Car chase from "The Man With The Golden Gun"

[mahatmakanejeeves]

3. The James Bond Corkscrew Jump Was The First Computer-Modeled Stunt

Last edited Fri Apr 21, 2017, 09:58 AM - Edit history (1)

The James Bond Corkscrew Jump Was The First Computer-Modeled Stunt

Jason Torchinsky
6/16/15 12:00pm

I’m a little surprised that we haven’t covered this in detail before, because it’s so crammed full of Jalop-bait: jumping and flipping cars, AMCs, James Bond, frustrated backwoods law enforcement, and lots of secret math and early computers. The jump is the famous corkscrew from The Man with the Golden Gun.

This famous 1974 jump of an AMC Hornet X over a twisted, broken bridge in Thailand is notable for a number of reasons: first, this was the only time a Bond car (even a temporary one) has been an AMC, which is a glorious event to celebrate regardless. ... Then, there’s the wild complexity of the jump itself, which involved the car making a 270 degree twist like a football in flight and landing back on the wheels, and was all accomplished in one take. And, perhaps most importantly, this was the first automotive movie (or any) stunt that was extensively computer-modeled. ... Now, the basic stunt — a car making a jump off an angled ramp, spinning on its long axis, and then landing on another ramp — was actually performed before the Bond version:

{snip}

I’m not exactly sure why AMCs have been so associated with this particular stunt — it was an ad placement deal for the movie, and it’s not clear if Milligan just preferred them and encouraged the movie studio to seek out a deal with AMC. Maybe AMCs just have a knack for twisting through the air. Anyway, the basic premise was set, and the studio liked it so much, they even patented the jump so no one would steal their thunder.
....

Eventually, it was time to shoot the scene. Here’s how it went, from the handheld camera of a crewperson:

That’s right — they nailed it on the first try. Eight cameras caught the action (and then later slowed it down a bit, because it all happens pretty fast, and you really want to see how that car twists, after all) and the Hornet landed exactly as the computer models predicted. It was an incredible, unqualified success.