Speedzzter Says: Carnage or Classic, Does Hollywood Mistreat Muscle Cars?

[cjforumadmin]

http://www.bangshift.com/blog/Speedzzter-Says-CARNAGE-OR-CLASSIC-DOES-HOLLYWOOD-MISTREAT-MUSCLE-CARS.html

[studemax]

Re: Speedzzter Says: Carnage or Classic, Does Hollywood Mistreat Muscle Cars?

Hollywood pretty much mistreats all cars....
Heck, Hollywood mistreats people the same way.

[SpiderGearsMan]

Re: Speedzzter Says: Carnage or Classic, Does Hollywood Mistreat Muscle Cars?

shrinks the global footprint

[38P]

Re: Speedzzter Says: Carnage or Classic, Does Hollywood Mistreat Muscle Cars?

Hollywood pretty much mistreats all cars....
Heck, Hollywood mistreats people the same way.

But at least the people are usually still (sort of) alive at the end of their film careers . . . they may be strung out like Courtney Love and have egos the size of the Goodyear blimp, but alive nonetheless. That put'em a step ahead of the average retired Hollywood muscle car . . . .

[Matt Cramer]

Re: Speedzzter Says: Carnage or Classic, Does Hollywood Mistreat Muscle Cars?

While a good wreck can be pretty spectacular, using a rare car doesn't make it more interesting for me. But I'd be really impressed by someone who knows enough about race car driving to show somebody lose a pursuer by outdriving him and using his car's strengths, instead of the cliche about having the cars be nearly evenly matched until one of them gets crashed. Requiring a wreck to end a chase is often just lazy writing. I'd be more impressed if a writer and a director know how to accurately film how a good driver might be able to outdistance another car without relying on having the other guy make a mistake and crash. About the only good example I can think of where the writers did take the time to figure out how cars might be unequally matched and how a good driver might take that into account was the Initial D anime series.

[urwurznitmahre]

Re: Speedzzter Says: Carnage or Classic, Does Hollywood Mistreat Muscle Cars?

Hollywood pretty much mistreats all cars....
Heck, Hollywood mistreats people the same way.

But at least the people are usually still (sort of) alive at the end of their film careers . . . they may be strung out like Courtney Love and have egos the size of the Goodyear blimp, but alive nonetheless. That put'em a step ahead of the average retired Hollywood muscle car . . . .

as much as I hate to see a cool car ,trashed..
did you by it???????????????
did you spend the cabbage to have the title in your name??????????
how would it fly if others dicktated how and what you can or can't do with or to your car????????
no matter what , they bought it(them, the cars)
and are free to do what they please..
if the govenment said you could only drive your car on w ends you'd go ape sh t..
I think we have no right to get upset or even entertain ,telling them what they can or can't do..

[SuperBuickGuy]

Re: Speedzzter Says: Carnage or Classic, Does Hollywood Mistreat Muscle Cars?

I agree with the "it's their car" attitude.
By way of example: If someone builds an altered car mimicking the style of dragsters during a short era in the 60s they're doing exactly the same thing as wadding up a muscle car on a hollywood film because the car cannot easily be put back into "stock" condition.
I wonder, comparatively speaking, how many cars have been destroyed by some hacks backyard attempt at the current ragged-edge-style vs. number of cars destroyed by Hollywood..... IMO I bet the hacks have done more carnage then hollywood ever did.... and at least in Hollywood, most of the destroyed cars are preserved in film forever.
Now I'm not saying that cars shouldn't be modified, however, I think it's a bit hypocritical to blast Hollywood for their excess and in the same breath praise a guy who cuts up a 69 Camaro to win Drag Week.

[38P]

Re: Speedzzter Says: Carnage or Classic, Does Hollywood Mistreat Muscle Cars?

While a good wreck can be pretty spectacular, using a rare car doesn't make it more interesting for me. But I'd be really impressed by someone who knows enough about race car driving to show somebody lose a pursuer by outdriving him and using his car's strengths, instead of the cliche about having the cars be nearly evenly matched until one of them gets crashed. Requiring a wreck to end a chase is often just lazy writing. I'd be more impressed if a writer and a director know how to accurately film how a good driver might be able to outdistance another car without relying on having the other guy make a mistake and crash. About the only good example I can think of where the writers did take the time to figure out how cars might be unequally matched and how a good driver might take that into account was the Initial D anime series.

Well said!

Of course finding a well-driven car in a scripted show is tough.

Most of the time, the stunt drivers (who are usually experts at car control) do a lot more fishtailing and power-sliding than a properly-trained pursuit driver would. "Drifting" makes for entertaining television, but it's hardly the fast way around.

There's also a WWE/NASCAR trope for Hollywood chases. In real life, the distance between the hunter and the hunted ebbs and flows as the vehicles move through their paths. But in Hollywood, there's a de facto "rule" of "excitement" that chases are virtually bumper-to-bumper or "side-to-side." It's almost as ridiculous as the "8-speed" Hollywood transmission that always seems to have another gear, even when running flat-out, for use when the actor-driver gets angry or "serious" about a speed contest.

The "excitement rule" often results in nonsensical results, such as a 4,300-lb. 240h.p. Police Interceptor matching every move of a small, lighter and more powerful sports car. If Hollywood shot "Two-Lane Blacktop" today, some "suit" would probably complain if the GTO and "The Car" weren't locked together in every shot!

There's also a latent "Speed Kills" message in most Hollywood car stuntwork. Even if everybody walks away "A-Team"-style, the crashing and burning sends a meta-message that autoplay is uber-dangerous. So just like the trope that has lawbreakers receiving their come-uppence in the end, Hollywood usually pays tribute to the "National Safety Counsel" demigods of times past by "wrecking" at least some of the reckless speed merchants.

Besides there IS a vicarious element to wanton destruction that apparently appeals to some primitive impulses burried deep down in our brainstems . . . .

[38P]

Re: Speedzzter Says: Carnage or Classic, Does Hollywood Mistreat Muscle Cars?

I agree with the "it's their car" attitude.
By way of example: If someone builds an altered car mimicking the style of dragsters during a short era in the 60s they're doing exactly the same thing as wadding up a muscle car on a hollywood film because the car cannot easily be put back into "stock" condition.
I wonder, comparatively speaking, how many cars have been destroyed by some hacks backyard attempt at the current ragged-edge-style vs. number of cars destroyed by Hollywood..... IMO I bet the hacks have done more carnage then hollywood ever did.... and at least in Hollywood, most of the destroyed cars are preserved in film forever.
Now I'm not saying that cars shouldn't be modified, however, I think it's a bit hypocritical to blast Hollywood for their excess and in the same breath praise a guy who cuts up a 69 Camaro to win Drag Week.

I think the point of the dialogue was that it's a debatable issue.

On the other hand, gratuitously wrecking a vintage car merely for 15-seconds of shocking screen time is hardly the same as building a hot rod or drag car. Anyone who is familiar with my posts knows that I'm not a devotee to the "it takes a real man to cut 'em up" school of rodding. (Look back at the debate over that wild barn find Road Runner for more details)

To make a reasonable assessment, we've got to look at the results. Taking the "Drag Week" bait, if someone has resurrected a long-neglected six-cylinder Camaro into a winner, other than the fact that it's not a Ford, I doubt too many people would have a logical basis for criticism. On the other hand, if someone cuts up a COPO ZL-1 or a low-mileage, numbers-matching Z/28 for another belly-button "big cowl hood," crate-motored nitrous bracket racer, it's fair and appropriate to criticize the desecration.

Back on film, while it's true that the 100s of Dodge Polaras trashed in the "Blues Brothers" (1980) have been immortalized for all time on celuloid and that most of them would have been crushed in obscurity, just try finding a restorable big Dodge of that era today. It has an effect on supply. Likewise, literally hundreds of '68 and '69 Chargers that would have likely been valuable parts and project cars were wasted just so the "Duke Boys" could fly a car that everybody knew couldn't do that more than once in real life.

Copping out with the "it's their car" rationalization is no answer. Hollywood produces a product that's subject to criticism. And when Hollywood churns out unwatchable junk such as "Redline" (2007), movie goers vote with their pocketbooks. A larger problem, however, is when Hollywood patronizes us Bangshifters with mostly watchable but ultimately ridiculous stuff like the "Fast and Furious" series.

While I'm not saying that the government ought to outlaw the muscle car slaughter, I do think that Bangshifters ought to do more to educate "appliance motoring" filmmakers about appropriate and respectful treatment of the cars we love.

[urwurznitmahre]

Re: Speedzzter Says: Carnage or Classic, Does Hollywood Mistreat Muscle Cars?

oh boy..
your kidding right..
we're lucky if they call a mustang a mustang..
hollywood, if they wanted info on cars. can walk or call any car club or mag. and get the info..
they don't, cause they don't have to.. as most of the view'n public.. doesn't care..
it's a movie.. entertainment..
not a lab, or a class on the auto..

[38P]

Re: Speedzzter Says: Carnage or Classic, Does Hollywood Mistreat Muscle Cars?

And we shouldn't call them out on it?

I see every other special interest group DEMANDING Hollywood deal respectfully with an arms-length list of topics. Why not us?

Obviously, if film producers operating in the free market want to make insulting and silly "car movies," then that's their choice. But they ought to be roundly criticized for it. And they should be penalized for it at the box office through lower ticket sales.

And gearheads need to let them know that IF Hollywood were to produce GOOD movies featuring CARS and realistic CAR PEOPLE, we'll respond favorably at the box office.

But as long as we keep quietly settling for "car-sploitation" clunkers that insult our intelligence, that's what lazy and arrogant Hollywood will keep serving up.

[ferrarimanf355]

Re: Speedzzter Says: Carnage or Classic, Does Hollywood Mistreat Muscle Cars?

The franchise as a whole is an equal-opportunity car wrecker, Speedzzter. Remember, they crashed a Subaru Impreza WRX STi near the end, too. And a Lancer Evo in Tokyo Drift was pretty beaten up, not to mention the RX-7 that said hello to the rear bumper of a traffic car. 2 Fast 2 Furious saw the beating up of a classic Camaro and a classic Challenger, but a Supra flew off a drawbridge into a billboard, too, and the Honda S2000 with the Pepto-Bismol paint scheme had its front bumper torn off as well.

And don't forget the green Eclipse in the original going boom after a nitrous leak... :D

[38P]

Re: Speedzzter Says: Carnage or Classic, Does Hollywood Mistreat Muscle Cars?

Good points.

But it's not exactly the same when Hollywood crashes a car that can be replaced out of current production.

Given how many have objected to the "save the muscle cars" premise, can you imagine the caterwauling had I suggested that Hollywood bashes too many hot foreign jobs?

[BigBlockMopar]

Re: Speedzzter Says: Carnage or Classic, Does Hollywood Mistreat Muscle Cars?

But it's not exactly the same when Hollywood crashes a car that can be replaced out of current production.

Exactly.
With every old/vintage/cool car that's being wrecked, they also wreck a piece of American history.
I know most Americans don't see it this way because old cars are still rather plentiful in the US, but as an 'outsider' I think it's pretty clear to me.

Oh well, in a couple of years hopefully they won't be wrecking anything rare anymore and everything is done with computer graphics.

[38P]

Re: Speedzzter Says: Carnage or Classic, Does Hollywood Mistreat Muscle Cars?

True.

But as an aside, I've got to admit that all of the computer-game graphics in "Speed Racer" (2008) kind of made me a little motion-sick at times. (Don't ask why I "had" to see it in the theater)