looking for a movie featuring the L.A. Stack

[sam+...@zoy.org]

Hello! I am looking for the title of a movie for which I only have a
few screen captures. The scenes clearly show the Los Angeles four-level
stacked interchange:

http://sam.zoy.org/laclasse/shots/city1.jpeg
http://sam.zoy.org/laclasse/shots/city2.jpeg

Both scenes are aerial views of a few seconds. The only additional
information I have is that it is a Warner movie (hence not Duel or
Mad, mad, mad, mad world) older than 1990, and most probably from
the 70s.

I dug into the archives and saw a few topics from people spotting
interchanges in movies, so I thought someone might have seen that one.

Thanks in advance,
--
Sam.

[roadman]

sam+...@zoy.org wrote:
> The scenes clearly show the Los Angeles four-level

> stacked interchange.

Can't say if they match your frames for certain, but two movies that
come to my mind are 1980's "The Great American Traffic Jam", a TV
movie, and 1990's "Air America", starring Mel Gibson.

In "Great American Traffic Jam", an aerial view of the "stack" was
shown in the opening credits, and again towards the end of the movie.

In "Air America", the first scenes introducing Mel Gibson's character
(a LA helicopter traffic reporter) have several aerial views of the
"stack" and approaches, all taken at different angles.

>(hence not Duel or Mad, mad, mad, mad world)

Note that the LA "stack" wasn't featured in either of those movies at
all. The opening sequence in the theatrical version of "Duel" (as
opposed to the original TV movie, which started with Dennis Weaver
already on the isolated desert road) includes a driver's eye view of
passing though the Pasadena Freeway tunnels and then entering the
Gilden State Freeway. And, apart from a short sequence shot on a
divided four lane highway (when Phil Silvers gets a ride from Don
Knotts, and then steals his car), "It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World" has no
freeway footage at all.

>>>and most probably from the 70s.

You said your frames were from a movie, but it's also worth noting that
the early episodes of CHiPs (1977?) featured lots of aerial shots of
the various LA freeways.

Hope this helps you.

[armourereric]

I think I know where the stack pic came from and I'm showing my age
here:

The opening credits from the first season of "The New Dick van Dyke
show" with Hope Lange from about 1969-70 I do know for sure that the
stack is in the credits, and I'm somewhat sure it's that shot.

Eric

[sam+...@zoy.org]

roadman wrote:
> sam+...@zoy.org wrote:
> > The scenes clearly show the Los Angeles four-level
> > stacked interchange.
>
> Can't say if they match your frames for certain, but two movies that
> come to my mind are 1980's "The Great American Traffic Jam", a TV
> movie, and 1990's "Air America", starring Mel Gibson.
>
> In "Great American Traffic Jam", an aerial view of the "stack" was
> shown in the opening credits, and again towards the end of the movie.
>
> In "Air America", the first scenes introducing Mel Gibson's character
> (a LA helicopter traffic reporter) have several aerial views of the
> "stack" and approaches, all taken at different angles.

Thanks for the hints. Air America seems a bit too recent (background
information: the sequences are from 1993 French parody movie "La Classe
Americaine" that only features shots from Warner movies, and the 46
movies I found so far are from 1952-1980) but I will definitely check
The Great American Traffic Jam if I manage to find a copy of it.

Regards,
--
Sam.

[Jake Brzeskiewicz]

roadman wrote:

> In "Air America", the first scenes introducing Mel Gibson's character
> (a LA helicopter traffic reporter) have several aerial views of the
> "stack" and approaches, all taken at different angles.

If you remember, Mel Gibson was not the renegade traffic reporter, that
was the rookie the CIA recruited for Air America. I forget the
character and probably never knew the actor's name. Mel Gibson's
character was the cagey Air America veteran pilot that took the rookie
under his wing (sorry for the pun) and showed him the ropes.