Tag Archives: movie cars

Two minutes of Gone in 60 Seconds

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In 1974 movie goers were treated to Gone in Sixty Seconds, one long chase scene expanded into a full-length feature film. The movie barely had actors; it was just stunt drivers skidding and careening around, smashing fruit stands and plate glass. In this clip, we see the final jump sequence, repeated twice in slow motion, then once in real-time. By Jerry Bruckheimer’s standards it’s pretty tame, but at least it’s a real car and not a CG cartoon, like the one used for the final jump in the 2000 remake.

BONUS: James Hetfield flies down the hills of San Francisco in Metallica’s “I Disappear”.

Typecasting the Beater Brick

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A beat up Volvo 240 seems to be the vehicle-of-choice when a film script calls for low-income, shabby-chic characters to have a car that could feasibly drive long distances. Witness the new film “Away We Go“, pictured above. How will they get where they go? In a blue brick, of course.


The movie “follows the journey of an expectant couple as they travel the U.S. in search of the perfect place to put down roots and raise their family.”

Raise a family? I highly recommend they upgrade to a wagon.

Who has the responsibility for casting cars in movies like this? Is it the set designer? Cinemetographer? Casting director?

It’s obvious that the vehicle in this movie has an important role transporting the couple around the US and the film makers decided that for this journey, they needed a beat up 240. It’s an older car that has a quirky, hipster feel. Unlike other manufacturers, Volvo made so few stylistic changes over the years of production that it’s hard to place the model year. The sedan looks so generic that it becomes almost invisible. It doesn’t have the retro look that a 1980s Ford Taurus would; with a few rusted panels it just looks like “old car”.

When Rachel McAdams’s character, Amy, slides into the driveway for the holidays in the movie “The Family Stone” she’s also piloting a rusty 240. If we read between the lines in the photo we surmise that it was handed down to her when the parents bought their new V70. In the video below, Amy pulls up at :20.

Amy is the “NPR supporting” black sheep of the family. We immediately know she’s low income from the car she drives. She works as a school teacher and obviously rejects the material rewards the other members of the family have gained from their achievements, as evidenced by the palatial home and slick cars in the driveway. We don’t see the car again, but it plays an important role in introducing her character at the beginning of the movie.

But who are we kidding? In the real world, every one of these people would actually be driving a 1991 Honda Accord.