posted 02-03-2005 07:30 PM         

My 55

My 67 R/T

posted 02-04-2005 12:00 AM         

License plate on John Milner's car is "THX-138". THX 1138 (1971) is a film also directed by George Lucas.

Harrison Ford was asked to cut his hair for the film. He refused, stating that his role was too short, and offered to wear a hat instead.

The '55 Chevy Bob Falfa drove is the same '55 Chevy used in the movie Two-Lane Blacktop (1971).

They actually used 3 1955 Chevrolets in the film: the "hot rod" version that is seen the most, a car for interior camera shots, and one for the rollover after the drag race. Both the "hot rod" '55 and the 1932 Ford coupe were bought from the studio by an individual in Overland Park, Kansas in the mid-1980's who restored them back to their movie appearance.

When Charles Martin Smith pulls up on the Vespa in the beginning, his crash into the building wasn't scripted. He genuinely lost control of the bike, and Lucas kept the cameras rolling.

The Ford Coupe driven by Paul Le Mat's character had a 1966 Chevrolet 327 cu.in. engine. The black 1955 Chevy driven by Harrison Ford had a Chevrolet 454 cu.in. engine capable of doing 11-second quarter-mile times.

The owner of the 1957 Thunderbird was never more than a few feet away from his prized possession during filming, and was always wiping here and shining there. He also drove Suzanne Somers crazy telling her what to do and what not to do.

Cindy Williams originally wanted to play Carol, and was even willing to have braces put on her teeth for better effect.

During the sequence in which John and Carol smeared shaving cream on the 1960 Cadillac and deflated the tires, Paul Le Mat actually jumped onto and over the car during each take, and George Lucas became concerned that Le Mat's boots would put dents in the hood and trunk.

The Mel's Drive-in restaurant in the movie had been closed and was reopened specifically for filming. It was demolished after the movie was completed.

About 300 pre-1962 cars were needed to create the cruising scenes, and over a thousand car buffs who responded to ads in the local newspapers were interviewed.

Filmed in 29 days.

The entire sock hop sequence was filmed in one day.

Ron Howard acted with Kathleen Quinlan in one scene, and 22 years later directed her in Apollo 13 (1995).

The scene after the drag race in which John admits to Terry that he was losing when Falfa's car lost control and rolled was improvised by Paul Le Mat and Charles Martin Smith. They had not had time to prepare for that scene, as it had been scheduled to be shot at another time.

The scene in which Steve assures Laurie he is staying in town and not going with Curt was shot in one take. Ron Howard and Cindy Williams had already been released from shooting and were in their street clothes when they were told to put their costumes back on so they could shoot that scene.

The scene at the liquor store in which Terry asks Debbie for money was shot in one take. Candy Clark wanted to do a second take because she flubbed her "Did you get it?" line, but Lucas said that was it, they were printing that first take.

Two cameras were used simultaneously in scenes involving conversations between actors in different cars. This resulted in significant production time savings.

The Douglas DC-7 airplane, shown at the end of the movie was previously owned by the rock group Grand Funk Railroad.

This film is Kathleen Quinlan's first credited screen appearance. She plays Peggy, a girl who comforts Laurie, who just broke up with her boyfriend. Her boyfriend is Ron Howard, director of Apollo 13 (1995), in which Quinlan starred.

The number 327 appears quite often in Lucas' movies. Here it is printed on the side of an engine. See also: Star Wars (1977), Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980), and Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999).

There is a rumor that while George Lucas and a co-worker were editing the film, the co-worker asked Lucas for "reel two, dialogue two", which abbreviated to R2-D2, a name which surfaced in Lucas' later film, Star Wars (1977).

Screenwriters Willard Huyck and Gloria Katz wanted an additional title card at the end detailing the fates of the women, but Lucas refused, arguing it would prolong the ending.

The soundtrack was originally to consist of some 80 classic rock and roll songs from the 1950s and '60s, but the budget couldn't stretch far enough to get licenses to afford that many. It was eventually whittled down to 45, with the Elvis Presley songs left out.

Filming was beset by a series of misfortunes and disasters. The day before filming was due to start a key member of the crew was arrested for growing marijuana. On the first night of shooting it took so long to get the cameras mounted onto the cars that filming didn't get started until 2 a.m., putting the crew half a night behind schedule before they'd even started. Most of the outdoor footage was to be shot in San Rafael. After the first night of shooting the city revoked the crew's filming permit due to complaints from a bar owner that their blocking off of the main street was costing him business. Filming proceeded in San Rafael for three more nights, then moved to Petaluma, 20 miles away. On the second night of shooting a fire in a nearby restaurant brought fire trucks into the area, their sirens and the resulting traffic jam preventing any filming. During the filming of Milner's deuce coupe, assistant cameraman Barney Colangelo slipped off the trailer of the camera truck and was run over, suffering minor injuries. Paul Le Mat also ended up being rushed to hospital after suffering an allergic reaction to the walnuts in the Waldorf salad he had at dinner. Another night LeMat threw Richard Dreyfuss into a swimming pool, gashing his forehead on the day before he was due to have his close-ups filmed. Dreyfuss also had wardrobe complaints - he refused to wear the loud Bermuda shorts and shirt Lucas had chosen for his character. During the filming of the drag race between Milner (LeMat) and Falfa (Ford), the car's axle broke and was replaced. On the second try, the replacement axle broke. On the next try the car failed to veer off the road as planned, narrowly missing two cameramen lying on the road.

The film was shot in sequence, so as filming went on and the actors grew tired from the shooting schedule, the characters they played would also look more and more tired as the night went on.

The film was previewed before an audience of young people in Northpoint Theater, San Francisco, on a Sunday morning with Universal Studios rep Ned Tanen in attendance. In a story that is now legendary in Hollywood, Tanan was not impressed with the film, despite a good audience reaction, and called it "unreleasable". Francis Ford Coppola, enraged at the comment, offered to buy the film from Universal (some stories claim he offered to write the check then and there) while the exhausted, burned-out and ill George Lucas watched in shock. A compromise was finally reached whereby Universal could "suggest" modifications to the movie, a resolution Lucas was not happy with, as it took control of the film away from him.

The three scenes that were added to the 1978 re-release were cut from the original release as a result of the compromise with Universal Studios. George Lucas put them back in after Star Wars (1977) was released.

The TV show that Curt is watching through the store windows while he sings along with The Platters' song ''The Great Pretender'' is "The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet" (1952)