Gasopin says:

The only car in the scene that can explode on impact is the Pinto, and it has to go in reverse.

Well, the cop car, the Crown Victoria, can also explode on impact, but not in this flick.

Bob3000 says:

Terrible tragedy. My heart goes out to the victims. RIP.

SparkyOne says:

obama cash for clunkerz?

Mr. Fusion says:

When a vehicle jackknifes, the truck stays straight and the trailer goes sideways.

Trucks use several chains AND stakes. And chains don’t just break under a static load.

How did the logs get in front of the first truck?

How did the coffee spill without being touched while the car was going straight on a level highway?

Why didn’t the last truck (Freightliner) either stop or pull off the road?

Tippis says:

Sooo… don’t drive American?

Anyway, for proper (actually) gruesome car crashing, the “texting while driving” PSA that made the rounds on the interwebs last year is a far better example.

soundwash says:

-more like some half decent editing.

Some car stunt trivia.. -on how they get cars to flip or roll multiple times. (pre-CGI, that is) At time code 2:22 and 2:33-2:34,(the red SUV)

-As the car is flipping, you can see the see the hole-casing where they stuck the telephone pole to launch the car into multiple roll-overs. It’s called a Needham Ram (invented by stuntman Hal Needham in the 70′s.)

He essential cut a section of slightly over sized telephone pole and tapped it into a thick section of pipe with an 1 to 2 pound. explosive charge behind it to launch the vehicle. My dad (stuntman) used to tell me some amusing stories about the growing pains while refining the design when he came back from location.

-Needed to reinforce the flooring & back of the casing with larger and thicker steel plate. Early prior attempts, they used way too large of a charge and the pole was in too tight.. it stayed in the casing and the charge blew out the back and subsequently, shot the steel plate backing through the roof of the car. That done, before they got the physics formulas and location right, several times they just shot the car high into the air, or it rolled so many times it was comical.

Learning to do endovers right was especially amusing…

My dad (Alex Stevens) was one of the stuntmen that helped initiate “great car chase and stunt craze” of the 70′s in the movies.

Gumball Rally, French Connection, Shaft, Shaft’s Big Score, Superfly, Seven Ups, Superman, The Original NYPD series, and Kojack are some the 70′s notables i know off the top of my head.

Chances are good, up into the early 80′s, if it was shot in NYC and had stunts (esp car) he worked on it.

And for the “PC Crowd” -He was the first Corporation/guy to hire, train and credit black stuntmen proper. As he puts it, “I got tired of wearing blackface to double black actors”

He also fought the Unions to make a rule that you have to hire east coast stuntmen east of the Mississippi. (Hollywood kept us “starving” on the east coast prior.) He has always rooted for the underdog, so ta speak.

Some of the movies he worked on are listed here.

-s

(lol, i found one of my 15 seconds of fame on Youtube. 9 seconds in, i’m the kid that get’s knocked out of the wheelchair. -in a B movie trailer for Vigilante (1983)

http://youtube.com/watch?v=CP5hAY_xOC8&feature=related

I did that scene 3 times and they used the worst take of the 3..(its about 10-15sec in the movie) -bastages.

…anyway.

-s

awesome123 says:

So is this film telling me not to wear a seatbelt? The last two people could have been saved if not for their seatbelts being on and restraining them in their vehicle.

cheapdaddy says:

Remimded me of “Happy Tree Friends” Road Rally!

Pikachu says:

Sheesh that was gratuitous.

The explosions were completely unbelievable.

Rick Cain says:

Yes LOG! Everyone loves LOG!

I thought this was the longest GEICO commercial ever at first, was waiting for cavemen to show up.