The Ford Mustang Makes Movie History
Since they first came on the market in 1964, Ford Mustangs have found their way into the movies. The Ford Motor Co. estimates their vehicles have appeared in more than 500 films and hundreds of television shows.
Ford Mustang Day on April 17 commemorates the day the muscle car was first introduced to the public in 1964. In honor of the Mustang’s long movie career we’ve put together a list of some of the vehicle’s onscreen appearances.
The first model known as the 1964.5 Mustang Fastback appeared in the iconic 1964 James Bond movie Goldfinger. Another Bond movie, Diamonds Are Forever, featured a 1971 Mustang Mach I. In 1968, Steve McQueen helped solidify the car’s cool factor when his character Lt. Frank Bullitt drove a 1968 Mustang GT 390 in the movie Bullitt. With their high-powered engines, it’s not surprising to see these vehicles in adrenaline-filled action movies like 2 Fast 2 Furious (Mustang Cobra), The Fast and Furious: Tokyo Drift (1967 Ford Mustang Fastback), Gone in 60 Seconds (1968 Shelby GT500), I Am Legend (2007 Shelby GT500), War of the Worlds (1966 Shelby GT 350) and Transformers where a Mustang police cruiser morphs into an angry Deceptacon.
But this car appeals to a much wider audience than just those who want to rip through city streets.
In the 2009 movie Race to Witch Mountain, Dwayne Johnson plays a Las Vegas cabbie hired by a couple of siblings with paranormal powers who are trying to escape from government officials. Stuck behind the wheel of his taxi, Johnson’s character, Jack Bruno, dreams of owning the car from Bullitt.
Life is pretty complicated for a klutzy teenager in the movie The Princess Diaries. With her out-of-control hair and big glasses, Mia Thermopolis would rather be as invisible as possible. But her one interest in life is her 1966 Mustang that she wants to restore before her sixteenth birthday.
Not everyone has a fairy godmother to help her get ready for the ball. However in the updated fairytale, A Cinderella Story, a waitress at the local diner meets her Prince Charming at a costume ball. But her chosen mode of transportation isn’t a pumpkin. It’s a sky-blue 1965 Mustang convertible.
In High School Musical 2, the movie’s main antagonist Sharpay Evans drives a hot pink Mustang. Even though she’s not the nice girl in the story, her car still catches the eye of the other students at her school.
Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson play two cancer patients who make a list of things they want to accomplish before they die in the movie The Bucket List. One of the items is to drive a Shelby Mustang.
Here’s to another 50 years of Mustangs in the movies!
