Beauty on the Big Screen: When Porsche Goes to the Movies
Great films and great cars never get old.
True Romance (1993)
Directed by Tony Scott
Written by Quentin Tarantino and Roger Avary
Starring Christian Slater, Patricia Arquette, and Dennis Hopper
A comic-book-nerd and Elvis fanatic Clarence (Christian Slater) and a prostitute named Alabama (Patricia Arquette) fall in love. Clarence breaks the news to her pimp and ends up killing him. He grabs a suitcase of cocaine on his way out thinking it is Alabama's clothing. The two hit the road for California hoping to sell the cocaine, but the mob is soon after them.
Clarence wants to use an actor named Elliot (Bronson Pinchot) to sell the drugs to a film producer, Lee Donowitz (Saul Rubinek). Elliot, who has some of Clarence's cocaine with him in his 1986 Porsche 911 Carrera Cabrio Flatnose, takes a joyride in it with an escort named Kandi (Maria Pitillo). When the cops come after him for speeding he tries to get Kandi to stuff the cocaine up her dress but the bag breaks and the powder winds up all over his face. Check it out here.
No Man's Land (1987)
Porsche has never gotten the same kind of showcase movies as the Corvette or Mustang. The film No Man's Land is probably about as close as it gets to a true "Porsche movie." With a story revolving around a rookie cop (D.B. Sweeney), and a car thief (Charlie Sheen) who ONLY steals Porsche, you can imagine there's a lot of proper eye candy for the car lovers among us.
48 HRS. (1982)
Directed by Walter Hill
Written by Roger Spottiswoode, Walter Hill, Larry Gross, and Steven E. de Souza
Starring Nick Nolte, Eddie Murphy, Annette O’Toole, and James Remar as Ganz
The boys are back in town. Nick Nolte is a cop. Eddie Murphy is a convict. They couldn't have liked each other less. They couldn't have needed each other more. And the last place they ever expected to be is on the same side. Even for... 48 HRS!
The make and model of Reggie Hammond (Eddie Murphy)'s car is said to be a Porsche in the film, meaning a Porsche 356 Speedster, but the vehicle, seen in both gray due to dust and once cleaned, black, actually is an Intermeccanica 356 A Speedster replica built by CMC (Classic Motor Carriage).
Top Gun (1986)
Tony Scott's Top Gun is always up there when 1980s movies are brought up. You'd think in a movie about fighter jets a mere car wouldn't draw anyone's attention, but as it happens, this Porsche 356 Speedster was up to the challenge. It should be noted that this is not a true vintage 356, Tony Scott used a replica, but you wouldn't be able to tell from the audience. The roadster exudes automotive class and undoubtedly helped to boost the characters' coolness cred to even greater heights than their fighter piloting gig already conferred upon them.
Doc Hollywood (1991)
Directed by Michael Caton-Jones
Written by Laurian Leggett, Jeffrey Price, Peter S. Seaman, and Daniel Pyne, based on the book by Neil B. Shulan
Starring Michael J. Fox, Julie Warner, and Woody Harrelson
A promising young surgeon driving to Beverly Hills for a new job crashes into a fence in the small town of Grady. He is sentenced to 32 hours of community service at the local hospital. Despite his desire to wrap up his hours, get his car repaired, and get on his merry way to Beverly Hills, he grows fond of the town and its citizens and falls in love with an ambulance driver.
Dr. Ben Stone’s 1956 Porsche 356 Speedster takes center stage in this romantic comedy as the vehicle that lands him in Grady. Getting off the highway to bypass a traffic jam, Stone swerves to miss a cow and crashes into the fence of Judge Evans. After serving his sentence, Ben tries to leave town in his newly repaired Porsche but when he stops to help a local woman deliver her baby, his Porsche is crushed by an eighteen-wheeler. Some cars get all the breaks.
Mystic Pizza (1988)
Directed by Donald Petrie
Written by Amy Jones, Perry Howze, Randy Howze, and Alfred Uhry
Starring Annabeth Gish, Julia Roberts, Lily Taylor, and Vincent D’Onofrio as Bill
Sisters Kat and Daisy work along with Jojo at the pizza parlor in Mystic, Connecticut. Kat, shortly off to Yale, finds herself drawn to a local architect she is babysitting for, while her more tearaway sister starts dating a guy from the money side of the tracks. Jojo leaves her man at the altar; she loves him but shies away from commitment. Meanwhile, the fame of the pizza continues to spread; it seems to contain something almost… mystic.
One of the most memorable scenes from Mystic Pizza is when Daisy’s preppy boyfriend Charles Gordon Windsor, Jr. picks her up in his 1986 Porsche 911 Carrera Cabrio and takes her out for an evening on the town. Their tire blows out on a very picturesque New England country road and after Charlie fails to hail a passing car, Daisy fluffs her hair, shakes her hips and gives it a whirl. To their surprise and ours, this doesn’t help. But when he takes a page out of her book and drops his pants, they are immediately rescued by three girls in a VW Rabbit. In another scene, Roberts gets even with two-timing Charlie by dumping a barrel full of fish in his cherished Porsche. If she only knew sooner that the girl Charlie is with is his sister.
Scarface (1983)
Directed by Brian De Palma
Written by Oliver Stone
Starring Al Pacino, Michelle Pfeiffer, Steven Bauer, and Robert Loggia as Frank
A remake of the 1932 classic, the 1983 version follows Cuban refugee, Tony Montana and his close friend Manny Ray who escape Cuba during the Mariel exodus of 1980. Tony and Manny undertake a contract killing in order to secure green cards and then they go to work for drug dealer Frank Lopez. Tony brings a new level of violence to Miami. But he is impatient and wants it all, including Frank's empire and his mistress Elvira Hancock. Once at the top, however, Tony's outrageous actions make him a target and everything comes crumbling down.
The pelicans are definitely flying in this movie and so is that hot new silver 1979 Porsche 928 that Tony buys off the showroom floor to impress Frank’s mistress, Elvira. Powered by a 5-liter V8, it’s got boom aplenty with a classic grand tourer shape to match it. In this classic scene, Tony upgrades from a pale yellow 1963 Cadillac convertible to a brand spanking new Porsche. During the inspection, his eyes spend more time on Elvira than they do on the Porsche and when she grows bored of his efforts to impress her, he leaves Manny with the details of purchasing the car while he escorts her back to the Cadillac and tries to charm her with his smooth (or not so smooth) moves.
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