All Entries Tagged With: "IMCDB"
Cinema & Car: Vertigo’s Jaguar Mk VIII
By Gunnar Heinrich | IMG via IMCDB.org
VERTIGO is one of Alfred Hitchcock’s all time greats.
Shot in 1957, released in ’58, the film is a distant, surreal look at unrequited love, betrayal, and revenge. Vertigo envelops us in a San Franciscan fog of mystery. There’s little dialogue and each scene takes on the dreamlike, melancholic din of an Edward Hopper oil-on-canvas.
It’s said that Hitchcock dedicated months to story boarding so that every cinematic moment would symbolically transmit the plot’s (and perhaps his own) naked message of lust, vulnerability, and rage.
Our darkest conditions, in otherwords.
When I first watched Vertigo ten years ago, I discovered that part of this gothic work’s appeal is in how Hitchcock artfully implements automobiles in establishing scene and, of course, to transport the story. Herein the graceful Jaguar Mk VIII played a central role.
The casting was perfect.
Jaguar represented an exotic alternative in the American car market circa 1958. The Mark series presented the same upstanding chrome and burl inlay qualities of a Bentley but with the sporting forward lean of the Jaguar S-Type.
The big cat’s flowing fenders, shown in the above screenshot in three quarter, perfectly compliment the deportment of our mysterious, anglophilic lady (Kim Novak).
Notice how the car’s right fender is in direct line with the Golden Gate’s abutment and seems to point at the actress; framing the action that’s about to ensue. An artful confluence of automobile and cinema, no doubt.
And, ladies & gents, a stylish template for automotive product placement for years to come.
Watch It For The Rolling Stock: S1M0NE
Rachel Roberts as “Simone” with Alfa Romeo 2600.
By Gunnar Heinrich | IMG S1M0NE (2002) via IMCDB.org
SOME movies are best watched just for the cars.
Ronin is an example of an action movie that was just an excuse to tie-in several really wild car chase scenes together in 122 minutes. It didn’t matter what the plot was, in fact, I can’t remember the plot. But I do recall the scenes where an Audi S8 repeatedly managed four wheel power slides through the streets of Paris.
S1M0NE is another such movie.
Released in 2002, directed by Andrew Niccol, and starring Al Pacino alongside the lovely Rachel Roberts the a sci-fi-ish S1M0NE is about a dried-up director (Pacino) who resorts to activating a dead fan’s fictional, graphically animated pop-icon – “Simone” (Roberts)- and manages then to fool the world into believing the program is a real person.
An intriguing concept, but in execution the film asks us to suspend our disbelief once too often in lots of scenes that rely on convenient framing to mask the obvious dubiousness of the film’s plot.
That said, let’s get back to the real reason that you’ll want to put S1M0NE in your Netflix cue – the continuous artful display of magnificent cars showcased in wildly color-corrected light.
Among the classics that play a significant role in the movie’s otherwise suspect plot are a Bentley S3 Continental “Chinese Eye” coupe, a Mercedes-Benz 600 Pullman, a Jaguar XJ8 (X308), Citroen DS, and an Alfa Romeo 2600 Spider that you’ve seen in any number of Fellini films.
Unfortunately, the Chinese Eye Bentley meets a fender-bender in LA traffic in another dubious scene meant to convince us that the main characters are actually fooled by Pacino’s hoax.
But don’t let my quibbles throw you off the path to watching automotive art on the tube. For this, the movie’s well worth seeing. The black 600 on red leather interior alone should have its own star on the Hollywood walk of fame.
Passing Shot: Jaguar XJS V12 Droptop
By Gunnar Heinrich
ACTION movie fans who love car chase scenes will have a good idea what would come next for this Jaguar XJS V12 décapotable.
Hint: “There’s a bomb on the bus!”
I’m not too sure how well my car would hold up to an accelerate/open door/ brake hard unhinging maneuver from a four thousand pound cat compared to that of a SoCal battle-hardened ’66 GM TDH 5303 bus.
ADL devotees will note that the early 90s blue Jag that I spotted this weekend, and the flic’s M.Y. ’91 XJS V12 are both the same body style as the recently posted Ebay listing that featured a later vintage XJS V12 convertible powered by Jaguar’s 6.0 Liter V12 (what’s pictured has the older 5.3 Liter powerplant).
Elegant car. Too bad so many have met hard ends.
