Category ►►► Virtuous Vigilantes

September 25, 2010

More on the Black Beauty, the Green Hornet's Car

Virtuous Vigilantes
Hatched by Dafydd

I'm pretty sure the Black Beauty from the 2011 Green Hornet movie (which I confess I hadn't even heard about until just now, when I went to IMDB) is the same car as in the 1966 TV series; that is, not the same literal car but the same make, model, and color (black Chrysler Imperial 1965-1966-1967 -- they used many cars).

Here's a shot of Seth Rogen -- as the "loveable goofball" version of the Green Hornet, I gather -- in front of the Black Beauty used in the 2011 movie:



Black Beauty with Seth Rogen posing

Black Beauty with Seth Rogen posing, 2010

Compare that with this production still from the 1966 TV series (Bruce Lee as Kato in front):



Green Hornet Black Beauty 1966 series

Black Beauty from 1966 series

It's clearly the same car, same year, except the new one has too much chrome. In fact, I found this snippet from the Wall Street Journal, of all places:

If you’re going to be a superhero, driving old Detroit steel is a must.

There are no crumple zones or airbags, but the heavy gauge steel body on frame is better suited to ramming enemies or brick walls.

Such is the case with Black Beauty, the Green Hornet’s Chrysler Imperial in the coming feature of the same name that’s due out in January 2011.

Twelve Chrysler Imperials were used for the movie that range from 65 to 67, because they’re hard to get in good shape says Nancy Meyer, a spokesperson for the movie. “Most people can’t tell the difference,” she says.

So it does appear that the movie uses the same car as in the TV series, with maybe a couple of additions; I don't recall whether or not the 1966 version had Gatling guns that rose from the hood, for example.

(Is the movie set in the mid-60s? The IMDB faq says it takes place in contemporary times... so why the ancient auto? Even a modern minivan could probably outrun -- and certainly outhandle! -- a 1966 Imperial.)

As an aside, another compare and contrast; here's the new Britt Reid (the Green Hornet's secret identity), played by Seth Rogen, side by side with the 1966 version played by Van Williams:



Seth Rogen as Britt Reid, 2011    Van Williams as Britt Reid, 1966

A Tale of Two Hornets: Seth Rogen (L) and Van Williams (R)

Which guy looks more like a serious, crime-fighting vigilante -- Rogen (2011) or Williams (1966)? Yeah, me too. Here's what Van Williams looked like decked out as the Green Hornet:



Van Williams as the Green Hornet

Van Williams as the Green Hornet

If that guy loomed up in front of me, I would throw my hands in the air and give him any information he demanded. If a similarly masked Seth Rogen loomed up, I'd be tempted to give him some candy and ask, "Who are you supposed to be, little boy?"

I don't have a good feeling about this movie at all, at all. Maybe they should rename it the Green Bumblebee.

Hatched by Dafydd on this day, September 25, 2010, at the time of 5:53 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack

September 24, 2010

The Green Hornet's Car

Future of Transportation , Virtuous Vigilantes
Hatched by Dafydd

I saw this car, the Morgan Aero 8, on Top Gear, the BBC car program (and the only car program I would ever watch)... and I fell completely in love with it. Alas, it costs hundreds of thousands of dollars, I believe.

But what immediately occurred to me was... what a smashing car this would be for the Green Hornet, if someone made a contemporary movie, à la the newest Batman movie series. Here, take a look, a green version:



GreenHornet-MorganAero8

Green Hornet hardtop (green)

It's fast, too; top speed is about 170, and it'll do 0 - 60 in about 4 seconds. It corners very, very well as well.

This one's a convertible, still green:



Green Hornet convertible

Green Hornet convertible (still green)

For the purists, who insist that Britt Reid drive the Black Beauty:



GreenHornet5-MorganAero8-BlackBeauty

Green Hornet's "Black Beauty"

Another view of a black Morgan Aero 8:



Black Beauty cross-eyed and painful

Black Beauty -- cross-eyed and painful

Finally, there's the coupe version, the Aeromax, which is just brilliant:



Green Hornet coupe

Aeromax coupe

That's the model I want -- but I want it in flat matte black, not grey; maybe some pinstriping in gloss black, only visible as reflection when the light hits it just right.

I'm an absolute sucker for retro 30s or 40s design; I believe that era was the apex of automobile artistry. Later cars looked like stealth aircraft or shrunken garbage trucks; and now there's a whole industry designed around cars that look like toasters, and "green" cars (enviro-mentalism) that look like roller skates -- and about the same size, too. You don't drive modern ultra-compacts so much as wear them.

For me, the Morgan Aero and Aeromax are definitely what the hosts at Top Gear call "money no object" cars: If money were no object, I would buy a Morgan Aeromax, no matter how many people I had to slay to get one.

Hatched by Dafydd on this day, September 24, 2010, at the time of 4:20 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack

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