I have been dropping hints at home that I wanted Santa to bring me this book for Xmas. It's a book about cars in famous movies:
http://www.autobookworld.com/shopexd.asp?id=4535
However I managed to find a copy in Bankstown library. so I've read it. Very disappointing. Surprisingly it's not an American book, it's written by a British fellow named Martin Buckley. He begins his wordy 5-page into by saying, 'Car spotting in films is a skill I acquired many years ago." but then waffles on about social metaphors and particular rationales in overall content.
The great US car films - Vanishing Point, Bullitt (he mis-spells it 'Bullit'), Dirty Mary Crazy Larry, Two Lane Blacktop and so on, are glossed over. He includes a whole chapter on 'British Comedy', and another on 'Euro Drama'. The Love Bug is mentioned, but only gets one paragraph and he says 'lots of desirable machinery can be spotted in the background.'
And he makes a whole lot of mistakes. Such as:
* Peter Fonda does NOT star in the Gumball Rally. The actor is Michael Sarrazin.
* Dennis Wilson (of the Beach Boys) is the mechanic in Two Lane Blacktop, not James Taylor, who was the driver.
* Genevieve is NOT one of the most important car films ever made
* In Duel the truck is NOT a Kenworth. It was a Peterbilt.
* The basis of the death car in 'The Car' was not 'unknown'. It was a Barris-customed 1971 Lincoln Continental.
* The car in Christine is a 1958 Plymouth Belvedere, not a Fury, as '58 Furys were never sold in red. Stephen King made the same mistake in his novel.
* He describes the Thomas Crown Affair as 'too slick for its own good now.' Yeah right - it was the Pierce Brosnan version that was crap. What a wanker.
* The yellow '32 Model A rod in American Graffiti does not 'probably' have a Chevrolet V8 engine - it does. It had a 1966 327 with Feulie heads and 4 Rochester carbs.
* He also didn't know that the '55 Chevy was the same car from Two Lane Blacktop. Its 427 wasn't around in 1962 when Graffiti was set, so the bonnet was kept shut throughout the film.
And this book retails for $59.90 ! Don't buy it.
Phil74Camper Head in the Clouds
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