Many actors claim playing a villain in a film is much more fun than starring as the protagonist. “Bad guys” tend to have more interesting personalities, and this nature trickles down to the cars they drive on screen.
Almost without exception, the evil characters in movies have exceptional taste in cars. Unlike flicks where the vehicles themselves are possessed by the devil such as Stephen King’s Christine or the silly film The Car, these villain mobiles are essentially innocent bystanders. Still, the cars tend to take on this evil by association.
There’s nothing inherently nefarious about a Lincoln Mark III, but when driven by the heroin kingpin in The French Connection this black personal luxury coupe takes on a very dark image. The French license plates (and possibly French-mandated yellow headlights under the covers) only adds to this mystery of how this thing even got there.
For a ubiquitous, Camry-like Bad Guy Car you simply can’t beat a Mercedes, particularly a W126 sedan in black. Hell, even guy-you-love-to-hate JR Ewing drove one on Dallas. You can’t forget Eddie Murphy chasing one in Beverly Hills Cop:
Big Benzes also featured prominently in the Lethal Weapon movies, including a chase with a black Sacco masterpiece in the fourth installment:
My favorite car-and-villain pairing of all time? I simply can’t think of a better one than David Carradine’s character in Kill Bill and his ride of choice: A DeTomaso Mangusta.
This untamed beast with a Ford 351 Cleveland in back was a car that made Ferraris look like dainty little kiddie cars. Raw, iron fist performance under a beautiful but sinister-looking glove.
Enough of my Bad Guy Machines. What are some of your favorites?
The black Porsches driven by the Brochnoviatch in Condorman. Especially the slant nose.
How about the Gold Train in Speed Racer?