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THIS IS THE MUSTANG THAT JUMPED OVER A HILL okay that’s all the Jalop-channeling I can do for right now. Tonight’s episode of “Alcatraz” will feature YABCST (Yet Another Bullitt Chase Scene Tribute), only this time it looks like a Mustang chasing a Charger. You can check out a video preview here. TTAC readers, with their eye for the story behind the story, will note that, while the Mustang is a spankin’ new 2013 model, the Charger is the original, frumpy LX from a few years ago, not the sleek new one, which can be taken as evidence of Ford’s marketing involvement.
46 Comments on “In Recent Mustang PR, Um, News...”
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“…while the Mustang is a spankin’ new 2013 model, the Charger is the original, frumpy LX from a few years ago, not the sleek new one, which can be taken as evidence of Ford’s marketing involvement.”
Sigh. Shades of NBC’s reboot of “Fail Rid…” shoot, “Ford Ri”…dammit, “Knight Rider” in this.
The Bullitt chase scene is one of the finest moments in cinematic history and I still only have a vague idea about the actual plot in the rest of the movie.
That’s about all there is for a plot, i.e., ‘a vague idea.’
I rented it on Netflix and I thought a scratch caused it to skip the end of the movie and go to he credits, so I had them send me another DVD and lo and behold that was the end of the movie. Lots of cool stuff. Terrible movie.
Plot? It was about “The Organization”.
Anyway, you don’t watch that movie for plot, that movie was an exercise in style……it was all about the 60’s style. Cool sixties clothes. Cool sixties music….Lalo Schifrin’s ultra cool jazz score. Cool 60’s cars. A 24 year old Jacqueline Bisset. The King of Cool himself, Steve McQueen, and topped off with the greatest car chase scene ever put to film. Who needs plot?
Best chase scene was in “To live and Die in LA” (1985). “French Connection” is #2.
The picture reminded me of another fine moment in cinematic history:
Ok, so no Youtube links allowed. Napoleon Dynamite: “you got like, three feet of air that time.”
As someone who went out of their way (along with my brother and our friends) to see the first theatrical run of H.B. Halicki’s original Gone In 60 Seconds, I’m ambivalent at best about remaking great movie chase scenes.
I understand from a publicity standpoint that recreating something already in the public mind is a quick way to garner attention, but what’s wrong doing something really original instead of a “tribute”? OTOH, the slot car recreation of the Bullit chase is pretty cool – but then that’s an original take on the idea.
Little know fact, the 1967 Ford Mustang came with six hubcabs to come flying off in high speed chases.
That was the Charger! The Stang had aluminum wheels. Did you know that neither the Charger nor the Mustang was the fastest car in that movie? If you watch closely, you’ll see the same green VW Beatle over and over. That Beatle beat the Charger and Mustang every time!
And if you watch the ALCATRAZ preview closely, you’ll notice a Green Beetle being passed!
It is a 1968 Mustang. And it has American Racing Torque-Thrust D aluminum wheels, not hubcaps.
Just watched the preview and yes they pass a 60s era Beetle at least once.
Twice in the show.
The Mustang in the original movie was a 1968 and had Torque Thrust wheels, the lost hubcaps all came from the Charger. If you watch the original chase closely, you’ll see that the reason you see the same cars and it looks like the Charger loses more than 4 hubcaps is the same sequence is filmed from several angles and then edited together.
The show that does this sort of product placment in spades is Hawaii 5-0 (or as my wife calls it Hawaii far-fetched). The show is heavily sponsored by GM, so all the heroes drive Chevy’s, and the bad guys typically drive Fords and others, even the uniformed officers drive Chevy’s. They’ve chased down and rolled at least 3 2000-2004 Mustangs that I can recall. What is funny to watch is when 5-0 or some other LEO’s have to take a hit in their cars by some baddie. Last year a black 2011 Suburban was shot at by sub-machine gun fire, and in the next frame magically transformed into a burning wrecked 1999 Suburban.
The pilot heavily featured a 2010 GT posing as a 2011 5.0 – Dano’s I think – but yeah, GM took over and it was never seen again. All of a sudden they took McGarret’s Camaro everywhere and his dad’s Mercury restoration story went to a way, way back burner..
Then they’re were the one-off episodes, like, tonight’s episode brought to you by Jaguar and next thing you know they’ve got some contrived reason to tool around in a XKR for an hour.
I’ve seen worse though. There was an episode of Eureka that was practically a marketing video for a Subaru STI and an episode of Bones where they hop in her obviously brand new Prius and practically start reading off the brochure.
I imagine the Hawaii 5-0 production meetings go something like:
“For this scene we need a sports car we can blow up but we don’t have much in the budget left”
“V6 SN-95 to the rescue!”
They’re everywhere and dirt cheap. Maybe a quick respray to jazz it up and stick and extra exhaust tip under there to make it look like a V8 if there’s time and money for it.
I watch a lot of TV. Way more than I should, really. I can always spot it when there’s an expensive car that’s going to be wrecked later, because it’s one or two model cycles old. Brand new Jaguar? Safe. 996 Porsche? Destined to die…
Yeah, I picked up on the Subaru full court press in “Eureka” one thing’s for sure, it was never a good advertisement for JEEP, they destroyed more Cherokees in that show than the Dukes of Hazaard killed Chargers.
“Last year a black 2011 Suburban was shot at by sub-machine gun fire, and in the next frame magically transformed into a burning wrecked 1999 Suburban”
Editing is a funny thing isn’t it.
One show that’s stayed pretty consistent is NCIS. They’ve had Chrylser products as fleet vehicles since the beginning, currently using late model Chargers. But it does seem that about the time to go to a newer model the old one is toast. However in one story ark Gibb’s dad had a restored yellow Challenger which has appeared in subsequent stories from time to time. And Abbie, God bless her, drives a deuce coupe.
Ducky had a Morgan in at least one episode.
As much as I hate to promote their ridiculous product placement advertising, this is just too ridiculous not to share.
I’m still watching this show, and I’m not sure why either. I sort of enjoy it, but I’m also growing a bit tired of it. Do something already.
Why do I have this vision of some young guy complaining bitterly to a tow truck driver that the car in the commerical handled that jump just fine?
He’ll be sitting in the body shop next to the guy who tried to do the giant slalom in his Nissan pickup.
Still can’t be as bad as the product placement Cadillac and Hyundai had in Burn Notice.
Or the recently departed Saab.
That is not nearly as bad as the Toyota placement in “Bones” or the Ford placement in “White Collar”
While were on that subject, how did an FBI agent get a Toyota? I could see if this was the character’s occasionally seen personal car, but they end up driving it on the job. I know its only a show, but I’m pretty sure the Feds won’t pony up for an import. I don’t recall other cop shows having trouble with this little reality.
So true. And the Volkswagen product placement in Parks and Rec is appalling.
I have no problem with placement. If there were TV shows with enough placement cash to avoid commercial interruption of the narrative, me and 10 million or so people my age and younger would hook up our TV’s again. Until then, if it’s not on Netflix, or cheap DVD boxsets, I skip it.
I agree with stryker1 in that the last episode of Burn Notice I watched actually was a Hyundai commercial. They had a Genesis coupe and described its handling and power advantages during an evasion scene. It was insulting and I decided then and there it would be the last episode I’d watch.
That’s exactly the scene where I more or less abandoned the series.
I freaking owned a 3.8 Genesis Coupe at the time, and it was still sickening.
People mentioned Hawaii 5-0, among others that show vehicle product placement, but no one has mentioned the switch-up that FRINGE did! The previous season had everyone driving new Fords, even showcasing the SYNC feature.
This season has everyone driving Nissans. The Feds all drive Black Pathfinders, while Olive (main character) drives a Nissan Leaf. It was even parked in a spot with a convenient charging station. The doppelgangers in the alternate universe common un-badged GM produts.
The “double decker car” was only seen once in a blink-and-you’ll miss it cutaway.
The main character of ALCATRAZ (Detective Madsen) drives a vintage Green Mustang Fastback with Torque Thrust wheels. I noticed that since the pilot episode, and since the show takes place in San Fran, I figured they’d do a Bullitt-style chase scene sometime.
I just didn’t think it would be with a new Mustang.
Been much cooler if they had used Rebecca’s ’68.
Later, when Hugo, er Hurley, er “Doc” got the ’68, I thought there might be another chase, using it this time.
Someone should re-enact the scene using the Fox-body Mustang SVO and L-body Shelby Charger.
Kudos to you, sir.
I know it’s not a Charger but how about a malaise era recreation with a Mustang II and a ’78 Dodge Challenger?
There actually was a 1978 Dodge Charger, just not a particularly memorable one. http://www.allpar.com/images/charger-birth/78-Charger-beach.jpg
That would be original – and a little frightening …
When I get bored I sometimes try to spot the “hidden” product placement in TV and movies. I’ve noticed since my childhood the useage of domestic sedans with no badges have declined severely.
what about the overt hyundai advertising in Walking Dead?
Nobody mentioned Wayne’s World where they mocked the whole hollywood product placement deal? C’mon guys, fuuny stuff and Tia Carrere eye candy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUd5QA3IEnM&feature=related
full video out
its not as bad as i expected