Cars of the Period

Watching 1962's "The Manchurian Candidate" and am struck with the condition of many of the late-1950s automobiles seen on screen.  Many are rusty and beat-up.

Having recently watched "Hidden Figures" and "Loving," both of which are supposed to take place in this same timeframe, I'm struck with the difference.  All the 1950s cars in the recent movies were showroom-fresh, shiny, not a dent on 'em.  Old TV shows like Andy Griffith show the cars kinda grimy and lived-in too.

Do you suppose there are no rusted heaps in the prop-car rental business?  Or is this a design decision by directors, to try to paint the 1960s with a rosier brush?

Quote :

Do you suppose there are no rusted heaps in the prop-car rental business?

I'm inclined to believe this is the case. Back in the '50s and '60s they only needed prop cars for making movies about the '20s and '30s.

Anachronism in film is always interesting. Often a period piece will be filmed "on site" for authenticity. You might see a pre-revolution Parisian street scene with a magnificent old cathedral or a well-worn Roman road in the days of the Empire, cobblestones rounded from traffic. But the cathedral might only have been fifty years old at the time, the Roman road could have just been constructed — the props are authentic but they don't look like they would have at the time.

All the way through The Manchurian Candidate I noticed evidence of imperfections: the wall paint was lumpy (as evidenced under the bright Klieg lights), windows had leftover tape residue from previous signs, things didn't fit properly, some actors missed their cues and just kept acting.  I attribute this to the genius of John Frankenheimer.

The shiny 1957 Ford in "Loving" struck me as anachronistic at the time too.  Supposedly the Lovings were poor country folk, and to have a showroom quality immaculately-detailed car seemed unexplained if not unwarranted.

Whenever you see pictures of Havana the cars are more Road Warrior than Coke Ad. Maybe with the lifting of sanctions they can get in the prop-car business.

One of the innovations of Star Wars, in fact, was to have all this futuristic technology be somewhat grimy and used, and occasionally malfunction.

NoCoPilot wrote:

... some actors missed their cues and just kept acting ...

I saw Sinatra in "making of"-type interview. He said that he thought that movie was the first to feature Eastern martial arts-style fighting. He also indicated that one of his fingers (I think it was the left pinkie) didn't work right any more, because in the fight, his opponent kicked with the wrong foot, and he had to just block it any way he could, and was injured as a result.

There was also commentary from someone that Frankenheimer knew what sort of effect he wanted to achieve in the brainwashing scene, but didn't know how to photograph it. So the crew put together an effort that came out as that amazing 360 scene, just as a first attempt, and it worked so well they kept it.

Yep, all true. In the extras on the disc there's an interview with Sinatra circa 1976 where holds up his right pinkie and it's still broken. Tina Sinatra executive-produced the new one and owns the rights.

You can rent cars of any era and any condition. You can even rent cars for the purpose of crashing them.

So it IS a design decision. I wonder why directors choose to use all new-looking cars.

Damn, just when I thought we had all the world's problems solved...

We should probably start by looking for examples of vintage cars used in contemporary movies and see just how commonly those minty ones show up.

NoCoPilot wrote:

The shiny 1957 Ford in "Loving" struck me as anachronistic at the time too.  Supposedly the Lovings were poor country folk, and to have a showroom quality immaculately-detailed car seemed unexplained if not unwarranted.

All I have been able to find about the couple's finances is that Loving worked in construction. In those days, it was common for a working man to rent a house and buy a new or nearly new car. Many, maybe most, of these guys would wash the car nearly every weekend and keep it in showroom shape. So I don't know if the '57 Ford was out of place. But I did find a picture of  them with a 1958 Chevrolet Impala. I doubt that they would be leaning against some white boy's new car, so this may have been theirs.