Forgotten movie cars: the Porsche 911 from "Good guys wear black"
The Grim Reaper dreads the day when Chuck Norris shows up at his door. Nevertheless, in the 1978 film "Good guys wear black", a series of CIA assassins attempt to kill Vietnam veteran John T. Booker, played by Norris – and of course only meet their own end. But how would they know any better? After all, Ted Post's action flick was only the third film in which the former martial artist and karate world champion Norris played the leading role – incidentally after he had switched to this subject at the suggestion of his friend Steve McQueen.
Perhaps McQueen's fondness for motor sports and fancy cars also rubbed off on Norris. After his return from Vietnam, Booker took a white Porsche Carrera RSR for a few test laps on the Riverside racetrack. The man with the blond moustache also uses Stuttgart material in his private life: a black Porsche 911 from 1973, which he has customized with fender flares, Minilite wheels, a Turbo rear spoiler, a central four-pipe exhaust system, a sports mirror on the driver's side and a Carrera RSR front apron.
Right at its first appearance in the film, the disfigured 911 has to fend off a tow truck that pushes it from behind and tries to force it into a busy intersection. However, contrary to Booker's suspicions, this is not an assassination attempt, but an accident. The accelerator pedal of the Ford F-500 had simply jammed. After that, things go more smoothly for the black Porsche. All it has to do is take Booker to an informant. American cars have to suffer in the chases.
At the time, the film was torn apart by the critics. And according to Norris himself, he wanted to hide behind a chair after the fourth screening. Today, the film entertains above all with its seventies coloring of colorful suits, brawls and moustaches. And measured against what came afterwards with "Delta Force" and "Missing in Action", "Good guys wear black" is definitely one of the best films featuring the man who can slam revolving doors and make onions cry.
