquis.) Unfortunately, the Chevelle
is treated like a battering ram, flips over, and crashes. A 1970
Cutlass Supreme Holiday coupe is seen during the final chase scene, and
watch for a continuity error, where the stunt vehicle that is blown up
is a 1969 Cutlass hardtop.
The Chevelle used in the chase scene has a black vinyl
top and Code 69 (Hugger Orange) paint, but one would notice that a round
mirror is seen on the LH door. (10/12/00 update: the Chevelle
that is totaled has a single exhaust pipe. As a matter of fact, it's
no REAL SS.)
A 1966 GTO is seen in this comedy buffoon, and the car that
ends up in the water is a 1965 LeMans convertible.
James Belushi (as the Brandel H.S. principal) is on a motorcycle,
and a 1968 Cutlass 2-door hardtop is seen, parked on a street corner in
an Oakland ghetto. In a later scene, he attacks a couple of drug
dealers. Before he pulls into the high school, a 1970-72 Buick Skylark
is seen, parked on the side of the street. Before the showdown, when
the binocular lenses are seen, the front end of a 1977 Malibu Classic
or El Camino is seen, where the students crowd up the street.
A 1970 Pontiac LeMans hardtop is seen during the taxicab
scene (where Carl Weathers is on top of the roof of a 1980/81 Chrysler
Newport or Plymouth Gran Fury). The LeMans is seen a couple of times,
and during the chase scene, a late 1970s Dodge Diplomat/Chrysler LeBaron
coupe and a 1980s-era Pontiac Sunbird/J2000 are blown up. In a later
scene, where Carl Weathers and Vanity stay at a motel (Chino "Fats" Williams
is the proprietor), his 1966 Impala ragtop is stripped, and on the street,
a 1966 Chevelle 300 Deluze coupe is seen. The Chevelle coupe is seen
again (the car is a beater), where two uniformed cops (Roger Aaron Brown
and Thomas F. Wilson) spot Jackson's stripped Impala ragtop.
Factoid: the cops that spot Jackson's stripped Impala
drive a 1980s-era Chevrolet Impala 9C1 (the speedometer shots are seen
where Jackson and Vanity
are in the police car, and the squad car has a 3-speed shift quadrant,
which means a THM350-C tranny was standard equipment. 1985 and later B-cars
with the 9C1 police package had 700R4s (if coupled with a 350) or a 2004R
(coupled behind a 305).
Noted trivia: Carl Weathers, best known as Apollo
Creed in the Rocky movies, and Dillion in Predator, was one of the original
candidates for the part of Captain Benjamin Lafayette Sisko when ST: DS9
was being casted. Tony Todd and James Earl Jones were considered,
but Jones was ruled out because he was well known as the voice of Darth
Vader in the Star Wars trilogy. Avery Brooks ended up as the captain.
(source: STAR TREK: THE MAGAZINE, issue #1) The line spoken by Craig
T. Nelson (Coach), in which he said: "I want you to die" is a
reiteration of the famous line "I expect you to die!"
from Goldfinger (1964).
Nelson portrays a megalomaniac villain, with a 007-esque plot.
Steven Seagal has a showdown with 4 hitmen, who show up at
an intersection with assault rifles, and he orders the hitmen into a convenience
store. A 1970-72 Cutlass 4-door sedan is seen, parked across the
convenience store.
During the pursuit scene (where Jan Michael Vincent is after
a hitman who kidnapped his son) involving a 1973 Chevrolet Blazer 4 x 4
and a Disco-Era Ford Granada sedan, a 1972 Chevelle 4-door is seen during
the chase scene. This takes place on a bridge in the Los Angeles
area.
A red 1966 Oldsmobile Cutlass is used by the rap group Run
- DMC, which has a turbo muffler. In a later scene, a 1973/74 Buick Apollo
2-door detonates, after one of the rappers throws a grenade in the car.
A gray primered 1969 Pontiac GTO hardtop (with Yosemite Sam
mudflaps) is seen at the drive-in fast food establishment. The first
appearance of the GTO was at a stoplight. Corey Haim's friend slams
the door of the Cadillac onto the GTO, and this pisses the guy off.
A chase scene erupts, and the GTO rams a Chevrolet Impala head-on (the
RH fender, front fascia, and hood are totaled).
Trivial note: Heather
Graham's movie debut. Her biggest roles ever include Rollergirl
on Boogie Nights, and Mike
Myer's love interest (Felicity Shagwell) in Austin
Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me. At the time of filming, Corey
Haim had a learner's permit (he was 15 at the time).
Another thing was that a similar 1972 Cadillac Sedan De
Ville was used in Can't Hardly
Wait, but the vinyl roof cover was black. The vinyl top of
the Cadillac used in this film was white.
A 1966 Pontiac LeMans ragtop (with GTO emblems on the left
side of the front grille, and a Pontiac emblem on the right side) is seen
as the picture car. John
Lithgow (well known for the 10-10-321 commercials, and noted actor
in numerous films (e.g. Footloose, 2010, and Ricochet) and TV series like
Third Rock) refers to the car as a GTO, but the rearend shot in one scene
of the movie (which takes place in Illinois) is actually a 1966 LeMans
ragtop.
Note: a REAL GTO will have wide taillights, but
the car seen has narrow taillight lenses. Also, the GTO emblem, on
a REAL GTO, is located in the driver's side grille. The only GTO
letters on the RH side of the car was on a 1974 GTO, which isn't a traditional
GTO at all. The last GTO was based on the X-car.
One of Christian Slater's early movies, in which the Vietnamese
father of his girlfriend drives a forest green 1970 El Camino Custom, with
a woodgrain rear panel on the tailgate.
After Mr. Big is killed, Jack (Keenen Ivory Wayans), Slade
(Bernie Casey), Ma Bell (Ja' Net DuBois), and Cheryl (Dawnn Lewis) are
outside the warehouse, and a 1970-72 Cutlass is seen, parked next to an
LAPD squad car.
Trivial note: several parodies of blaxploitation
flix are noticable: Shaft (1971), Cleopatra Jones (1973), and Three
the Hard Way (1974). Damon Wayans does a carbon copy spoof of Doodlebug
from Cleopatra Jones (1973), and the scene with Steve James (Kung Fu Joe)
is a reference to Thtee the Hard Way (1974).
A movie that I have seen on cable, in which Matt Latannzi
(Olivia Newton-John's ex-husband) stars as a drag racer that is in high
school, and he drives a 1968 Chevelle hardtop with an SS hood. He later
uses the money gained from illegal drag races to finance his alma mater,
which was the high school that he goes to. (Loryn
Locklin is the mastermind behind the fundraising.) The Chevelle
was sabotaged, and blown up, and he drives a 1957 Chevrolet 2-door, which
was once a car that was owned by the principal, played by Geoffrey Lewis
(Juliette Lewis' dad). The 57 (a red one) was used in a contest that was
fixed by the local town boss, and if anyone sees the movie, the 57 was
hosed off at the car wash, which was black, and had flames on the fender.
Here's the vehicles that the Chevelle raced against:
a 1973 Mustang, a 1972 Chevrolet pickup, with a 5" chopped roof, a 1972
GTO (watch the scene carefully where the decklid is open during the drag
race), a 1969 Camaro RS/SS, and a 1973 Grand Prix.
Note: two Chevelles are used, and the "picture car"
is absent of the stainless steel moldings commonly found on the lower section
of ths doors and fenders. The car that is blown up in the high school
shop is a stunt vehicle, and the stunt car has the hockey stick moldings
on the fenders, and missing the quarter glass chrome strip. Also,
a 1969 steering wheel and column shifter are noticeable. The same
stunt vehicle was used during the drag race with a 1978 Camaro Z28.
In a couple of scenes, the picture car has a missing LH vent glass.
Both cars used in the movie have vinyl tops, and painted
gloss black. Cragar 5-spoke rims were used, as well as incorporating
a rollbar in the interior (a.la the General Lee). There were no emblems
present, and both cars had an SS hood.
There are a few factual errors: speedometer shots
seen in the movie are not from a 1968 Chevelle. A REAL 1968 Chevelle
will have square openings for the speedometer, and the speedometer shots
are from a 1970-72 Chevelle SS. Both cars have automatic trannies,
hence the large brake pedal. The "picture car" was portrayed as a
stick shift, but in real life, was backed with an automatic. A square
mirror was seen on both cars, and the square mirror was common with the
remote mirror option. The base mirror, mounted on the door, is round,
without the Bowtie emblem.
To this day, the powerplant under the hood remains a mystery.
In the movie, the Chevelle is powered with a blown 350. If anyone
knows more about the "picture" Chevelle, e-mail
ASAP.
A 1970 Chevelle hardtop is seen parked outside a GM assembly
plant, when a GM employee is being interviewed by Michael Moore, the narrator
of the film/documentary.
Trivial note: this documentary is based on the closure
of 11assembly plants in Flint, Michigan, which were owned by General Motors,
and the affect that the closure has on the citizens of Flint. The
deindustrialization of America, as well as the economic recession of the
1980s, led to the downsizing of GM, due to technological advances (e.g.
robots in place of hand labor), and the shift of labor to the Third World
nations, which was depicted in the film, when GM opened up several factories
in northern Mexico, where the workers were paid $.70/hr. The repercussions
in the Flint area was intense, where the crime rate went up, and urban
decay plagued the Flint area.
Robert DeNiro drives a 1967 Chevelle SS 396 with a primered
RF fender (shades of Pink Cadillac), while Ed Harris drives a 1970 El Camino.
A 1970-72 Vista Cruiser station wagon is seen in a motel
parking lot, where the cops show up.
Michael J. Fox is seen, held at gunpoint by the "alternate"
Mr. Strickland, and a 1969 Buick Skylark convertible is seen. The
Buick is loaded with several Mexican gang-bangers, ready to do a drive-by
shooting, and fire at Mr. Strickland's home. The decklid is missing,
and one gang-banger is in the trunk.
The
60s
Disco
Era Movies
1990s
and Beyond
A-Car Sightings
(new location)
*Listed in WhoWhere
*1971 Chevelle scenes copyright 1986, Lumiere Pictures/Republic
Pictures.
Copyright 1997, 1998. 1999, 2000 P-n-B
Productions (a Cheap Times franchise).
All rights reserved. This page is not affiliated with any commercial business,
and is the sole property of Po' - N - Broke Productions (an LSC
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