Author Archive for ADLX
Gunnar Heinrich is publisher of Automobiles De Luxe online and is executive producer of the Automobiles De Luxe Television series on PBS member station CPTV.
Absurd Sci Fi + Sex + Cars = La Decima Vittima
by Gunnar Heinrich ::: img via YouTube ::: La Decima Vittima | The 10th Victim (1965)
“MY sexual behavior is my own affair.” Si, Marcello. Si.
Here we are again at the intersection of sex, cars, and foreign film making. And if you thought the French could be random in their visual story telling, the Italians start by driving off the cliff and into a Dali-esque orgy of the truly bizarre. I have not watched Elio Petri’s La Decima Vittima in its entirety. I’m not sure I want to either, though the story’s premise and its cast both transcend time.
Marcello Mastroianni (di La Dolce Vita) and the sumptuous Swiss bombshell Ursula Andress (Dr. No) anchor this sci-fi tale that made for a kind of Aristocratic Hunger Games in its day and probably fodder for Mystery Science Theater 3000 today. I’ll let the IMDB description explain:
Some people like violence so much, that they decide to create a club in which human hunts are organized – members being alternately hunters, and prey, until they end up dead.
And the one who survives ends up super rich. Or something like that.
Anyway, like I said, in there, somewhere, sexual tension between the lead characters mixes with hot ’60s sheetmetal. Our feminine lead – Caroline (Andress) – drives an achingly beautiful series 1 Jaguar E-Type. Marcello (funny how Sr. Mastroianni managed to get his own name and the character’s name to be one and the same in his films) drives – what else? – the alternative car of the future: a Citroën DS. Note in the clip below how he – being the Italian icon first and Casanova second – blithely brushes off the sex kitten’s appeals with a casual flick of the DS’ column mounted shifter.
But be not dismayed. Marcello winds up with the girl. Falls for her, even.
Thanks, Jim!
Von Motorvison: S-Klasse v. 7er (Comparing Rivals Since The 70s)
Spoiler: they gave MB the edge.
Bentley EXP 9 F Design Concept Film: How To Advertise One’s SUV Without Really Showing One’s SUV
It’s a lifestyle Bentley’s really selling here…
Assigning Value: On Ducati’s Price Tag…
by Gunnar Heinrich ::: img Ducati ::: Audi Buys Ducati
HOW people value things is a very funny thing. By “funny” I mean odd. Just in case you were wondering. Yes, you may have heard that the VW-Audi monolith plans on buying Ducati – that fabled maker of sexy Italian street rockets – for a princely sum of €860 million ($1.13 Billion). Let’s see – what other enterprise recently sold for $1 Billion that made lots of news. Oh yes, Facebook’s buying web-photo-sharing-platform Instagram. As the wider media likes to put it, Instagram is a technology start up with no revenues and a staff of 13. Ducati S.p.A. is an 85 year old brick-and-mortar with an operating revenue of €480 million ($629 million), a net 2011 income of €93 million ($122 million), and a workforce of 1,135 people. What is wrong with this picture?
