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  • 2 weeks later...

My blue 1939 Buick Special with sidemounts was used in the movie Tora Tora Tora long time ago.  I also owned a 1939 Buick Special 4-dr convertible that was used in a movie called The Secret Files of Edgar Hoover".  It was black then.  Sold it last September.

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An HBO mini series Mildred Pierce starring Kate Winslet, adapted from the 40's movies starring Joan Crawford has lots of 30's cars with a 36 Special taking center stage. The cars and a few "racey" scenes make this not such a chick flick.

 

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Edited by MrEarl (see edit history)
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2 hours ago, MrEarl said:

An HBO mini series Mildred Pierce starring Kate Winslet, adapted from the 40's movies starring Joan Crawford has lots of 30's cars with a 36 Special taking center stage. The cars and a few "racey" scenes make this not such a chick flick.

So where are the racing scenes?

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On 4/20/2020 at 10:16 AM, MrEarl said:

An HBO mini series Mildred Pierce starring Kate Winslet, adapted from the 40's movies starring Joan Crawford has lots of 30's cars with a 36 Special taking center stage. The cars and a few "racey" scenes make this not such a chick flick.

 

1107068110_36MildredPierce.jpg.2d18cadb150ac7b2d4b7fd92906f3574.jpg

 

 

 

36.jpg.1bb22086a87f3e9663f3bef2b71d565d.jpg

 

 

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But 3rd pic is a Packard

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Many years ago and Not recent by any means, but many years ago in the 2003-2004 time frame, our former 1934 Buick had several scenes in the filming of "RAY", the life story of Ray Charles, legendary entertainer played by Jamie Foxx. I didn't care for Foxx personally, and his antics here in town while filming showed general disrespect for anyone and anything except for his self-image. I did allow the Buick to be used as a "Hero" car for several scenes, but insisted on clearing the script, usage, content, and actions beforehand. Of course the hero cars are paid far better than background cars, but money isn't everything.

 

We've been fortunate to have many of our cars used in filming a great many movies, commercials, videos, personal celebrity appearances, and TV commercials. Production companies pay and treat us well as soon as they understand that we know how we expect to be treated, and that our selves and vehicles deserve to be respected. I've heard horror stories from some folks and some locations, but thankfully, not the case here and for us.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Vintage footage of an original documentary about Pre-Castro revolutionary era in Havana.  The picture is out of focus since is pretty old. I just paused the video and took a still. Will this be an original color combo on the Buick?

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On ‎5‎/‎17‎/‎2020 at 9:46 PM, Larry Schramm said:

Sitting here watching Rainman tonight as I am looking at posts.

 

Chasing Classic Cars, MotorTrend TV, Season 10, Episode 7 - the restoration of the Rain Man 1949 Roadmaster convertible.  Owned by Barry Levinson, Rain Man Director.

Buick Rain Man.jpg

Buick Rain Man 1.jpg

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  • 1 month later...

In This Our Life

 

As has been discussed elsewhere on the Buick forums, it seems evident that Warner Brothers had some kind of product placement arrangement with Buick.  The other day I watched a great 1942 Bette Davis melodrama called "In This Our Life."  The "star" of the picture as far as I was concerned was Bette's '41 Roadmaster convertible (which also figured quite prominently in the plot). 

 

bette1.thumb.jpg.f35cfd7cb8b1ef804d3db2d335a15686.jpg

 

When "bad girl" Bette is fleeing from the cops at the end, she is pursued first by two plainclothes detectives in a '41 Special. 

 

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She's too fast for them with that 320 c.i. powerhouse.

 

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But when she shakes them off, two uniformed officers in a '39 Special take up the pursuit. 

 

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7 minutes ago, neil morse said:

In This Our Life

 

As has been discussed elsewhere on the Buick forums, it seems evident that Warner Brothers had some kind of product placement arrangement with Buick.  The other day I watched a great 1942 Bette Davis melodrama called "In This Our Life."  The "star" of the picture as far as I was concerned was Bette's '41 Roadmaster convertible (which also figured quite prominently in the plot). 

 

bette1.thumb.jpg.f35cfd7cb8b1ef804d3db2d335a15686.jpg

 

When "bad girl" Bette is fleeing from the cops at the end, she is pursued first by two plainclothes detectives in a '41 Special. 

Looks similar to the 41 convertible in Mr Blanding's Builds his Dreamhouse with Cary Grant and Myrna Loy

 

file11084okax7_1976.jpg.1c22edf3cf755ed1d6376e0d841828f8.jpg

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In the end, poor Bette smashes through a picket fence and drives off the road.  Apparently, even Warners couldn't afford to destroy a brand new Roadie, so the wreck seems to have involved at least two different cars.  First, there's this one.  (I can't tell you what this is, but it is most certainly not a '41 Roadmaster -- take a look at the rear bumper, just for starters.

 

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Then, in the final shot, the '41 seems to have morphed into a '40 as one of the officer's tries to extinguish the flames with a kind of "flit gun" extinguisher while the other officer pulls Bette's lifeless body from the wreckage.

 

bette5.thumb.jpg.24082d3903a2204330ed730171bb97bf.jpg

 

Quite a saga, and very enjoyable from an automotive standpoint!

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12 minutes ago, RivNut said:

Looks similar to the 41 convertible in Mr Blanding's Builds his Dreamhouse with Cary Grant and Myrna Loy

 

Well, similar, but Bette's looks much sharper with the whitewalls and skirts!  The odd thing about Mr. Blandings is that in the interior closeups with Cary Grant behind in the wheel, they for some reason use a completely different car.  I'm not sure what it is -- I think it's a Chrysler product -- but it shows the steering wheel and the dash, and it's definitely not the Buick.

 

In the Davis film, it's Buick all the way.  Even the close up of Bette stomping on the gas in her sensational period heels to get away from the cops definitely shows a Buick.

 

bette4.thumb.jpg.3857e450e3f64773523b1f7ee442e774.jpg

 

 

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While we are on the topic of Warner Bros. and Buicks, I notice that Lamar started this thread by mentioning the 2011 HBO miniseries "Mildred Pierce."  The HBO series was actually not an adaptation of the Warner Bros. picture from 1945 starring Joan Crawford -- it was a treatment based on the original novel by James M. Cain.  The HBO series was much more faithful to the book, very well done, and of course had a lot of great vintage cars, not just Buicks.

 

But to get to my point, the Warner Bros. picture had a lot of great Buicks in it -- the principal one being the lovely 1940 Sequoia Cream Century convertible that Mildred gives her daughter Vita to celebrate her 17th birthday.  (I realize the movie is in black and white, but that must be Sequoia Cream, don't you think?)

 

mildred1.jpg.8a672b1d5fd6015f887791beb7b4dc89.jpg

 

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Of course, Vita just "happens" to have parked next to a '41 Special sedan -- funny how the Buicks just seem to fill the screen.  😉  It's also interesting the the vent windows and frames have been removed from the Century.  I assume that this had something to do with wanting the camera to have an unobstructed view of the occupants for certain close up shots.

 

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Unless I’m looking in the wrong thread, yes, lots of them. “Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”, “Blue Book” and “Counting Cars” and many other pictures from  movies, TV series and shows. The thread used to have multiple pages.

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Not in a movie but in Cuba TV news. Cuban authorities conducting a car search seized a contraband of Spaghetti. News feed tells about the capture of this clandestine operation and how they charged and took the culprits to jail. Communist regime labeled the group as a very “dangerous network” Unbelievable!

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Edited by Elpad (see edit history)
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  • 2 weeks later...
On 5/19/2020 at 9:09 AM, SH4LT said:

 

Chasing Classic Cars, MotorTrend TV, Season 10, Episode 7 - the restoration of the Rain Man 1949 Roadmaster convertible.  Owned by Barry Levinson, Rain Man Director.

Buick Rain Man.jpg

Buick Rain Man 1.jpg

Seen today on Chasing Classic Cars. The car was at Amelia Island Concourse de Elegance

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87CED57A-F1ED-4B10-B9A8-6B61DC3406C5.jpeg

Edited by Elpad (see edit history)
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A couple of days ago on TCM, the "Americanization of Emily" starring James Garner and Julie Andrew's was shown. Julie Andrews plays an English woman who is a driver in the American Forces motor pool.  The car that she is assigned to drive is a 1938 Buick (right hand drive.) In the dialog, James Garner tells Andrews to have that Buick here at a certain time. Because she's cast as a driver, the car gets quite a bit of time on screen.

 

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Showing the black-out drive adaptation and right hand drive.  

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Edited by RivNut (see edit history)
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  • 2 weeks later...

As has been discussed in Matt Harwood's "'41 Limited" thread, Warner Brothers had a few Limiteds that they used in a lot of pictures in the '40's and early '50's.  I was watching "The Breaking Point" (1950) last night, and sure enough this one turned up again.

 

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It was used by some bad guys, of course, which seemed to be the principal group using the big Buicks in these pictures.

 

 

 

Edited by neil morse (see edit history)
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The twist in this one was that the Buick was just a decoy for a fake "get away" to fool the cops.  The bad guys really got away in a '36 DeSoto Airstream taxi, driving "real slow" so as not to look suspicious!

 

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I thought it was odd that the movie was set in 1950 and they were using a '36 DeSoto, but maybe cab companies kept their fleets in better shape in those days.

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  • 1 month later...

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If you are familiar with the Janet Evanovich series of books with Stephanie Plum as a private detective, Stephanie's car is always unavailable so she borrows Grandma Mazur's blue Buick Roadmaster. Except in the books, it's a 1953.  At least the movie got the color right.

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Now, Voyager

 

We again have the combination of Bette Davis, Warner Bros., and Buick with this film from 1942.  It's a real tear-jerker, probably most famous for the scenes where Paul Henreid lights two cigarettes at the same time and then hands one to Davis.   Anyhow, there's a brief sequence where Davis takes a young girl on a camping trip in the mountains.  Their vehicle is a '40 woody wagon, and shots of the odometer are used to indicate the passage of time.  They used a correct Buick odometer, but @Matt Harwood will be upset by the fact that the screw heads on the odometer face aren't lined up properly! 😄

 

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I'm not a huge fan of modified cars, but I really respect the work of Dave Kendig.  He really has a feeling for the original design, and acknowledges various design "cues" in his work.  For example, in this one, I love his "minimalist" treatment of the original grille.  I found out recently that the Buick marketing gurus in 1958 labeled it the "Fashion-Aire Dynastar Grille."  Shades of Don Draper!  Kendig's shop also turns out a very high quality product in all respects, not something that can be said for some of the other shops on the MT channel.

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