The Good Guys Drive GMCs in Hollywood

DETROIT – Whether or not The Help wins Best Picture when the stars gather in Hollywood this weekend, car lovers will remember the film for its cast of classic American metal, including a faded green 1948 GMC pickup truck. It’s the latest in a long history of GMC trucks cast on the silver screen.

Quite often, GMC has been the go-to brand when Hollywood actors need to save the day. Here are some of the memorable moments from recent decades:

• For a brief period in the 1970s, GMC produced motorhomes in 23- and 26-foot lengths. Examples of them took notable roles in Bill Murray’s 1981 comedy, Stripes, as well as in the 1996 blockbuster, Twister.
• In the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, one-ton GMC pickups had great on-screen opportunities to prove their capability. One helped actor Mel Gibson rip a criminal’s house from its foundation in the 1989 action movie Lethal Weapon 2, while another towed a killer whale to freedom in 1993’s Free Willy.
• Before Arnold Schwarzenegger traded up to a fighter jet in the 1994 action movie True Lies, he could be seen keeping a low profile as a secret government agent driving around with his partner, played by Tom Arnold, in a 1993 GMC Jimmy.
• In 1995’s The Bridges of Madison County, star character Robert Kincaid, played by Clint Eastwood, has a 1960 GMC pickup as his photography work truck. Supposedly, the actor still has the truck and keeps it on display at his Carmel, Calif. hotel.
• GMC Yukon and Yukon XL (formerly Suburban) full-size SUVs are a frequent choice of Hollywood law enforcement agents. One helps Keanu Reeves on and off a speeding bus in 1994’s Speed, while multiple others race around Chicago in 1998’s The Negotiator.
• Actor Tommy Lee Jones in particular has spent considerable time making the world safer while driving Yukons. He drove them in 1997’s Volcano and the 1998 follow-up to The Fugitive, U.S. Marshals.
• 2005’s Brokeback Mountain won awards for Best Director and Best Writing, and was nominated for Best Picture. Stars Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal drove a number of trucks in the film, including GMCs from 1950 and 1955.
• GMC returned to saving the world in 2007, when a GMC Topkick played the role of Ironhide in the action blockbuster, Transformers. Government agents supported the heroic Autobots in a fleet of black GMC Yukons.
• In 2010, GMC’s full-size SUV finally got a lighter role when a Yukon Denali escorted the cast of Hot Tub Time Machine to a ski lodge, where they later traveled decades into the past.

Courtesy of media.gm.com