The 10 Most Iconic Porsches In Movie History
Porsche has made some of the most iconic and sought-after cars in the world. Hollywood has created some of the most iconic movies in the world. Occasionally these two things meet. Sometimes a car plays as much of a role as any actor and other times the car plays a supporting role, adding to the action, elegance, or action throughout the plot.
Movies and automobiles were invented at about the same time and the automobile has been featured prominently from the start. We have cars playing pivotal roles in early silent movies showing bootleggers running moonshine or Chicago gangsters of Al Capone's organization escaping justice in an Oldsmobile or Packard of its day. Later films featured cars as the main character, such as in Herbie, a film centered on a semi-sentient VW Beetle.
While no Porsche has ever been featured as the leading automobile, many of them have played parts in memorable scenes of fast-paced cat and mouse games of speed. The first Porsche vehicle was produced in the early fifties and their unique style and flair for performance meant they would be on set in Hollywood in due time. Since then, actors of the highest caliber from Al Pacino to Jeff Bridges have been filmed in the most iconic Porsches in movie history. Here are ten of them.
Risky Business (1983) Porsche 928
Risky business features 17-year-old Joel, played by Tom Cruise, left to his own devices among his upper echelon Chicago home as his parents leave town for the week. Wealthy parents leaving town is a pretty common plot device for '80s movies. The most iconic scene happens early on with Joel exploring his newfound freedom by cranking up Bob Seger's "Old Time Rock and Roll" and dancing and lipsynching in an oxford shirt and socks. The other iconic scenes revolve around dad's Porsche 928.
Joel first uses the 928 for some simple joyriding but later on is forced to take advantage of its V8 torque to outrun a murderous pimp. Escapades ensue until the car eventually ends up diving unceremoniously into Lake Michigan. To tie up all the loose ends from a wild week of adventures with pimps and prostitutes and teenage hijinx, Joel gets the car repaired such that mom and dad are none the wiser.
While many movie cars get lost or salvaged and forgotten not long after filming wraps, this 928 was preserved. Autoweek reported as recently as September 2021 that the car had been auctioned and fetched a healthy $1.9 million. The car was sold new with white paint and was painted gold for the film and features signatures of the cast on the passenger's sunshade. While 928s have seen their prices rise lately, trying to get a million dollars out of any other late '70s 928 really would be some risky business.
LeMans
No other actor ties together auto racing and Hollywood blockbusters like Steve McQueen. Not only did he play many roles in which he raced cars or drove them in high pursuit and high speeds, but he also owned many race cars and motorcycles and, later in life, dedicated much of his time roaming the country racing Triumph motorcycles.
LeMans is one of the oldest and most grueling of all auto races. According to High Consumption, LeMans started in 1923 as the ultimate endurance test for automobiles and runs cars on a 10.7 miles course for 24 hours straight. From its inception, it offered manufacturers and race teams the opportunity to show off their engineering prowess and it became wildly popular. McQueen starred in the film LeMans driving the Porsche factory LeMans car, the 917.
Supercars.net lists the engine of the 917 as an air-cooled flat 12 cylinder that produced 572 horsepower out of 4.5-liter displacement in a car that weighed a mere 1764 pounds. It was extremely fast and McQueen knew how to make it look good on camera. However, the film did not do any favors for the cars or the race in their time as it was a flop. Leman's official history of the movie says it took less at the box office than its total budget, and only in nostalgia for McQueen and LeMans racing has it garnered genuine attention.
Against All Odds (1984) Porsche 911SC
There is not much that can make 1980s Jeff Bridges any cooler, but a shiny bright red Porsche helps. The movie "Against All Odds" has everything you could want in a 1980s drama. There's romance, betrayal, murder, shirtless Jeff Bridges, and a street race between a Ferrari and a Porsche. It is not so much a race where there is a clearly defined start and finish, nor is there a clear winner, but the super high-speed dangerous driving in traffic makes for a riveting scene.
Retired football player Terry Brogan, played by Bridges, drives the Porsche throughout the film. As the film came out in 1984, it is safe to assume that is the same year model of the car. Since much of the film takes place in Los Angeles, the obvious choice is a soft top, or Cabriolet in Porsche parlance, and it appears to say 911SC on the bonnet. That means it would be an air-cooled six-cylinder boxer engine cranking out about 175 horsepower, according to Excellence Mag.
The early '80s was not a good time for high-performance cars and engines made in that era were not generally of substantially high power. That said, Porsche and Ferraris made back then still handled well and that makes them good enough for an entertaining chase scene. Against All Odds received decent reviews and, in the end, all it needed was Jeff Bridges in a Porsche to be worth watching anyway.
Arthur (1981) Porsche 924
Dudley Moore had a long acting career, but his finest performance may have been that of the drunken Arthur Bach in 1981's smash hit Arthur. The titular character Arthur Bach is an heir to a family fortune in New York who spends the greatest portion of his time drunk. As a wealthy young man with no responsibilities and even less ambition, Arthur fills his days with meaningless pursuits and alcohol.
The movie is a romantic comedy and the story pivots around the upcoming wedding of Arthur to another high society girl handpicked for him by his family. Everything goes awry when Arthur meets "normal" working-class girl Linda, played by Liza Minelli, and realizes he doesn't want to marry the other girl.
It is a fantastic movie and the skill with which Moore portrays a drunken and spoiled aristocrat is stunning. As a wealthy playboy of New York City, Arthur has all of the fanciest and most expensive toys of the time, and this includes a race car. Anyone who has ever been involved in racing will know it is one of the most expensive hobbies one could engage in. Arthur is seen taking laps on a closed course in an apparently race-ready Porsche 924. In its day the 924 would have been an excellent choice for road racing courses. Their four-cylinder engine can be tuned yet remain light and with the rear-mounted transaxle with a very even weight distribution — the perfect toy for an unencumbered young heir.
Scarface (1983) Porsche 928
It makes no difference whether it is 1967, 1981, or the present day, escaping communist Cuba to immigrate to the United States is a harrowing journey. Fortunately for those who do, United States policy offers all Cuban immigrants asylum as long as they make it onto American soil. This has been documented through many Hollywood films, but none as celebrated as 1983's Scarface, starring Al Pacino.
Cuban immigrant Tony Montana, played by Pacino, comes to the country with nothing and quickly finds the way to gain power and wealth in the humid streets of southern Florida, cocaine. Scarface is a story about the rise of a tough and gritty individual who, once he is free of the communist Castro government, decides to take life and make it his own through ruthless and unforgiving means.
Montana does answer to another more powerful man during his rise. It is in service to his superior that Montana is tasked with accompanying this other man's wife, Elvira, played by Michelle Pfeiffer, and takes a detour through a Porsche dealership. Throughout the scene, a playful Montana simultaneously toys with the salesman and flirts with Elvira until she gets bored with the charade. He instructs his assistant, Manny, to pay for the car and bring it to him later. Scarface is by no means what could be considered a "car movie" but every self-respecting drug lord needs expensive toys to spend their ill-gotten gains on, and a brand-new Porsche is the perfect example.
Condorman (1981) 911 fleet
There is nothing like a good cold war spy-versus-spy thriller. With a tip of the hat to the James Bond film series, Condorman follows comic writer Woody Wilkins as he stumbles his way into the world of Soviet-era espionage. At the request of Wilson, the CIA creates several vehicles and contraptions modeled after those he wrote in his Condorman comic so that he may assume the real-life role of his comic hero.
The movie is a silly but fun parody of the spy genre and features many impressive machines, including the jet-powered Condormobile. Wilson as Condorman manages to elude a team of murderous KGB agents in black Porsches even though it is doubtful a team of Soviet spies would have access to a fleet of West German sports cars.
The lead assassin, Morovich, leads the pack in a Flachbau, or flat nose, 935 while the rest of his comrades make do with standard 911s. Supercars.net lists this car with a 2.9-liter turbo engine cranking out nearly 600 horsepower. It would be a great car for a chase as it was developed to win races. The other cars in the pack appear to be contemporary 911s, which means they would have more trouble keeping up if they weren't getting roasted by Condorman's rear-mounted flame thrower and laser cannons. Regardless of how powerful any one of these Porsches is, they cannot compare to the jet power of the Condormobile.
Gone in 60 Seconds (2000) Porsche 911
In a movie all about cars, it should be no surprise that a Porsche would show up. The real stars of Gone in 60 Seconds could be considered to be the cars as it features some of the most desirable vehicles ever built, particularly a 1971 Ford Mustang known as Eleanor. But hiding in the shadows of the classic Mustangs, Ferraris, Astons, and Mercedes are a few Porsches, including a late 90s 911 996 displayed in the window of what appears to be a downtown dealership. Kip Raines, played by Giovanni Ribisi, sees the car on a rotating platform and proceeds to do his thing, driving the car through the front window less than 60 seconds later.
The car in question, according to AutoEvolution, is from a line produced from 1997 to 2001 and features a classic Porsche 6-cylinder boxer engine. The 996 is said to be a comfortable cruiser and well-appointed. Power output starts at around 300 horsepower and can be increased with higher trim levels and options, including turbocharging. The 996 may be somewhat run-of-the-mill for the glamorous cars stolen in this film, but it is still a car worth stealing, especially if you are capable of taking it in less than a minute.
No Man's Land (1987) Porsche 911 Turbo
No Man's Land follows the exploits of Ted Varrick, played by Charlie Sheen, who runs an operation that specializes in stealing Porsches and his nemesis is police Lt. Vincent Bracey, played by Randy Quaid, who sends a young officer to infiltrate Varnick's operation. There are plenty of nice-looking Porsches in this movie and, in particular, they drive a silver 911 during a failed attempt to boost another Porsche. After evading gunfire in a parking garage, they lead a high-speed chase through the city, running from a Camaro and a Lincoln land yacht, with a predictable outcome. Car Magazine lists the horsepower rating of this car at 300 horsepower and, with its weight of just below 3000 pounds, the Porsche is among the fastest cars of the time period.
No Man's Land is a bit ridiculous and the premise is a lot hokey. The acting could be better, but maybe not the cars. It is ridiculous that a car thief would specialize in one specific make only, but at least he has good taste.
Good Guys Wear Black (1978) 911 race car
John T. Booker, played by Chuck Norris, is a Vietnam vet deemed too dangerous for the streets by the CIA. Booker finds himself over and over fending off a cabal of martial arts-trained assassins and armed killers seemingly at every corner. When he is not putting down an assailant with a roundhouse or left jab, he is running laps around a Riverside, CA race track in a purpose-built Porsche race car. With the film happening in 1978, the car in question is certainly an air-cooled flat-6 that is either built up with strong internals or boosted with a turbo to get it screaming around the track. How Booker can afford such a toy remains a mystery as his day job appears to be kicking ass and taking names, and Indeed.com does not list a salary range for such a profession.
When he isn't laying rubber on the track, Booker is running from cold-blooded killers in a black Porsche 911 with a perfectly huge whale tail spoiler. It is hard to tell which model it is, but one can assume it's the most powerful available on account that Chuck Norris is driving it. Excellence Mag says that car would have a 3.3-liter turbocharged six-cylinder engine spitting out around 265 horsepower and even more torque. More importantly, the Porsche is an opportunity to show that Chuck Norris is as much of a badass driver as he is a fighter.
Top Gun (1986) Porsche 356 spyder
There is no denying the box office powerhouse that was Top Gun in 1986. Fueled by heightened levels of Cold War patriotism and state-of-the-art fighter jets, this movie showed audiences the skill and supremacy of the United States military in theoretical and hypothetical cinematic glory.
Our protagonists LT Pete "Maverick" Mitchell, played by Tom Cruise, and LT Tom "Iceman" Kazansky, played by Val Kilmer, are the bog-standard testosterone-filled ace pilots who are referred to the Navy's elite flight training school, TOPGUN. The night before the commencement of TOPGUN training, Maverick attempts to pick up Charlotte "Charlie" Blackwood, played by Kelly McGillis, in a bar only to find out the next day she is a civilian contractor hired as part of the instruction team for the pilots.
Maverick and Charlie are at loggerheads throughout the film, which leads to a memorable scene featuring Charlie's beautiful automobile. Maverick takes off on his Kawasaki Ninja after a tense dispute between the two so Charlie pursues him in a shiny black Porsche 356 spyder.
The car plays but a small role in the film, but it cements Charlie's ability to handle high-performance machinery in a film that is almost completely built on high-performance machinery. And while Kelly McGillis is no doubt as attractive a woman as they come, pairing her with a sexy car just adds to her allure.