The Kid, And The Car, Stays In The Picture: Cold Start

Risky Business Cs
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Whether it’s, say, George Clooney as Batman or Keanu Reeves in Bram Stoker’s Dracula, you can see numerous times where directors and producers probably should have chosen a different individual for the role. However, I don’t care about that: I want to talk about automotive miscasting. As a car guy, it always bothers me when the cars that make more prominent appearances in films appear to be just flat out wrong. I’m not alone, am I?

The image above is from the 1983 film Risky Business, the movie that essentially put Tom Cruise on the map. As the parents of Tom’s character (Joel) get ready to leave town for a trip, he is told not to drive his dad’s Porsche and instead use his mother’s car. He does just that, but only after the 928 ends up in Lake Michigan.

Look at the other vehicle in Joel’s garage, the one he’s filling below. The “mom’s car” appears to be a 1978 Chevy Impala wagon:

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Really?  Joel’s address is a Highland Park house (erroneously stated as Glencoe in the movie) which would currently sell for around $1.4 million; there is no way that Joel’s dad would drive a $40,000 coupe and his mom be content to run a five year old model of the cheapest big Chevy wagon. Did the people sourcing cars never hear about a w123 300TD or a 245DL Volvo? What about a wood clad Wagoneer Limited (what they called the Grand Wagoneer then), Buick Electra Estate or Mercury Colony Park? Maybe an Audi 5000 like the one in the Lee Klinger Porsche/Audi showroom where the service manager famously asks “Who’s the U-Boat commander?”

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As an Autopian, you’ll see countless examples of this miscasting. In the movie La La Land, the main character is this hipster musician guy that seems to fashion himself as some kind of Rat Pack era jazz impresario.  The car the filmmakers chose for his character was a Buick Riviera. Did they get him a cool, beat-up one with the rotating headlight doors like Dalton’s in Road House or the Riv Mr. Spock is famously pictured with? That would make sense, right?

No, Ryan Gossling’s character drives a 1982 ASC-chopped Riviera convertible, probably the second least desirable Riv ever (next to the dinky 1986 model) and one associated with Florida retirees, NOT jazz cats. Maybe the uneducated people choosing it for the film thought “forty year old convertible” naturally means “cool vintage car.” But a malaise Riv with fake wire wheel covers is still Uncle Semour’s ride: woefully unhip.

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The French Connection had a Lincoln Mark III inexplicably plying the narrow streets of France. Dope car (literally) that it is, such a character in early seventies Europe would far more likely be driving something like a Mercedes W111 coupe or Jaguar XJ-C.

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Why does Diana Rigg’s character in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service drive, of all things, a Cougar convertible in Europe in the winter? I mean, it’s pretty damn cool but as totally out of place as the AMCs in Thailand seen in The Man With The Golden Gun.

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At least the 928 was perfectly cast in Risky Business, a car often associated with orthodontists in period and an ideal car for Joel’s rather stuffy, humorless executive-level Princeton alumni father with a distaste for a preponderance of bass:

 

One of the cars from the film that didn’t go into the drink sold for just under $2 million, and while this underappreciated Porsche is finally gaining value it would appear that figure is about $1.98 million higher than a similar 928 that Tom Cruise did not learn how to drive stick on. Still, it’s proof that filmmakers occasionally get it right.

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Barrett-Jackson, screenshots

Rest assured, movie producers: you can’t escape. Autopians are watching you.

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90 thoughts on “The Kid, And The Car, Stays In The Picture: Cold Start”

  1. Here’s an example where they cast the car perfectly, but for some ungodly reason get the crucial details of the car so badly, badly wrong:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xuZr2F4hM5E

    A 1972 Dodge Challenger with a 4.9L V8?!?! Even if we set aside the fact that Mopar never offered the 4.9L in a Challenger, that’s a damned small V8 to be pushing around a 3,300 pounds of Detroit muscle, and they go on about it like it’s a huge engine.

    Bottom line: why even bother to mention the engine displacement in the dialogue if you’re not going to spend 10 seconds on Google to learn what a realistic engine displacement is for the car in question?

    3. Mopar had 273ci V-8s and 225ci (and smaller!) /6s pushing around all manner of things – including trucks. I think the 273 died around 64 or 65, don’t quote me on it, but my family had a 65 Belvedere 2dr coupe that a P.O. had put a 273 in. It was a sweetheart of an engine for running around NW Florida. Too bad the transmission seals died and my dad was too ignorant to get them done properly.

  2. Havng grown up in the 70s and 80s in social strata similar to those seen in Risky Business, I don’t find that GM wagon particularly miscast. Maybe a newish Caprice would be a little more apt than a 5-year-old Impala, but not everyone with money buys expensive cars.

    I’m not sure I can explain why, but somehow the Mark III seems perfect for The French Connection. It is pretty gangster, even in France.

  3. One of my pet peeves about movies cast in the 30’s shows Model A’s. Not Chevies, not Hudsons, not anything worth noting, just acres and acres of Model A’s.

  4. Son of a Critch had to make some compromises presumably due to sourcing cars locally in St. John’s, Newfoundland where it’s made and set. The most glaring one is Mama Fox’s nearly-new VW Rabbit which was the priciest option in its’ segment.

  5. The worst car mis-casting for me is The Odessa File. In the novel, the main character owns a Jaguar and that was an important part of the plot in several places. In the movie he had some sort of Mercedes Benz.

    1. Great citation! In the novel, Peter was portrayed as very continental and dashing, and assuredly not stereotypically German…that Mercedes sedan couldn’t have been a worse on-screen choice.

  6. I think the Riv in LaLaLand could make sense, I haven’t seen it yet myself but if he’s an artist on a short budget trying to be like a cool guy from the 50s-60s then a malaise era Riv makes sense as it attempts to get that feeling (fails but attempts) but remains nice and cheap.

    1. As a fun, hopefully deliberate bit, later in the movie he’s shown driving the same generation Eldorado convertible. It all feels kind of right and in character like you describe.

      The same sequence has Emma Stone’s character’s husband in a V60 Polestar, which is a weird choice I thoroughly endorse.

      1. There’s also the sight gag where Emma Stone’s character is retrieving her car at the end of a Los Angeles party. She tells the valet “it’s the Prius” and we then see that the valet’s key board is filled entirely with Prius keys.

        1. We must be students of history if we want to stand proud on the shoulders of learned experience.

          Do you want t be Green Day or Pennywise? I think we know who has more influence and creative latitude (and gold plated toilets)

      2. As a musician, I am very conscious of the notion of “selling out,” but I once drew an important distinction when discussing the topic with another musician friend of mine: “selling out” isn’t necessarily the same thing as “cashing in.”

  9. I’m gonna disagree on the Chevy wagon. Growing up I knew a lot of families who had one of those (significantly more aged than this one was at the time of filming) despite being very well off. The reasoning was it was the car they didn’t have to worry about young kids making a mess in, teenagers crashing, etc. It was the family utility vehicle for strapping the Christmas tree to the roof of before we all got 4 door pickups. It took the Boy Scout troop camping. The Grand Wagoneer was the “fancy” way to do it in certain circles, but most just did the big wood station wagon.

    1. I grew up in the 70s and early 80s going to a prestigious private school in the region to the east across the lake from Chicago. Needless to say, the kids and families I associated with were generally quite well-off. The most typical family cars were big American sedans and wagons, followed by big luxury conversion vans (remember those?) and then a smattering of Euro imports — Volkswagens and Audis, mostly. Japanese cars had some inroads for their novelty and economy, usually the better-optioned versions.

      Big station wagons got a lot of love. A couple of families went beyond that and kept a fully-optioned Suburban as the combo family-plus-horse-trailer or travel trailer hauler.

      Trailer-hauling — whether it was for horses or travel trailers or both — had a sizeable influence on what families of means chose for the utilitarian vehicle in the garage. That’s probably why 4WD vehicles like the Grand Cherokee weren’t as popular — their towing capacity was generally lower than what you could get from a two-wheel drive station wagon or Suburban with a big engine. Jeeps and other 4WD vehicles were mostly winter vehicles.

      Also as it was the malaise era, there were quite a few well-kept older wagons maintained as the trailer-hauler and vacation cruiser, since pre-emissions V8s had more power. They were offset by keeping a trendy Japanese or European compact for commuting. But everybody kept one or two American gas-guzzlers around because quiet “boulevard ride” and powerful air conditioning were overridingly desirable.

    2. New England Private High School; Same, zero Volvos wagons or otherwise.. I remember my dad commenting on a parent’s Mazda 626 being from “Vachon Mazda” “well some people don’t care how much they spend on a car I guess.” I mean he drove the same car, what could have been the delta, $500, $1000?

  11. I binged the “the Americans” during Covid and I would just look for the same car being used in different locations. There was a blue Thunderbird that was a neighbors car and also showed up in a parking lot at FBI HQ and a street scene. Great show by the way. It is amazing how many pristine Malaise American era iron is still out there.

    1. I finally got around to watching all of Mad Men during Covid and same. They got their money’s worth from some of their cars used for outside scenes.

    2. The Americans is the mostly woefully underwatched show of TV’s golden age. I watched it week-by-week starting at Season 4, and it’s the most feelings I’ve feeled from watching anything. Will need to re-watch with another decade of car knowledge at my side.

    3. The Americans’ most noticeable car mistake has gotta be when Phillip confidently states that his new 3rd gen Camaro makes 300-something horsepower. Not a chance!

  12. Ambulance (2022). Movie opens with shots of overdue bills and a phone call where the insurance company won’t cover the wife’s surgery. Dude leaves his house and gets into a mint first generation Ford Bronco. Otherwise, the movie is exactly what a Michael Bay movie should be and exceeded my expectations.

  14. I’m going to go out on a limb and defend the casting choice of the 82 Riviera. As I recall, Gosling’s character at the beginning of the movie was a *struggling* jazz musician. The kind who would never drive a Corolla of course but also couldn’t afford a retro American vert that was even minimally hip. Seems about right to me!

    1. This. I think his sister even calls him out for driving without insurance. Plus, he’s so obsessed with jazz that his car is probably the last thing on his mind.

  16. I’m going with the elephant in the room, Transformers (2007)

    Jazz should not have been a Pontiac Solstice but a 911 GT3 RS
    Ratchet should have been a standard F550 ambulance instead of a Hummer
    Barricade should have been a Chevy Tahoe Police Cruiser instead of a Mustang
    Bumblebee should have a Golf GTI Fahrenheit edition

    I know why they did what they did but it still wasn’t the best choice

  18. It sounds like Autopians could compile a whole Wiki on bad automotive casting decisions. Since you asked, here’s mine.

    The movie is “A Most Violent Year.” Jessica Chastain, Oscar Isaac. Set in New Jersey in 1981. The opening scene has Isaac’s character waiting for a business meeting with a group of Hasidic Jews (don’t ask). The Hasidim eventually arrive in a Ford Crown Victoria wagon — with a center-high-mount stop lamp.

    WHICH WAS NOT MANDATED UNTIL 1986.

    At some point, the continuity director — who is paid to make these decisions — saw it, shrugged and said “Eh, close enough.”

    The film? Pretty good. The car? Took me out of the movie.

  19. I always thought Randy Quaid’s police car in “The Wraith” was an odd choice. I’m sure the ‘80s Chrysler K-car had a number of good attributes, but I can’t think of a much worse choice for chasing down V-8 powered hoodlums along the long straight roadways of our American Southwest. Not in a world where box Chevy Caprices, Crown Vics, and even notchback Mustang cop cars are available

  20. What cars would you cast for Risky Business if it was filmed today?

    I’m going to go with
    Porsche 928 -> Tesla Model S
    Chevy Impala Wagon -> Volvo XC90

      1. That’s a good take. I live about ten minutes from “Joel’s” house so based on the cars I see (and the fact Joel’s dad is into the latest thing) I am thinking grey Taycan. Mom looks like the person that would drive a Lexus, a white LX570. Or, since the Audi dealer is still right next door to Porshce, maybe a Q7 or 8.

        1. I grew up in the New Trier district, could be the LX or GX, but since it was a few years old mom-mobile, maybe the extended wheelbase RX? Taycan 4S or Turbo is a good choice too. Not the Turbo S. It was a base 928 after all!

          1. That’s true. Joel’s dad would never do the full-up turbo model of anything, even if it were the Cayenne. Glad for the local perspective- I’m in the GBN district so we’re among the poors!

  24. I have to say it… going back to the original “The Fast and the Furious”… You’re telling me that the guy who is all about muscle car this and American that for the rest of the series is driving an RX7?

    Now I truly adore the RX7, but it seems out of place for his persona.

  25. I’m watching the 2nd season of Fargo, which takes place in Minnesota and North and South Dakota in the winter/spring of 1979. Of course, all the cars are of appropriate late 70’s. One character does drive a 2nd gen Corvair, though.

    What bugs me, though, is every single car, including the Corvair, is absolutely pristine. Not a speck of rust.

    I mean, come on!! The (spoiler alert!) appearance of an alien space ship is more believable!

    1. Though an interesting thing that many shows/movies do is show ONLY cars from the given year on the road. As in, every car on the tv road is a brand new car from that year. Which of course is nothing like reality.

      Stranger Things for one nicely bucks the trend by showing plenty of ’70s rides still running around, in addition to contemporaneous ’80s stuff.

        1. !This > Upsetting every time
          Indiana Jones and the dial of destiny, Tangier 1969, Juergen Voller gets driven around in a Mercedes W109, 300 SEL 4.5, an exclusive delivery to the North American market with a detuned engine to meet stringent emission targets in California, and first released in May 1971.
          Side markers and anticausal at the same time…

      1. I did spot one anachronism. When the Gerhardt daughter drove her disco Nova to the hotel to visit McMillan, I spotted an aftermarket CHMSL in the rear window. Not required in 1979, and I would SERIOUSLY doubt that even if JC Whitney sold them, anyone would install one.

          1. Not true. My dad is a bit of a nut and was putting aftermarket CHMSLs in all our cars in the early 80s. His ’65 Cadillac, ’78 Cressida, and ’77 Granada all still have them.

            1. Yup I saw them on vehicles back in the the early 80’s and I’m pretty sure one of the places I saw them for sale was good old JCW, in addition to my not quite FLAPS.

    3. I feel like with modern wrap technology, studios can get those pristine movie cars and add rust to them to be more realistic. After the shoots, remove the wrap and return the cars to their doting owners in perfect condition.

    4. I have a theory that some movie producers choose cars, planes, and helicopters that they want to buy from the studio at a discount after the movie is shot.

        2. Well, it could also be the first car he bought used in high school for 1200 bucks during the gas crisis, from someone whose wife was insisting he get rid of that gas guzzler and get a Toyota instead.

          Whatever you do, never look up what your favorite American muscle cars were trading for in the mid to late 1970s. It will reaffirm for you that you were born in the wrong year.

    5. And then there are some shows and movies which go the opposite way. You’ll see a car that, in context, are only a couple years old, but they’re completely rusted out and beat to hell.

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