September 28, 2025 • 26 mins
The source offers an extensive examination of the Black Beauty, the iconic car from the 1966 television series The Green Hornet, starring Van Williams and Bruce Lee. It explains that the vehicle, custom-built by Dean Jeffries from two 1966 Chrysler Imperials, served as a mobile command center equipped with advanced fictional weaponry and espionage gadgets, contrasting the show's more serious tone with the contemporary Batman series. The episode focuses heavily on Jeffries' design process, the car’s aesthetic, and its functional features, noting that the Black Beauty's enduring legacy is intrinsically linked to Bruce Lee's charismatic portrayal of Kato, the driver. Finally, the source discusses how the car's significance led to its faithful recreation for the 2011 film adaptation, cementing its status as a timeless piece of pop culture history.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Okay, let's unpack this. If you're a fan of nineteen
sixties TV, you know the look of the cars.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Yeah, bright colors, lots of flashing lights.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
Exactly, pure theatrical excess. You think immediately of the Batmobile,
just well, glorious camp, can't miss it. But today we're
actually steering in a completely different direction. We're going deep
on what you might call a subtle weapon, the nineteen
sixty six Black Beauty.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
It's a fascinating subject really because the Black Beauty, you know,
the Green Hornets car. It came from a show that
had such a short.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
Life, just one season, right sixty six to sixty seven.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
That's it. And like you said, it was totally overshadowed
at the time by Batman. That show was just a
cultural behemoth.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
Yeah, it really was.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
And yet somehow this car, the Black Beauty, it achieved
this genuine pop culture immortality. It stuck around.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
That's the paradox, isn't it. That's what we need to
figure out. We're talking about a car that didn't just
survive its show getting canceled.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
It went way beyond it.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
Yeah, it transcended it. It's still sort of rolling testament
to really meticulous automotive art and well the sheer ingenuity
of those Hollywood customizers working under pressure.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
And what's really interesting, I think is that the Black
Beauty was designed from the get go to be more
than just a car, more than just transport exactly. It
was conceived as like a core part of their crime
fighting gear, a necessary piece of tech. It felt less
like a car and more like, I don't know, a
finely crafted tool that could also happen to shoot rockets.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
Ah. Yeah, that's a good way to put it.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
It was this sleek, powerful extension of the Green Hornet himself,
and crucially, it was the perfect match for Bruce Lee's Cato.
His screen presence was just something.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
Else, unprecedented really. Yeah, So what's our mission for this
deep dive?
Speaker 2 (01:46):
Then, well, we're going to dig into the surprising foundation
of the vehicle, trace the amazing craftsmanship of the legend
Dean Jeffries.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
Okay, and we'll get into the specs too, both real
and fictional.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
Absolutely, the imposing, real war old stats of the Bass Car,
and then all the cool imaginative gadgets that made it famous.
And finally we'll try to understand why its legacy is
so strong right.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
Right up to that big homage in the twenty eleven
movie with all those cars they built exactly.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
So get ready, because we are definitely putting the pedal
down on this piece of history. Now, to really get
the car, you first have to understand the whole vibe
of the show.
Speaker 1 (02:24):
It came from the Green Hornet TV series. Even though
it was short lived, it had a pretty significant background
it did.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
It was essentially set up as a spinoff from Batman,
actually same production team. William Dozier was the executive producer.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
But the source material was totally different, wasn't it completely?
Speaker 2 (02:39):
While Batman was pure comic book, bright and bold, the
Green Hornet came from that old nineteen thirties radio serial.
George Trendle and Franz Striker created.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
It, ah okay, so that radio history immediately gives it
a different feel, darker.
Speaker 2 (02:54):
Maybe much darker, more serious. You had Britt read the
rich newspaper guy fighting crime as the Green Hornet with
it incredibly talented Sidekit Cato. But here's the key difference,
the aha moment that really dictated how the Black Beauty
had to look and feel go on. While Batman just
leaned into the camp. Yeah, bright lights, pow dam graphics,
(03:15):
ridiculous villains, totally over the top. The Greenhorn had tried
for something way more serious, even gritty for.
Speaker 1 (03:21):
The time, so a different tone entirely.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
Yeah, this is blend, kind of ahead of its time
for TV superheroes. It mixed classic film noir elements, the shadows,
the Morley Gray areas, the trench.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
Coats, with that sixties spy gadget thing exactly.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
The whole espionage fascination was huge then, so high tech
gadgetry was key, which meant the car couldn't be loud
or flashy or well funny.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
It had to match that serious, sophisticated tone, reflect.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
The darkness precisely. The car was absolutely essential for grounding
the show's whole look and feel, and a scene formidable, stealthy, stylish,
but never ever ostentatious.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
So the creators saw it as more than just getting
from A to B.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
Oh way more. It was explicitly called a mobile command center.
It was the main strategic asset the Hornet and Cato
use to outthink and outmaneuver the criminals, who are generally
played more realistically too.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
And that deep black color it communicated threat, but.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
Quietly efficiency and threat. Yeah, without screaming look at me, yeah,
like the Batmobile did. It was meant to be the
ultimate undercover machine.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
Okay. So with that kind of ambitious, sophisticated vision, they
couldn't just grab any old car from the studio law
and you slap some green paint on it.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
No way. It needed a fundamental rebuild, someone who could
bridge that gap between say, luxury sedan and lethal weapon.
Speaker 1 (04:43):
And that's where Dean Jeffries comes in.
Speaker 2 (04:45):
That's why they went straight to him. One of Hollywood's
absolute top custom car.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
Guys, Dean Jeffries by sixty six, he wasn't just some
guy tinkering in a garage. He was already a bit
of a legend in the industry.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
Oh absolutely. He didn't just tweak cars. He built automotive characters.
Green Hornet job was right in his wheelhouse.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
He was the go to guy if you needed something
truly iconic on wheels for a production.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
Definitely. He'd already made his name with things like the
Monkey Mobile for the.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
Monkeys, right, and that Moonscope concept car too.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
That's another one. He really understood how to mix that
sort of Hollywood flash with real solid automotive engineering.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
And the brief for the Black Beauty was pretty unique,
wasn't it? Take this big, fancy, almost boring sedan, Yeah, unassuming,
and hide a load of spytech inside it. So his
starting point was a stock nineteen sixty six Chrysler Imperial.
Speaker 2 (05:35):
And that choice, the Imperial, it tells you a lot
right there. How so well, it wasn't picked for speed
or nimble handling. This was Chrysler's top of the line
luxury car. Huge. It was built to go head to
head with Cadillac and Lincoln in terms of sheer road presence.
It was about projecting authority.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
But hang on, if the Hornet supposed to be stealthy,
why not something smaller, sportier. Wouldn't that make more sense
for a vigilante.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
Ah, But that's where their influence comes back. And they
needed something imposing, something durable. And just look at the
specks of sixty six Imperial, big massive, over eighteen feet long,
weigh nearly five thousand pounds, I mean, just enormous. But
that sheer size gave Jeffries the perfect canvas, you know,
plenty of room to hide bulky props, weapons, gadgets without
(06:21):
making the car look instantly weird or obviously modified. The
size itself was the disguise.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
Okay, that makes sense, and I guess it needed some
serious muscle to move all that weight, especially once you
added the fictional gear and stunt reinforcements.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
Absolutely under the hood was a big four hundred and
forty cubic inch V eight put out around three hundred
and fifty horse power, which was pretty potent for the time.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
Plenty of grudt then, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
And crucially for TV work, it was hooked up to
Chrysler's three speed Torque Flight automatic transmission.
Speaker 1 (06:50):
Why is the transmission so important for a TV car
seems like a minor detail.
Speaker 2 (06:54):
Well, the Torquflight was famous for being tough, really reliable,
especially when you started messing with the car weights stressing
it out. Think about it, You're asking this luxury barge
to do fast starts, sudden stops, take after take, carrying
extra weight from roll bars and props. Yeah, you need
a gearbox that won't quit.
Speaker 1 (07:11):
Right. Breakdowns cost time and money on set exactly, So the.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
Torque Slag gave Jeffries a solid, dependable platform that wouldn't
keep stalling production.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
Okay, so massive powerful, tough foundation. Now, Jeffreys had this
clever plan for dealing with the filming itself. He didn't
just get one Imperial.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
No, he got two, two nineteen sixty six Chrysler Imperials.
Speaker 1 (07:36):
And that dual build approach that's pretty standard in Hollywood
for car heavy shows, right, Oh.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
Yeah, absolutely essential. It tells you how serious they were
about the car. You always differentiate between your hero car
and your stunt car.
Speaker 1 (07:47):
So the hero car is the pretty one, exactly.
Speaker 2 (07:49):
That's the one that gets the perfect pink job, the
flawless interior. It's used for close ups, dialogue scenes inside
the car, any static beauty shots. It's the show piece
and the stunt far that's the workhorse built up. Jeffreys
would have reinforced it heavily, added roll bars inside, probably
extra bracing, definitely beefed up the suspension.
Speaker 1 (08:07):
They handle the rough stuff, all the.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
Chases, the hard breaking jumps. Maybe just the general abuse
of filming action scenes without the car, you know, collapsing
having too meant one version of the Black Beauty was
always ready for the cameras. Avoiding expensive delays makes sense.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
Two huge, powerful, distinct Imperials ready to become the black beauty.
Now we get to the fun part, the actual.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
Mods, right, the transformation from this luxury sedan to the
black beauty. And like we said, it was all about
achieving that understated menace.
Speaker 1 (08:38):
So restraint was key. No batmobile fins or bright red.
Speaker 2 (08:43):
Paint here, definitely not. Let's start with the most obvious thing,
the paint. It was black, sure, but the sources always
mentioned it had the specific slight green tint.
Speaker 1 (08:52):
How did that play on camera? What did that tint do?
Speaker 2 (08:55):
It was actually really clever. It gave the car this
almost chameleon like quality. So depending on the lighting studio
lights versus say cruising through dark city streets at night,
the color would subtly shift.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
Ah makes it feel less flat.
Speaker 2 (09:08):
Exactly, more organic form a series not jet black car.
It added to the whole stealth vibe.
Speaker 1 (09:13):
And they also messed with the trim right. The standard
Imperial had a lot of chrome, very sixty six luxury, yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
And they toned down that chrome significantly. They kept some
of it, which gave it a sort of sophisticated metallic edge,
but they used it really sparingly.
Speaker 1 (09:28):
So it looks sleek, not flashy.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
Sleek not showy. That was the goal.
Speaker 1 (09:32):
And then those signature details, the custom green headlights. They're
described as glowing eerily.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
Yeah, a direct nod to the green Hornet name. Plus
they slightly lower the car's suspension and tweak the front
grill just enough to make it look a bit more aggressive,
more predatory, but not like a souped up hot rod.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
Still looked like it could be a production.
Speaker 2 (09:53):
Car, almost exactly subtlety was everything now moving inside the
whole mobile headquarters idea really drove the interior design.
Speaker 1 (10:01):
Right, Jeffries put in that custom bashboard look pretty intimidating.
Speaker 2 (10:05):
Yeah, that control panel was the visual core of all
the tech. Yeah, pack with switches, dials, little screens was
like something out of a spy plane.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
But this is where nineteen sixties TV magic comes in, right,
How much of that actually worked?
Speaker 2 (10:17):
Very little? Honestly, that's the key thing to remember. It
looked amazing, incredibly complex, but most of those switches and dials, yeah,
pure props, non functional.
Speaker 1 (10:26):
Their job was just to look advanced.
Speaker 2 (10:28):
Precisely to suggest cutting edge tech. They used lighting tricks
and tight camera angles to sell the illusion that Cato
was operating this super sophisticated.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
Machine and didn't They add a divider inside too.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
They did a physical partition separating the front seats from
the rear compartment. That really reinforced the idea of it
being a dedicated command post, you know, secure space for
planning or holding someone.
Speaker 1 (10:51):
Okay, now the weapons, the gadgets, This is the Black
Beauty's real calling card.
Speaker 2 (10:56):
This is what set it apart. So the arsenal first up,
the hornet gas gun dispensed non lethal gas.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
That non lethal point is important, isn't it fit the
show's more serious tone.
Speaker 2 (11:07):
Absolutely, It wasn't about blowing things up randomly. It was
about incapacitating enemies professionally. Then you have the hornet sting.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
The sonic weapon, pure sixties spy stuff.
Speaker 2 (11:16):
Totally supposedly could shatter locks or disorient people just with
sound waves. Very cool concept. And then the more.
Speaker 1 (11:25):
Dramatic hardware concealed of course.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
Some sealed rocket lunchers built into the hood area. They
fired small projectiles, probably just flares or blanks for effect
on screen, used more for drama clearing an obstacle, that.
Speaker 1 (11:37):
Kind of thing, and for escapes.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
The classic rear mounted smokescreen device. Can't have a spy
car without a smoke screen.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
True, and the other absolute must.
Speaker 2 (11:47):
Have rotating license plates for those quick identity switches. A
visual gag, yeah, but essential spy car kit.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
And wasn't there one more gadget something kind of ahead
of its time?
Speaker 2 (11:57):
Yes, the scanner drone, a little remote control flying device
launched from the car used for aerial surveillance intelligence gathering.
Speaker 1 (12:04):
Wow, a drone in sixty six. That's pretty forward thinking,
it really was.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
It cemented the Black Beauty's role, not just as muscle,
but as this mobile intel hub focused on information, not
just brute force.
Speaker 1 (12:15):
Okay, but how did they do all this on set?
Making us believe a Chrysler Imperial is firing rockets and
launching drones.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
Back then, it was all practical effects wizardry combined with
smart sound design. Those eerie green headlights just colored gels
or filters put in front of the standard lamps, simple
but effective, exactly. The rocket launchers, tiny pyrotechnics, small smoke charges,
maybe blanks fired carefully positioned just right to look like
(12:43):
a launch without actually damaging anything.
Speaker 1 (12:45):
And things like infrared scanners on the dash.
Speaker 2 (12:47):
Pure movie magic, dramatic sound effets dubbed over close up
shots of those cool looking but totally fake glowing dials
on Jeffrey's custom dashboard. It was all about creating the
illusion through clever film making.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
So the car was this incredible machine, this illusion, but
it needed an operator who was just as precise, just
as cool.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
And that brings us inevitably to the other huge factor
in The Black Beauty's fame, the man behind the wheel,
Bruce Lee. You know, when Bruce Lee got cast as Cato,
the traditional role of the sidekick was well, pretty limited,
often just comic relief for someone to rescue.
Speaker 1 (13:21):
Yeah, not exactly equals.
Speaker 2 (13:22):
But Lee just completely flipped that script. He wasn't just
a sidekick. He became an equal partner. He was the chauffeur, sure,
but also the primary combatant. He brought this incredible energy
to the screen.
Speaker 1 (13:36):
We all know about his martial arts, obviously groundbreaking, but
how did that physical skill translate to him, you know,
just driving the car or pushing buttons.
Speaker 2 (13:45):
It made a huge difference. His movements were described as precise, athletic.
He had this intense screen presence, So even just the
act of driving or flipping a switch for a gadget,
it looked different. Oh so Cato wasn't just you know,
fumbling for the smoke's green button. He was piloting the
Black Beauty. He was the one activating the gas gun,
(14:05):
deploying the drum, and he'd do.
Speaker 1 (14:06):
It with that cool efficiency the sources talk.
Speaker 2 (14:08):
About exactly, no wasted motion, total focus. It created a
seamless connection between the man and the machine. It made
the car itself feel incredibly responsive, incredibly sophisticated because he
looked so in command.
Speaker 1 (14:20):
And then there's the fighting, right His.
Speaker 2 (14:23):
Martial arts background was revolutionary for TV. He didn't just
drive the car, he used it tactically. He could be
laser focused on driving one second and the next second
he's leaping out of the car, a blur of lightning,
fast kicks and bunches. That fluidity, that transition. It turned
the Black Beauty into more than just transportation.
Speaker 1 (14:41):
It became, as the outline says, an extension of Cato's abilities.
Speaker 2 (14:45):
Perfectly put the car's own image sleek, elegant, but undeniably
lethal when necessary. It mirrored Lee's own persona as this artist, fighter,
restrained power, ready to.
Speaker 1 (14:59):
Explode into an and the cultural impact of this, especially
back in nineteen sixty six, you can't overstate.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
It, absolutely not think about it. Asian characters in Hollywood
back then were almost always stereotypes, often comical, often subservient.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
But Cato wasn't like that at all.
Speaker 2 (15:13):
Not even close. He was competent, incredibly confident, stylish. Often
he was clearly the more tech savvy and frankly the
more dangerous of the pair. He commanded respect just by
being there.
Speaker 1 (15:23):
So the Black Beauty gets tangled up in this huge
cultural moment, the rise of Bruce.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
Lee inextricably linked that association. This cool, deadly car being
driven by this revolutionary Asian star. There's probably the single
biggest reason why a car from a canceled one season
show is still so iconic today.
Speaker 1 (15:43):
It cemented its legacy, it really did.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
But Black Beauty isn't just remembered as a cool TV car,
it's the machine that served the legendary Cato. That connection
put it in a whole different league in pop culture history.
Speaker 1 (15:55):
Okay, so we have this elegant design, this incredibly skilled driver,
but let's talk decalities again. Actually filming this thing a
five thousand pound luxury sedan never meant for action scenes.
That must have been a headache for the production crew.
Speaker 2 (16:09):
Oh, a massive headache. Absolutely yeah. Just the sheer size
and weight of the Imperial made staging things like high
speed chases or quick j turns incredibly difficult. He's careful planning,
extremely careful choreography. If you actually watch the old action sequences,
you could often see how the camera work is trying
hard to make the car look faster or more agile
than it really was.
Speaker 1 (16:27):
So how did they pull it off? Make this lan
yacht look like it could actually catch bad guys?
Speaker 2 (16:32):
Well? A lot of it was clever editing, using low
camera angles to exaggerate speed, sometimes using process shots where
the background moves behind a stationary.
Speaker 1 (16:40):
Car, standard tricks of the trade, right.
Speaker 2 (16:42):
But for the real driving they leaned heavily on that
stunt car version we talked about a reinforced one, yeah,
and that car needed constant work, adding those heavy duty
roll bars vital for safety, but also helped stiffen the chassis.
And they were constantly having to beef up the suspension
because sharp turns in sudden stops just put immense strain
(17:04):
on a car like that.
Speaker 1 (17:05):
And those ambitious practical effects like the car coming out
of the hidden garage that wasn't simple either, not at all.
Speaker 2 (17:11):
Yeah, that iconic sequence emerging from under Britt Reed's driveway
that required a whole custom built set piece, a big mechanism,
a huge hydraulic lift system strong enough to raise that
section of pavement with the car on it. These weren't
things you could just film quickly. They needed meticulous planning,
multiple takes, probably lots of adjustments to get the timing
(17:31):
and the hydraulics working perfectly for the camera. Very expensive stuff.
Speaker 1 (17:35):
And you mentioned Bruce Lee did a lot of the
close up driving himself, even with stunt drivers for the
dangerous bits. That must have added another layer of complexity.
Speaker 2 (17:42):
It did in terms of scheduling and setup, but it
was absolutely vital for authenticity. Why so important because the
audience needed to see Cato in control, seeing Lee's focused
intensity behind the wheel, his hands on those custom controls
that sole the whole idea of the mass operating his machine.
It made it believable.
Speaker 1 (18:03):
Okay, So they poured all this effort in custom cars,
complex effects, they hired a martial arts superstar, and then
the show gets canceled after just twenty six episodes.
Speaker 2 (18:13):
Abruptly canceled. That's a huge investment down the drain for
a project that didn't even last a full TV season.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
Why did it fail so quickly? What was the thinking?
Speaker 2 (18:22):
It's fascinating. Really it boils down to being out of
sync with what audiences, or maybe what network execs thought
audiences wanted at that exact moment.
Speaker 1 (18:31):
They were expecting Batman.
Speaker 2 (18:32):
Pretty much. People were tuned in for that campier fun,
the bright colors, the simple good vers evil stories of Batman.
The Green Hornet with its darker tone, its more complex
spy plots. It was just too serious, too nuanced, perhaps
for that primetime.
Speaker 1 (18:50):
Slot, aimed a bit too high for the room.
Speaker 2 (18:52):
Maybe possibly it went for sophistication one the big hit
was all about spectacle, bad timing maybe.
Speaker 1 (18:59):
But the car. The car survived. The Black Beauty somehow
became the most memorable thing about the whole series. Despite
the show's failure.
Speaker 2 (19:06):
Absolutely, its legacy completely overshadowed the show's short run, and
that endurance led to kind of interesting afterlives for the
actual cars.
Speaker 1 (19:14):
What happened to the two Imperials.
Speaker 2 (19:15):
They went separate ways after the show wrapped. One of them,
sadly was mostly stripped of its gadgets returned pretty close
to stock edition and just sold off kind of anti climacting.
Speaker 1 (19:24):
Ah shame. What about the other one?
Speaker 2 (19:25):
The other one thankfully stayed with Dean Jefferies himself for
many years. He kept it, showed it off at car
shows and events. He clearly knew he'd created something special
and helped preserve its visual history, and.
Speaker 1 (19:36):
That history eventually turned into real value.
Speaker 2 (19:39):
Right it did. As time passed, the car became this
sought after piece of TV memorabilia. By twenty ten, one
of the original surfaced at auction.
Speaker 1 (19:47):
Commuch did it go for?
Speaker 2 (19:49):
It sold for thirty nine five hundred dollars, which, you know,
considering the show only ran twenty six episodes decades earlier,
that price tag is a real testament to the Black
Beauty's last power and iconic status. And given that status,
that enduring appeal, it was almost inevitable that Hollywood would
eventually try to bring it.
Speaker 1 (20:08):
Back, which they did decades later the twenty eleven movie reboot.
Michelle Gondry directed it, seth Rogen as Britt Reed, j
Chaw as Cato Right, and.
Speaker 2 (20:16):
The filmmakers on that project they knew one thing for sure.
They could not mess up the car.
Speaker 1 (20:22):
The Black Beauty was non negotiable.
Speaker 2 (20:24):
Absolutely, They understood that tampering with the core look and
feel of that car would just alienate all the fans
of the original series. They really went to incredible lengths
to capture its spirit.
Speaker 1 (20:33):
They basically treated the car as the real star of
the movie.
Speaker 2 (20:36):
You could argue that. And the scale of the vehicle
production for that film was just mind blowing. They didn't
build just two Black Beauties, how many? They built a
fleet of twenty nine modified Chrysler Imperials to play the Black.
Speaker 1 (20:50):
Beauty twenty nine? Why on earth so many?
Speaker 2 (20:53):
That sounds insane, Well, it shows you the difference between
sixties TV and modern blockbuster filmmaking. Had multiple perfect hero
cars for close ups. Yeah, you needed several tough stunt
cars for the driving sequences.
Speaker 1 (21:06):
Okay, that makes sense, But twenty nine and then.
Speaker 2 (21:08):
You needed a whole bunch of smash cars, vehicles specifically
built to be wrepped in action scenes, crashes, explosions, getting
shot up. Modern action movies chew through cars. The budget
just for replicating Jeffrey's work must have been enormous.
Speaker 1 (21:21):
Wow. And they kept the core look, the black and
green Oh, yeah.
Speaker 2 (21:25):
The esthetic was crucial. They kept that sleek black paint,
the green headlights, the overall imposing shape. But obviously the
arsenal got a major twenty first century upgrade.
Speaker 1 (21:34):
Yeah, you'd expect that. What kind of new gadgets did
it have?
Speaker 2 (21:37):
They went big, used a mix of modern CGI and
practical effects. You had things like rapid fire missile launchers
popping out, a big retractable gatling gun mounted on the hood. Seriously,
a gatling gun yep, plus really advanced surveillance gear, tactical
computer displays inside the car, the works. It was spectacular.
Speaker 1 (21:57):
And how is the car received in that movie? The
film itself got kind of mixed reviews, didn't it?
Speaker 2 (22:01):
It did. Yeah, The comedic tone, especially Rogen's take on
Britt Reid, was divisive for some, but the Black Beauty
itself universally praised.
Speaker 1 (22:12):
Everyone agreed they got the car.
Speaker 2 (22:14):
Right pretty much. It was seen as this faithful but
thrillingly updated version of the original concept, very functional, very cool.
Speaker 1 (22:21):
On screen, and J Chow's Cato, while different from Bruce Lee,
still had that connection to the car.
Speaker 2 (22:27):
Definitely. He still had that intensity that mastered the machine.
It ensured that even in this new interpretation, the Black
Beauty felt like the essential, indispensable tool for the Green Hornet.
The car still reflected the power and precision of its operator.
Speaker 1 (22:40):
Okay, so we followed the whole arc from two sixty
six Imperials being transformed by Dean Jeffries right up to
that fleet of twenty nine cars for the movie. Let's
try and boil it down. Why why does this specific
car endure?
Speaker 2 (22:55):
I think it really comes down to maybe three main things. First,
just the sheer brilliance of Dean Jeffrey's original design.
Speaker 1 (23:02):
The restraint.
Speaker 2 (23:03):
Exactly, he mixed elegance with menace using restraint, which was
the total opposite of the campy excess of the Batmobile.
The Black Beauty looked like it could be real, like plausible,
high end spy tech.
Speaker 1 (23:15):
Okay, so design philosophy, what's second?
Speaker 2 (23:17):
Second, that whole spy tech vibe just hit the nail
on the head for the nineteen sixties. It resonated perfectly
with that era's obsession with espionage, cold war intrigue, sophisticated
undercover stuff. The car felt grounded in that.
Speaker 1 (23:28):
Fantasy, believable even with the rockets.
Speaker 2 (23:30):
Weirdly, yes, and third and maybe most importantly the Bruce
Leef actor cultural anchor, precisely his exploding star power, his
revolutionary portrayal of Cato as this cool, competent, stylish equal
that cemented the car's legacy. It became linked to him,
and through him, it became this enduring cultural touchstone, quiet power, precision, elegance.
Speaker 1 (23:54):
So the Black Beauty started as two sturdy Chrysler Imperials
transformed by Jeffrey's vision, and it just grew beyond its origins.
Became more than a prop.
Speaker 2 (24:03):
It really did. It became this complex, genuinely beloved character
in his own right within pop culture history.
Speaker 1 (24:08):
Wow, what awry? That was a fantastic deep dive. We
started off contrasting the Black Beauty's subtle threat with the
loud spectacle of its main TV rival.
Speaker 2 (24:16):
And found an icon really defined by its precision, its restraint.
Speaker 1 (24:20):
Yeah, we dug into the base car, that imposing sixty
six Chrysler Imperial. We talked about Dean Jeffrey's brilliant two
car Screaper g to handle the filming the Hero Car
and the sun Car exactly. We detailed all those cool,
mostly non lethal gadgets that really reflected the green Hornet's
more serious approach and critically.
Speaker 2 (24:37):
How Bruce Lee's absolutely groundbreaking performance just defined the car's
character on screen and sealed its reputation forever.
Speaker 1 (24:45):
It's just such a perfect example, isn't it, of how
really thoughtful restrained design combined with that incredible synergy between
an actor and the vehicle. Yeah, that magic, It can
turn what's technically just a prop into this enduring piece
of mythology, something people remember and talk about decades later.
Speaker 2 (25:05):
The Black Beauty really proves that sometimes you know, less
is more, less flash can make a much more powerful
statement in the long run, And.
Speaker 1 (25:12):
That actually leads us perfectly into our final thought for you,
the listener. We spent a lot of time talking about
The Black Beauty's design philosophy, restrained yet.
Speaker 2 (25:19):
Powerful, subtle menace versus flamboyant excess.
Speaker 1 (25:22):
Right, If the Batmobile's the wild rock concert, the Black
Beauty is maybe the precision surgical instrument. So here's something
to think about.
Speaker 2 (25:30):
Beyond the Black Beauty. What other fictional vehicles from TV,
from film achieved that kind of quiet iconic status.
Speaker 1 (25:39):
Yeah, think about cars or maybe even ships or other
machines that became true cultural icons. Not because they were
the flashiest or the most aggressive, but because.
Speaker 2 (25:48):
They prioritize things like believability or restraint or a kind
of operational elegance over just pure loud spectacle. What else
fits that mold.
Speaker 1 (25:56):
Something for you to chew on. What other machines achieved, legends, status,
real subtlety,
Okay, let's unpack this. If you're a fan of nineteen
sixties TV, you know the look of the cars.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Yeah, bright colors, lots of flashing lights.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
Exactly, pure theatrical excess. You think immediately of the Batmobile,
just well, glorious camp, can't miss it. But today we're
actually steering in a completely different direction. We're going deep
on what you might call a subtle weapon, the nineteen
sixty six Black Beauty.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
It's a fascinating subject really because the Black Beauty, you know,
the Green Hornets car. It came from a show that
had such a short.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
Life, just one season, right sixty six to sixty seven.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
That's it. And like you said, it was totally overshadowed
at the time by Batman. That show was just a
cultural behemoth.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
Yeah, it really was.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
And yet somehow this car, the Black Beauty, it achieved
this genuine pop culture immortality. It stuck around.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
That's the paradox, isn't it. That's what we need to
figure out. We're talking about a car that didn't just
survive its show getting canceled.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
It went way beyond it.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
Yeah, it transcended it. It's still sort of rolling testament
to really meticulous automotive art and well the sheer ingenuity
of those Hollywood customizers working under pressure.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
And what's really interesting, I think is that the Black
Beauty was designed from the get go to be more
than just a car, more than just transport exactly. It
was conceived as like a core part of their crime
fighting gear, a necessary piece of tech. It felt less
like a car and more like, I don't know, a
finely crafted tool that could also happen to shoot rockets.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
Ah. Yeah, that's a good way to put it.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
It was this sleek, powerful extension of the Green Hornet himself,
and crucially, it was the perfect match for Bruce Lee's Cato.
His screen presence was just something.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
Else, unprecedented really. Yeah, So what's our mission for this
deep dive?
Speaker 2 (01:46):
Then, well, we're going to dig into the surprising foundation
of the vehicle, trace the amazing craftsmanship of the legend
Dean Jeffries.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
Okay, and we'll get into the specs too, both real
and fictional.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
Absolutely, the imposing, real war old stats of the Bass Car,
and then all the cool imaginative gadgets that made it famous.
And finally we'll try to understand why its legacy is
so strong right.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
Right up to that big homage in the twenty eleven
movie with all those cars they built exactly.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
So get ready, because we are definitely putting the pedal
down on this piece of history. Now, to really get
the car, you first have to understand the whole vibe
of the show.
Speaker 1 (02:24):
It came from the Green Hornet TV series. Even though
it was short lived, it had a pretty significant background
it did.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
It was essentially set up as a spinoff from Batman,
actually same production team. William Dozier was the executive producer.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
But the source material was totally different, wasn't it completely?
Speaker 2 (02:39):
While Batman was pure comic book, bright and bold, the
Green Hornet came from that old nineteen thirties radio serial.
George Trendle and Franz Striker created.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
It, ah okay, so that radio history immediately gives it
a different feel, darker.
Speaker 2 (02:54):
Maybe much darker, more serious. You had Britt read the
rich newspaper guy fighting crime as the Green Hornet with
it incredibly talented Sidekit Cato. But here's the key difference,
the aha moment that really dictated how the Black Beauty
had to look and feel go on. While Batman just
leaned into the camp. Yeah, bright lights, pow dam graphics,
(03:15):
ridiculous villains, totally over the top. The Greenhorn had tried
for something way more serious, even gritty for.
Speaker 1 (03:21):
The time, so a different tone entirely.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
Yeah, this is blend, kind of ahead of its time
for TV superheroes. It mixed classic film noir elements, the shadows,
the Morley Gray areas, the trench.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
Coats, with that sixties spy gadget thing exactly.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
The whole espionage fascination was huge then, so high tech
gadgetry was key, which meant the car couldn't be loud
or flashy or well funny.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
It had to match that serious, sophisticated tone, reflect.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
The darkness precisely. The car was absolutely essential for grounding
the show's whole look and feel, and a scene formidable, stealthy, stylish,
but never ever ostentatious.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
So the creators saw it as more than just getting
from A to B.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
Oh way more. It was explicitly called a mobile command center.
It was the main strategic asset the Hornet and Cato
use to outthink and outmaneuver the criminals, who are generally
played more realistically too.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
And that deep black color it communicated threat, but.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
Quietly efficiency and threat. Yeah, without screaming look at me, yeah,
like the Batmobile did. It was meant to be the
ultimate undercover machine.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
Okay. So with that kind of ambitious, sophisticated vision, they
couldn't just grab any old car from the studio law
and you slap some green paint on it.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
No way. It needed a fundamental rebuild, someone who could
bridge that gap between say, luxury sedan and lethal weapon.
Speaker 1 (04:43):
And that's where Dean Jeffries comes in.
Speaker 2 (04:45):
That's why they went straight to him. One of Hollywood's
absolute top custom car.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
Guys, Dean Jeffries by sixty six, he wasn't just some
guy tinkering in a garage. He was already a bit
of a legend in the industry.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
Oh absolutely. He didn't just tweak cars. He built automotive characters.
Green Hornet job was right in his wheelhouse.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
He was the go to guy if you needed something
truly iconic on wheels for a production.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
Definitely. He'd already made his name with things like the
Monkey Mobile for the.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
Monkeys, right, and that Moonscope concept car too.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
That's another one. He really understood how to mix that
sort of Hollywood flash with real solid automotive engineering.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
And the brief for the Black Beauty was pretty unique,
wasn't it? Take this big, fancy, almost boring sedan, Yeah, unassuming,
and hide a load of spytech inside it. So his
starting point was a stock nineteen sixty six Chrysler Imperial.
Speaker 2 (05:35):
And that choice, the Imperial, it tells you a lot
right there. How so well, it wasn't picked for speed
or nimble handling. This was Chrysler's top of the line
luxury car. Huge. It was built to go head to
head with Cadillac and Lincoln in terms of sheer road presence.
It was about projecting authority.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
But hang on, if the Hornet supposed to be stealthy,
why not something smaller, sportier. Wouldn't that make more sense
for a vigilante.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
Ah, But that's where their influence comes back. And they
needed something imposing, something durable. And just look at the
specks of sixty six Imperial, big massive, over eighteen feet long,
weigh nearly five thousand pounds, I mean, just enormous. But
that sheer size gave Jeffries the perfect canvas, you know,
plenty of room to hide bulky props, weapons, gadgets without
(06:21):
making the car look instantly weird or obviously modified. The
size itself was the disguise.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
Okay, that makes sense, and I guess it needed some
serious muscle to move all that weight, especially once you
added the fictional gear and stunt reinforcements.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
Absolutely under the hood was a big four hundred and
forty cubic inch V eight put out around three hundred
and fifty horse power, which was pretty potent for the time.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
Plenty of grudt then, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
And crucially for TV work, it was hooked up to
Chrysler's three speed Torque Flight automatic transmission.
Speaker 1 (06:50):
Why is the transmission so important for a TV car
seems like a minor detail.
Speaker 2 (06:54):
Well, the Torquflight was famous for being tough, really reliable,
especially when you started messing with the car weights stressing
it out. Think about it, You're asking this luxury barge
to do fast starts, sudden stops, take after take, carrying
extra weight from roll bars and props. Yeah, you need
a gearbox that won't quit.
Speaker 1 (07:11):
Right. Breakdowns cost time and money on set exactly, So the.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
Torque Slag gave Jeffries a solid, dependable platform that wouldn't
keep stalling production.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
Okay, so massive powerful, tough foundation. Now, Jeffreys had this
clever plan for dealing with the filming itself. He didn't
just get one Imperial.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
No, he got two, two nineteen sixty six Chrysler Imperials.
Speaker 1 (07:36):
And that dual build approach that's pretty standard in Hollywood
for car heavy shows, right, Oh.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
Yeah, absolutely essential. It tells you how serious they were
about the car. You always differentiate between your hero car
and your stunt car.
Speaker 1 (07:47):
So the hero car is the pretty one, exactly.
Speaker 2 (07:49):
That's the one that gets the perfect pink job, the
flawless interior. It's used for close ups, dialogue scenes inside
the car, any static beauty shots. It's the show piece
and the stunt far that's the workhorse built up. Jeffreys
would have reinforced it heavily, added roll bars inside, probably
extra bracing, definitely beefed up the suspension.
Speaker 1 (08:07):
They handle the rough stuff, all the.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
Chases, the hard breaking jumps. Maybe just the general abuse
of filming action scenes without the car, you know, collapsing
having too meant one version of the Black Beauty was
always ready for the cameras. Avoiding expensive delays makes sense.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
Two huge, powerful, distinct Imperials ready to become the black beauty.
Now we get to the fun part, the actual.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
Mods, right, the transformation from this luxury sedan to the
black beauty. And like we said, it was all about
achieving that understated menace.
Speaker 1 (08:38):
So restraint was key. No batmobile fins or bright red.
Speaker 2 (08:43):
Paint here, definitely not. Let's start with the most obvious thing,
the paint. It was black, sure, but the sources always
mentioned it had the specific slight green tint.
Speaker 1 (08:52):
How did that play on camera? What did that tint do?
Speaker 2 (08:55):
It was actually really clever. It gave the car this
almost chameleon like quality. So depending on the lighting studio
lights versus say cruising through dark city streets at night,
the color would subtly shift.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
Ah makes it feel less flat.
Speaker 2 (09:08):
Exactly, more organic form a series not jet black car.
It added to the whole stealth vibe.
Speaker 1 (09:13):
And they also messed with the trim right. The standard
Imperial had a lot of chrome, very sixty six luxury, yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
And they toned down that chrome significantly. They kept some
of it, which gave it a sort of sophisticated metallic edge,
but they used it really sparingly.
Speaker 1 (09:28):
So it looks sleek, not flashy.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
Sleek not showy. That was the goal.
Speaker 1 (09:32):
And then those signature details, the custom green headlights. They're
described as glowing eerily.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
Yeah, a direct nod to the green Hornet name. Plus
they slightly lower the car's suspension and tweak the front
grill just enough to make it look a bit more aggressive,
more predatory, but not like a souped up hot rod.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
Still looked like it could be a production.
Speaker 2 (09:53):
Car, almost exactly subtlety was everything now moving inside the
whole mobile headquarters idea really drove the interior design.
Speaker 1 (10:01):
Right, Jeffries put in that custom bashboard look pretty intimidating.
Speaker 2 (10:05):
Yeah, that control panel was the visual core of all
the tech. Yeah, pack with switches, dials, little screens was
like something out of a spy plane.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
But this is where nineteen sixties TV magic comes in, right,
How much of that actually worked?
Speaker 2 (10:17):
Very little? Honestly, that's the key thing to remember. It
looked amazing, incredibly complex, but most of those switches and dials, yeah,
pure props, non functional.
Speaker 1 (10:26):
Their job was just to look advanced.
Speaker 2 (10:28):
Precisely to suggest cutting edge tech. They used lighting tricks
and tight camera angles to sell the illusion that Cato
was operating this super sophisticated.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
Machine and didn't They add a divider inside too.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
They did a physical partition separating the front seats from
the rear compartment. That really reinforced the idea of it
being a dedicated command post, you know, secure space for
planning or holding someone.
Speaker 1 (10:51):
Okay, now the weapons, the gadgets, This is the Black
Beauty's real calling card.
Speaker 2 (10:56):
This is what set it apart. So the arsenal first up,
the hornet gas gun dispensed non lethal gas.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
That non lethal point is important, isn't it fit the
show's more serious tone.
Speaker 2 (11:07):
Absolutely, It wasn't about blowing things up randomly. It was
about incapacitating enemies professionally. Then you have the hornet sting.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
The sonic weapon, pure sixties spy stuff.
Speaker 2 (11:16):
Totally supposedly could shatter locks or disorient people just with
sound waves. Very cool concept. And then the more.
Speaker 1 (11:25):
Dramatic hardware concealed of course.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
Some sealed rocket lunchers built into the hood area. They
fired small projectiles, probably just flares or blanks for effect
on screen, used more for drama clearing an obstacle, that.
Speaker 1 (11:37):
Kind of thing, and for escapes.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
The classic rear mounted smokescreen device. Can't have a spy
car without a smoke screen.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
True, and the other absolute must.
Speaker 2 (11:47):
Have rotating license plates for those quick identity switches. A
visual gag, yeah, but essential spy car kit.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
And wasn't there one more gadget something kind of ahead
of its time?
Speaker 2 (11:57):
Yes, the scanner drone, a little remote control flying device
launched from the car used for aerial surveillance intelligence gathering.
Speaker 1 (12:04):
Wow, a drone in sixty six. That's pretty forward thinking,
it really was.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
It cemented the Black Beauty's role, not just as muscle,
but as this mobile intel hub focused on information, not
just brute force.
Speaker 1 (12:15):
Okay, but how did they do all this on set?
Making us believe a Chrysler Imperial is firing rockets and
launching drones.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
Back then, it was all practical effects wizardry combined with
smart sound design. Those eerie green headlights just colored gels
or filters put in front of the standard lamps, simple
but effective, exactly. The rocket launchers, tiny pyrotechnics, small smoke charges,
maybe blanks fired carefully positioned just right to look like
(12:43):
a launch without actually damaging anything.
Speaker 1 (12:45):
And things like infrared scanners on the dash.
Speaker 2 (12:47):
Pure movie magic, dramatic sound effets dubbed over close up
shots of those cool looking but totally fake glowing dials
on Jeffrey's custom dashboard. It was all about creating the
illusion through clever film making.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
So the car was this incredible machine, this illusion, but
it needed an operator who was just as precise, just
as cool.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
And that brings us inevitably to the other huge factor
in The Black Beauty's fame, the man behind the wheel,
Bruce Lee. You know, when Bruce Lee got cast as Cato,
the traditional role of the sidekick was well, pretty limited,
often just comic relief for someone to rescue.
Speaker 1 (13:21):
Yeah, not exactly equals.
Speaker 2 (13:22):
But Lee just completely flipped that script. He wasn't just
a sidekick. He became an equal partner. He was the chauffeur, sure,
but also the primary combatant. He brought this incredible energy
to the screen.
Speaker 1 (13:36):
We all know about his martial arts, obviously groundbreaking, but
how did that physical skill translate to him, you know,
just driving the car or pushing buttons.
Speaker 2 (13:45):
It made a huge difference. His movements were described as precise, athletic.
He had this intense screen presence, So even just the
act of driving or flipping a switch for a gadget,
it looked different. Oh so Cato wasn't just you know,
fumbling for the smoke's green button. He was piloting the
Black Beauty. He was the one activating the gas gun,
(14:05):
deploying the drum, and he'd do.
Speaker 1 (14:06):
It with that cool efficiency the sources talk.
Speaker 2 (14:08):
About exactly, no wasted motion, total focus. It created a
seamless connection between the man and the machine. It made
the car itself feel incredibly responsive, incredibly sophisticated because he
looked so in command.
Speaker 1 (14:20):
And then there's the fighting, right His.
Speaker 2 (14:23):
Martial arts background was revolutionary for TV. He didn't just
drive the car, he used it tactically. He could be
laser focused on driving one second and the next second
he's leaping out of the car, a blur of lightning,
fast kicks and bunches. That fluidity, that transition. It turned
the Black Beauty into more than just transportation.
Speaker 1 (14:41):
It became, as the outline says, an extension of Cato's abilities.
Speaker 2 (14:45):
Perfectly put the car's own image sleek, elegant, but undeniably
lethal when necessary. It mirrored Lee's own persona as this artist, fighter,
restrained power, ready to.
Speaker 1 (14:59):
Explode into an and the cultural impact of this, especially
back in nineteen sixty six, you can't overstate.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
It, absolutely not think about it. Asian characters in Hollywood
back then were almost always stereotypes, often comical, often subservient.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
But Cato wasn't like that at all.
Speaker 2 (15:13):
Not even close. He was competent, incredibly confident, stylish. Often
he was clearly the more tech savvy and frankly the
more dangerous of the pair. He commanded respect just by
being there.
Speaker 1 (15:23):
So the Black Beauty gets tangled up in this huge
cultural moment, the rise of Bruce.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
Lee inextricably linked that association. This cool, deadly car being
driven by this revolutionary Asian star. There's probably the single
biggest reason why a car from a canceled one season
show is still so iconic today.
Speaker 1 (15:43):
It cemented its legacy, it really did.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
But Black Beauty isn't just remembered as a cool TV car,
it's the machine that served the legendary Cato. That connection
put it in a whole different league in pop culture history.
Speaker 1 (15:55):
Okay, so we have this elegant design, this incredibly skilled driver,
but let's talk decalities again. Actually filming this thing a
five thousand pound luxury sedan never meant for action scenes.
That must have been a headache for the production crew.
Speaker 2 (16:09):
Oh, a massive headache. Absolutely yeah. Just the sheer size
and weight of the Imperial made staging things like high
speed chases or quick j turns incredibly difficult. He's careful planning,
extremely careful choreography. If you actually watch the old action sequences,
you could often see how the camera work is trying
hard to make the car look faster or more agile
than it really was.
Speaker 1 (16:27):
So how did they pull it off? Make this lan
yacht look like it could actually catch bad guys?
Speaker 2 (16:32):
Well? A lot of it was clever editing, using low
camera angles to exaggerate speed, sometimes using process shots where
the background moves behind a stationary.
Speaker 1 (16:40):
Car, standard tricks of the trade, right.
Speaker 2 (16:42):
But for the real driving they leaned heavily on that
stunt car version we talked about a reinforced one, yeah,
and that car needed constant work, adding those heavy duty
roll bars vital for safety, but also helped stiffen the chassis.
And they were constantly having to beef up the suspension
because sharp turns in sudden stops just put immense strain
(17:04):
on a car like that.
Speaker 1 (17:05):
And those ambitious practical effects like the car coming out
of the hidden garage that wasn't simple either, not at all.
Speaker 2 (17:11):
Yeah, that iconic sequence emerging from under Britt Reed's driveway
that required a whole custom built set piece, a big mechanism,
a huge hydraulic lift system strong enough to raise that
section of pavement with the car on it. These weren't
things you could just film quickly. They needed meticulous planning,
multiple takes, probably lots of adjustments to get the timing
(17:31):
and the hydraulics working perfectly for the camera. Very expensive stuff.
Speaker 1 (17:35):
And you mentioned Bruce Lee did a lot of the
close up driving himself, even with stunt drivers for the
dangerous bits. That must have added another layer of complexity.
Speaker 2 (17:42):
It did in terms of scheduling and setup, but it
was absolutely vital for authenticity. Why so important because the
audience needed to see Cato in control, seeing Lee's focused
intensity behind the wheel, his hands on those custom controls
that sole the whole idea of the mass operating his machine.
It made it believable.
Speaker 1 (18:03):
Okay, So they poured all this effort in custom cars,
complex effects, they hired a martial arts superstar, and then
the show gets canceled after just twenty six episodes.
Speaker 2 (18:13):
Abruptly canceled. That's a huge investment down the drain for
a project that didn't even last a full TV season.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
Why did it fail so quickly? What was the thinking?
Speaker 2 (18:22):
It's fascinating. Really it boils down to being out of
sync with what audiences, or maybe what network execs thought
audiences wanted at that exact moment.
Speaker 1 (18:31):
They were expecting Batman.
Speaker 2 (18:32):
Pretty much. People were tuned in for that campier fun,
the bright colors, the simple good vers evil stories of Batman.
The Green Hornet with its darker tone, its more complex
spy plots. It was just too serious, too nuanced, perhaps
for that primetime.
Speaker 1 (18:50):
Slot, aimed a bit too high for the room.
Speaker 2 (18:52):
Maybe possibly it went for sophistication one the big hit
was all about spectacle, bad timing maybe.
Speaker 1 (18:59):
But the car. The car survived. The Black Beauty somehow
became the most memorable thing about the whole series. Despite
the show's failure.
Speaker 2 (19:06):
Absolutely, its legacy completely overshadowed the show's short run, and
that endurance led to kind of interesting afterlives for the
actual cars.
Speaker 1 (19:14):
What happened to the two Imperials.
Speaker 2 (19:15):
They went separate ways after the show wrapped. One of them,
sadly was mostly stripped of its gadgets returned pretty close
to stock edition and just sold off kind of anti climacting.
Speaker 1 (19:24):
Ah shame. What about the other one?
Speaker 2 (19:25):
The other one thankfully stayed with Dean Jefferies himself for
many years. He kept it, showed it off at car
shows and events. He clearly knew he'd created something special
and helped preserve its visual history, and.
Speaker 1 (19:36):
That history eventually turned into real value.
Speaker 2 (19:39):
Right it did. As time passed, the car became this
sought after piece of TV memorabilia. By twenty ten, one
of the original surfaced at auction.
Speaker 1 (19:47):
Commuch did it go for?
Speaker 2 (19:49):
It sold for thirty nine five hundred dollars, which, you know,
considering the show only ran twenty six episodes decades earlier,
that price tag is a real testament to the Black
Beauty's last power and iconic status. And given that status,
that enduring appeal, it was almost inevitable that Hollywood would
eventually try to bring it.
Speaker 1 (20:08):
Back, which they did decades later the twenty eleven movie reboot.
Michelle Gondry directed it, seth Rogen as Britt Reed, j
Chaw as Cato Right, and.
Speaker 2 (20:16):
The filmmakers on that project they knew one thing for sure.
They could not mess up the car.
Speaker 1 (20:22):
The Black Beauty was non negotiable.
Speaker 2 (20:24):
Absolutely, They understood that tampering with the core look and
feel of that car would just alienate all the fans
of the original series. They really went to incredible lengths
to capture its spirit.
Speaker 1 (20:33):
They basically treated the car as the real star of
the movie.
Speaker 2 (20:36):
You could argue that. And the scale of the vehicle
production for that film was just mind blowing. They didn't
build just two Black Beauties, how many? They built a
fleet of twenty nine modified Chrysler Imperials to play the Black.
Speaker 1 (20:50):
Beauty twenty nine? Why on earth so many?
Speaker 2 (20:53):
That sounds insane, Well, it shows you the difference between
sixties TV and modern blockbuster filmmaking. Had multiple perfect hero
cars for close ups. Yeah, you needed several tough stunt
cars for the driving sequences.
Speaker 1 (21:06):
Okay, that makes sense, But twenty nine and then.
Speaker 2 (21:08):
You needed a whole bunch of smash cars, vehicles specifically
built to be wrepped in action scenes, crashes, explosions, getting
shot up. Modern action movies chew through cars. The budget
just for replicating Jeffrey's work must have been enormous.
Speaker 1 (21:21):
Wow. And they kept the core look, the black and
green Oh, yeah.
Speaker 2 (21:25):
The esthetic was crucial. They kept that sleek black paint,
the green headlights, the overall imposing shape. But obviously the
arsenal got a major twenty first century upgrade.
Speaker 1 (21:34):
Yeah, you'd expect that. What kind of new gadgets did
it have?
Speaker 2 (21:37):
They went big, used a mix of modern CGI and
practical effects. You had things like rapid fire missile launchers
popping out, a big retractable gatling gun mounted on the hood. Seriously,
a gatling gun yep, plus really advanced surveillance gear, tactical
computer displays inside the car, the works. It was spectacular.
Speaker 1 (21:57):
And how is the car received in that movie? The
film itself got kind of mixed reviews, didn't it?
Speaker 2 (22:01):
It did. Yeah, The comedic tone, especially Rogen's take on
Britt Reid, was divisive for some, but the Black Beauty
itself universally praised.
Speaker 1 (22:12):
Everyone agreed they got the car.
Speaker 2 (22:14):
Right pretty much. It was seen as this faithful but
thrillingly updated version of the original concept, very functional, very cool.
Speaker 1 (22:21):
On screen, and J Chow's Cato, while different from Bruce Lee,
still had that connection to the car.
Speaker 2 (22:27):
Definitely. He still had that intensity that mastered the machine.
It ensured that even in this new interpretation, the Black
Beauty felt like the essential, indispensable tool for the Green Hornet.
The car still reflected the power and precision of its operator.
Speaker 1 (22:40):
Okay, so we followed the whole arc from two sixty
six Imperials being transformed by Dean Jeffries right up to
that fleet of twenty nine cars for the movie. Let's
try and boil it down. Why why does this specific
car endure?
Speaker 2 (22:55):
I think it really comes down to maybe three main things. First,
just the sheer brilliance of Dean Jeffrey's original design.
Speaker 1 (23:02):
The restraint.
Speaker 2 (23:03):
Exactly, he mixed elegance with menace using restraint, which was
the total opposite of the campy excess of the Batmobile.
The Black Beauty looked like it could be real, like plausible,
high end spy tech.
Speaker 1 (23:15):
Okay, so design philosophy, what's second?
Speaker 2 (23:17):
Second, that whole spy tech vibe just hit the nail
on the head for the nineteen sixties. It resonated perfectly
with that era's obsession with espionage, cold war intrigue, sophisticated
undercover stuff. The car felt grounded in that.
Speaker 1 (23:28):
Fantasy, believable even with the rockets.
Speaker 2 (23:30):
Weirdly, yes, and third and maybe most importantly the Bruce
Leef actor cultural anchor, precisely his exploding star power, his
revolutionary portrayal of Cato as this cool, competent, stylish equal
that cemented the car's legacy. It became linked to him,
and through him, it became this enduring cultural touchstone, quiet power, precision, elegance.
Speaker 1 (23:54):
So the Black Beauty started as two sturdy Chrysler Imperials
transformed by Jeffrey's vision, and it just grew beyond its origins.
Became more than a prop.
Speaker 2 (24:03):
It really did. It became this complex, genuinely beloved character
in his own right within pop culture history.
Speaker 1 (24:08):
Wow, what awry? That was a fantastic deep dive. We
started off contrasting the Black Beauty's subtle threat with the
loud spectacle of its main TV rival.
Speaker 2 (24:16):
And found an icon really defined by its precision, its restraint.
Speaker 1 (24:20):
Yeah, we dug into the base car, that imposing sixty
six Chrysler Imperial. We talked about Dean Jeffrey's brilliant two
car Screaper g to handle the filming the Hero Car
and the sun Car exactly. We detailed all those cool,
mostly non lethal gadgets that really reflected the green Hornet's
more serious approach and critically.
Speaker 2 (24:37):
How Bruce Lee's absolutely groundbreaking performance just defined the car's
character on screen and sealed its reputation forever.
Speaker 1 (24:45):
It's just such a perfect example, isn't it, of how
really thoughtful restrained design combined with that incredible synergy between
an actor and the vehicle. Yeah, that magic, It can
turn what's technically just a prop into this enduring piece
of mythology, something people remember and talk about decades later.
Speaker 2 (25:05):
The Black Beauty really proves that sometimes you know, less
is more, less flash can make a much more powerful
statement in the long run, And.
Speaker 1 (25:12):
That actually leads us perfectly into our final thought for you,
the listener. We spent a lot of time talking about
The Black Beauty's design philosophy, restrained yet.
Speaker 2 (25:19):
Powerful, subtle menace versus flamboyant excess.
Speaker 1 (25:22):
Right, If the Batmobile's the wild rock concert, the Black
Beauty is maybe the precision surgical instrument. So here's something
to think about.
Speaker 2 (25:30):
Beyond the Black Beauty. What other fictional vehicles from TV,
from film achieved that kind of quiet iconic status.
Speaker 1 (25:39):
Yeah, think about cars or maybe even ships or other
machines that became true cultural icons. Not because they were
the flashiest or the most aggressive, but because.
Speaker 2 (25:48):
They prioritize things like believability or restraint or a kind
of operational elegance over just pure loud spectacle. What else
fits that mold.
Speaker 1 (25:56):
Something for you to chew on. What other machines achieved, legends, status,
real subtlety,
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