35MM MOVIE CARS

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

It was just last year that we saw the iconic car from “The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen” go up for auction. That car, the original one driven by Naseeruddin Shah (aka Captain Nemo) in the movie, sold for $45,000. Pictured here is “The Spirit of Nemo,” a replica. Bidding for it on eBay currently sits at $165,000. Yes, the replica of the real deal is probably going to sell for more than the actual movie car itself. How the hell does something like this happen? For starters, the two cars are more than just a little bit different.

If you look closely, especially in the interior, you can see the differences between the two. The biggest difference is underneath, though. The original car was based on a Land Rover Fire Tender. This replica is actually made up of two Cadillac limos and is a bit longer than the real deal at 24 feet compared to 22 feet. There are other differences as well, such as the fact that it has a steel I-beam frame. The I-beams came from a dismantled bridge. Oh, and it’s also powered by a 425-cubic inch V8. Amazingly this car is able to drive on the highway, although it doesn’t seem like you’d want to go too far or fast since it doesn’t come with a roof. Ken Freeman of North Carolina is the man behind this car. He spent 6,500 hours creating it.

The ad refers to the replica as “automotive art,” and in that context it’s not hard to see why bidding has gotten so high. Check out this short clip of The Spirit of Nemo from Yahoo Autos and let us know if you think this thing is worth its extraordinary price tag.

THE MOVIE :

In 1899, a terrorist group led by the Fantom cause international tension, breaking into the Bank of England to steal Leonardo da Vinci‘s blueprints of Venice‘s foundations, and then kidnap German scientists. The British Empire sends Sanderson Reed to Kenya to recruit adventurer and hunter Allan Quatermain. Quatermain, retired following the death of his son, at first refuses until a group of assassins are sent to kill him. In London, Quatermain meets “M”, who is forming the latest generation of the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. He reveals the Fantom plans to start a world war by bombing a secret meeting of world leaders in Venice. The new League consists of Quatermain, Captain Nemo, vampiric chemist Mina Harker, and invisible thief Rodney Skinner.

The League travel to the London docks to recruit Dorian Gray, Mina’s former lover who is kept immortal thanks to a missing portrait. The Fantom’s assassins attack, but the League fend them off, aided by U.S. Secret Service Agent Tom Sawyer. Dorian and Sawyer join the League. They then capture Edward Hyde in Paris and he joins the League after being offered amnesty, transforming back into his alter ego Dr. Jekyll. The League travel for Venice in Nemo’s submarine, the Nautilus, but it soon becomes clear there may be a mole on board: A camera’s flash powder residue is found in the wheelhouse, and one of Jekyll’s transformation formulas disappears. Suspicion falls on the missing Skinner.

The Nautilus arrives in Venice just as the bombs go off, causing the city to start collapsing in a domino effect. Sawyer uses Nemo’s automobile to stop the destruction, while Quatermain confronts the Fantom, who is unmasked as M. Dorian is also revealed to be the traitor, murders Nemo’s first mate Ishmael, and steals the Nautilus’ exploration pod. M and Dorian leave a phonograph recording for the League, revealing that their true goal is to ignite the world war and Dorian has been collecting physical elements of the League to create superhuman formulas and sell them off to the highest bidder. The Nautilus is damaged by bombs hidden on board, but Hyde saves it by draining the flooded engine rooms. Skinner sends a message to the League, revealing he has sneaked aboard the exploration pod and telling them to follow his heading.

The League reach northern Mongolia, reuniting with Skinner, where they plot to destroy M’s factory with explosives. Nemo and Hyde rescue the scientists, Skinner sets the explosive charges, while Mina battles Dorian, killing him by exposing him to his portrait. Quatermain and Sawyer confront M, identifying him as Professor James Moriarty, who took on a new alias after his alleged death at the Reichenbach Falls. Sawyer is taken hostage by an invisible Reed; Quatermain shoots the latter, only for Moriarty to fatally stab him. Moriarty flees outside, but Sawyer successfully shoots him, and the formulas sink into the icy water. Quatermain then dies.

Quatermain is buried beside his son in Kenya. The surviving League members recall how a witch doctor had blessed Quatermain for saving his village, promising that Africa would never let him die. The remaining League members depart agreeing to continue using their powers for good in the new century. Then the witch doctor arrives, performing a ritual that summons an unnatural storm, with a bolt of lightning ambiguously striking the rifle Sawyer left on Quatermain’s grave.

CAST

Directed by Stephen Norrington
Produced by
Trevor Albert
Rick Benattar
Sean Connery
Mark Gordon
Don Murphy
Michael Nelson
Screenplay by James Dale Robinson
Based on The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen by
Alan Moore
Kevin O’Neill
Starring
Sean Connery
Shane West
Stuart Townsend
Peta Wilson
Jason Flemyng
Music by Trevor Jones
Cinematography Dan Laustsen
Edited by Paul Rubell
Production
companies
20th Century Fox
Angry Films
International Production Company
JD Productions
Distributed by 20th Century Fox
Release date
July 11, 2003
Running time
110 minutes[1]
Country
United Kingdom
Germany
Czech Republic
United States[2]
Language English
Budget $78 million
Box office $179.3 million

BATMAN CARS

TV SERIES

MATTEL HOT WHEELS – BATMAN – BATMOBILE 1966 – CLASSIC TV SERIES

EDICOLA – BATMAN – BATMOBILE – BATMAN CLASSIC TV SHOW 1966

MOVIE SERIES

EDICOLA – BATMAN – BATMOBILE WITH FIGURES – BATMAN MOVIE 1988

MATTEL HOT WHEELS – BATMAN – BATMOBILE 1989

Plot

As Gotham City approaches its bicentennial, Mayor Borg orders district attorney Harvey Dent and police commissioner James Gordon to make the city safer. Meanwhile, reporter Alexander Knox and photojournalist Vicki Vale begin to investigate rumors of a vigilante nicknamed “Batman” who is targeting the city’s criminals.

Batman’s alter-ego is Bruce Wayne, a billionaire industrialist who, as a child, witnessed his parents’ murder at the hands of a psychotic mugger. At a fundraiser for the bicentennial in Wayne Manor, Bruce meets and falls for Vale, and the two begin a romantic relationship. However, the evening is cut short as Bruce is alerted to Commissioner Gordon’s sudden departure due to police business and leaves to investigate as Batman.

Mob boss Carl Grissom, who has already been targeted by Dent, discovers his mistress Alicia is involved with his second-in-command Jack Napier. With the help of corrupt police lieutenant Max Eckhardt, Grissom engineers Napier’s death in a raid at Axis Chemicals. However, Grissom’s plan is foiled with the sudden arrival of Commissioner Gordon, who wants Napier captured alive. In the ensuing shootout, Napier, who has realized he was set up, kills Eckhardt. Batman arrives and, in a struggle, Napier is knocked into a vat of chemicals. Batman escapes and Napier is presumed dead.

Napier emerges from the vat, but is left disfigured with chalk white skin, emerald green hair, and a rictus grin. The sociopathic Napier is driven insane by the incident and begins calling himself “the Joker”. He kills Grissom and usurps authority over his criminal empire, and scars Alicia’s face to equal his disfigurement.

The Joker terrorizes Gotham City by lacing hygiene products with “Smilex”, a deadly chemical which causes victims to die laughing with the same maniacal grin as the Joker. As he searches for information on Batman, the Joker also becomes obsessed with Vale. He lures her to the Gotham Museum of Art and his henchmen destroy the works of art. Batman arrives and rescues her. They escape in the Batmobile, pursued by the Joker’s men. Batman takes Vicki to the Batcave, where he gives her information from his research on Smilex that will allow the city’s residents to avoid exposure to the toxin.

Bruce visits Vicki at her apartment, prepared to tell her about his alter-ego. The Joker interrupts their meeting, asking Bruce, “(Have you) Ever danced with the devil by the pale moonlight?” before shooting him. Bruce uses a bended serving tray as body armor and plays dead. He remembers that the mugger who killed his parents asked the same question, and realizes that Napier was his parents’ killer. Vicki is brought to the Batcave by Bruce’s butler, Alfred Pennyworth, who has been coaxing their relationship because Vicki brings out Bruce’s human side. After telling her that he cannot focus on their relationship with the Joker terrorizing Gotham, Bruce departs as Batman to destroy the Axis plant. Meanwhile, the Joker lures the citizens of Gotham to a parade with the promise of free money, but while throwing cash at the crowd as promised, also attacks them with Smilex gas released from his giant parade balloons. Batman arrives and tows the balloons above the clouds with the Batwing. The Joker shoots the Batwing using a long-barreled gun, causing it to crash, and takes Vicki to the top of a cathedral.

Batman, who survived the crash, fends off the Joker’s remaining men despite his injuries, and confronts the Joker. The two struggle, with Joker eventually gaining the upper hand, leaving Batman and Vicki clinging onto an outcropping. The Joker tries to escape by helicopter, but Batman attaches a heavy granite gargoyle to the Joker’s leg with his grappling hook, causing him to lose his grip and fall to his death after it breaks off.

Commissioner Gordon announces that the police have arrested the Joker’s men and unveils the Bat-Signal. Harvey Dent reads a note from Batman, promising that he will defend Gotham whenever crime strikes again. Vicki is taken to Wayne Manor by Alfred, who tells her that Bruce will be a little late. She responds that she is not surprised, as Batman looks at the signal’s projection, standing watch over the city.

CAST

Directed by Tim Burton
Produced by
Jon Peters
Peter Guber
Screenplay by
Sam Hamm
Warren Skaaren
Story by Sam Hamm
Based on
Characters appearing in magazines published
by DC Comics
Batman characters
by Bob Kane
Starring
Jack Nicholson
Michael Keaton
Kim Basinger
Robert Wuhl
Pat Hingle
Billy Dee Williams
Michael Gough
Jack Palance
Music by Danny Elfman
Cinematography Roger Pratt
Edited by Ray Lovejoy
Production
company
Warner Bros. Pictures
Guber-Peters Company
Distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures
Release date
June 19, 1989 (Westwood, California)
June 23, 1989 (United States)
Running time
126 minutes
Country United States[1]
Language English
Budget $35 million[2]
Box office $411.3 million[2]

Batman Returns 1992

EDICOLA – BATMAN – BATMOBILE – BATMAN RETURN 1 MOVIE 1992

Plot

In the prologue, socialites Tucker and Esther Cobblepot give birth to a deformed baby boy, Oswald. Disgusted by his appearance and wild demeanor, they confine the baby to a cage and ultimately throw him into the sewer, where he is discovered by a family of penguins.

Thirty-three years later, millionaire Max Shreck proposes to build a power plant to supply Gotham City with energy, though he is opposed by the city Mayor. During Shreck’s speech, Gotham is attacked by a disgraced former circus troupe, the Red Triangle Gang. Despite the efforts of Batman to stop the violence, Shreck is abducted and taken to the sewer, where he meets Oswald, the gang’s secret leader now known as the Penguin. Penguin blackmails Shreck with evidence of his corporate crimes into helping him return to the surface, and he accepts. Meanwhile, Shreck’s secretary, Selina Kyle, discovers the true purpose of Shreck’s power plant to drain Gotham of its energy and bring the city under Shreck’s control. Shreck pushes her out of a window to silence her, but she survives the fall and vows revenge, taking up the mantle of Catwoman.

Penguin makes his presence known by “rescuing” the Mayor’s baby from a staged kidnapping attempt, and requests to be allowed into the Hall of Records to find his parents. Batman’s alter-ego, Bruce Wayne, voices his suspicions about Penguin’s true motives and investigates his background and connection to the Red Triangle Gang. During a meeting with Shreck, Wayne meets Kyle and the two become attracted to one another. In order to remove his enemies, Shreck pushes for Penguin to run for Mayor and discredit the current Mayor by having the Red Triangle Gang wreak havoc on the city. Batman intervenes and meets Catwoman as she attempts to sabotage one of Shreck’s businesses; she escapes, but is injured and swears revenge on Batman by allying with Penguin to frame him for an undiscussed crime.

As Wayne and Kyle begin a romantic relationship, Penguin abducts Gotham’s Ice Princess and kills her, framing Batman for the act, at the same time sabotaging his Batmobile to rampage throughout Gotham until Batman disconnects the device, and ends his partnership with Catwoman, who didn’t anticipate the murder, when she rejects his advances; he attempts to kill her with one of his flying umbrellas, but she survives after falling into a greenhouse. During the chase, Batman records the Penguin’s disparaging remarks about the people of Gotham and later plays them during his next speech, destroying his image and forcing him to retreat to the sewer, where he reveals his plan to abduct and kill all of Gotham’s firstborn sons as revenge for what his parents did to him. At a charity ball hosted by Shreck, Wayne and Kyle meet and discover each other’s secret identities. Penguin appears and reveals his plan, intending to take Shreck’s son, Chip, with him, but Shreck gives himself up in his son’s stead.

Batman foils the kidnappings and heads for the Penguin’s lair. Penguin attempts to have his army of penguins bomb the city and kill everyone in Gotham, though Batman and his butler, Alfred, jam the signal and order the penguins to head back to the sewer. Batman arrives and confronts Penguin. In the ensuing fight, Penguin falls through a window into the sewer’s toxic water. Shreck escapes but is confronted by Catwoman, who intends to kill him. Batman pleads for Kyle to stop, unmasking himself in the process. Shreck draws a gun and shoots Wayne, and then shoots Kyle multiple times, but she survives and electrocutes herself and Shreck with a stun gun. Wayne, who was wearing body armour, finds Shreck’s remains but Kyle is nowhere to be found. Penguin emerges from the water, but eventually dies from his injuries and his penguin family lay his body to rest in the water. In the aftermath, as Alfred drives him home, Wayne sees Kyle’s silhouette in an alley but only finds her cat, who he decides to take home with him. The Bat-Signal appears in the sky as Catwoman, who survived, watches.

Cast

Directed by Tim Burton
Produced by
Denise Di Novi
Tim Burton
Screenplay by Daniel Waters
Story by
Daniel Waters
Sam Hamm
Based on
Characters appearing in magazines published
by DC Comics
Batman characters
by Bob Kane and Bill Finger
Starring
Michael Keaton
Danny DeVito
Michelle Pfeiffer
Christopher Walken
Michael Gough
Pat Hingle
Michael Murphy
Music by Danny Elfman
Cinematography Stefan Czapsky
Edited by Chris Lebenzon
Production
company
Warner Bros.
Distributed by Warner Bros.
Release date
June 16, 1992 (Mann’s Chinese Theatre)
June 19, 1992 (United States)
Running time
126 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Budget $80 million[1]
Box office $266.8 million

Batman Forever

EDICOLA – BATMAN – BATMOBILE – BATMAN FOREVER MOVIE 1995

 EDICOLA – BATMAN – BATMOBILE – BOAT – BATMAN FOREVER MOVIE 1995

Plot

In Gotham City, the crime fighter Batman defuses a hostage situation caused by a criminal known as Two-Face, the alter ego of the former district attorney Harvey Dent, but Two-Face escapes and remains at large. Edward Nygma, a researcher at Wayne Enterprises who idolizes Bruce Wayne, has developed a device that can beam television into a person’s brain. Bruce offers to let Nygma come up with schematics for the device and set up a meeting with his assistant. However, after Nygma demands an answer from him immediately, Bruce rejects the invention, believing it to be too close to mind manipulation. After killing his supervisor and staging it as a suicide, Nygma resigns and begins sending Bruce riddles, seeking retaliation against him.

Bruce meets Chase Meridian, a psychiatrist who is obsessed with Batman, and invites her to come with him to a circus event. After a performance from the circus performers, The Flying Graysons, Two-Face arrives and threatens to blow up the circus unless Batman comes forward and surrenders his life to him. The Flying Graysons attempt to stop Two-Face, but most of them get killed as a result. Only Dick Grayson, the youngest member, survives as he climbs to the roof and throws Two-Face’s bomb into a river.

Bruce invites the orphaned Dick to stay at Wayne Manor. Dick, still troubled by the murder of his family, intends to kill Two-Face and avenge his family. When he discovers that Bruce is Batman, he demands that Bruce help him find Two-Face so that he can kill him, but Bruce refuses. Meanwhile, Nygma, inspired and delighted by watching Two-Face’s raid at the circus, turns himself into a criminal called the Riddler and forms an alliance with Two-Face. The two steal capital in order to mass-produce Nygma’s brainwave device so that Riddler can use it to learn Batman’s secret identity.

At Nygma’s business party, Nygma discovers Bruce’s alter ego using the brainwave device. Two-Face arrives and crashes the party. He nearly kills Batman, but Dick manages to save him. Meanwhile, Chase has fallen in love with Bruce, which surpasses her obsession with Batman. Bruce decides to stop being Batman in order to have a normal life with Chase, and to prevent Dick from murdering Two-Face. Dick runs away while Bruce and Chase have dinner together in the manor, where Bruce reveals his secret identity to her. The Riddler and Two-Face arrive and attack Wayne Manor; in the process, the Riddler blows up the Batcave. The criminals kidnap Chase after Two-Face shoots Bruce, and the Riddler leaves him another riddle.

Using the riddles, Bruce and his butler, Alfred, deduce the Riddler’s secret identity. Chase is imprisoned by the Riddler and Two-Face in their hideout. Dick returns and becomes Batman’s sidekick, Robin. Batman and Robin head to Riddler and Two-Face’s lair, Claw Island, where they are separated. Robin encounters Two-Face and nearly kills him, but chooses to spare his life and is captured. The Riddler gives Batman a chance to save only one hostage, but Batman destroys the Riddler’s brainwave collecting device, causing the Riddler to suffer a mental breakdown. Batman then rescues both Robin and Chase. Two-Face corners the trio and determines their fate with the flip of a coin, but Batman throws a handful of identical coins in the air, causing Two-Face to stumble and fall to his death.

The Riddler is taken to Arkham Asylum and imprisoned, but he claims he knows who Batman is. Chase is asked to consult on the case, but Nygma says that he himself is Batman, due to his damaged memories. Chase meets Bruce outside and tells him that his secret is safe before parting ways. Bruce resumes his crusade as Batman with Robin as his partner to protect Gotham from crime.

Cast

Directed by Joel Schumacher
Produced by
Tim Burton
Peter MacGregor-Scott
Screenplay by
Lee Batchler
Janet Scott Batchler
Akiva Goldsman
Story by
Lee Batchler
Janet Scott Batchler
Based on
Characters appearing in magazines published
by DC Comics
Batman characters
by Bob Kane and Bill Finger
Starring
Val Kilmer
Tommy Lee Jones
Jim Carrey
Nicole Kidman
Chris O’Donnell
Michael Gough
Pat Hingle
Music by Elliot Goldenthal
Cinematography Stephen Goldblatt
Edited by
Dennis Virkler
Production
company
Warner Bros. Pictures
Distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures
Release date
June 9, 1995 (Mann Village Theater)
June 16, 1995 (United States)
Running time
122 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Budget $100 million[1]
Box office $336.5 million[1]

BATMAN AND ROBIN

EDICOLA – BATMAN – BATMOBILE – BATMAN AND ROBIN MOVIE

Plot

In Gotham, one year after the defeat of Two-Face and the Riddler, Batman and Robin attempt to thwart Mr. Freeze from robbing diamonds from the natural history museum, but he steals one and flees. Mr. Freeze was originally Dr. Victor Fries, a doctor working to develop a cure for MacGregor’s syndrome to heal his terminally ill wife. Fries was forced to wear a cryogenic suit powered by diamonds after becoming unable to live at normal temperatures following a lab accident.

At a Wayne Enterprises lab in Brazil, the botanist Dr. Pamela Isley is working under the deranged Dr. Jason Woodrue, experimenting with the Venom drug. She witnesses Woodrue use the formula to turn the violent, but diminutive, convicted serial murderer Antonio Diego into a hulking monstrosity dubbed “Bane”. Woodrue and Isley argue over the use of the drug which ends when Woodrue attempts to kill her by overturning a shelf of various toxins. Despite Woodrue’s efforts, she is resurrected, transforming into the beautiful and seductive Poison Ivy before exacting revenge; she kills Woodrue with her poisonous kiss. She finds that Wayne Enterprises funded Woodrue, thus she appropriates Bane as a muscle-bound thug, taking him with her to Gotham City. Meanwhile, Alfred Pennyworth’s niece, Barbara Wilson, makes a surprise visit and is invited by Bruce Wayne to stay at Wayne Manor until she goes back to school.

Wayne Enterprises presents a new telescope at a press conference interrupted by Isley. She proposes a project that could help the environment, but Bruce declines her offer, which would kill millions of people. That night, a charity event is held by Wayne Enterprises with special guests, Batman and Robin, and she decides to use her abilities to seduce them. Mr. Freeze crashes the party and steals a diamond from the event. Although he is captured by Batman and detained in Arkham Asylum, he eventually escapes with the help of Poison Ivy and Bane. Meanwhile, Dick discovers that Barbara has participated in drag races to raise money for Alfred, who is dying of MacGregor’s syndrome.

Batman and Robin begin to have crime fighting relationship problems because of Ivy’s seductive ability with Robin, but Bruce convinces Dick to trust him. Poison Ivy is then able to contact Robin once more; she kisses him but fails to kill him due to Robin wearing rubber lips. Meanwhile, Barbara discovers the Batcave, where an AI version of Alfred reveals he has made Barbara her own suit. Barbara dons the suit and becomes Batgirl. Robin gets captured by Poison Ivy, but is rescued by Batman, and Batgirl defeats Poison Ivy and get her eaten by her own plant. After Poison Ivy gets eaten by her plant, Batgirl reveals her identity.

Batman, Robin and Batgirl decide to go after Mr. Freeze together. By the time they get to the observatory where Mr. Freeze and Bane are, Gotham is completely frozen. Batgirl and Robin are attacked by Bane, but they eventually defeat him by kicking apart his venom tubes, stopping the flow of venom to his body. Bane collapses before transforming back to his original diminutive size of Antonio Diego and is left helpless on the ground.

Meanwhile Batman and Mr. Freeze begin to fight each other, with Batman defeating Mr. Freeze. Batgirl and Robin manage to unfreeze Gotham, and Batman shows Freeze a recording of Poison Ivy during her fight with Batgirl, who had informed the latter that she killed Mr. Freeze’s wife. However, Batman informs Mr. Freeze that she is still alive, having restored by them[clarification needed] in cryogenic slumber before being moved to Arkham Asylum, waiting for Mr. Freeze to finish his research. Batman proceeds to ask Mr. Freeze for the cure Mr. Freeze has created for the first stage of MacGregor’s Syndrome to administer to Alfred, and Mr. Freeze atones for his misunderstanding by giving him the medicine he had developed.

Mr. Freeze is then detained in Arkham Asylum. Poison Ivy is also imprisoned in Arkham Asylum with a vengeful Mr. Freeze as her cellmate and he plans to get revenge on Poison Ivy for what she did to his wife. After Alfred is cured, everyone agrees to let Barbara stay at Wayne Manor.

CAST

Directed by Joel Schumacher
Produced by Peter MacGregor-Scott
Written by Akiva Goldsman
Based on
Characters appearing in comics published
by DC Comics
Batman characters
by Bob Kane
Starring
Arnold Schwarzenegger
George Clooney
Chris O’Donnell
Uma Thurman
Alicia Silverstone
Michael Gough
Pat Hingle
Elle Macpherson
Music by Elliot Goldenthal
Cinematography Stephen Goldblatt
Edited by
Dennis Virkler
Mark Stevens
Production
company
Warner Bros. Pictures
Distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures
Release date
June 12, 1997 (Los Angeles)
June 20, 1997 (United States)
Running time
125 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Budget $125 million[1][2]
Box office $238.2 million[1]

Batman Begins

EDICOLA – BATMAN – BATMOBILE – BATMAN TUMBLER BEGINS MOVIE 2005

MATTEL HOT WHEELS – BATMAN – BATMOBILE – THE DARK KNIGHT TRILOGY 2008

PLOT

As a child, Bruce Wayne falls down into a dry well and is attacked by a swarm of bats, subsequently developing a phobia of the creatures. While watching an opera with his parents, Thomas and Martha, Bruce becomes frightened by performers masquerading as bats and asks to leave. Outside, mugger Joe Chill murders Bruce’s parents in front of him. Orphaned, Bruce is raised by the family butler, Alfred Pennyworth.

Fourteen years later, Chill is freed in exchange for testifying against Gotham City mafia boss Carmine Falcone. Bruce intends to murder Chill, but one of Falcone’s assassins does so first. Bruce’s childhood friend, assistant district attorney Rachel Dawes, berates him for attempting to undermine the justice system, saying that his father would be ashamed. Bruce confronts Falcone, who tells him that real power comes from being feared. Bruce decides to travel the world and learn how to confront injustice. While serving a prison sentence for theft in Bhutan, he meets Henri Ducard, who trains him as a member of the League of Shadows, led by Ra’s al Ghul. After completing his training and purging his fears, Bruce learns that the League intends to destroy Gotham, believing it to be corrupt, decadent, hypocritical and beyond saving. Bruce rejects the League’s cause and burns down their temple during his escape. Ra’s is killed by falling debris, while Bruce saves the unconscious Ducard.

Bruce returns to Gotham intent on fighting crime. Inspired by his childhood fear, he takes up the vigilante identity of “the Batman” and sets up a base in the caves beneath Wayne Manor. He takes an interest in his family’s company, Wayne Enterprises, now run by the unscrupulous William Earle. Company archivist Lucius Fox allows Bruce access to prototype defense technologies, including a protective bodysuit and a heavily armored car, the Tumbler. Bruce poses as a shallow playboy to allay suspicion.

Batman intercepts a drug shipment, provides Rachel with evidence against Falcone, and enlists Sergeant James Gordon, one of the few honest cops left in Gotham, to arrest him. In prison, Falcone meets with Dr. Jonathan Crane, a corrupt psychiatrist whom he has helped smuggle drugs into Gotham, and threatens to reveal his complicity if he does not declare him mentally unfit for trial. Crane puts on a scarecrow mask and sprays Falcone with a fear-inducing hallucinogen that drives him insane (which causes Falcone to constantly mouth the word “Scarecrow”), and has him transferred to Arkham Asylum. While investigating “the Scarecrow”, Batman is exposed to the hallucinogen and left incapacitated. He is saved by Alfred and given an antidote developed by Fox. When Rachel accuses Crane of corruption, Crane reveals that he has been pouring his fear-inducing drug into Gotham’s water supply. He drugs Rachel with it, but Batman saves her and subdues Crane, who claims to work for Ra’s al Ghul. Batman evades the police to get Rachel to safety, administers the antidote, and gives her a vial of it for Gordon and another for mass production. Ducard reappears at Bruce’s birthday party and reveals himself to be the true Ra’s al Ghul. Having stolen a powerful microwave emitter from Wayne Enterprises, he plans to vaporize Gotham’s water supply, rendering Crane’s drug airborne and causing mass hysteria that will destroy the city. He sets Wayne Manor aflame and leaves Bruce to die, but Alfred rescues him.

Ra’s loads the microwave emitter onto Gotham’s monorail system, intending to release the drug as the train travels toward the city’s central water source. Batman rescues Rachel from a drugged mob and indirectly reveals his identity to her. He pursues Ra’s onto the monorail and fights him just as Gordon uses the Tumbler’s cannons to destroy a section of the track. Batman refuses to kill Ra’s, but also chooses not to save him, gliding from the train and leaving Ra’s aboard as it crashes and explodes, killing him.

Bruce gains Rachel’s respect but loses her love, as she decides she cannot be with him while he is Batman. Bruce buys a controlling stake in the now publicly traded Wayne Enterprises, fires Earle, and replaces him with Fox. Gordon is promoted to Lieutenant of the Gotham City Police Department, shows Batman the Bat-Signal, and mentions a criminal who leaves Joker playing cards at crime scenes. Batman promises to investigate, and disappears into the night.

CAST

Directed by Christopher Nolan
Produced by
Charles Roven
Emma Thomas
Larry Franco
Screenplay by
Christopher Nolan
David S. Goyer
Story by David S. Goyer
Based on Characters appearing in comic books published
by DC Comics
Starring
Christian Bale
Michael Caine
Liam Neeson
Katie Holmes
Gary Oldman
Cillian Murphy
Tom Wilkinson
Rutger Hauer
Ken Watanabe
Morgan Freeman
Music by
Hans Zimmer
James Newton Howard
Cinematography Wally Pfister
Edited by Lee Smith
Production
companies
Legendary Pictures
Syncopy
Patalex III Productions
Distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures
Release date
May 31, 2005 (Tokyo)
June 15, 2005 (United States)
June 17, 2005 (United Kingdom)
Running time
140 minutes[1]
Country
United States[2]
United Kingdom[2]
Language English
Budget $150 million[3]
Box office $374.2 million[3]

The Dark Knight I

MATTEL HOT WHEELS – LAMBORGHINI – AVENTADOR LP700-4 2011 – BATMAN THE DARK KNIGHT RISES

MATTEL HOT WHEELS – BATMAN – KIT BAT-POD – THE DARK KNIGHT RISES 2008

PLOT

A gang of criminals rob a Gotham City mob bank, double-crossing and murdering each other until only the mastermind remains: the Joker, who escapes with the money.

Batman, District Attorney Harvey Dent and Lieutenant Jim Gordon form an alliance to rid Gotham of organized crime. Bruce Wayne is impressed with Dent’s idealism and offers to support his career; he believes that, with Dent as Gotham’s protector, he can give up being Batman and lead a normal life with Rachel Dawes—even though she and Dent are dating.

Mob bosses Sal Maroni, Gambol, and the Chechen hold a videoconference with their corrupt accountant, Lau, who has taken their funds for safekeeping and fled to Hong Kong. The Joker interrupts, warns them that Batman has no jurisdiction and is thus unhindered by the law, and offers to kill him in exchange for half of their money. After Gambol puts a bounty on his head, the Joker kills Gambol and takes over his gang. The mob ultimately decides to take the Joker up on his offer.

Batman finds Lau in Hong Kong and brings him back to Gotham to testify, allowing Dent to apprehend the entire mob. The Joker threatens to keep killing people unless Batman reveals his identity, and starts by murdering Police Commissioner Gillian B. Loeb and the judge presiding over the mob trial. The Joker also tries to kill Mayor Anthony Garcia, but Gordon sacrifices himself to stop the assassination. Dent learns that Rachel is the next target.

Bruce decides to reveal his secret identity. Before he can, however, Dent announces that he is Batman. Dent is taken into protective custody, but the Joker appears and attacks the convoy. Batman comes to Dent’s rescue and Gordon, who faked his death, apprehends the Joker, securing a promotion to Commissioner. Rachel and Dent are escorted away by detectives on Maroni’s payroll; Gordon later learns that they never arrived home. Batman interrogates the Joker, who reveals that they have been trapped in separate locations rigged with explosives. Batman races to save Rachel, while Gordon attempts to rescue Dent. Batman arrives at the building, but realizes that the Joker sent him to Dent’s location instead. Both buildings explode, killing Rachel and disfiguring half of Dent’s face. The Joker escapes with Lau, whom he later kills along with the Chechen.

Coleman Reese, an accountant at Wayne Enterprises, deduces that Bruce is Batman and tries to go public with the information. Not wanting Reese’s revelation to interfere with his plans, the Joker threatens to destroy a hospital unless someone kills Reese. Gordon orders the evacuation of all the hospitals in Gotham and goes to secure Reese. The Joker gives Dent a gun and convinces him to seek revenge for Rachel’s death, then destroys the hospital and escapes with a busload of hostages. Dent goes on a killing spree, deciding the fates of people he holds responsible for Rachel’s death by flipping his lucky coin.

After announcing Gotham will be subject to his rule come nightfall, the Joker rigs two evacuating ferries with explosives; one containing civilians and the other containing prisoners. He says that he will blow them both up by midnight, but will let one live if its passengers (who have been supplied the trigger to the other boat’s explosives) blow up the other. Batman finds the Joker by using a sonar device that spies on the entire city, with the reluctant help of Lucius Fox. Both the civilians and the prisoners refuse to kill each other, while Batman apprehends the Joker after a brief fight. Before the police arrive to take the Joker into custody, he gloats that Gotham’s citizens will lose hope once Dent’s rampage becomes public knowledge.

Gordon and Batman arrive at the building where Rachel perished. Dent shoots Batman, spares himself, and threatens to kill Gordon’s son, claiming that Gordon’s negligence is responsible for Rachel’s death. Before he can flip for the boy, Batman, who was wearing body armor, tackles Dent off the building to his death. Knowing the Joker would win if people found out the truth, Batman persuades Gordon to hold him responsible for the killing spree to preserve Dent’s heroic image. As the police launch a manhunt for Batman, Gordon destroys the Bat-signal, Fox watches as the sonar device self-destructs, and Alfred Pennyworth burns a letter from Rachel saying she planned to marry Dent.

CAST

Directed by Christopher Nolan
Produced by
Emma Thomas
Charles Roven
Christopher Nolan
Screenplay by
Jonathan Nolan
Christopher Nolan
Story by
Christopher Nolan
David S. Goyer
Based on Characters appearing in comic books published
by DC Comics
Starring
Christian Bale
Michael Caine
Heath Ledger
Gary Oldman
Aaron Eckhart
Maggie Gyllenhaal
Morgan Freeman
Music by
Hans Zimmer
James Newton Howard
Cinematography Wally Pfister
Edited by Lee Smith
Production
companies
Legendary Pictures
Syncopy
Distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures
Release date
July 14, 2008 (New York City)
July 18, 2008 (United States)
July 25, 2008 (United Kingdom)
Running time
152 minutes[1]
Country
United States[2]
United Kingdom[2]
Language English
Budget $185 million[3]
Box office $1.005 billion[3]

The Dark Knight Rises II

MATTEL HOT WHEELS – BATMAN – BATMOBILE – BATMAN RETURNS – 2012

PLOT

Eight years after the death of District Attorney Harvey Dent, Batman has disappeared and organized crime has been eradicated in Gotham City thanks to the Dent Act, which gives the Gotham City Police Department expanded powers. Police Commissioner James Gordon has kept secret Dent’s murderous rampage as “Two-Face” and allowed blame for Dent’s crimes to fall on Batman, but feels guilty about lying to the public. He writes a resignation speech revealing the truth, but decides that the city is not ready to hear it.

Bruce Wayne has become a recluse, broken by the death of his childhood sweetheart Rachel Dawes, and Wayne Enterprises is losing profits after Wayne discontinued his fusion reactor project when he learned that it could be weaponized. Cat burglar Selina Kyle obtains Wayne’s fingerprints from his home and kidnaps Congressman Byron Gilley. She sells the fingerprints to Wayne’s corporate rival John Daggett. As payment, she requests a “clean slate”: a computer program that can wipe all traces of a person’s criminal record. Kyle is double-crossed at the exchange, but she uses Gilley’s phone to alert the police. Gordon and the police arrive to find the congressman, and then pursue Daggett’s henchmen into the sewers while Selina flees. The men capture Gordon and take him to Bane, a masked terrorist and former member of the League of Shadows, who has set up his base of operations in the sewers. Gordon escapes and is found by rookie officer John Blake. Blake, a fellow orphan, confronts Bruce and convinces him to return as Batman.

Bane attacks the Gotham Stock Exchange by using Wayne’s fingerprints in a transaction that leaves Wayne bankrupt. He then kills Daggett. Wayne’s butler, Alfred Pennyworth, reveals that Rachel Dawes had intended to marry Dent before she died, and then resigns in an attempt to convince Bruce to move on with his life. Wayne finds comfort in Wayne Enterprises CEO Miranda Tate, who becomes his lover.

Kyle agrees to take Batman to Bane but instead leads him into Bane’s trap. Bane reveals that he intends to fulfill Ra’s al Ghul’s mission to destroy Gotham, and then steals Batman’s technology from Wayne Enterprises armorer Lucius Fox. Bane fights Batman and delivers a crippling blow to his back, before taking him abroad to an underground prison. There, the inmates tell Wayne the story of Ra’s al Ghul’s child, who was born and raised in the prison before finally escaping — the only prisoner to have ever done so.

Bane lures Gotham’s police underground and uses explosives to trap them and destroy the bridges surrounding the city. He kills Mayor Anthony Garcia and forces Dr. Leonid Pavel, a Russian nuclear physicist he kidnapped from Uzbekistan, to convert the reactor core into an atomic bomb before killing him as well. Bane then uses the bomb to hold the city hostage and isolate Gotham from the world. Using Gordon’s stolen speech, Bane reveals the cover-up of Dent’s crimes to the public, and releases the prisoners of Blackgate Penitentiary, initiating anarchy. The wealthy and powerful are then taken captive and given show trials presided over by Jonathan Crane, where all are sentenced to death.

Months later, a recovered Wayne escapes from the prison. He returns to Gotham and enlists Gordon and Fox to help stop the bomb’s detonation, while tasking Blake and Kyle with helping to evacuate the city, giving the Batpod to Kyle so she can create an escape route. Batman frees the trapped police and they clash with Bane’s army in the streets; during the battle, Batman overpowers Bane. Tate intervenes and stabs Batman, revealing herself to be Talia al Ghul, Ra’s al Ghul’s daughter; Bane was her protector, who aided her escape from the prison, and she had been plotting to avenge her father and destroy Gotham as he intended. She uses the detonator, but Gordon blocks her signal, preventing remote detonation. Talia leaves to find the bomb while Bane prepares to kill Batman, but Kyle arrives and kills Bane with the Batpod’s cannons. Batman and Kyle pursue Talia, hoping to bring the bomb back to the reactor chamber where it can be stabilized. Talia’s truck crashes, but she remotely floods and destroys the reactor chamber before dying. With no way to stop the detonation, Batman uses the Bat to haul the bomb far over the bay, where it finally explodes.

In the aftermath, Batman is presumed dead and is honored as a hero. With Wayne presumed dead as well, Wayne Manor becomes an orphanage, and his remaining estate is left to Alfred. Fox discovers that Wayne had fixed the Bat’s autopilot and Gordon finds the Bat-Signal refurbished. While visiting Florence, Alfred discovers that Wayne is alive, and in a relationship with Selina Kyle. Blake resigns from the police force and, in accordance to Wayne’s will, inherits the Batcave.

CAST

Directed by Christopher Nolan
Produced by
Emma Thomas
Christopher Nolan
Charles Roven
Screenplay by
Jonathan Nolan
Christopher Nolan
Story by
Christopher Nolan
David S. Goyer
Based on Characters appearing in comic books published
by DC Comics
Starring
Christian Bale
Michael Caine
Gary Oldman
Anne Hathaway
Tom Hardy
Marion Cotillard
Joseph Gordon-Levitt
Morgan Freeman
Music by Hans Zimmer
Cinematography Wally Pfister
Edited by Lee Smith
Production
companies
Legendary Pictures
Syncopy
Distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures
Release date
July 16, 2012 (New York City)
July 20, 2012 (United States and United Kingdom)
Running time
165 minutes[1]
Country
United States[2]
United Kingdom[2]
Language English
Budget
$250–300 million (gross)[3]
$230 million (net)[3]
Box office $1.085 billion[4]

THE GREEN HORNET’S

VITESSE – TV SERIES – THE GREEN HORNET’S BLACK BEAUTY

Plot

Britt Reid is the playboy son of James Reid, publisher of the Los Angeles Daily Sentinel. They have an estranged relationship until James is found dead from an allergic reaction to a bee sting. After the funeral, Britt fires the staff aside from his maid, but later re-hires Kato, James’s mechanic and a skilled martial artist.

Britt and Kato get drunk together and, upon agreeing that they both hated James, visit the graveyard to cut the head off James’s memorial statue. After they succeed, they rescue a nearby couple being mugged. When police mistake Britt and Kato themselves for criminals, Kato evades them in a car chase as he and Britt return to the mansion.

Britt convinces Kato they should become crime-fighters posing as criminals. Kato develops a car outfitted with several gadgets and weapons, which they call the Black Beauty. Britt plans to capture Benjamin Chudnofsky, a Russian mobster uniting the crime families of Los Angeles under his command, and whom his father was trying to expose. To get Chudnofsky’s attention, Britt uses the Daily Sentinel as a vehicle to publish articles about a “high-profile criminal” he calls “The Green Hornet.”

Britt hires Lenore Case as his assistant and researcher, and uses her unwitting advice to raise the Green Hornet’s profile. Britt and Kato blow up several of Chudnofsky’s meth labs, leaving calling cards so Chudnofsky can contact them. Throughout all this, the Daily Sentinel’s managing editor, Mike Axford, fears this single-minded coverage will endanger Britt’s life, and District Attorney Frank Scanlon frets over public perception that he cannot stop the Green Hornet.

Britt asks Lenore out, but she rebuffs him and instead invites Kato to dinner, making Britt jealous. Kato learns from her that mobsters often offer a peace summit to rivals in order to get close enough to kill them; Britt then tells Kato that Chudnofsky has offered them such a meeting. Kato tries dissuading him, but Britt, feeling overshadowed, follows his instincts. This nearly proves fatal when Chudnofsky tries to kill them.

Barely escaping to the mansion, Britt and Kato argue and fight, and Britt fires both Kato and Lenore, who he believes are in a relationship. Kato receives an email from Chudnofsky on the Hornet’s calling-card email address, offering $1 million and half of Los Angeles to the “Hornet” if he kills Britt. Meanwhile, Britt discovers that Scanlon is corrupt, and that he tried to bribe James into downplaying the city’s crime level to help his career. Chudnofsky, meanwhile, suffers a midlife crisis and reinvents himself as the supervillain “Bloodnofsky”.

Scanlon invites Britt to meet in a restaurant, where he reveals he murdered Britt’s father. Chudnofsky arrives with his men to kill Britt, but Kato saves Britt and they escape. At the Daily Sentinel, Britt intends to upload a recording of Scanlon’s confession onto the Web – which he belatedly discovers he did not manage to record. Chudnofsky and his men, who followed the duo there, engage them in a firefight, wounding Britt in the shoulder. Kato ultimately stabs Chudnofsky in the eyes with wood in self-defense and Britt guns him down. A SWAT team appears and fires at the Green Hornet and Kato, who use the remains of their nearly demolished Black Beauty to run Scanlon out the 10th-floor window, killing him. The Green Hornet and Kato flee to Lenore’s house, and she helps them hide from the police.

The next morning, Britt promotes Axford to chief editor and stages being shot in the shoulder by Kato, further establishing the Green Hornet as a threat and allowing Britt to get treated by professionals in a hospital. Later, the two weld James’ stolen head back onto his memorial statue. Now with Lenore to aid them, Britt and Kato vow to continue protecting the law by breaking it.

CAST

Directed by Michel Gondry
Produced by Neal H. Moritz
Written by
Seth Rogen
Evan Goldberg
Based on The Green Hornet
by George W. Trendle
Fran Striker
Starring
Seth Rogen
Jay Chou
Christoph Waltz
Cameron Diaz
Edward James Olmos
David Harbour
Tom Wilkinson
Music by James Newton Howard
Cinematography John Schwartzman
Edited by Michael Tronick
Production
company
Original Film
Distributed by Columbia Pictures
Release date
January 10, 2011 (Los Angeles)
January 14, 2011 (United States)
Running time
119 minutes[1]
Country United States
Language English
Budget $120 million[2]
Box office $227.8 million[2]

007 JAMES BOND

SEAN CONNERY WITH ASTON MARTIN DB5 IN THE PAUSE MOVIE

Dr. No (MOVIE)

Plot

John Strangways, the British MI6 Station Chief in Jamaica, and his secretary are ambushed and killed. The assassins steal documents related to “Crab Key” and “Doctor No”. In response, M, the head of MI6, instructs agent James Bond to investigate Strangways’ disappearance and to determine whether it is related to his co-operation with the American Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) on a case involving the disruption of rocket launches from Cape Canaveral by radio jamming.

On his arrival at Kingston Airport, Bond is picked up by a chauffeur claiming to have been sent to take him to Government House. Bond determines him to be an enemy agent and, after having him evade a car following them, bests him in a fight. Bond starts to interrogate the chauffeur, who kills himself with a cyanide capsule.

At Strangways’ house, Bond sees a photograph of a boatman with Strangways. Bond locates the boatman, named Quarrel, whom he recognises as the driver of the car that followed him. Bond, after overpowering Quarrel and his friend Puss Feller, meets Quarrel’s passenger, Felix Leiter, a CIA agent on the same mission as Bond. The CIA has traced the radio jamming signal to Jamaica, but has not determined its exact origin. Quarrel, who is assisting Leiter, reveals that he had been guiding Strangways around the nearby islands to collect mineral samples. He also mentions the reclusive Dr. No, the owner of Crab Key, an island rigorously protected against trespassers by an armed security force.

In Strangways’ house, Bond finds a receipt from Professor R.J. Dent concerning rock samples. Bond meets Dent, who says he assayed the samples for Strangways and determined them to be ordinary rocks. Dent subsequently visits Dr. No, who expresses displeasure at Dent’s failure to kill Bond and orders him to try again with a tarantula. Bond survives and sets a trap for Dent, whom he captures, interrogates, and then kills.

Using a Geiger counter, Bond detects radioactive traces in Quarrel’s boat where Strangways’ mineral samples had been. Bond convinces a reluctant Quarrel to take him to Crab Key. There Bond meets the beautiful Honey Ryder, dressed only in a white bikini, who is collecting shells. Ryder leads Bond and Quarrel inland to an open swamp contaminated by radiation. After nightfall, they are attacked by the “dragon” of Crab Key, which is in reality an armoured tractor equipped with a flamethrower. In the resulting battle, Quarrel is incinerated by the flamethrower. Bond and Ryder are taken prisoner, decontaminated in Dr. No’s lair, and rendered unconscious with drugged coffee.

Upon waking, they are escorted to dine with Dr. No, a Chinese/German criminal scientist who, due to radiation exposure, has metal hands. He reveals that he is a former member of a Chinese crime Tong, from whom he stole ten million dollars. He also reveals that he is working for a secret organisation called SPECTRE (SPecial Executive for Counter-intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge, and Extortion). He plans to disrupt the Project Mercury space launch from Cape Canaveral with his radio beam. He tries to recruit Bond into SPECTRE, but fails. After dinner, Ryder is taken away and Bond is beaten by the guards.

Bond is imprisoned in a holding cell, but escapes by crawling through an air vent. Disguising himself as a worker, he finds his way to Dr. No’s control centre, which contains a nuclear pool reactor. As the American rocket lifts off, Bond overloads the reactor and knocks Dr. No into the reactor pool, killing him. Bond finds and frees Ryder, and the two escape the island in a boat as the entire lair explodes. After the boat runs out of fuel, they are rescued by Leiter, who arrives on a Royal Navy ship. As Bond and Ryder kiss, Bond lets go of the ship’s tow rope.

CAST

Dr. No
British cinema poster for Dr. No, designed by David Chasman and illustrated by Mitchell Hooks.
Directed by	Terence Young
Produced by	Harry Saltzman Albert R. Broccoli
Screenplay by	Richard Maibaum Johanna Harwood Berkely Mather
Based on	Dr. No by Ian Fleming
Starring	Sean Connery Ursula Andress Joseph Wiseman Jack Lord
Music by	Monty Norman
Cinematography	Ted Moore
Edited by	Peter R. Hunt
Production company	Eon Productions
Distributed by	United Artists
Release date	5 October 1962
Running time	109 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Budget	$1.1 million
Box office	$59.5 million

 

cars

FORD CONSUL DOCTOR NO JAMES BOND 007 UNIVERSAL HOBBIES

James Bond 007 Car Collection Sunbeam Alpine Dr. No

James Bond 007 Car Collection Sunbeam Alpine Dr. No

James Bond – 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air; Dr No; Universal Hobbies

 

 

007 Goldfinger

Cast & Crew
James Bond:
Sean Connery
Director:
Guy Hamilton
Producer(s):
Harry Saltzman, Albert R. Broccoli
Writer(s):
Ian Fleming
Screenplay:
Richard Maibaum, Paul Dehn
Editor:
Peter R. Hunt
Music:
John Barry
Theme song:
“Goldfinger”
John Barry (Composer)
Leslie Bricusse (Composer)
Anthony Newley (Composer)
Shirley Bassey (Performer)
Facts & Figures
Budget:
$3 million
Gross:
$124.9 million
Distributed By:
United Artists
Released:
17 September 1964 (London, premiere)
18 September 1964 (UK)
Running Time:
110 minutes
Preceded By:
From Russia with Love (film)
Followed By:
Thunderball (film)

PLOT

Plot summary
After a pre-titles “mini-adventure” in which James Bond destroys the base of a drug lord and defeats a thug in a bathroom brawl, the film proper begins in Miami with Bond foiling the plan of Goldfinger to cheat at gin, when he chats up the girl, Jill Masterson, who is watching the card game through a telescope. Bond and the girl have sex and afterwards, as Bond goes into the kitchen to get some fresh champagne, he is knocked unconscious by Goldfinger’s henchman, Oddjob. When Bond comes to, he discovers that Jill has been covered with gold paint and she is dead. Later in London, Bond is told to investigate Goldfinger to discover his means of shipping gold internationally as Goldfinger is under suspicion of illegally smuggling his gold by Colonel Smithers who is in charge of the Bank of England. Bond goes to a golf course where he plays a round of golf with Goldfinger luring him with the prospect of getting a German gold bar from World War II era that Smithers supplied him with. He foils Goldfinger’s cheating (although by switching the ball, he was cheating himself), and Goldfinger has to pay Bond. Oddjob at this point shows his ability to throw his hat which cuts the head off a stone statue, then he crushes a golf ball in the palm of his hand.

Bond installs a homing device on Goldfinger’s car, and follows him to Switzerland. While there he meets the sister of Jill, who tries to shoot Goldfinger with a sniper rifle although she is ‘a lousy shot’. Bond is chased around Goldfinger’s factory by cars full of Asian men, and Bond using gadgets in his car to lose them, including the famous scene of the passenger side ejector seat, although he is finally brought to a stop by Oddjob’s car with its bright yellow beams, and Bond crashes into a brick wall. The girl tries to escape, and Oddjob kills her with the hat he throws at her.

Bond bluffs his way out of being killed by the laser by pretending to know what ‘Operation Grandslam’ is that he overheard. He is saved from being lasered, but is shot in the chest by a stun gun, and wakes up on Goldfinger’s plane, where Pussy Galore introduces herself. Bond activates a homing device in the heel of his shoe. They are flying to Kentucky, where Bond is taken to Goldfinger’s ranch where he races horses. While there, Bond sees the plan of Goldfinger to attack Fort Knox, tries to drop a note off to the CIA by putting it in the pocket of one of the mob members who was going to help Goldfinger, although he ended up being shot by Oddjob and crushed when his car was crushed into a cube. Bond managed to convince Pussy Galore to change the nerve gas canisters in the planes about to attack Fort Knox with dummies, so that it has no effect on the soldiers there. In addition, the army are warned about the attack by Pussy, although this is not revealed until after Goldfinger has broken into the building, where they were all playing dead. But Goldfinger escapes because he is wearing a US uniform disguise under his coat.

Bond is chained to the small atomic device, and is able to free himself when Oddjob throws a guard down several stories next to Bond, and Bond retrieves the key. Bond and Oddjob then battle it out, Bond throws his hat at Oddjob which misses but get stuck in some metal bars. Bond then electrocutes him with a live wire that had been previously severed. Bond prepares to defuse the bomb, and just before he is about to pull some wires, the bomb defuser has arrived, and turns the right switch, disarming the bomb with the clock reading ‘007’ seconds remaining.

Bond then flies off to meet the President, but he finds that Goldfinger has hijacked the plane and is planning to fly to Cuba. After a struggle, Goldfinger fires his gun, breaking the window, and he is sucked out of the plane. Bond quips that he is flying with his golden harp. The plane goes down, but Bond and the girl escape on parachutes.

CARS MOVIE

EDICOLA – ASTON MARTIN – DB5 1965 – 007 JAMES BOND – GOLDFINGER 1964

MATTEL HOT WHEELS – ASTON MARTIN – DB5 1964 – 007 JAMES BOND – GOLDFINGER – MISSIONE GOLDFINGER

MINICHAMPS – ASTON MARTIN – DB5 007 JAMES BOND – GOLDFINGER

EDICOLA – ASTON MARTIN – DB5 1964 – 007 JAMES BOND – GOLDFINGER – MISSIONE GOLDFINGER

EDICOLA – FORD USA – MUSTANG CABRIOLET OPEN 1964 – JAMES BOND 007 – GOLDFINGER – MISSIONE GOLDFINGER

EDICOLA – FORD USA – THUNDERBIRD CABRIOLET CLOSED 1965 – 007 JAMES BOND – GOLDFINGER

EDICOLA – LINCOLN – CONTINENTAL 1964 – JAMES BOND 007 – GOLDFINGER – MISSIONE GOLDFINGER

EDICOLA – FORD USA – FALCON RANCHERO PICK-UP 1960 – JAMES BOND 007 – GOLDFINGER – MISSIONE GOLDFINGER

EDICOLA – ROLLS ROYCE – PHANTOM III DE VILLE 1939 – 007 JAMES BOND – GOLDFINGER

EDICOLA – FORD USA – COUNTRY SQUIRE STATION WAGON 1965 – JAMES BOND 007 – GOLDFINGER – MISSIONE GOLDFINGER

EDICOLA – MERCEDES BENZ – 220S 1956 – 007 JAMES BOND – GOLDFINGER

EDICOLA – DODGE – M-43 TRUCK AMBULANCE 1964 – 007 JAMES BOND – GOLDFINGER

EDICOLA – LINCOLN – CONTINENTAL CONVERTIBLE CABRIOLET 1963 – 007 JAMES BOND – GOLDFINGER

007 –  The Spy Who Loved Me (1977)

ROGER MOORE IN A MOMENT OF PAUSE OF MOVIE 007

Cast & Crew

James Bond:
Roger Moore
Director:
Lewis Gilbert
Producer(s):
Albert R. Broccoli
Writer(s):
Christopher Wood
Screenplay:
Christopher Wood, Richard Maibaum
Editor:
John Glen
Music:
Marvin Hamlisch
Theme song:
“Nobody Does It Better”
Marvin Hamlisch (Composer),
Carole Bayer Sager (Composer)
Carly Simon (Performer)
Facts & Figures
Budget:
$14 million
Gross:
$185.4 million
Distributed By:
United Artists
Released:
7 July 1977 (London, premiere)
Running Time:
125 minutes
Preceded By:
The Man with the Golden Gun (film)
Followed By:
Moonraker (film)

PLOT

A British nuclear submarine experiences a serious disruption of power. The captain looks through the periscope and sees something foreboding, however we do not see what he does. In Moscow, General Gogol hears that a Soviet nuclear sub has also vanished without trace. He promises to assign his best agent, Major Anya Amasova, codename XXX, to investigate.

In Austria, James Bond is enjoying a romantic encounter in a remote cabin in the Alps when he’s called back to duty by M. He dons his ski gear and leaves, his lover says she needs him to which James replies, “So does England!” As James skis away from the cabin, he’s pursued by a group of four Russian agents. James is able to evade his attackers and, using a ski pole that doubles as a type of rocket gun, kills one of them, a man whom is the group leader (and who happens to be XXX’s lover). Bond approaches a sheer cliff and skis over it, free falling several thousand feet until he opens a parachute decorated with the British Union Jack, escaping his attackers.

Anya Amasova reports to Gogol in Moscow where she’s given her new assignment – the search for the missing submarines. Gogol also informs her that her lover was killed in an operation. Amasova is visibly shaken but says she’ll dedicate herself to the mission at hand.

Meanwhile, Bond meets with M at a British naval yard where the mission path for the lost submarine is studied: Bond shows M, Fredrick Gray the Minister of Defense, Admiral Hargreaves and others a transparency that shows the route had somehow been stolen. M orders Bond to Cairo on his first lead.

In the Mediterranean Sea, two scientists who have developed a sophisticated submarine tracking device, meet with Karl Stromberg, a rich and powerful businessman who lives in a specially designed city, Atlantis, that can submerge beneath the ocean surface. He thanks the two scientists for their invention, but before he allows them to leave, he deals with his secretary, who has stolen information from him; she enters his elevator and Stromberg opens the floor dropping her into a large pool where a tiger shark eats her alive. As the two men leave by helicopter, Stromberg activates a bomb that destroys it and kills them. He killed the scientists as a loose end to prevent them from ever talking about their work with him… as well as to avoid having to pay them. Stromberg then meets with two hired assassins, the fat Hungarian agent Sandor and the seven-foot tall, silent Jaws, so named because he has steel teeth. Stromberg instructs them to go to Egypt and find the stolen submarine tracking system blueprints and to kill anyone who comes into contact with the plans.

Bond arrives in Egypt, meeting with a old contact who tells him to find a man named Fekkesh, a local businessman whom is seeking to buy the submarine tracking system. Bond goes to the man’s house where a woman tells him Fekkesh isn’t home and refuses to reveal his location. As Bond kisses her, Sandor tries to shoot him. Bond uses the woman to take the bullet and chases after Sandor, fighting with him and dangling him over the edge of the house’s roof. He forces the assassin to reveal Fekkesh’s location and then lets him fall off the building, killing him.

Bond goes to Giza to meet Fekkesh at the pyramids where he sees XXX has already found the man. While the pyramid light show goes on, Fekkesh notices Jaws standing to the side. He quickly leaves to escape, Jaws in pursuit, Bond following closely. Jaws corners the man and kills him with a bite to his neck. Jaws also escapes from Bond.

In order to continue the investigation, Bond must meet with a man named Max Kalba at his nightclub in Cairo. Anya Amasova also meets him there and the two meet with Kalba to obtain a valuable microfilm containing designs for the submarine tracking system that may have been used to abduct the missing subs. Kalba prepares to negotiate a price with the two government’s agents when he’s called away to the phone. Jaws (disguised as a maintenance man) kills him in the phone booth after obtaining the microfilm. Bond and Amasova stow away in Jaws’ van and he drives out to a site of ruins in the desert… aware that they are in the back of his van.

In the morning, the two agents chase Jaws through a series of Egyptian ruins, finally cornering him and obtaining the microfilm. Bond and Amasova escape in Jaws’ vehicle and make it to a boat on the Nile. Bond examines the microfilm on board without Amasova’s knowing and the two settle down for the journey. Suddenly, Amasova renders Bond unconscious and takes the microfilm.

Bond recovers the next day and reports to another site of ruins where he finds Amasova, Gogol and M waiting. With the assistance of Q, they examine the microfilm, which is worthless, a conclusion that Bond came to when examining it on the boat. However, they do find evidence of a symbol hidden in it that identifies Karl Stromberg. Their superiors order Bond and Amasova to investigate on the island of Sardinia, where Stromberg lives. The two travel there by train (in a scene that recalls the train ride in From Russia With Love). They are attacked by Jaws, however, Bond is able to fight him off and expel him from the train.

Upon arriving in Sardinia, Bond and Anya Amasova meet Q who has brought Bond’s car, a Lotus Esprit S1. The two meet with Stromberg’s secretary and assistant, Naomi, who takes them out to Atlantis. Bond poses as a marine biologist and meets with Stromberg, who tells the undercover Bond of his love of the sea and how an underwater city (like the model he has in his private chamber) may be the only hope for the future of humanity. As they leave, Naomi is telling Anya about Stromberg’s largest ship, a one-million ton supertanker named the Liparus. After seeing a small model of the tanker, Bond privately remarks that the design of her bow is unusual. After Bond and Anya leave Atlantis, Jaws comes out of a hidden room and confirms to Stromberg that Bond and Amasova are the spies that he encountered in Egypt. Stromberg instructs Jaws to wait until the Bond and Amasova get ashore and to kill them both.

As they speed away in Bond’s Lotus, they are attacked by Stromberg’s men, first by a motorbike assassin who attempts to destroy the car with a warhead sidecar. Next, Jaws and a carload of assassins attempt to shoot at Bond who is able to throw off their pursuit using the car’s defenses. They are also attacked by Naomi in a helicopter, firing on them in a strafing run. As the chase continues, Bond drives off the end of a pier and converts his car to a small submarine. He uses a small missile to destroy Naomi’s helicopter, killing her.

In the submerged car/submarine, Bond and Amasova proceed to Atlantis, now submerged. Unable to find anything conclusive from outside, they prepare to leave and are attacked by several frogmen and mini-subs. Bond destroys them all with the Lotus’ defenses, however, they are forced to surface on a beach when the Lotus is damaged by an underwater mine.

Back at their hotel, the two plan their next moves. Bond sends a message to M in London, inquiring about the supertanker Liparus. A short while later, a telex reply comes back explaining that in the past nine months when the Liparus was launched, there is no record of the ship being in port anywhere in the world. Bond and Anya suspect that something is up and decide to find the tanker to get a closer look at it. When Bond lights one of Anya’s cigarettes, she notices that the lighter he uses is from the city near where her lover was killed. She confronts Bond on the issue, to which Bond replies that he acted in self-defense when he killed the man. Anya vows revenge as soon as their current mission is over.

The two spies next find themselves on an American submarine monitoring the Liparus. While surveying it, the sub is rendered inoperable and is swallowed by the Liparus; the bow of the Liparus opens, revealing a large submarine dock inside… with the captured British and Russian subs. The crew are forced out of the sub and taken prisoner by the heavily armed crewmen. Bond and Anya are identified almost immediately and are also taken prisoner. On the bridge of the Liparus, Stromberg explains his plans to use the nuclear missiles aboard both the captured British and Russian subs to ignite a nuclear war between the superpowers. The resulting nuclear holocaust will destroy the surface world, leaving Stromberg the opportunity to rule an underwater kingdom.

Stromberg departs for Atlantis with Anya as his personal captive, leaving his crew to begin the assault as crews board the British and Russian subs and depart to their launching stations in the Atlantic Ocean. Afterwards, the Liparus Captain orders Bond to be put with the rest of the prisoners. Bond escapes before he can be imprisoned and frees the British, Russian and American sailors. The combined sub crews lead an all-out assault on the Liparus’ crew, taking the dock areas and most of the ship despite taking heavy casualties, including the British sub captain. Unable to break into the heavily fortified bridge control room, Bond uses a nuclear warhead detonator to blow a hole in the armored wall of the control room, and the crews kill the rest of the Liparus crew, including the captain.

With the two Stromberg-controlled submarines on their launch stations in the Atlantic, Bond has the American sub captain use the tracking system computer on the Liparus to transfer the coordinates of each submarine to the other as their targets. The ruse works, causing the two submarines to destroy each other. On fire from the battle, the Liparus begins to blow up from the fires on the ship. Bond, the American sub captain, and the remainder of the American, British, and Russian crews board the American sub and escape from Liparus before it explodes and sinks.

They set course for Atlantis, which has been ordered to be destroyed. Bond argues with the American captain that Anya is still on Atlantis and must be rescued first. He is given a wetbike (an early Jet-Ski) and arrives at Atlantis ahead of the sub. Bond takes the elevator to Stromberg’s level, avoiding the trap door in the elevator floor. Bond finds Stromberg in his massive dining room. Stromberg attempts to kill Bond with a harpoon gun located under the dining table but misses. Bond then shoots Stromberg twice in the groin and twice in the chest, killing him.

Still searching for Anya, he encounters Jaws and outwits him, using an electromagnetic crane to seize his metal teeth and drop him into the shark tank. The shark is no match for its namesake; Jaws quickly bites and kills it.

Bond finds Anya tied up in a torture room, just as the American submarine begins its attack, torpedoing Atlantis. The city begins to sink into the ocean, slowly filling with water. Bond and Anya escape from Atlantis in a pod that surfaces. (Jaws himself is also seen escaping the stricken Atlantis and swims off.) In the pod, as Bond relaxes, Anya takes his gun, seemingly intent on killing him. But she changes her mind and shoots off a cork on a champagne bottle, having forgiven Bond in which she professes her love for him and they kiss.

A little later, the escape pod is found by a British vessel which captures it. M, Minister of Defense Gray and General Gogol find the two semi-nude agents in the midst of a romantic encounter inside.

The film is best known for the Bond’s Lotus Esprit submarine/car and the introduction of Jaws, a giant and seemingly indestructible assassin with steel teeth. Jaws, played by Richard Kiel, is the only henchman of the James Bond villains privileged to appear in more than one film. He later appeared in Moonraker. Previously, Kiel played a similar character in the action comedy Silver Streak starring Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor.

CARS

 

EDICOLA – LOTUS – ESPRIT 1977 – 007 JAMES BOND – THE SPY WHO LOVED ME – LA SPIA CHE MI AMAVA

EDICOLA – LOTUS – ESPRIT 1977 – 007 JAMES BOND – THE SPY WHO LOVED ME – LA SPIA CHE MI AMAVA

MINICHAMPS – LOTUS – ESPRIT S1 – 007 JAMES BOND – THE SPY WHO LOVED ME

EDICOLA – LEYLAND – SHERPA VAN TELEPHONE SERVICE 1974 – 007 JAMES BOND – THE SPY WHO LOVED ME – LA SPIA CHE MI AMAVA

EDICOLA – KAWASAKI – Z900 MOTORCYCLE WITH SIDECAR1976 – THE SPY WHO LOVED ME – LA SPIA CHE MI AMAVA

James Bond Movie – You Only Live Twice

Cast
Character Actor
Tiger Tanaka Tetsuro Tamba
Aki Akiko Wakabayashi
Kissy Suzuki Mie Hama
Helga Brandt Karin Dor
Dikko Henderson Charles Gray
Mr. Osato Teru Shimada
Hans Ronald Rich
Ling Tsai Chin

Regulars
Character Actor
James Bond Sean Connery
M Bernard Lee
Q Desmond Llewelyn
Miss Moneypenny Lois Maxwell
Blofeld Donald Pleasence

Plot

Two American and Russian space capsules are hijacked in outer space, by a larger craft that intercepts them and swallows the smaller capsules into its large hull. The American and Russian governments each assume that the other was responsible, and fear that a war may break out.

The UK government however believes that the craft landed in the sea of Japan, and they send James Bond to investigate. Bond goes to meet Dikko Henderson, a fellow MI6 agent who has a theory about who really hijacked the capsules. But just before he reveals the information, he is stabbed by a masked henchman.

Bond kills the henchman, takes his coat and surgeons mask, and gets into the enemy agents car, pretending to be hurt. He’s driven to Osato Chemicals, but his cover is blown after he gets inside. Bond manages to escape, taking some secret papers from the company safe before leaving. As he leaves the building, he is rescued by Aki, who takes Bond to the head of the Japanese Secret Service, Tiger Tanaka.

Bond and Tiger study the stolen documents, which reveal that a tourist was liquidated for taking a picture of the Ning-Po cargo ship. Bond travels to the docks to investigate, and discovers that the ship was carrying liquid oxygen, a rocket fuel oxidizer. He reports back to Tiger, and the two realize that SPECTRE is behind the hijacking, and is attempting to start a war between the Americans and the Soviets.

Bond trains with Tiger’s elite ninja force and gets ready to search for Blofeld’s base. While he is training, Aki is mistakenly killed in an assassination attempt against Bond. Bond sets out with one of Tanaka’s students Kissy Suzuki, who tells him that a villager had died when rowing into a cave near the mountains. They investigate, and discover a volcano in the mountains, with an iron roof.

Bond sneaks into the hollowed out volcano, sending Kissy to get backup from Tiger. The USA has launched another capsule into space, and Blofeld prepares to send his craft up after it. Bond locates one of the astronauts and knocks his unconscious, intending to take his place on the flight. However, when he gets to the space craft, he breaks a procedure by putting his air-conditioning unit in before him. Blofeld notices the mistake and imprisons Bond in the control room.

Tiger’s ninja team try to storm the volcano roof, but it is too strong for them to penetrate and many of the men are killed by Blofeld’s crater turrets. Bond uses a missile cigarette he got from Q, to cause a distraction for long enough for him to operate the crater door lever. Blofeld quickly regains control and closes the door, but one of Tigers men manages to slip in, and blows a hole in the structure with a limpet mine. Tigers men storm the volcano and Blofeld is forced to escape, losing his prisoner in the process.

Bond kills a henchmen and takes a key that will initiate the self-destruct sequence on Blofeld’s space craft. He turns the key just in time, rescuing the American capsule and preventing a full scale nuclear war. Before he gets a chance to celebrate, Blofeld reappears and initiates the self-destruct sequence for the volcano. Bond and Kissy manage to escape just in time, and climb into a life raft that Tiger had arranged for. Just as the two start to get comfy, M’s submarine rises below them and Miss Moneypenny is sent out to ruin the mood.

CARS

EDICOLA – TOYOTA – 2000GT SPIDER 1967 – 007 JAMES BOND – YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE – SI VIVE SOLO DUE VOLTE

MINICHAMPS – TOYOTA – 2000GT SPIDER 007 JAMES BOND – YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE

EDICOLA – TOYOTA – CROWN S40 1967 – 007 JAMES BOND – YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE – SI VIVE DUE VOLTE

On Her Majesty’s Secret Service

Cast
Character Actor
Tracy Di Vicenzo Diana Rigg
Marc-Ange Draco Gabriele Ferzetti
Irma Bunt Ilse Steppat
Ruby Bartlett Angela Scoular
Nancy Catherine Schell
Shaun Campbell Bernard Horsfall
Sir Hilary Bray George Baker
Grunther Yuri Borionko

Regulars
Character Actor
James Bond George Lazenby
M Bernard Lee
Q Desmond Llewelyn
Miss Moneypenny Lois Maxwell
Blofeld Telly Savalas

Plot

While driving in Portugal, James Bond is intrigued by a women who speeds past him in a car. A moment later he spots her empty car, and using a pair of binoculars, he sees her walking into the sea, attempting to drown herself. Bond drives down to save her, and is confronted by three men. The women manages to drive away before Bond can end the fight.

Bond returns to his hotel and sees the womens car again, finding out from the hotel staff that she is Contessa Teresa Di Vicenzo. The two meet at a baccarat table, where Teresa (“Tracy”) is gambling with money she doesn’t have. Bond pretends that they were gambling partners, and pays off her debt. Tracy invites Bond to her room, to thank him for saving her twice.

The next morning, Bond is kidnapped at gunpoint, and taken to the home of Marc-Ange Draco, the head of the Union Corse, the largest criminal organization in Europe. Draco reveals that he is Tracy’s father, and offers Bond a million pound dowry for marrying his daughter. Bond declines the offer, but agrees to stay friendly with Tracy, if Draco will reveal the location of Ernst Stavro Blofeld.

Bond meets up with Draco and Tracy at Draco’s birthday celebration, and Tracy forces her father to reveal the information on Blofeld, thinking that that is Bond’s only interest. Tracy storms out crying, and Bond follows, telling her that he wasn’t dating her just to get her fathers information.

Bond breaks into the lawyers office of a client he suspects to be Blofeld, and photocopies documents obtained from cracking the lawyers safe. He discovers that Blofeld is claiming to be a Count, and is seeking legal confirmation from the London College of Arms. In the photocopied letter, Blofeld’s lawyer is requesting that genealogist Sir Hilary Bray take a visit to Blofeld’s Swiss allergy research center to confirm is claim.

Bond goes to the College of Arms and asks for their assistance, so that Bond can go to Switzerland, posing as Hilary Bray. He convinces them to help him, and meets Blofeld’s henchwomen Irma Bunt, who takes Bond by cable car to a secluded facility high up in the Swiss Alps. Bond tries to lure Blofeld out of Switzerland on the pretence of requiring Blofeld’s presence in his family archives. Blofeld refuses, and Bond’s identity is eventually revealed, when he gets caught sneaking into a girls room at night.

Bond is locked in the mechanical room of the cable car, but manages to escape, stealing some skis and making his way down the mountain. He meets Tracy at the bottom, at an ice rink, and drives to an old barn, to spend the night. Bond proposes to Tracy, and the two become engaged to be married. The next morning, Blofeld arrives at the barn, and the two try to escape by skiing through the hillside.

Before Tracy and Bond manage to escape, Blofeld sets of a flare, triggering an avalance that traps Tracy. Bond manages to get away, but Tracy is taken hostage by Blofeld, who tries to make her into his mistress. Using a small army of hypnotized girls from across the country, Blofeld plans to infect crops and animals, demanding a ransom from the government.

In the meantime, Bond goes back to M, who refuses to set up an operation to storm Piz Gloria. Bond calls Draco, and storms Blofelds facility with an aerial attack, pretending to be Red Cross rescue workers, so that they can get close enough to land. Draco dynamites the facility, and Bond escapes, pursuing Blofeld in a bobsled chase.

Bond escapes to safety, while Blofeld is left hanging from a tree branch, with an injured neck. Assuming Blofeld had died, Bond leaves for England, to prepare for his wedding. Tracy and Bond marry, and drive off in their Aston Martin. Bond decides that their are too many flowers attached to the car, and pulls over to remove them. While he is doing so, Blofeld drives by in a car, and shoots at them both, killing Tracy in the process. Bond holds her, and softly says “We have all the time in the world”, reflecting on his prior hope that the two would be together forever.

CARS

EDICOLA – ASTON MARTIN – DBS 1969 – 007 JAMES BOND – ON HER MAJESTY’S SECRET SERVICE – AL SERVIZIO SEGRETO DI SUA MAESTA’

MINICHAMPS – ASTON MARTIN – DBS JAMES BOND 007 1969 – ON HER MAJESTY’S SECRET SERVICE

EDICOLA – MERCURY – COUGAR 1970 – 007 JAMES BOND – ON HER MAJESTY’S SECRET SERVICE – AL SERVIZIO SEGRETO DI SUA MAESTA’

EDICOLA – MERCEDES BENZ – 600 LIMOUSINE SHORT SWB 1963 – JAMES BOND 007 – ON HER MAJESTY’S SECRET SERVICE – AL SERVIZIO SEGRETO DI SUA MAESTA’

EDICOLA – MERCEDES BENZ – 220SE 1959 – JAMES BOND 007 – ON HER MAJESTY’S SECRET SERVICE – AL SERVIZIO SEGRETO DI SUA MAESTA’

EDICOLA – VOLKSWAGEN – BEETLE 1967 – 007 JAMES BOND – ON HER MAJESTY’S SECRET SERVICE – AL SERVIZIO SEGRETO DI SUA MAESTA’

EDICOLA – MORRIS – MINI COOPER RACING N 11 1969 – JAMES BOND 007 – ON HER MAJESTY’S SECRET SERVICE – AL SERVIZIO SEGRETO DI SUA MAESTA’

 

 

 

 

 

 

E-TEAM

The A-Team:

The A-Team is an American action-adventure television series that ran on NBC from 1983 to 1987 about former members of a fictitious United States Army Special Forces unit. The members, after being court-martialed “for a crime they didn’t commit”, escaped from military prison and, while still on the run, worked as soldiers of fortune. The series was created by Stephen J. Cannell and Frank Lupo. A feature film based on the series was released by 20th Century Fox in 2010.

History

The A-Team was created by writers and producers Stephen J. Cannell and Frank Lupo at the behest of Brandon Tartikoff, NBC’s Entertainment president. Cannell was fired from ABC in the early 1980s, after failing to produce a hit show for the network, and was hired by NBC; his first project was The A-Team. Brandon Tartikoff pitched the series to Cannell as a combination of The Dirty Dozen, Mission Impossible, The Magnificent Seven, Mad Max and Hill Street Blues, with “Mr. T driving the car”.[1][2][3][4]

The A-Team was not generally expected to become a hit, although Stephen J. Cannell has said that George Peppard suggested it would be a huge hit “before we ever turned on a camera”.[5] The show became very popular; the first regular episode, which aired after Super Bowl XVII on January 30, 1983, reached 26.4% of the television audience, placing fourth in the top 10 Nielsen-rated shows.[6] The A-Team was portrayed as acting on the side of good and helping the oppressed.

The show remains prominent in popular culture for its cartoonish violence (in which people were seldom seriously hurt), formulaic episodes, its characters’ ability to form weaponry and vehicles out of old parts, and its distinctive theme tune. The show boosted the career of Mr. T, who portrayed the character of B. A. Baracus, around whom the show was initially conceived.[7][8] Some of the show’s catchphrases, such as “I love it when a plan comes together”,[9] “Hannibal’s on the jazz”, and “I ain’t gettin’ on no plane!” have also made their way onto T-shirts and other merchandise.[citation needed]

The show’s name comes from the “A-Teams”, the nickname coined for U.S. Special Forces’ Operational Detachments Alpha (ODA) during the Vietnam War,[10] although this connection was never mentioned on-screen.

In a 2003 Yahoo! survey of 1,000 television viewers, The A-Team was voted the “oldie” television show viewers would most like to see revived, beating out such popular television series from the 1980s as The Dukes of Hazzard and Knight Rider.

Plot

The A-Team is a naturally episodic show, with few overarching stories, except the characters’ continuing motivation to clear their names, with few references to events in past episodes and a recognizable and steady episode structure. In describing the ratings drop that occurred during the show’s fourth season, reviewer Gold Burt points to this structure as being a leading cause for the decreased popularity “because the same basic plot had been used over and over again for the past four seasons with the same predictable outcome”.[12] Similarly, reporter Adrian Lee called the plots “stunningly simple” in a 2006 article for The Express (UK newspaper), citing such recurring elements “as BA’s fear of flying, and outlandish finales when the team fashioned weapons from household items”.[13] The show became emblematic of this kind of “fit-for-TV warfare” due to its depiction of high-octane combat scenes, with lethal weapons, wherein the participants (with the notable exception of General Fulbright) are never killed and rarely seriously injured (see also On-screen violence section).

As the television ratings of The A-Team fell dramatically during the fourth season, the format was changed for the show’s final season in 1986–87 in a bid to win back viewers. After years on the run from the authorities, the A-Team is finally apprehended by the military. General Hunt Stockwell, a mysterious CIA operative played by Robert Vaughn, propositions them to work for him, whereupon he will arrange for their pardons upon successful completion of several suicide missions. In order to do so, the A-Team must first escape from their captivity. With the help of a new character, Frankie “Dishpan Man” Santana, Stockwell fakes their deaths before a military firing squad. The new status of the A-Team, no longer working for themselves, remained for the duration of the fifth season while Eddie Velez and Robert Vaughn received star billing along with the principal cast. The missions that the team had to perform in season five were somewhat reminiscent of Mission: Impossible, and based more around political espionage than beating local thugs, also usually taking place in foreign countries, including successfully overthrowing an island dictator, the rescue of a scientist from East Germany, and recovering top secret Star Wars defense information from Soviet hands. These changes proved unsuccessful with viewers, however, and ratings continued to decline. Only 13 episodes aired in the fifth season. In what was supposed to be the final episode, “The Grey Team” (although “Without Reservations” was broadcast on NBC as the last first-run episode in March 1987), Hannibal, after being misled by Stockwell one time too many, tells him that the team will no longer work for him. At the end, the team discusses what they were going to do if they get their pardon, and it is implied that they would continue doing what they were doing as the A-Team. The character of Howling Mad Murdock can be seen in the final scene wearing a T-shirt that says, “Fini”.

Connections to the Vietnam War

During the Vietnam War, the A-Team were members of the 5th Special Forces Group (see the episode “West Coast Turnaround”). In the episode “Bad Time on the Border”, Colonel John “Hannibal” Smith, portrayed by George Peppard, indicated that the A-Team were “ex-Green Berets”. During the Vietnam War, the A-Team’s commanding officer, Colonel Morrison, gave them orders to rob the Bank of Hanoi to help bring the war to an end. They succeeded in their mission, but on their return to base four days after the end of the war, they discovered that Morrison had been killed by the Viet Cong, and that his headquarters had been burned to the ground. This meant that the proof that the A-Team members were acting under orders had been destroyed. They were arrested, and imprisoned at Fort Bragg, from which they quickly escaped before standing trial.

The origin of the A-Team is directly linked to the Vietnam War, during which the team formed. The show’s introduction in the first four seasons mentions this, accompanied by images of soldiers coming out of a helicopter in an area resembling a forest or jungle. Besides this, The A-Team would occasionally feature an episode in which the team came across an old ally or enemy from those war days. For example, the first season’s final episode “A Nice Place To Visit” revolved around the team traveling to a small town to honor a fallen comrade and end up avenging his death, and in season two’s “Recipe For Heavy Bread”, a chance encounter leads the team to meet both the POW cook who helped them during the war, and the American officer who sold his unit out.

An article in the New Statesman (UK) published shortly after the premiere of The A-Team in the United Kingdom, also pointed out The A-Team’s connection to the Vietnam War, characterizing it as the representation of the idealization of the Vietnam War, and an example of the war slowly becoming accepted and assimilated into American culture.[14]

One of the team’s primary antagonists, Col. Roderick Decker (Lance LeGault), had his past linked back to the Vietnam War, in which he and Hannibal had come to fisticuffs in “the DOOM Club” (Da Nang Open Officers’ Mess).[15] At other times, members of the team would refer back to a certain tactic used during the War, which would be relevant to the team’s present predicament. Often, Hannibal would refer to such a tactic, after which the other members of the team would complain about its failure during the War. This was also used to refer to some of Face’s past accomplishments in scamming items for the team, such as in the first-season episode “Holiday In The Hills”, in which Murdock fondly remembers Face being able to secure a ’53 Cadillac while in the Vietnam jungle.

The team’s ties to the Vietnam War were referred to again in the fourth-season finale, “The Sound of Thunder”, in which the team is introduced to Tia (Tia Carrere), a war orphan and daughter of fourth season antagonist General Fulbright. Returning to Vietnam, Fulbright is shot in the back and gives his last words as he dies. The 2006 documentary Bring Back The A-Team joked that the scene lasted seven and a half minutes,[16] but his death actually took a little over a minute. His murderer, a Vietnamese colonel, is killed in retaliation. Tia then returns with the team to the United States (see also: casting). This episode is notable for having one of the show’s few truly serious dramatic moments, with each team member privately reminiscing on their war experiences, intercut with news footage from the war with Barry McGuire’s Eve of Destruction playing in the background.

The show’s ties to the Vietnam War are fully dealt with in the opening arc of the fifth season, dubbed “The Court-Martial (Part 1–3)”, in which the team is finally court-martialed for the robbery of the bank of Hanoi. The character of Roderick Decker makes a return on the witness stand, and various newly introduced characters from the A-Team’s past also make appearances. The team, after a string of setbacks, decides to plead guilty to the crime and they are sentenced to be executed. They escape this fate and come to work for a General Hunt Stockwell, leading into the remainder of the fifth season.

GMC van

The 1983 GMC Vandura van used by the A-Team, with its characteristic red stripe, black and red turbine mag wheels, and rooftop spoiler,[39] has become an enduring pop culture icon. The customized 1994 Chevrolet G20 used on the A-Team movie was also on display at the 2010 New York International Auto Show.[40]

A number of devices were seen in the back of the van in different episodes, including a mini printing press (“Pros and Cons”), an audio surveillance recording device (“A Small and Deadly War”), Hannibal’s disguise kits in various episodes, and a gun storage locker.

Early examples of the van had a red GMC logo on the front grille, and an additional GMC logo on the rear left door. Early in the second season, these logos were blacked out, although GMC continued to supply vans and receive a credit on the closing credits of each episode.

The van was commonly said to be all-black,[citation needed] but the section above the red stripe was metallic gray. The angle of the rear spoiler can also be seen to vary on different examples of the van within the series. Additionally, some versions of the van have a sunroof, whereas others, typically those used for stunts (and including the one displayed in the aforementioned Cars of the Stars Motor Museum) do not. This led to continuity errors in some episodes, such as in the third season’s “The Bells of St. Mary’s”, in a scene where Face (his double) jumps from a building onto the roof of the van with no sunroof. Moments later, in an interior studio shot, Face climbs in through the sunroof. Also, in many stunts where the van would surely be totaled, other makes have been used, such as a black Ford Econoline with red hubcaps painted to simulate the original red turbine mag wheels.

Many GMC/Chevrolet Vandura vans, and many of the very similar Bedford CF vans, were styled after the A-Team’s van by fans of the show.

CASTING

Genre Action-adventure
Created by
Frank Lupo
Stephen J. Cannell
Starring
George Peppard = Hannibal Smith
Dirk Benedict = Sberla
Dwight Schultz = Murdock The Crazy
Mr. T = Bosco “B.A.”, or “Bad Attitude”, Baracus (Mr. T).
Melinda Culea (Season 1–2)
Marla Heasley (Season 2–3)
Tia Carrere (Season 4)
Eddie Velez (Season 5)
Robert Vaughn (Season 5)
Narrated by John Ashley
Theme music composer
Mike Post
Pete Carpenter
Composer(s)
Mike Post
Pete Carpenter
Garry Schyman (uncredited)
Country of origin United States
Original language(s) English
No. of seasons 5 (1983–87)
No. of episodes 98 (list of episodes)

CARS

GREENLIGHT – GMC – VANDURA CARGO G.SERIES VAN – A-TEAM – 1983

MATTEL HOT WHEELS – GMC – VANDURA CARGO G.SERIES VAN – A-TEAM – 1983 – MUD DECO – VERSIONE FANGO

MATTEL HOT WHEELS – GMC – VANDURA CARGO G.SERIES VAN – A-TEAM – 1983

GREENLIGHT – CHEVROLET – CORVETTE C4 THE A-TEAM 1984

GREENLIGHT – CHEVROLET – CORVETTE C4 THE A-TEAM 1984 – GREEN WHEELS

Kitt Knight Rider (Supercar)

Knight Rider is an American television series created and produced by Glen A. Larson. The series was originally broadcast on NBC from 1982 to 1986. The show stars David Hasselhoff as Michael Knight, a high-tech modern crime fighter assisted by KITT, an advanced artificially intelligent, self-aware and nearly indestructible car. This was the last series Larson devised at Universal Television before he moved to 20th Century Fox.

Plot

Self-made billionaire Wilton Knight rescues police Detective Lieutenant Michael Arthur Long after a near fatal shot to the face, giving him a new identity (by plastic surgery) and a new name: Michael Knight. Wilton selects Michael to be the primary field agent in the pilot program of his public justice organization, the Foundation for Law and Government (FLAG). The other half of this pilot program is the Knight Industries Two Thousand (KITT), a heavily modified, technologically advanced Pontiac Firebird Trans Am with numerous features including an extremely durable shell and frame, controlled by a computer with artificial intelligence. Michael and KITT are brought in during situations where “direct action might provide the only feasible solution”.

Heading FLAG is Devon Miles, who provides Michael with directives and guidance. Dr. Bonnie Barstow is the chief engineer in charge of KITT’s care, as well as technical assistant to Devon (April Curtis fills this role in Season 2).

Cast and characters

David Hasselhoff as Michael Knight (born Michael Arthur Long), an undercover Los Angeles police detective who, while on a case in Las Vegas, is shot in the face and nearly killed. Wilton Knight, founder of Knight Industries and creator of FLAG, directs his doctors to save Long’s life and reconstruct his face. With his new identity, “Michael Knight”, Long is provided with high tech crime-fighting equipment, most notably the car named KITT. Hasselhoff also played Garthe Knight, Wilton Knight’s estranged son and a criminal mastermind who drives Goliath, a semi tractor trailer Peterbilt 352 Pacemaker truck armed with rockets and protected by KITT’s molecular bonded shell after the formula was stolen by Elizabeth Knight, Wilton’s widow.
William Daniels as the voice of KITT, or Knight Industries Two Thousand, the autonomous, artificially intelligent car, with whom Michael Knight is partnered. Daniels, who simultaneously starred on St. Elsewhere, requested not to be credited for his role as KITT’s voice.
Edward Mulhare as Devon Miles, the leader of FLAG, who appeared in nearly every episode to provide mission details to Knight and KITT. He was also the spokesman for FLAG whenever it came under scrutiny.
Patricia McPherson as Dr. Bonnie Barstow (Seasons 1, 3-4), KITT’s chief technician and romantic tension for Michael. The character was dropped after the first season, but due to strong fan reaction and lobbying by Hasselhoff and Mulhare, she was returned for the third season and remained through the end of the series.[2]
Rebecca Holden as April Curtis (Season 2), chief technician for KITT. The character was written out when Patricia McPherson returned. The connection between the two was never established in any installments.
Peter Parros as Reginald Cornelius III aka RC3 (Season 4), driver of the FLAG mobile unit and occasional sideman for Michael and KITT.
Richard Basehart as Wilton Knight, the creator of FLAG, who dies in the pilot episode. Basehart’s voice, however, is heard throughout the series, narrating over the intro and outro.

Vehicle

The car used as KITT in the series was a customized 1982 Pontiac Firebird sports model, that cost US$100,000 to build[3] (equivalent to about $265,690.35 in 2018).[4] Nose, dash and other interior of the car were designed by the design consultant Michael Scheffe.

Diecast 1:43

MATTEL HOT WHEELS – PONTIAC – TRANS-AM – SUPERCAR – KNIGHT RIDER – KITT

MATTEL HOT WHEELS – PONTIAC – TRANS-AM – SUPERCAR – KNIGHT RIDER – KARR – AUTOMATED RIVING ROBOT

 Starsky And Hutch

Starsky & Hutch is an American action television series,[1] which consisted of a 70-minute pilot movie (originally aired as a Movie of the Week entry) and 92 episodes of 50 minutes each. The show was created by William Blinn, produced by Spelling-Goldberg Productions, and broadcast from April 1975 to May 1979 on the ABC network. It was distributed by Columbia Pictures Television in the United States and, originally, Metromedia Producers Corporation in Canada and some other parts of the world. Sony Pictures Television is now the worldwide distributor for the series. The series also inspired a theatrical film and a video game.

Overview

The series’ protagonists were two Southern California police detectives: David Michael Starsky (Paul Michael Glaser), the dark-haired, Brooklyn transplant and U.S. Army veteran, with a street-wise manner and intense, sometimes childlike moodiness; and Kenneth Richard “Hutch” Hutchinson (David Soul), the divorced,[2] blond, Duluth, Minnesota, native with a more reserved and intellectual approach. Under the radio call sign “Zebra Three”, they were known for usually tearing around the streets of fictional Bay City, California. The vehicle of choice was Starsky’s two-door Ford Gran Torino, which was bright red, with a large white vector stripe on both sides. Approximately four different cars were used for filming. Earlier shots had red wing mirrors usually for long shots or footage used in later episodes, close ups and later episodes had silver wing mirrors. The Torino was nicknamed the “Striped Tomato” by Hutch in the episode “Snowstorm”, and fans subsequently referred to the car by that nickname, too.[citation needed] However, this moniker didn’t come from the writers, it came from a real-life comment that Glaser made. In a segment titled Starsky & Hutch: Behind the Badge that was featured on the first season DVD collection, Glaser stated that when he was first shown the Torino by series producer Aaron Spelling, he sarcastically said to Soul, “That thing looks like a striped tomato!” In characteristic contrast, Hutch’s vehicle was a battered, tan, 1973 Ford Galaxie 500. It occasionally appeared when the duo needed separate vehicles, or for undercover work. However, the duo’s cover was often blown because Hutch’s vehicle had a bad habit; when its driver’s side door was opened, the horn would go off, instantly drawing attention. It was also noticeable due to the severely cluttered back seat, so cluttered that there was no room to transport both prisoners and the two detectives simultaneously.

Supporting characters

The detectives’ main confidential informant was the street-wise, ethically ambiguous, “jive-talking” Huggy Bear (Antonio Fargas), who often dressed in a flashy manner and operated his own bar (first named “Huggy Bear’s”, and later, “The Pits”). The duo’s boss was the gruff, no-nonsense-but-fair Captain Harold C. Dobey (Bernie Hamilton in the series, and gravel-voiced Richard Ward in the pilot). Starsky and Hutch continued the 1960s trend in some prime-time, U.S. TV dramas of portraying African-Americans (e.g., Huggy Bear, Capt. Dobey) in a positive light.

Huggy’s immense popularity with viewers caused producers Spelling and Goldberg to consider giving actor Fargas his own TV series. The second-season episode “Huggy Bear and the Turkey” was the test pilot for a proposed spin off with Huggy and his friend, former Sheriff “Turkey” Turquet (Dale Robinette) becoming private investigators; however, this premise proved unpopular with viewers, and a spinoff never materialized. In the episode it was revealed that Huggy’s last name is Brown (no clue as to his first name was given, though). Two series characters were named for people from William Blinn’s past: Starsky was the name of a high school friend, and Huggy Bear was a local disc jockey.

Series creator William Blinn first used the name Huggy Bear on-screen for a character, also a confidential informant, in an episode penned by Blinn for the TV series The Rookies, during the 1973 second season, “Prayers Unanswered Prayers Unheard”, there played by actor Johnny Brown.

 

Seasons 1 and 2

In contrast to police characters on U.S. TV in prior years, Starsky and Hutch were open with physical gestures of friendly/brotherly affection toward one another, often declaring that they trusted only each other (in an “us against the world”–type sense). While likely “normal” by the social standards of 1990s-and-later America, such body language conflicted with 1970s norms of (emotionally restrained) masculinity. In a blooper tape made during the show’s run that can be found on YouTube, the narrator intones that some Hollywood industry types referred to the characters as “French kissing prime-time homos“.^{[citation needed]} Soul verified this statement in a 1999 cast reunion interview in the United Kingdom.^[3]

Many fans were attracted not just by the characters, but the quality of writing during the first two seasons (despite the fact that the majority of first-season stories were actually existing scripts that were merely adapted to fit the series). The second-season episode “Long Walk Down a Short Dirt Road”, featured country star Lynn Anderson as a singer being stalked by a deranged person; it was based upon a real-life incident involving country music legend Dolly Parton. The part was written with Parton in mind, but Anderson wound up playing the role.

Season 1:

 Starsky & Hutch aired on Wednesday nights at 10 p.m. and aired against the long forgotten Kate McShane on CBS and the second season law drama Petrocelli on NBC. Starsky & Hutch had no trouble beating its competition and finished #16 with a 22.5 share in the A.C. Nielsen Ratings.

Season 2:

 Starsky & Hutch was moved to Saturday night for the second season and was up against tough competition on CBS with the Mary Tyler Moore Showfollowed by The Bob Newhart Show. NBC had the NBC Saturday Night Movie. Although the show lost some of their viewers from the move from the Wednesday night time slot from the previous season, Starsky & Hutch held its own, finishing #34 with a 19.6 rating in the Nielsens.

Season 3

In 1977, a rising concern in America about violence on TV, along with Glaser’s own concerns about the level of violence in the series, forced the writers to reduce the violent “action” scenes, use more romantically and socially themed storylines, and play-up the “buddy-buddy” aspect of the show’s leads even more. At the same time, the lead actors—Glaser in particular—became jaded with the general theme; these and other factors contributed to the fading popularity of the series.

Glaser indicated several times that he wanted to get out of his contract and quit the series; he even sued the producers to force a release from his contract before the start of the third season. It seemed that he would not be returning for filming, so to fill the presumed void, the character “Officer Linda Baylor” (played by Roz Kelly) was created, and a number of alternative scripts featuring her instead of Starsky were written (whether the show’s name would have remained the same, is unknown). After being granted more creative control over scripts, opportunities to direct episodes, and a per-episode pay raise (to $35,000, up from $5,000), Glaser returned to the show. Ultimately, Officer Baylor only appeared in one episode (alongside both Starsky and Hutch): the Play Misty for Me–inspired episode, “Fatal Charm”.

Although a major change in the tone of the show, with a lot of the violence ejected and more of a focus on the friendship of the two leads, viewership remained steady during the season. From September to December 1977, the show stayed in its Saturday night time slot, now up against The Jeffersons and The Tony Randall Show on CBS and the NBC Saturday Night at the Movies. In January 1978, the show moved back to it original Wednesday night time slot of 10 p.m. The ratings dropped a little bit, however Starsky & Hutch finished #33 (tied with ABC’s Lucan) with a 19.2 Nielsen rating.

Season 4 and syndication

Glaser again voiced his desires to leave during the fourth and final season. This time, Starsky’s wayward younger brother Nick (John Herzfeld) was introduced, in the episode Starsky’s Brother. It was intended that if Glaser was to quit, that the reformed Nick would take David’s place on the police force (and allow the series to avoid a title change). However, the disgruntled Glaser decided to return yet again, to finish out the season. Although a fifth season was planned, increasing production costs, Glaser’s persistent (and oft-publicized) desire to move on, and declining ratings, brought an end to the series.

The final episode, “Sweet Revenge” (which has Starsky fighting for his life after being gunned down), originally had its co-lead dying in the early drafts. However, the producers decided to have the character survive, as it was felt that a dead Starsky would disrupt the continuity of reruns/syndication, and preclude the option of the producers’ reviving the series in the near future.

After its prime-time run, Starsky & Hutch was sold into syndication, and has been shown on several local channels and cable networks (e.g., The National Network, and WWME-CA in Chicago). In 2015-2016, the series aired on cable’s El Rey Network on weekday mornings. Several episodes from the first two seasons can be viewed for free in Minisode and in regular format on Crackle. The show also can currently be seen on Cozi TV.

Much of the series was shot on location in the Los Angeles beach community of San Pedro. The building that was used as the Metropolitan Division police headquarters is now San Pedro’s City Hall. For their fourth and final season, Starsky & Hutch finished #36 in the Nielsen Ratings.

Cars

Stunt cars, camera cars, tow cars, dolly cars, and cars used for “beauty” shots varied in model year from 1974 to 1976 Ford Torinos, since the body style of the Gran Torino was unchanged.

Originally, Blinn was to have Starsky drive a Chevrolet Camaro convertible because he fondly remembered a green and white one that he owned. However, when production started on the pilot episode, Ford Motor Company’s Studio-TV Car Loan Program was the lease supplier for Spelling-Goldberg. They looked at lease stock and chose two 1975 351 Windsor V8-powered (VIN code “H”) “Bright Red” (paint code 2B) 2-door Gran Torinos. Both cars had a role in the pilot movie, one being “Starsky’s” car, and the other being a similar car which is mistaken for Starsky’s car by the film’s villains. They each had body-side mouldings along with a black interior with vinyl bench seats. One of the pilot cars had the luxury remote-control chrome mirrors installed, while the other pilot car had the cheaper, entry-level manual chrome mirrors installed; in editing the film, Starsky and Hutch are shown to be driving around in each of the two cars at different times during the film.

The cars were also custom painted (on top of the factory red paint color) with the distinctive white “vector” stripe designed by Spelling-Goldberg’s transportation coordinator George Grenier. The rear ends were lifted by air shocks, and had Ansen Sprint 5-slot mag wheels added with larger rear tires. While the tires were mounted so that only the black wall side would show, thus hiding any unauthorized brand-name display, in one first-season episode (“Kill Huggy Bear”), a close-up shot of the villain cutting the rear brake lines shows the letters on the inside-facing side of the tires to say Firestone.

It is reported that the original 2.75:1 ratio rear axle gearing (standard on non-police Torinos from 1975 onward) was replaced with numerically higher ratio gears for better acceleration during stunt driving scenes; in the 1999 interview, Glaser said that “We finally had to get a new rear end put in it so that at zero to sixty it had some pop.” At least one of the second-season cars was known to have a Dymo label prominently attached to the dashboard which read “DO NOT EXCEED 50 MPH”; this was probably due to the fact that the revised gearing would cause the engine RPM to go to a higher level, possibly leading to engine damage.
Replica of the Ford Gran Torino used in the TV / motion picture Starsky & Hutch.
In the “Behind The Badge” interviews, Glaser said that during the early stages of production of the pilot, Spelling took him outside to introduce him to the red & white-striped, mag-wheeled Torino. Glaser took an immediate and long-lasting dislike to the car, which has not changed to this day. According to Glaser in several early interviews, there were three main reasons why he instantly hated the car: First, in his opinion, it was big, ugly and childish-looking. Secondly, the idea that two undercover cops would drive around in a car with such an outlandish appearance seemed ludicrous, and lastly, he does not like Ford products (although in a picture that was printed in an issue of the National Enquirer, Glaser is shown on the side of a California freeway with a flat-tired Ford Explorer). At the first viewing of the car with David Soul (Hutch), Glaser remarked that the car looked like a “striped tomato.” That nickname stuck, and very soon the show’s writers had worked it into the show as Hutch’s derogatory name for Starsky’s beloved Torino.

Glaser remarked to Soul that he hated the car and that he was “going to destroy that car…burn it down every chance I get”, and repeated the story in the 1999 “reunion” interview. Several scenes of Glaser driving the car show him smashing the front wheels into curbs as he slides the car around corners and such, but that may also be attributable to the fact that he is primarily an actor, not a trained stunt-driver. Over the years, with the Starsky & Hutch Torino gaining in popularity and becoming a much-loved icon of the show and of the Seventies in general, Glaser has not so much grown to appreciate the car as he has learned to simply accept its popularity as a necessary component of the fans’ appreciation of the show. In fact, during filming of the 2004 Starsky & Hutch movie, Glaser had several opportunities to sit in the newest iteration of “his” car, and even drive them, but he refused. He just was not interested; however, in 2004, during the last day of filming a movie in Canada, the crew wanted a group picture of Glaser with a Starsky and Hutch Torino, so he agreed to sit in the driver’s seat of a Limited Edition replica with the crew surrounding the car.[9] In the summer of 2012 during the introduction to the “Las Vegas Car Stars 2012” charity event, Glaser drove up in a S&H Torino replica; after being introduced by the master of ceremonies, he got out of the Torino and was cheered by the crowd.

High performance engine sounds were dubbed over scenes during the show because California law forbade mechanically modifying the engines of new cars. When the pilot was successful, Spelling-Goldberg ordered two new 1975 red Gran Torinos for the first season. These cars were powered by 400 V8s (VIN code “S”) because extra power was going to be needed for additional stunt driving scenes. These new cars for the first-season were factory ordered in the bright red color (Ford paint code: 2B), which was a regular production color for 1975 Torinos.

Unlike the pilot-movie cars, the first-season Torinos had no body-side mouldings, but did have body-colored sport mirrors, and brocade cloth split-bench seats. With the acquisition of the new cars, the producers took the opportunity to improve the design of the white stripe painted on the cars. The original pilot-movie cars had the bottom horizontal edge of the stripe about an inch or so above the mid-body character line that ran along the car, which was apparently done so that the section of the stripe that passes above the front wheel opening would not be cut off by the wheel opening, but for the first-season cars, the bottom horizontal edge of the stripe was lowered until directly on the crease, which gave a more cohesive look to the design of the stripe. The section of stripe that runs across the front wheel opening was gradually curved up and around the opening. The stripe was also thicker on the roof section and whereas the front pointed section ended well behind the amber marker light on the pilot cars, the newer design had the point ending far ahead of it, on the front fascia piece. These new cars also featured the complete bumper protection group option, which included horizontal black rub-strips on both bumpers that were not included on the pilot cars.

For the start of the second season, these were replaced by two 1976 Gran Torinos that had vinyl split-bench seats like the pilot episode cars. The new cars were ordered under Ford’s fleet program, which is what was required to get them painted in the previous year’s Bright Red(2B), as Ford used a different shade of red for new standard-order Torinos by this point.

These newer cars can be identified by their silver sight shields (bumper filler panels) which Ford used on specially painted fleet-ordered cars. They also had the luxury chrome mirrors like one of the pilot cars. Even though the body-colored sport mirrors were still a Torino option in 1976, they could not be installed on a fleet-ordered specialty-painted car, as Ford had no provision for producing those mirrors in anything other than the regular production colors listed for that year; since the 2B bright red was a special fleet-ordered color for the ’76 model year, the cars came equipped with the chrome mirrors. The body-side mouldings were installed on these cars and the stripe was, unlike the pilot cars, integrated with the mouldings.

They were powered by 460 Lima V8s (VIN code “A”), and Spelling-Goldberg kept these Torinos until production ceased. While these were the biggest, most powerful engines available from Ford at the time, even with dual exhaust, they were still somewhat underpowered at 202 net horsepower. A third car, owned by 20th Century Fox and 351 Windsor powered, was used as the first backup to the Ford lease cars.

Over time, an unforeseen problem was discovered with the Torinos when they were used during stunt driving scenes. In sharp right-hand turns, Soul would sometimes slide accidentally across the vinyl bench into Glaser. Although a potential safety hazard at the time, the problem was solved by replacing the front bench of the number two Torino with bucket seats at Glaser and Soul’s request; Glaser said in 1999, “It took us a year to get them to put bucket seats in it so David wouldn’t slide all over the place whenever I took a corner.”

The aggressive stunt driving required of the show resulted in many accidents and fender-benders for the Torinos. The time demands of a weekly production mandated quick body and paint repairs so the cars could get back to work as soon as possible, and many of the quick and often sloppy repairs are quite evident to eagle-eyed viewers of the show. The front fenders seemed to have taken a lot of abuse, and the Gran Torino nameplates on the front fenders are missing in several episodes, as are the chrome wheelhouse moldings.

Towards the end of the four seasons of production, the Torinos were noticeably worse-for-wear, and close watchers of the later episodes will spot many dents and other damage on the cars as they appear in various episodes. In particular, the driver’s side quarter panel and tail-light area were seen to be smashed up in 4th-season episodes, and at least one of the cars was shown to have a dented and twisted front bumper along with some visible damage to the grille behind. The very last appearance of the Torino on the series seems to show that the driver’s door and window will not even close correctly, possibly due to the rigours and effects of the spirited stunt driving the car suffered over the years.

Due to the success of S&H, in 1976 (the Torino’s final year) Ford released a limited edition (only 1,305 units total, plus three pilot production cars) Starsky and Hutch replica Gran Torino.[10] Manufactured at the Chicago plant, one of these code “PS 122” units was leased by Spelling-Goldberg from the middle of season two until the series’ end as a second backup for the main cars and was known simply as “Unit 129”. It was originally equipped with a 351 Modified (also VIN code “H”) ; however, during filming, one of the stuntmen damaged the engine beyond repair, and it was replaced overnight with a 429 Lima V8.

During the last season of Starsky and Hutch, The Dukes of Hazzard premiered on CBS, and one of the factory replicas was used in the first episode, “One Armed Bandits”, seen to be driven by regular character Cooter Davenport (Ben L. Jones). This was the only appearance of the Torino in the series, and many fans have speculated over its strange one-off appearance. One theory is that it was merely an in-joke, with the Torino’s former iconic car status now being taken over by the Dukes’ car “The General Lee”.

After Starsky and Hutch was cancelled, the cars were returned to Ford’s Studio-TV Car Lease Program and sold at a Ford Motor Company auction to A.E. Barber Ford of Ventura, California. The first retail sale of Torino #1 was to a resident of Ojai, California; he owned it for one year, then sold it in a private sale to an Air Force officer that owned it for 17 years. In 1988, Torino #1 was purchased by an Ohio resident; however, he sold it in 2012 to Cars Of The Stars Motor Museum in the United Kingdom. A few years later, Torino #1 was sold to Dezer Car Collection in Miami, Florida. Dezer sold Torino #1 in a private auction in January 2015 to a Texas collector; at the time, it was mostly unrestored and somewhat battered due to wear and tear from TV show filming and subsequent ownership. It still had its original 460 V8, interior, and paint; however, Mickey Thompson valve covers and a chrome air cleaner were added by the first owner after he purchased it from Barber Ford. The Texas collector has since done a “sympathetic” frame-off restoration.[11] Torino #2[12] is owned by a New Jersey man who supplied the main close-up Torino (featured on the movie posters)[13] for 2004’s big-screen Starsky & Hutch movie.

During its life after Starsky and Hutch, #2 was wrecked and sold as salvage. It was repaired, although it was repainted the wrong shade of red and the iconic stripe was improperly painted. Although still equipped with bucket seats, #2 no longer has its original 460 engine, which was replaced at some point with a 2.8 litre Ford V-6. The car underwent a full restoration in a Pennsylvania Shop and is back on the road. Finally, the 20th Century Fox Torino was purchased in 2009 by the owner of #2, sold to an Oklahoma couple in 2010, and restored. “Unit 129” was owned by a collector in New Hampshire; as of May 2018, it is for sale by a Florida collector vehicle dealer. In addition, the Torino has many fans and sparked a collectors market in the United Kingdom, as evidenced by the large number of UK-owned replicas (both factory and aftermarket).[14]

As stated previously, Glaser was not fond of the Torino as he found the car to be garish. Due to his contempt for the Torino, he deliberately mistreated the cars during close-up stunt scenes when he drove (this was admitted to in a 1997 letter he wrote to the owner of the #1 Torino; and in a first season DVD interview he said that he tried to “destroy” the cars) and would often stop the car by hitting the front wheels against curbs, as well as coming into driveways at high speed and bumping into garbage dumpsters.[citation needed.

diecast 1:43

GREENLIGHT – FORD USA – GRAN TORINO COUPE 1976 STARSKY & HUTCH – GREEN WHEELS

GREENLIGHT – FORD USA – GRAN TORINO COUPE 1976 STARSKY & HUTCH

 “The Dukes of Hazzard”

The Dukes of Hazzard is an American action–comedy television series that aired on CBS from January 26, 1979, to February 8, 1985. The show aired for a total of 147 episodes spanning seven seasons. The series was inspired by the 1975 film Moonrunners, which was also created by Gy Waldron and had many identical or similar character names and concepts.

Plot overview

The Dukes of Hazzard had an ensemble cast, which also follows the adventures of “The Duke Boys”, cousins Bo Duke (John Schneider) and Luke Duke (Tom Wopat) (including Coy and Vance Duke for most of season 5), who live on a family farm in fictional Hazzard County, Georgia, with their attractive female cousin Daisy (Catherine Bach) and their wise old Uncle Jesse (Denver Pyle). The Duke boys race around in their customized 1969 Dodge Charger stock car, dubbed (The) General Lee, evading crooked and corrupt county commissioner Boss Hogg (Sorrell Booke) and his bumbling and corrupt Sheriff Rosco P. Coltrane (James Best) along with his deputy(s), and always managing to get caught in the middle of the various escapades and incidents that often occur in the area. Bo and Luke had previously been sentenced to probation for illegal transportation of moonshine; their Uncle Jesse made a plea bargain with the U.S. Government to refrain from distilling moonshine in exchange for Bo and Luke’s freedom. As a result, Bo and Luke are on probation and not allowed to carry firearms – instead, they often use compound bows, sometimes with arrows tipped with dynamite – or to leave Hazzard County unless they get probation permission from their probation officer, Boss Hogg, although the exact details of their probation terms vary from episode to episode. Sometimes it is implied that they would be jailed for merely crossing the county line; on other occasions, it is shown that they may leave Hazzard, as long as they are back within a certain time limit. Several other technicalities of their probation also came into play at various times.

Corrupt county commissioner Jefferson Davis (J.D.) “Boss” Hogg, who either runs or has fingers in virtually everything in Hazzard County, is forever angry with the Dukes, especially Bo and Luke, for always foiling his crooked schemes. He is always looking for ways to get them out of the picture so that his plots have a chance of succeeding. Many episodes revolve around Hogg trying to engage in an illegal scheme, sometimes with aid of hired criminal help. Some of these are get-rich-quick schemes, though many others affect the financial security of the Duke farm, which Hogg has long wanted to acquire for various reasons. Other times, Hogg hires criminals from out of town to do his dirty work for him, and often tries to frame Bo and Luke for various crimes as part of these plots. Bo and Luke always seem to stumble over Hogg’s latest scheme, sometimes by curiosity, and often by sheer luck, and put it out of business. Despite the Dukes often coming to his rescue (see below), Hogg forever seems to have an irrational dislike of the clan, particularly Bo and Luke, often accusing them of spying on him, robbing or planning to rob him, and other supposedly nefarious actions, as he believes they are generally out to get him.

The role of Boss Hogg was played by Sorrell Booke, who performed frequently on radio, stage, and film prior to his role in The Dukes of Hazzard. Boss Hogg is one of only two characters to appear in every episode of the TV series, the other being Uncle Jesse Duke.

The other main characters of the show include local mechanic Cooter Davenport (Ben Jones), who in early episodes was portrayed as a wild, unshaven rebel, often breaking or treading on the edge of the law, before settling down to become the Duke family’s best friend (he is often referred to as an “honorary Duke”) and owns the local garage; and Enos Strate (Sonny Shroyer), an honest but naive young deputy who, despite his friendship with the Dukes (and his crush on Daisy), is reluctantly forced to take part in Hogg and Rosco’s crooked schemes. In the third and fourth seasons, when Enos leaves for his own show, he is replaced by Deputy Cletus Hogg (Rick Hurst), Boss’s cousin, who is slightly more wily than Enos but still a somewhat reluctant player in Hogg’s plots.

Owing to their fundamentally good natures, the Dukes often wind up helping Boss Hogg out of trouble, albeit grudgingly. More than once Hogg is targeted by former associates who are either seeking revenge or have double crossed him after a scheme has unraveled in one way or another. Sheriff Coltrane also finds himself targeted in some instances. On such occasions, Bo and Luke usually have to rescue their adversaries as an inevitable precursor to defeating the bad guys; in other instances, the Dukes join forces with Hogg and Coltrane to tackle bigger threats to Hazzard or one of their respective parties. These instances became more frequent as the show progressed, and later seasons saw a number of stories where the Dukes and Hogg (and Coltrane) temporarily work together.

Cast and characters

• Luke Duke (Tom Wopat) is the dark-haired, older Duke boy. More mature and rational than his cousin Bo, he is typically the one who thinks of the plan that will get the two out of whatever trouble they have got into. Luke wears a checked blue shirt (a plain blue shirt in most, though not all, second-series episodes) and a denim jacket over it in first season and a few later second-season which means he wears Double Denim episodes and he also wears Dark Blue jeans with a belt with a fish belt buckle with black boots and later brown boots and a few other checker and plaid shirts in later episodes and seasons of the show. He is a veteran of the United States Marine Corps and a former boxer. Luke was the first Duke to perform the “hood slide” across The General Lee, which is seen in the opening credits of the show (a shot taken from the second episode, “Daisy’s Song”) and later told by Tom Wopat to be an accident, because his foot got caught on the side of the General Lee when he attempted to jump across the hood; he also caught his thigh on the hood’s radio antenna, cutting himself, resulting in such antennas being removed from later versions of the General Lee which those later versions looked similar to the ones in The Dukes of Hazzard film. However, the “hood slide” quickly proved popular and became a regular staple of episodes. The only episode to directly reference the age difference between Luke and Bo is in the seventh season opener, the “flashback” episode “Happy Birthday, General Lee,” where it is stated that Luke had already been in the Marines while Bo was in his last year at high school. Though Bo and Luke share the CB call sign “Lost Sheep,” in Season One episode “Money to Burn,” Luke referred to himself (singularly) as “Sittin’ Duck”.
• Bo Duke (John Schneider) is the blond-haired, younger Duke boy (Wopat and Schneider are nine years apart from each other’s age when Bo and Luke are supposed to be three years apart from each other’s age). He is more of the “shoot first, ask questions later” type than Luke, and is often the one to get the duo into the various scrapes in which they find themselves, although the character did mature slightly as the series progressed; he is also the one more likely to have his eye, or heart, distracted by a pretty girl. Bo has a crush on many women in some episodes, which proves to be the Achilles’ heel that leads the Dukes into trouble in several episode plots. Bo usually wears a cream-yellow shirt; it is a stronger yellow in the first and second season, a lighter cream color from the third season, and in the sixth and seventh season has more of a grey hue to it, in season 6 and season 7 he wears a tan brown shirt and more of dark blue jeans. (The only break from this norm is in the second episode produced and broadcast, “Daisy’s Song,” where Bo wears a red shirt for much of the story, and a sequence in the fifth episode, “High Octane,” where he wears a light blue shirt. Many early publicity shots show the character to be wearing a dark blue denim shirt.) For the first two seasons he wears a blue T-shirt underneath (brown in the first episode); this was slowly phased out during the third season. An ex-stock car driver, Bo is the one who drives The General Lee most of the time with Luke riding shotgun. He and Luke take turns of driving the General Lee in some episodes as they share the car with each other (very early episodes suggest that it belongs solely to him; Luke is said to have a car that Cooter had wrecked shortly prior to the start of the opening episode, “One Armed Bandits”). Bo is known for his rebel yell, “Yeeeee-Haaa,” which he usually yells when the General Lee is airborne during a jump. The Duke boys share the CB call sign or handle “Lost Sheep”.
• Daisy Duke (Catherine Bach) is Bo, Luke, Coy, and Vance’s cousin. She is beautiful, honest, and kind, although she can sometimes be slightly over-trusting and naïve, which has led the Duke family into trouble on a number of occasions, but for the most part can handle herself well. She sometimes aspires to be a songwriter and singer, and at other times, a reporter. She races around Hazzard with her cousins, first in a yellow and black 1974 Plymouth Road Runner (later a 1972 model was used) and then, from mid-Season 2 on, in her trademark white 1980 Jeep CJ-7, christened “Dixie” with a golden eagle emblem on the hood (and the name “Dixie” on the hood sides). Daisy works as a waitress at the Boar’s Nest, the local bar and pub owned by Boss Hogg, as part of an agreement with Boss Hogg so that he would give Uncle Jesse and the boys a loan for a lower interest rate so the boys could purchase the entry fee for a race in which they wished to race the General Lee. The arrangement was supposed to be for an indefinite time, but there are several times throughout the series when Hogg fires her. However, he always ends up rehiring her at the end of each episode because of various circumstances. Although Hogg is a nemesis to Daisy and her family, she is best friends with Hogg’s wife Lulu. Daisy often uses her sex appeal and her position at the restaurant to get insider information to help the Dukes in foiling Hogg’s various schemes. She also has the distinction of having her trademark provocatively high-cut jean short shorts named after her: “Daisy Dukes“. Her CB handle is “Bo Peep”. Occasionally, the variant of “Country Cousin” is used.
• Jesse Duke (Denver Pyle), referred to by just about everyone in Hazzard other than Boss Hogg as “Uncle Jesse”, is the patriarch of the Duke clan, and the father-figure to all Dukes who stay with him on the somewhat dilapidated “Duke Farm”. Jesse apparently has no children of his own, and happily provides for his nephews and niece in the unexplained absence of all of their parents (Gy Waldron, the creator of the show, states on the DVDs that their parents were killed in a car wreck, but it was never mentioned in the show). In the third broadcast episode, “Mary Kaye’s Baby”, Jesse says that he has delivered many babies, including Bo and Luke. Jesse Duke, in his youth, had been a ridge-runner in direct competition with Boss Hogg whom he always calls “JD”. However, while both Boss Hogg and Uncle Jesse would scowl at the mention of the other’s name, the two enjoyed a lifelong “friendship” of sorts, with one helping the other when in desperate need. Jesse educated his nephews against Hogg, and often provides the cousins with inspirational sage advice. Uncle Jesse drives a white 1973 Ford F-100 pickup truck. In the barn, he also has his old moonshine-running car, called “Sweet Tillie” in its first appearance (in the first-season episode “High Octane”), but referred to as “Black Tillie” in subsequent appearances. In the second-season episode “Follow That Still” and the sixth-season episode “The Boars Nest Bears”, the marriage to and death of his wife is mentioned; he also mentions marrying her in the first-season episode “Luke’s Love Story”. His CB handle is “Shepherd”.
• Sheriff Rosco P. Coltrane (James Best) is the bumbling and corrupt sheriff of Hazzard County and right-hand man and brother-in-law of its corrupt county administrator, Jefferson Davis “J.D.” Hogg (“Boss Hogg”), whom Rosco calls his “little fat buddy”, “Little Chrome Dome”, “Little Meadow-Muffin”, and several other names. In the early episodes, it is mentioned that Rosco spent the first 20 years of his career as a mostly honest lawman, but after the county voted away his pension Rosco joined Hogg in an effort to fund his retirement in his last couple of years as sheriff. Early episodes also portray him as a fairly hard-nosed, somewhat darker policeman character, who even shoots a criminal during the first season. As the series progressed and producers recognized how popular it had become with children, James Best altered his portrayal into a more bumbling, comical character. By the end of the first season, his origin had been virtually forgotten (and his job as sheriff appeared to become open ended). Rosco is also the younger brother of Lulu Coltrane Hogg (Boss Hogg’s wife). Rosco frequently initiates car chases with Bo and Luke Duke, but the Duke boys usually elude Rosco by outwitting him, with Rosco typically wrecking his patrol car as a result from which he would nearly always escape unscathed. (Only two episodes — the fourth season’s “Coltrane vs. Duke” and season six’s “Too Many Roscos” — toy with the concept of him being injured. The first episode has him faking injury so the Duke Boys would lose the General Lee while the latter has James Best playing two characters. His normal character, Rosco, is presumed drowned while a criminal that looks like Rosco has a headache.) These chases are often the result of Rosco setting up illegal speed traps such as false or changing speed limit signs and various other trickery, which would evolve into being increasingly more cartoonish and far-fetched as the seasons passed. While he enjoys “hot pursuit” he seemingly (Boss Hogg as well) never intends for anyone to get seriously hurt. His middle initial, ‘P’, was added at the start of the second season, and only one episode (the third season’s “Mrs. Rosco P. Coltrane”, in which he is subjected to a scam marriage) reveals his middle name, “Purvis”. Rosco also has a soft spot for his basset hound Flash, introduced at the start of the third season. His radio codename is “Red Dog”. When James Best briefly boycotted the show during the mid-second season, he was temporarily replaced by several “one-off” Sheriffs, the longest standing being Sheriff Grady Bird, played by Dick Sargent, who appeared in two episodes (“Jude Emery” and “Officer Daisy Duke”).
• Boss Jefferson Davis “J.D.” Hogg (Sorrell Booke) is the wealthiest man in Hazzard County and owns most of its property and businesses — whether directly or by holding the mortgages over the land. Usually dressed in an all-white suit, he is the fat, greedy, corrupt County Commissioner with visions of grandeur, a voracious appetite for food, who constantly orders Rosco to “Get them Duke Boys!” He is also Bo and Luke’s Probation officer, when Bo and Luke need to leave Hazzard they always get permission from him. Boss Hogg is also married to (and dominated by) Rosco’s “fat sister” (Lulu Hogg), a point that does not always sit well with either Boss Hogg or Rosco; Hogg sometimes claims that Rosco is indebted to him because of it, though his on-screen interactions with Lulu typically show him loving her deeply (and giving in to her stronger personality). In addition to his role as county commissioner he is also the police commissioner, land commissioner, and bank president. Boss is also the chief of the Hazzard Fire Department and the owner of or primary mortgage holder on most of the places in the county, including the Boar’s Nest, Rhubottem’s Store, Cooter’s garage and the Duke Farm. It is implied in some episodes that he is the Justice of the Peace but in others Hazzard relies on a circuit judge. In the episode “Coltrane vs. Duke”, Hogg represents Rosco when he sues the Dukes, implying that he is a licensed attorney. His vehicle is a white 1970 Cadillac Coupe de Ville convertible, with bull horns mounted on the hood. In the first few seasons, he is almost always driven around by a chauffeur. His old moonshine-running car was called the “Grey Ghost”. Every morning, Boss Hogg would drink coffee and eat raw liver (Sorrell Booke, a method actor, actually ate the raw liver).^[2] Boss Hogg is described in one analysis as “an ineffectual bad guy–hence amusing”.^[3]
• Cooter Davenport (Ben Jones) is the Hazzard County mechanic, nicknamed “Crazy Cooter” (a “cooter” is a large freshwater turtle, common in the Southeast). In the early episodes, he is a wild man, often breaking the law (such as stealing the Sheriff’s patrol car for impounding his in “One Armed Bandits”, reportedly borrowing Luke’s car prior to the same episode and using it to “run the sheriff off the road to make him mad” to facilitate the aforementioned theft of the sheriff’s car, running moonshine for Boss Hogg in “Mary Kaye’s Baby”, seemingly breaking into Boss Hogg’s home to retrieve a trophy for an upcoming race in “Luke’s Love Story”, and “borrowing” the President’s Limousine for a joy-ride (“Limo One Is Missing”) when it is accidentally left unguarded. By the end of the first season, he has settled down and become an easy going good ol’ boy. Although not mentioned in the first couple of episodes, by the mid-first season, he owns “Cooter’s Garage” in Hazzard County Square, directly across from the Sheriff’s Department. Cooter is an “Honorary Duke”, as he shares the same values and often assists the Dukes in escaping Rosco’s clutches, or helps them to foil Boss Hogg’s schemes. During the second season, Ben Jones left the series for a few episodes due to a dispute over whether the character should be clean shaven or have a full beard. In his absence, Cooter’s place was filled by several of Cooter’s supposed cousins who were never mentioned before or since. Jones returned when the dispute was solved — Cooter would be clean shaven (although, for continuity reasons, with the episodes being broadcast in a different order to that which they were filmed, he was not clean shaven until the third season onwards). Cooter drives a variety of trucks, including Fords, Chevys, and GMCs. His CB handle is “Crazy Cooter” and he often starts his CB transmissions with “Breaker one, Breaker one, I might be crazy but I ain’t dumb, Craaaazy Cooter comin’ atcha, come on.”
• Deputy Enos Strate (Sonny Shroyer) is a friend of the Dukes, but, while working for Rosco and Boss is often forced into pursuing the Dukes and/or arresting them on trumped-up charges. In the early episodes, Enos is shown to be a rather good driver (and respected as such by Bo and Luke), but by the end of the first season, he is shown to be as incompetent a driver as Rosco. When he returns from his stint in Los Angeles, he seems to be able to stand up to Boss and Rosco slightly more, and sometimes refuses to participate in their schemes. In the early episodes, Rosco frequently calls him “jackass”, which soon evolved into the more family-friendly “dipstick” as the show became a hit with younger viewers (though Boss Hogg, who would also use the term “jackass” of Sheriff Rosco, would occasionally return to calling Enos this in later seasons). Enos has a crush on Daisy Duke that she often uses to the Dukes’ advantage in unraveling Hogg and Rosco’s schemes. Enos is very much in love with Daisy, and although Daisy seems to love him back, it is supposedly only as a close friend. In the penultimate episode, “Enos and Daisy’s Wedding”, the two plan on getting married, only to have Enos call it off at the last minute due to an attack of hives, brought on by the excitement of possibly being married to Daisy. Later, in the first reunion movie, Enos and Daisy become a pair again and plan to get married, but this time Daisy backs out at the last minute, upon the unexpected sight of her ex-husband.
• Deputy Cletus Hogg (Rick Hurst) Boss Hogg’s second cousin twice removed, is generally friendly and dim-witted. Like Enos, Cletus is often forced by Rosco and Hogg to chase the Dukes on trumped up charges. While Cletus is good-hearted, and sometimes resentful of having to treat the Dukes in such a way, he is somewhat more willing to go along with Hogg and Rosco than Enos. Cletus has a crush (though not as bad as Enos’ crush) on Daisy and is even convinced she wants to marry him. Like Enos and Rosco, Cletus frequently ends up landing in a pond when pursuing the Duke boys in a car chase. Cletus makes his first appearance as the driver of a bank truck, part of Hogg’s latest get-rich-scheme, in the first-season episode “Money To Burn”, and becomes temporary deputy while Enos is away in the second-season episodes “The Meeting” and “Road Pirates”. Leaving a job at the local junkyard, he becomes permanent deputy in the third season’s “Enos Strate to the Top”. After Enos’ return, the pair both serve as deputies and share the same patrol car until 1997’s reunion movie. Each of the Hazzard County Sheriff’s Department officers drives various mid- to late-1970s Chrysler mid-size B body patrol cars, most often a Dodge Monaco or Plymouth Fury.
• Coy Duke (Byron Cherry) is another blond-haired cousin who moves to Uncle Jesse’s farm along with his cousin Vance after Bo and Luke left Hazzard to join the NASCAR circuit in season 5. Like his cousin Bo, he often drives the General Lee and is a bit wilder than Vance and chases women; he and Vance are only in the first 19 episodes of season 5 and Coy and Vance are in only one episode with their cousins Bo and Luke when they return from the NASCAR Circuit. Supposedly, with cousin Vance, Coy had previously lived on the Duke farm until 1976, before the series had started.
• Vance Duke (Christopher Mayer), an obvious replacement for Luke, filled the void of a dark-haired Duke on the show. Like Luke, Vance is more the thinker and the planner of the duo along with being more mature than Coy and he is also a former Merchant Marine.
• The Balladeer (voice of Waylon Jennings) sings and plays the Dukes of Hazzard theme song, “Good Ol’ Boys”, and also serves as the show’s narrator. During each episode, he provides an omniscient viewpoint of the situations presented, and regularly interjects comical asides during crucial plot points (often, during a freeze frame of a cliffhanger scene right before a commercial break) and “down home” aphorisms. (These freeze-frame cliffhangers were often abridged in showings in some countries, such as the commercial-free BBC in the United Kingdom.) After numerous requests from fans to see the Balladeer on-screen, Jennings finally appeared in one episode, the seventh season’s aptly titled “Welcome, Waylon Jennings”, in which he was presented as an old friend of the Dukes.
• Flash (Sandy and others) is a slow-paced Basset Hound and Rosco’s loyal companion, who hates Hogg but loves the Dukes. She first appeared in the first official third-season episode “Enos Strate to the Top” (season opener “Carnival of Thrills” was held over from the previous season), although was not formally “introduced” in that episode. Initially referred to as a boy, Flash is later regularly a girl (despite an occasional male reference afterwards). Flash was added at the start of the third season, after James Best suggested to the producers that Rosco have a dog. Rosco doted on Flash, often calling her “Velvet Ears”. Flash was portrayed by several Basset Hounds (distinguishable by different facial colors), the most regular being “Sandy”.^{[citation needed]} James Best bought a share of Sandy, who was rescued from an animal shelter and was trained by Alvin Mears of Alvin Animal Rentals. Sandy lived to age 14. A stuffed dog named Flush was used for dangerous work.^[4]

The pilot episode was to include a barber modeled after Floyd Lawson on The Andy Griffith Show as a regular character, but was eliminated when the final draft of the pilot’s script was written and before the show was cast.

When John Schneider auditioned for the role of Bo Duke, he came to the audition in a dilapidated pickup truck, sporting a week-long beard growth, wearing overalls and a white T-shirt with a pack of cigarettes rolled up in a sleeve collar, and carrying a can of beer, trying to look the part. At the audition, Schneider drank the beer and said he was from Snellville. The producers bought his “Good Ol’ Boy” act and Schneider was hired on the spot.

Vehicles

The General Lee (Dodge Charger)

The General Lee was based on a 1969 Dodge Charger owned by Bo and Luke (the series used mostly 1969 Chargers in the beginning; later on, they also modified 1968 Chargers to look like 1969s by installing 1969-model taillamps, taillamp panels, and grilles). It was orange with a Confederate battle flag painted on the roof, the words “GENERAL LEE” over each door, and the number “01” on each door. In the original five Georgia-filmed episodes, a Confederate flag along with a checkered racing flag in a criss-cross pattern could be seen behind the rear window; this was removed when it was felt that this extra detail did not show up enough on-screen to warrant the already very tight time constraints of preparing and repairing each example of the car. The name refers to the American Civil War Confederate General Robert E. Lee. The television show was based on the movie Moonrunners, in turn based on actual moonshine runners who used a 1958 Chrysler named Traveler, after General Lee’s horse (with a slight spelling change). Traveler was originally intended to be the name of the Duke boys’ stock car too, until producers agreed that General Lee had more punch to it.

Since it was built as a race car, the doors were welded shut. Through the history of the show, an estimated 309 Chargers were used; 17 are still known to exist in various states of repair. A replica was owned by John Schneider, known as “Bo’s General Lee”. In 2008, Schneider sold “Bo’s General Lee” at the Barrett-Jackson automobile auction for $230,000. An eBay auction which garnered a bid of $9,900,500 for the car was never finalized, with the purported bidder claiming his account had been hacked.[12] The underside of the hood has the signatures of the cast from the 1997 TV movie. Schneider has also restored over 20 other General Lees to date. In 2008, a replica of the General Lee fetched a high bid of $450,000 at the Barrett-Jackson auto auction, indicating the significant interest in the car as a cultural icon. In 2012, the “General Lee 1”, the first car used in filming the series, was purchased at auction by golfer Bubba Watson for $110,000. The car had been scrapped after being wrecked during the famous opening jump shoot, and was later discovered in a junk-yard by the president of the North American General Lee fan club.[13] In 2015, following a wave of sentiment against confederate symbolism in the wake of shootings in Charleston, SC, (relating to photos where the attacker had posed with the Confederate flag), Bubba Watson announced that he would remove the Confederate Flag from the roof of General Lee 1 and repaint it with the US National Flag.[14]

The show also used 1968 Chargers (which shared the same sheet metal) by changing the grille and taillight panel to the 1969 style, and removing the round side marker lights. These Chargers performed many record-breaking jumps throughout the show, almost all of them resulting in a completely destroyed car. The 1970 Chargers were modified by removing the chrome bumper and changing the taillights.

The Duke boys added a custom air horn to the General Lee that played the first twelve notes of the song Dixie. The Dixie horn was not originally planned, until a Georgia local hot rod racer drove by and sounded his car’s Dixie horn. The producers immediately rushed after him asking where he had bought the horn. Warner Bros. purchased several Chargers for stunts, as they generally destroyed at least one or two cars per episode. By the end of the show’s sixth season, the Chargers were becoming harder to find, and more expensive. In addition, the television series Knight Rider began to rival the General Lee’s stunts. As such, the producers used 1:8 scale miniatures, filmed by Jack Sessums’ crew, or recycled stock jump footage — the latter being a practice that had been in place to an extent since the second season, and had increased as the seasons passed.

Some of the 01 and Confederate flag motifs were initially hand painted, but as production sped up, these were replaced with vinyl decals for quick application (and removal), as needed.

During the first five episodes of the show that were filmed in Georgia, the cars involved with filming were given to the crew at H&H body shop near the filming location. At this shop, the men worked day and night to prepare the wrecked cars for the next day while still running their body shop during the day. Time was of the essence, and the men that worked at this shop worked hard hours to get the cars prepared for the show.

The third episode “Mary Kaye’s Baby” is the only one in which the General Lee does not appear. Instead, the Dukes drove around in a blue 1975 Plymouth Fury borrowed from Cooter that Luke later destroyed by shooting an arrow at the car, whose trunk had been leaking due to the moonshine stowed in the back.

The Duke boys’ CB handle was (jointly) “Lost Sheep”. Originally when the show was conceived, their handle was to be “General Lee” to match their vehicle, but this was only ever used on-screen on one occasion, in the second episode, “Daisy’s Song”, when Cooter calls Bo and Luke over the CB by this handle, although they were actually driving Daisy’s Plymouth Roadrunner (see below) at the time. As it became obvious that the “General Lee” handle would be out of place when the Duke boys were in another vehicle, the “Lost Sheep” handle was devised (with Uncle Jesse being “Shepherd” and Daisy being “Bo Peep”).

Hazzard police cars (AMC Matador, Dodge Polara, Dodge Monaco, Plymouth Fury)

The 1975 AMC Matador[15] was one of many different Hazzard County police cars used on the series, mostly in the first season; they had light bars and working radios. A 1972 Dodge Polara[16] and a 1974 Dodge Monaco[17] were used during the pilot episode “One Armed Bandits”, these were also seen in the show’s title sequence. From the second season, the 1977 Dodge Monaco[18] was mostly used. From mid-season four the similar looking 1978 Plymouth Fury[19] was used instead. The Matadors and Furies were former Los Angeles Police Department vehicles, while the Monacos were former California Highway Patrol units.

Plymouth Road Runner

A 1974 Plymouth Road Runner[20] (yellow with a black stripe) was Daisy Duke’s car in the first five episodes of the first season. For the last episodes of the first season a similarly painted 1971 model with a matching “Road Runner” stripe was used. In the second season Bo and Luke send it off a cliff in “The Runaway”. Another identical Plymouth 1971 model car appeared in the background a few more episodes along with the Jeep CJ-7 until it was finally dropped altogether.

Jeep CJ-7

Dixie was the name given to Daisy Duke’s white 1980 Jeep CJ-7 “Golden Eagle” which had a golden eagle emblem on the hood and the name “Dixie” on the sides. Like other vehicles in the show, there was actually more than one Jeep used throughout the series. Sometimes it would have an automatic transmission, and other times it would be a manual. The design of the roll cage also varied across the seasons. When the Jeep was introduced at the end of the second season’s “The Runaway”, it was seen to have doors and a slightly different paint job, but, bar one appearance in the next produced episode, “Arrest Jesse Duke” (actually broadcast before “The Runaway”, causing a continuity error), thereafter the doors were removed and the paint job was made all-white, with “Dixie” painted on the sides of the hood. These Jeeps were leased to the producers of the show by American Motors Corporation in exchange for a brief mention in the closing credits of the show.

Ford F-100 pickup truck

Uncle Jesse’s truck was a white Ford pickup truck, most commonly a Sixth generation (1973–1977) F100 Styleside.^[21] However, in the earliest episodes it had a Flareside bed, and varied between F100 and F250 models throughout the show’s run. Bo, Luke and Daisy also drove Jesse’s truck on occasion.

Cadillac Coupe de Ville

A White 1970 Cadillac De Ville convertible was used as Boss Hogg’s car, notably with large bull horns as a hood ornament. In early seasons, Hogg was almost always driven by a chauffeur, who was normally nameless and had little or no dialogue, but identified on occasion as being called “Alex”; and played by several different uncredited actors, including stuntman Gary Baxley. This chauffeur would often be dressed in a red plaid shirt and deep brown or black Stetson hat, but on occasion would be an older man, sometimes dressed in more typical chauffeur attire.

Hogg is first seen to drive for himself in the second season opener “Days of Shine and Roses”, where he and Jesse challenge each other to one last moonshine race. From the fourth season onward, except for a couple of brief reappearances of the chauffeur (during the fourth season), Hogg drove himself around in his Cadillac (or occasionally driven by Rosco and, in the series’ finale, by Uncle Jesse) and frequently challenged others by invoking his driving expertise from his days as a ridge-runner. Unlike other vehicles in the series, Boss Hogg’s Cadillac is typically treated with kid gloves. The car is almost always seen with its convertible top down, with the top only being seen in two episodes, “Daisy’s Song” (the chauffeur was called “Eddie” in this episode), the second to be produced and broadcast, and briefly in the second-season episode “Witness for the Persecution”, when Cooter is returning it to the Court House after repairs.

Ford Custom 500

A Green and blacked out 1971 Ford Custom 500 sedan named Black Tilly was used by Uncle Jesse to make moonshine runs.

DIECAST 1:43

AUTOWORLD – DODGE – CHARGER GENERAL LEE THE DUKES OF HAZZARD

NEO SCALE MODELS – DODGE – MONACO HAZZARD POLICE ROSCO PATROL CAR 1974 GENERAL LEE

MATRIX SCALE MODELS – CADILLAC – COUPE DEVILLE CONVERTIBLE ( BOSS HOG ROSCO ) -JDH- 1970

Lupin the Third

Lupin III (Japanese: ルパン三世 Hepburn: Rupan Sansei), also written as Lupin the Third, Lupin the 3rd or Lupin the IIIrd, is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Monkey Punch. It follows the escapades of master thief Arsène Lupin III, the grandson of Arsène Lupin, the gentleman thief of Maurice Leblanc’s series of novels.

The Lupin III manga, which first appeared in Weekly Manga Action on August 10, 1967, spawned a media franchise that includes numerous manga, two versions of an animated pilot film, six animated television series, eight theatrically-released animated films, two live-action films, six OVA works, twenty-five animated television specials, two musicals, many music CDs, and several video games. Many different companies have owned the English-language distribution rights to various Lupin III properties at various times, with just the first two animated films having been released by over 10 companies alone. Tokyopop acquired the license to the original manga in 2002, and later the second series in 2004. Funimation Entertainment purchased the rights to several of the television specials and films in 2002, and the fourth television series in 2012. Geneon licensed and dubbed 79 episodes of the second television series, 26 of which were broadcast on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim during 2003. Discotek Media licensed the entire first, second and fifth television series and the first live-action film; they also own the rights to several other Lupin titles, including some previously released by other companies.

Over fifty years after its creation, Lupin III remains popular, with a sixth anime series airing in 2018. Critical reception of the franchise has been largely positive across its various incarnations, with the appeal of the lead characters being noted as the primary factor of the series’ success. The voice acting (in both Japanese and English versions) and soundtracks (especially those composed by Yuji Ohno) of the anime adaptations have also received similar compliments; however, several of the franchise’s installments, most specifically the television specials, have been criticized for being formulaic. The manga has also been noted by fans and critics for its darker tone compared to the anime, with its explicit depictions of sex and violence, as well as its black, fourth wall-breaking sense of humor, contrasting with the mostly family-friendly animated versions. For several years, issues relating to the copyright of Maurice Leblanc’s intellectual property meant that the Lupin name was removed from its releases outside Japan, usually changed to “Rupan” or “Wolf”. However, the copyright has since expired, allowing foreign releases to use the Lupin name.

Arsène Lupin III

Arsène Lupin III (Japanese: ルパン三世 Hepburn: Rupan Sansei)[Note 1] is a fictional character created by Monkey Punch as the protagonist for his manga series Lupin III, which debuted in Weekly Manga Action on August 10, 1967. According to his creator, Lupin is the grandson of Maurice Leblanc’s gentleman thief Arsène Lupin.

Acknowledged across the globe as the world’s number one thief, Lupin is a master of disguise and deduction, marksman, and inventor of numerous handy gadgets. His fun-loving, foolhardy incongruity covers a brilliant mind always extemporizing and re-evaluating. As such, he has been responsible for heists no right-minded individual would believe possible. While occasionally arrested and jailed, typically by his ICPO nemesis Inspector Koichi Zenigata, he always succeeds in escaping unharmed. The original manga differs significantly compared to the family-friendly anime incarnations through its explicit depictions of sex and violence, with Lupin’s character also differing as a result. Additionally, he and his famous gang, beautiful Fujiko Mine, cool triggerman Daisuke Jigen and samurai Goemon Ishikawa XIII, while they rarely work together in the manga version, are nonetheless an inseparable team in the various anime productions.

Creation

The aim of the Lupin III series was to produce a comedy adventure series that reflected the traits of Leblanc’s Arsène Lupin character. Originally the intention was to keep the blood ties between the two fictional characters secret, however Monkey Punch was convinced by others not to do so.[1] He combined elements of Arsène Lupin with James Bond to develop the character of Lupin III and made him a “carefree fellow.”[1][2][3]

In the original manga, Lupin and his team typically work individually for their own goals. The author explained it is only in the anime that they frequently operate together, suspecting some unwritten rule that all five main characters have to appear in every episode.[3] He believes that Lupin and Fujiko are similar to the characters of D’Artagnan and Milady de Winter, and describes them as “Not necessarily lovers, not necessarily husband and wife, but more just having fun as man and woman with each other”.[4] Inspector Zenigata was conceived as Lupin’s archrival to create a “human Tom and Jerry”.[3] Monkey Punch said the appeal of drawing Lupin comes from the character being able to go anywhere without obstacles and being able to do whatever he wants, whenever he wants. However, this is contrasted by the appeal of Zenigata’s strict personality.[4] The creator has said that he believes the Lupin III story can never end but that if he had to, both Zenigata and Lupin would have to end as equals. They would either both fail, both win or both get very old.[5]

In typical anime style, Lupin’s appearance is racially ambiguous and tends to oblique his origins. He has black hair plastered flat with what is either a widow’s peak or a V-shaped bang. His trademark sideburns extend from ear to nearly the chin. Outside his preference for large and rather plain boots, Lupin is a sharp dresser. He typically wears a button-down shirt, tie, chinos and a brightly colored sports jacket – exclusively red in the manga, while in animation his jackets are various colors which color-code his TV series (green for Part I, a few OVAs and The Woman Called Fujiko Mine; red for Part II and most films & television specials; pink for Part III; blue for Part IV and Part V).

Personality

In Monkey Punch’s original manga, Lupin is cocky, quite crude, and for the most part remorseless. He is very much the ladies’ man, often using them for his own gains, but is not beyond forcing himself upon women who resist him. Mike Toole of Anime News Network referred to the character as a “rough, drunken, lecherous crook.”^[6]This is in stark contrast to his better-known anime self, who although a skilled thief, occasionally comes off as a chivalrous goofball who enjoys helping those less fortunate than he. Furthermore, Lupin often takes it upon himself and his gang to stop criminals engaged in more violent crimes and leave them for Zenigata to arrest. In the anime, while he fancies himself a Casanova, his actual success with women is erratic, appearing to fluctuate with the writer.

Even though his gang’s loyalty has been an issue, with Fujiko willing to betray and cohort Goemon promising to eventually kill him, Lupin will still drop everything to come to their aid in a helpless moment; further the team would rather face torture than to betray Lupin (or he betray them) to a third party. This rule of loyalty curiously extends as well to Inspector Zenigata, who Lupin considers a respected friend and opposition. The Inspector reciprocates this regard and out of gratitude has vowed never to attempt to kill Lupin. Lupin’s vendetta against the Tarantula Gang in In Memory of the Walther P-38 was partly settling of past betrayal and mostly vengeful payback for their shooting and nearly killing Zenigata.

It seems Lupin loves to steal more than actually having the treasure he sought. Lupin relishes more in the challenge of stealing and, as long as he succeeds in the heist, is usually not that upset when he ends up empty-handed; there have been times he has lost the object or intentionally thrown it away.^[7] There have also been times when Lupin stole an object only to give it to someone else, such as if it rightfully belonged to them or they needed it more than he did.

When not involved in criminal activities, Lupin usually spends his time dating beautiful girls, fishing, race car driving, attending formal dinners, playing pool, casino gambling, and participating in cafe society. He is a moderate cigarette smoker, and occasionally is seen while disguised with a cigar or a pipe. He enjoys scotch whiskey, beer, fine wines, and coffee. His favorite foods seems to be mostly French cuisine, sushi, and seafood; when on a job he may settle with ramen noodles.

Fujiko Mine

Fujiko Mine (Japanese: 峰 不二子 Hepburn: Mine Fujiko) is a fictional character created by Monkey Punch for his manga series Lupin III, which debuted in Weekly Manga Action on August 10, 1967. She is a professional criminal and burglar that regularly uses her attractiveness to fool her targets. Unlike the rest of the Lupin III cast, Fujiko’s physical appearance changes for most installments in the franchise. Her name means “mountain peaks of Fuji” in Japanese, a pun on the size of her breasts, which is usually the only thing consistent in her various designs.

She is the star of the fourth Lupin III anime television series, 2012’s The Woman Called Fujiko Mine, making it the first not to star Arsène Lupin III as the protagonist.

Creation

As the Lupin III series was to be published in a magazine targeted at adults, Fujiko Mine was created to add a female presence. Her name was inspired by a picture of Mount Fuji, Monkey Punch added the -ko female suffix to create her first name, and chose “Mine” for her family name because of its meaning as “summit”. She was developed from the intention to fulfill a “Bond girl” role. Creating a new female each week was too difficult for Monkey Punch so she evolved into a single character. At the beginning of the series, many of the women Lupin encounters are all named Fujiko, but are treated as different characters from chapter to chapter. This concept was later changed to make Fujiko a single character who changes style frequently.[3][4][5] Monkey Punch believes the characters of Lupin and Fujiko are similar to the characters of D’Artagnan and Milady de Winter, and describes them as “Not necessarily lovers, not necessarily husband and wife, but more just having fun as man and woman with each other”.

Personality

While Fujiko is not part of Lupin’s gang, she often participates in their exploits either as a partner or a competitor. Her principle tactic is to stick with Lupin and company until the plunder is made available then double-cross her colleagues. Frequently, she finds it necessary to betray Lupin to get close to the enemy, then after ingratiating herself into his trust will acquire the swag and escape (rarely, she will help to extricate Lupin, Goemon and Jigen from capture or any deadly trouble she put them into, as if to atone). Fujiko is also known to provide Zenigata or other law enforcement officers with information and assistance in order to gain her own freedom .[7] At one point, Fujiko was made Zenigata’s replacement on the ICPO’s Lupin operation, however this was a cover for her to get into a secret vault.[8]

Of this two-faced nature Lupin is surprisingly forgiving. In the 1995 movie Die! Nostradamus, Lupin carefully treats the amnesiatic Fujiko, hoping she gets better as he “looks forward to her betrayals”.

Fujiko is an excellent markswoman, her favorite weapon being a Browning M1910, typically holstered in her garter. Later, she’s revealed superb martial arts skills, capable of rendering an attacker twice her weight unconscious with a single blow. She is very good at disguises as well as accents and apparently can speak dozens of foreign languages in addition to her native Japanese. Like the other members of Lupin’s team, she is able to pilot virtually any land, sea, and air vehicle, with her personal preference being a conventional Kawasaki motorcycle. She can be very promiscuous when necessary to complete a job, and has kissed and even had sex with different men for information or to escape a situation. The 2012 anime series implies heavily that Fujiko is bisexual.[9]

Daisuke Jigen despises Fujiko and sees her showing up as a sign of rough times ahead, although despite this, in the original manga he was still one of her suitors. Goemon Ishikawa XIII, who had a brief romance with Ms. Mine, has been known to work on capers with Fujiko independent of the other gang members, but can be equally distrustful of her when he thinks she is manipulating Lupin. Still, in the Lupin the Third Part II anime Jigen and Goemon are seen working together numerous times with Fujiko, trusting their lives on her, and vice versa, with them having a sibling rivalry of sorts. In the anime, Fujiko also displays at times a more frivolous and care-free personality, which sees her pranking Lupin, whenever she can.

Lupin is completely infatuated with Fujiko, and will do anything for her. While Fujiko is aware of this and always uses it to her advantage, she never gets Lupin into trouble where he cannot escape. Monkey Punch has said that the two “enjoy each other”, and are quite content with their bizarre yet amicable relationship, comparing it to his own marriage.[10]

Although she is more willing to contain her feelings, Fujiko does have a love for Lupin. She rarely wishes to fully reveal her affection except if she thinks one or both are dying. On occasions where Lupin appears to have died, she grieves and considers him the most important person to her.[11] However, her not-altogether-hidden feelings submerge again when she finds him alive.

Ms. Mine usually dresses in the height of fashion, with formal gowns and fine jewelry her trademark; when informal, she typically wears outfits that accentuate her robust figure. Fujiko’s favorite pastimes appear to be shopping, attending social functions, disco dancing, horseback riding, and dating wealthy gentlemen. She enjoys champagne, fine wine and has been seen more than once consuming a martini; she also smokes cigarettes and occasionally uses a kiseru.

Daisuke Jigen

Daisuke Jigen (Japanese: 次元 大介 Hepburn: Jigen Daisuke) is a fictional character created by Monkey Punch for his manga series Lupin III, which debuted in Weekly Manga Action on August 10, 1967. Jigen is the marksman, aide-de-camp and close friend of Arsène Lupin III. Along with colleague Goemon Ishikawa XIII, he joins Lupin in pursuit of riches acquired typically by theft. Traveling across the globe, Jigen has garnered fame as a gunman with a wildly capable speed and accuracy.

Creation and conception

According to Monkey Punch, the character was created as a possible American[citation needed] gangster based on actor James Coburn, especially his role in The Magnificent Seven.[2][3] When the series was adapted into animation, the role was portrayed by Kiyoshi Kobayashi, the voice actor responsible for dubbing many of Coburn’s roles into Japanese.

Personality

In the original manga series, Jigen is not always at Lupin’s side, but lurking in the background til needed. The anime series, however, shows Jigen as extremely loyal to Lupin and willing to partner up anytime for a given heist.

Jigen is noted for his quick temper; enemy and friend alike have been victim to his need to repay violence for insult. Both Lupin and Goemon have been on the receiving end of his blows in his response to their frank or comical criticism.

Despite Jigen’s gruff facade, he has an ironic sense of humor and genuinely enjoys participating in each caper with his partners. He is, by far, the more pragmatic of the group, with a cynical streak founded in failed romances (his luck with women runs from bad to worse, with love interests often betraying him or dying). He is always distrustful of Fujiko Mine and becomes irritated when Lupin goes along with one of her plans. Among Lupin’s group, Jigen is the least apprehensive at taking human life. While he considers killing women and children taboo, he is willing to put down any age or gender who offers a life threat.

Where Lupin and Goemon Ishikawa XIII both have unique sartorial tastes, Jigen is pure basics. His typical wardrobe is a dark grey or black business suit, along with a white or light blue colored dress shirt, a black tie, and his ever-present dark grey or black broad-brimmed fedora; the hat ranks as his most prized possession outside of his weaponry. During the third anime series, Jigen’s outfit is more light colored and his hatband has a herringbone design (similar to the original manga interpretation of the character); however the black look is most applied for OVA productions and TV specials. Jigen’s thick hair is typically collar-length and unevenly cut. His chin curtain beard varies from an inch to three inches long and is also unruly.

Jigen is the “big brother” of the group, and often serves as the voice of reason to Lupin’s impulsiveness, as he must because of his friendship with Lupin as well as out of sheer professionalism. However, he has long since resigned himself to having to go along with the craziest of schemes. Jigen, like the rest of the Lupin gang, is adept with disguises and can pilot virtually any motorized vehicle, including planes and tanks. He has even controlled a NASA Space Shuttle. He is also a tough hand-to-hand opponent, capable of knocking out an attacker with one blow.

While his racial origins may be in question, Jigen was at one time a famed bodyguard and assassin for many US criminal mobs. Of several stories regarding his past, the most popular has him a US citizen mobster who moved to Japan on the lam; there he adopted a Japanese identity and name (“Jigen” is the conventional Japanese word for “dimension”, not a name). According to Lupin, Jigen’s hobbies are limited due to his stay-at-home preference. When he does go out, he usually attends target practice, visits a favorite bar, plays poker, enjoys a boxing match or eats at a chop house-style restaurant. He also has a weakness for Spaghetti Westerns, lounging and hearty American food, like pizza and steak.

Jigen’s most obvious pastime is smoking; there is hardly a time when he not seen with a cigarette, usually one bent in a number of directions. His preferred brands have been Pall Mall Filter Longs or Marlboro Red (boxed). He is also seen occasionally smoking a briar pipe. As well, Jigen enjoys drinking scotch, bourbon, beer and occasionally fine wines; he has a “heavyweight’s” resistance to intoxication.

The Tokyo Pop releases of the original Lupin manga note in their preface that Jigen’s appearance and temperament are based on the actor James Coburn, especially Coburn’s role in The Magnificent Seven.[citation needed]In a television documentary celebrating the manga’s history, Monkey Punch stated he bases the Jigen/Lupin relationship on Alain Delon and Charles Bronson’s teaming in the 1968 film Adieu l’ami.

Goemon Ishikawa XIII

Goemon Ishikawa XIII (Japanese: 十三代目 石川 五ェ門 Hepburn: Jūsan-daime Ishikawa Goemon) is a fictional character created by Monkey Punch for his manga series Lupin III, which debuted in Weekly Manga Action on August 10, 1967. Goemon is a thirteenth generation descendant of the renegade samurai Ishikawa Goemon. He is famous for a reticent personality coupled by apparent unlimited skill in martial arts and swordsmanship with his sword Ryusei (流星 Ryūsei), known in the anime as Zantetsuken (斬鉄剣). A partner with Arsène Lupin III and Daisuke Jigen, he tends to join their exploits only on a when-interested basis.

Creation

Goemon is unique to the series as he was the only character not there from the beginning. Monkey Punch, in an interview featured on the American Dead or Alive DVD release, mentioned he added Goemon later as he felt the manga needed a more Japanese character. As such, Goemon was primarily based on the character Kyūzō, the master swordsman of Akira Kurosawa’s 1954 film Seven Samurai. From the role came Goemon’s strict demeanor and fast draw blade, as well as the long-faced countenance of actor Seiji Miyaguchi.

Description

In the original manga, Goemon first appears as a very dangerous enemy of Lupin in chapter 28 “Appearance of Goemon” (五右ェ門登場 Goemon Tōjō). Lupin attempts to steal Goemon’s master’s alchemic formula for impervious sword blades through infiltration of Goemon’s clan, but his cover is blown by Fujiko Mine, who is Goemon’s girlfriend at the time. Goemon tries to kill Lupin over the next several installments, making attempts ranging from hiring assassins as skilled as Daisuke Jigen himself, to entering the service of three martial arts masters, to planting bombs in Lupin’s belongings. However, he later decides that he could learn more working for Lupin than against him, and rather abruptly switches his allegiance. His position at Lupin’s side is cemented when Lupin ruins the government’s case against the man who killed Goemon’s uncle, allowing Goemon to take his revenge as brutally and publicly as he wants without having to break into prison to do so.

By the events of the second manga series, Lupin trusts Goemon implicitly, and Goemon reciprocates. When a rival of Lupin’s captures and hideously tortures Goemon, Goemon refuses to even respond to his interrogation, except to say that Lupin would find him and allow him to take revenge. Lupin then captures and seduces his rival’s wife, and uses the information gleaned thereof to release Goemon, who slays his captor with Jigen’s help.

In the original anime Goemon’s relationship to Lupin starts off more professional than close friendship. By the second anime series, Goemon has developed a true loyalty to Lupin. However, he easily gets annoyed by Lupin’s antics, especially Lupin’s infatuation with women and Fujiko Mine in particular. He will occasionally oppose Lupin directly when Lupin’s jobs or actions do not agree with his morals. He has even promised that the last act he will take with Lupin is delivering his deathblow. However, Goemon doesn’t hesitate to help Lupin in serious situations, and readily assists him any time Lupin works for a just cause. However, in 1978’s The Mystery of Mamo, he claims that he helps Lupin simply so he can keep his vow to kill him himself.

Goemon has a much more amicable relationship with Jigen. Goemon sees Jigen as a fellow honorable warrior, while Jigen sees Goemon as a trustworthy “foxhole buddy”, and the two are frequently paired together during jobs, and usually help keep Lupin in check. On the odd occasion and increasingly in recent years, Goemon will ally himself with Fujiko, in spite of his distrust of her.

Personality

A master of a number of classic Japanese martial arts, Goemon excels at Kenjutsu and Battōjutsu. Using his trademark Zantetsuken sword, he has the ability to cut through virtually any substance, even steel girders, automobiles, and multi-storied buildings. His training includes Jujutsu, Aikido and Karate, enabling barehanded vanquishing of several attackers at once with minimal effort.

Goemon has an extreme sense of pride in his abilities, and when he cannot accomplish a task, feels shame and remorse afterward. Breaking Zantetsuken, as he did in a battle with Flinch in The Mystery of Mamo, is a common cause of shame. He will also show chagrin when he succumbs to his weaknesses, as when a woman ran off with his sword in 1998’s Memories of the Flame: Tokyo Crisis. On many of these occasions, Goemon will leave to meditate or further train to rid himself of his weak points.

Goemon as seen in Episode 0: The First Contact
Goemon shows allegiance to Japanese culture as strictly as his traveling and unique lifestyle can allow. He dresses in a hakama and fundoshi, and prefers wearing his hair long and somewhat unevenly cut. He only eats Japanese cuisine, willing to fast rather than settle for any Western options. He is a firm believer in Buddhism and Shinto. Although he may toast with champagne, his drink of choice is sake. He occasionally has been seen smoking a kiseru and usually wears a Sugegasa style hat.

Goemon’s most often seen pastime is meditation. Even under threat or when locked up, he is typically seated on the floor in a state of mental seclusion so deep he cannot be budged from his position. Other activities Goemon favors include fishing, attending noh theater, and participating in martial arts competitions.

Although typically a person of mellow aloofness, Goemon has been seen exploding with frustration, as well as admiring beautiful women and (very rarely) screaming in fright. Such out of character moments are usually treated as humorous takes. If Goemon has a true weakness, it is that he’s a sucker for women, even more than Lupin. He readily trusts any woman who seems superficially trustworthy or innocent, often landing him in much trouble. At the same time, he fears sultry women will distract him from his training, and tends to blush or flee when any woman puts him in a less than modest situation.

Goemon also is very bad with money as well as falling for any scam that states will show the path of enlightenment, and constantly charges Lupin for his services in some fashion. In $1 Money Wars he gives it to the female leader of a cult, who promptly runs off with it.

Commonly thought to be just a samurai, an episode of the second TV series (“Goemon’s Revenge”) has Goemon visiting his Iga ninja sensei. This episode depicts him as having had the training of a master ninja, perhaps giving some reason behind his willingness to find thievery as an acceptable practice, in spite of his samurai ways.

Koichi Zenigata

Koichi Zenigata (Japanese: 銭形 幸一 Hepburn: Zenigata Kōichi), usually called Inspector Zenigata (銭形警部Zenigata-keibu), is a fictional character created by Monkey Punch for his manga series Lupin III, which debuted in Weekly Manga Action on August 10, 1967. He is named after the famous fictional Japanese detective Zenigata Heiji, whose descendant he is implied to be.

He is the star of the live action Inspector Zenigata TV series and portrayed by Ryohei Suzuki, making it the second not to star Lupin as the protagonist.

Personality

Inspector Zenigata hails from Japan, city of origin unknown. According to Episode 0: The First Contact, his original title was Tokyo Police Inspector whose original interest was the capture of Fujiko Mine and her then partner. His pursuit took him to New York where he first met Arsène Lupin III. He left the Japanese Police Force in favor of enlisting in ICPO (Interpol) for the sake of specifically bringing Lupin to justice. For a brief period between the first and second TV series, Zenigata was demoted to a beat cop in an unknown location of Japan.

Zenigata has made it his life’s mission to arrest Lupin. The other members of Lupin’s gang are targeted for apprehension as well, but Zenigata usually ignores them when Lupin himself is present. Lupin and Zenigata appear to be the worst of enemies, but in the anime they are, in a manner of speaking, friends; something Lupin shows openly (often by greeting Zenigata with mock affection), but it is an idea Zenigata is extremely reluctant to entertain. Similarly, he is often awed by Lupin’s genius. Zenigata has an attachment to Lupin with the belief that no one should kill him or worse, capture him, besides Zenigata himself.[4] Lupin’s opinion of Zenigata is a little less caring, but still filled with respect. He often seems amazed that Zenigata can keep up with him. At times he’s overwhelmed by how much thought Zenigata has put into his traps for Lupin. In instances where Zenigata has been injured in the field or believed dead, Lupin avenges the Inspector by hunting down his attacker.

While he has some interest in capturing Jigen, Goemon, and Fujiko, he is really after only Lupin, and as such shows little interest in them when Lupin himself is involved.

In The Mystery of Mamo, it is mentioned that Zenigata has a daughter named Toshiko, but to date this has never been mentioned since the film. In an episode of Lupin III Part II, Zenigata is asked if he has any family, to which he replies “not yet”.[5] He’s unable to settle down because of his eternal pursuit, and although he sometimes longs for female company (such as a reporter Maria in Crisis in Tokyo, who compares him to her father) his single-minded attitude regarding the capture of Lupin leaves no personal time available. In the 2012 series The Woman Called Fujiko Mine, Fujiko is seen performing sexual favors to an apparently willing Zenigata in order to avoid jail time. The Pioneer dub of the second anime series inserted Zenigata comically making continuous references to his mother.

Zenigata is a quite sensitive person who often weeps uncontrollably, particularly when Lupin has done him an act of consideration, or when relieved to discover Lupin is OK after assuming his death. In Seven Days Rhapsody, Zenigata captures Lupin in a rough hug after he leaps from a helicopter. He states that they were destined to be together. In the post credits scene, Lupin is standing out in the rain and Zenigata approaches him with eyes wide and kind and says that Lupin will catch cold outside and they should go eat some katsudon together in a warm interrogation room.

On occasions when Lupin appears to be dead, he mourns him more expressively than anyone else; partly from genuine grief, partly because he no longer has a goal in life. In the 1987 OVA The Fuma Conspiracy, Zenigata actually retires from police work when he believes Lupin has died and becomes a monk, believing that if he prays enough Lupin will be a law-abiding citizen in his next life. Because of this singular ambition, he is never particularly displeased when Lupin manages to escape his custody, since that means the hunt will go on. On one occasion when Zenigata is able to successfully capture Lupin and place him in prison he becomes frustrated that Lupin hasn’t yet escaped after a year has passed and wishes for him to escape or be rescued by Jigen.[6] The only time where he hasn’t mourned Lupin’s “demise” The Mystery of Mamo, where he is shown to be the only one who doesn’t believe Lupin was actually executed, and tries to drive a stake into his body to test if he is really dead, only for the corpse to explode and Lupin to reveal himself as actually alive and well moments later, confirming his suspicions. Towards the end of the movie, he even tells Lupin that as long as there is one Lupin in the world, he’ll continue to follow him “straight through the gates of Hell”.

Zenigata even goes so far as to cryogenically freeze himself so that he can continue to chase Lupin in the future, though both his and Lupin’s cryopods malfunction and they are stuck in the present.

The origin of Zenigata’s and Lupin’s mutual regard was based early in the series when Lupin had the chance to shoot the Inspector, but instead wished him well and escaped. Since then, an unwritten understanding exists between the pair where neither will attempt to cause the death of the other. Further, the two are best referred as unacknowledged friends; several occasions have occurred where Lupin and gang aided Zenigata out of a life-threatening situation. When a woman the Inspector loved was killed by a criminal gang, Lupin participated in avenging her murder. And when an old enemy of Lupin’s shot Zenigata point blank while he helplessly watched, a wild motorcycle chase began to apprehend the killer, partly for Lupin to conclude affairs with the adversary, partly to avenge the (supposed) death of the Inspector.

 The cars Lupin The III

 FIAT 500 I serie Tetto apribile e nuova 500 del 2007

Anime

BRUMM PROM – FIAT – 500F LUPIN III WANTED WITH FIGURE LUPIN

BRUMM PROM – FIAT – 500F LUPIN III WANTED WITH FIGURE LUPIN

movie

EDICOLA – FIAT – NUOVA 500 2007

Motors and Cars Fujiko

Rupan Sansei vs Meitantei Conan

UCC – Harley Davidson Ultra Classic Electra