FILM 2319: USED CARS (1980)

TRIVIA: The reason Used Cars was made at Columbia Pictures was that Universal Pictures passed on this, and since the head of Columbia had once sold cars, he understood this right away.

The T-Birds' white convertible and the Scorpion's black Mercury (with flames) from Grease(1978) are two of the cars that Rudy Russo palms off on the Driver's Education teacher.

At the time, Used Cars (1980) received the highest test-audience ratings of any movie of any genre in Columbia Pictures history. Yet, the movie was still a disappointing box office failure.

During early development of 1941 (1979), John Milius told Robert Zemeckis and Bob Galeabout an idea for a movie he and Steven Spielberg thought up about a used car salesman on the outskirts of Las Vegas. After finishing I Wanna Hold Your Hand (1978), Zemeckis and Gale asked Milius if they could use the idea because neither Milius nor Spielberg would ever have the time to do this themselves.

This is Robert Zemeckis' first movie to receive an R rating by the MPAA.

Several cast members of Used Cars went on to be in Back to the Future movies. Deborah Harmon, Wendie Jo Sperber and Marc McClure was in Back to the Future (1985). Joe Flaherty was in Back to the Future Part II (1989) Dub Taylor was in Back to the Future Part III.