Great Car movies That Set The Pace of a Golden Era in Film

George Lucas’ 1973 movie, American Graffiti had three cars that will forever remain mysterious, even 300 years to come. The 1932 Ford five-window, the 1955 Chevy and the 1958 Chevy  stood out as four friends hit central California wrecking havoc and street racing. This great car movie made George Lucas attain a zenith in his career, better than any Star Wars release.

There are times when the cars featured in a movie totally spoil the plot. Nobody cares about the plot or anything else in the movie but the cars. An example of such a movie is the 1972 Two-Lane Blacktop, directed by Monte Hellmann. This car movie actually had only two impressive cars; the 1955’55 Chevy and the 190 GTO.  James Taylor and Dennis Wilson star in the movie as the ‘The Driver” and The Mechanic’. The street races and drag races featured in this movie capture the story all by themselves.

The 1971 Vanishing Point directed by Richard C. Sarafian featured a 1970 Challenger R/T that attained jet speed on screen. Barry Newman, as Kowalski has to get to San Francisco from Denver in only 15 hours. The white Challenger and amphetamines helped him beat the cops in genius high-speed stunts that will forever remain memorable.

One of the great car movies that set a benchmark to cross country road race was the 1976 Gumball Rally. This is actually the funniest car movie of all time. Charles Bail incorporated a 1965 Shelby Cobra 427, a 1970 Camaro and a 1971 Ferrari Daytona Spyder to create the greatest Italian driving signature in film. Staring Michael Sarrazin, Gary Busey and Raul Julia the greatest thing one remembers of the movie are the cars and not the scenes.

The only reason why 1958 Thunder Road makes it to the great car movies list is because director Arthur Ripley crafted the best tale of moonshine running ever filmed, with a 1950 Ford, a 1957 Chevy and 1957 Ford. The tough guy in the movie, Robert Mitchum outruns the cop Gene Barry in some of the most fantastic scenes any car movie can boast of.

Rarely do cops have good cars in movies. But the 1974 Dirty Mary directed by John Hough
stared  a 1966 Impala and a 1969 Charger returns that tradition around and creates some of the most daring car chases in American film.

Another of the great car movies worth a mention, in an decade where car movies became a smashing hit was the 1977 Smokey and The Bandit directed by Hal Needham. The car of repute was the 1977 Trans Am. The golden era of car movies have this as the punctuation mark. Then stars in the movie were Burt Reynolds, Jackie Gleason and Sally Field. Reynolds wants to go to transport a load of Coors from Texas to Atlanta, something that was illegal in 1977. With a black Trans Am, he beats the greatest law enforcement contingencies at hand and makes a mess of the Sheriff deportments  whose cars he meets along. Simply put, this was a masterpiece, grossing the second best in 1977, behind Star Wars.

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Saving the land of Fast cars and Super Stars

Hollywood has always been the land of fast cars and superstars, but at what cost.  With so many cars spewing out their poisonous exhaust in an area surrounded by mountains and the sea, it’s no wonder the air above Los Angeles is a legendary brown.  Fortunately, the catalytic converter has helped to improve the air quality.

Before the harmful effects of petroleum-fueled exhaust (i.e., smog) were known, there was not yet a need to control the primary source of these exhaust emissions: automobiles. As history has taught us, however, with the rise in use of gasoline and diesel-fueled motor vehicles, the subsequent exhaust gases produced began to create a major problem in the air quality of many metropolitan areas; thus leading to the research and ultimate development of the first exhaust gas inhibitors: commonly known today as the catalytic converter.

The first converter was developed in the 1950s by French mechanical engineer, Eugene Houdry as a result of poor air quality reports of the day. Subsequent improvements on Houdry’s initial design continued over the years resulting in the first, production line converter reaching the public market in 1973. Since then, almost all local and federal emission laws mandate converters on motor vehicles in order to reduce the amount of noxious exhaust emissions. The results thus far have been positive. So, just what is a catalytic converter and what does it do? The answers to these questions, and others, are rooted in chemistry.

The basic premise behind a converter is the conversion of harmful petroleum-based gas emissions, such as carbon monoxide and unspent hydrocarbons (both of which are toxic to oxygen-breathing animals), to the less-harmful emissions of carbon dioxide and water; both of which, of course, are NOT harmful. In essence, these small, canister-like mechanisms change potentially lethal gas emissions to non-poisonous emissions. It’s as simple as that. The science of how they perform such a switchover is beyond the scope of this article; however, the main catalyst (or the primary component creating the chemical change) is one of the following precious metals: Platinum, Palladium, or Rhodium. It is the use of these metals that creates one of the negative aspects of the converter: theft.

Theft, along with the emission of carbon dioxide gas (one of the chief greenhouse gases often attributed to global warming) in larger than necessary amounts, represent the two primary downsides to converters. With the price of precious metals seemingly on the rise with no ceiling, these valuable pollution control devices are becoming even more precious. Many motorists are noticing upon starting their vehicles that an important, mandatory, and expensive-to-replace part of their car is now gone. Unfortunately, these are the times we live in. The positives of the catalytic converter, however, far outweigh the negatives: cleaner air, cleaner emissions, and more fuel efficient vehicles in most cases.

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James Bond Actors – Actors Who Played James Bond

For the span of 40 years, David Niven played the big screens with a readiness of identifying with his roles.  He had developed a talent of holding interest since his first appearance in Hollywood. His life was however one of privilege with the attendance of the Royal Military College in Sandhurst. He held some respectable occupations before taking up the role of an extra in Hollywood. His discharge from the army in 1953 would hail a glittering career in Hollywood. Charisma played a big role in the establishment of his career in the performing arts. He had earned the position of a middle rank actor before the Second World War. He co-starred in The Light Charge of the Light Bridge and Wuthering Heights. His role in Wuthering Heights was played intelligently although he did not particularly like it.

He returned to Britain well in time for active service at which he was, made a Second Lieutenant. National propaganda interfered with his acting career and he had to perform military service for quite sometime. This part of service to his nation was not quite a thrilling experience for him.

Afterwards, he played the role of pilot in The First of The Few. Directed by Leslie Howard, the movie was produced in 1942 and depicted Niven controlling a Spitfire’s cockpit. A number of war themed films followed in the wake of this movie with The Way Ahead showing its premiere in 1944. Here he played a critical role behind the curtains, advising Carol Reed on the technical details of the movie. His role was that of a mechanic commissioned by the forces to train new recruits to the army. 1946 saw the production of A Matter of Life and Death, a story in which an airman has been shot down. The airman’s plight is depicted as a debate in the heavenly leagues.

His subsequent US movies were not as sensational as his original roles. These productions always managed to capture the interest of the public but did not have the long-lasing effect as would have been demanded of Niven’s talent. Carrington VC was however an exception in this case with Niven taking up his part in a court martial. He also featured a funny production set in an Irish surrounding. This had considerable success as well. The competence of his performances was preserved through a long period but he had to come to the stage when the polish would subside.

A considerable achievement is his role as Mr. Bond in the movie Casino Royale. The movie series credited for defining all the James Bond actors was conceived with the adaptation of this title. Niven’s role in the movie saw him blend in well portraying the image of intrigue in an otherwise fast paced story. The star is depicted as a man forced out of retirement to find out the disappearance of international spies and investigators. Having premiered in the 1953, Casino Royale was written by Ian Fleming based on his gambling experiences in Lisbon.

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