Films/DVD Asylum

Posted by Bambi B (A) on February 19, 2010 at 14:26:38

In Reply to: RE: Auto sponsors posted by geoff on February 19, 2010 at 10:48:13

geoff,

Yes, I often noticed in American movies that all the cars would be by teh same maker. In "A guide for the Married Man" everything are those nasty 60's Chrysler products, Walter Matthau drives an Imperail convertible- similar to the one Milton Berle drives in "It's a Mad. mad, mad mad World- and then when Matthau rents a car to drive to his assignation, it's a plain jane Plymouth.

Some movie star and car related stories: I saw Walter Matthau once at a car dealership in Encino California (Terry York), looking at a Rolls Corniche and himself looking quite pale and frail. That was about 1995 or so. The other movie related celebrity I saw at a car dealership was composer Danny Elfman at a Jaguar dealer (Galpin) and I also saw Bo Derek at a Jaguar service shop (Calabasas, CA). She was looking at me from a distance and kind of stared. I had designed a lot of houses in that neighbourhood and thought she may have lived in one. When she had gone, I asked the shop's owner, "That woman was sort of staring at me and I think recognised me, who is she?" She was tiny and freckled- no resembled to the goddess on the beach in "10". And finally, sighting stars and their cars: When I was going into the Maibu Deli -probably 1990 or so, Dick van Dyke held the door open for me and then walked over to a waiting Chrysler LeBaron convertible- the nasty K-car version- all white with a white top and white interior. The striking thing was that vanDyke was wearing a long white Kaftan robe- looked fresh from the ashram. I also had some hair-raising rides over a Malibu mountain in a well-known movie director's Humvee that he's had converted to the military version. Oh, one more- once at a Tower Records, I was nearly run over in the parking lot by in a big stretch limo featuring as passenger Kelsey Grammer. This was shortly after he'd crashed a Dodge Viper while drunk and I guess had had his licence suspended- hence the limo and driver.

I often thought it would be dangerous to sponsor movie cars in this way because it would then appear that criminals prefer Ford or whatever they chose. Actually, Clyde Barrow wrote Henry Ford that he always stole Ford V-8's "whenever I can" because they were so much faster than most cars in the mid 30's. -And they were.


Cheers,

Bambi B