Those crazy folks in the Windy City... they shot not one Oldsmobile Cutlass off the top floor of the Marina Towers' parking deck into the Chicago River, but two. The staged accident was really part of a recreation of the famous scene from Steve McQueen's "The Hunter," remade by marketing agency Leo Burnett for Allstate Insurance. Leo Burnett engaged Phil Joanou ("The Gridiron Gang," U2 music videos) to direct the action-packed ads that are reminiscent of feature films. The results are spots based on scenes from movies like "The Hunter" and "The French Connection."
The high-speed chase orchestrated for the commercial "began under the 'L' tracks along Lake Street, curled around Wacker Drive, up Dearborn, into Marina Towers and up the circular driveway to the parking garage," according to the Chicago Tribune.
The commercials will begin showing on TV and in movie theaters in January.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
D Man @ Oct 18th 2006 3:37PM
R.I.P. Oldsmobile, Buick is next!
Ed @ Oct 18th 2006 3:39PM
WOW why would they do that to some VERY rare cars as these....Buicks ???? Last time I checked they were still Oldsmobiles.
purecoda @ Oct 18th 2006 3:46PM
Anybody else hear Bart simpson laugh?
hmmm @ Oct 18th 2006 3:49PM
autoblog wrote,,,
they shot not one Buick Cutlass off the top floor
please if you wanna hire anyone, please hire a proof reader, its starting to get outta hand ! make your blog look more professional to gain the major ads and get the good cars for a loan to test drive, If i was GM i wouldnt loan you cars for test drives after i read your blog !
Pace Car @ Oct 18th 2006 3:57PM
Now if only they'd throw all of those pimped out Hummers off the Sears Tower.
mavkato @ Oct 18th 2006 4:17PM
Is everything a buick to you guys? There was mention (since removed) about a Buick Endeavor in the T.W.A.T. article, now this?
frank4cars @ Oct 18th 2006 4:41PM
It's a blog, albeit a top notch one. Stories come in, bloggers review and rewrite them, sometimes under deadline, and mistakes happen. Personally, I think Erin was just making a snide reference to GM's badge engineering. And a funny one at that! Keep up the great work.
iQuack @ Oct 18th 2006 4:46PM
HMMMM, an Oldsmobile under water.
Was this event directed by Ted Kennedy?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Jo_Kopechne
D-Nor @ Oct 18th 2006 5:02PM
I didn't know Krusty the Clown lived in Chicago?
Jim @ Oct 18th 2006 5:08PM
This takes the idea of hydroforming to a whole new level, I think. Or is that hydro-deforming? Whatever, it's fun to watch.
Ben @ Oct 18th 2006 5:19PM
I saw this on the news the other day, kinda wish I had known about it ahead of time, I definitely would have gone to watch. Leo Burnett is probably the biggest marketing company in Chicago, I actually went there for a field trip about 5 years ago when I was in high school. This sounds like it should be an entertaining ad.
John B @ Oct 18th 2006 5:43PM
If it's car launches you want - here is the ultimate field goal competition. Two teams competing to launch rocket powered MINIS through goal posts. One team really gets it right. Not sure what the point is though.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMBOTLJn3FA
Doc Lucas @ Oct 18th 2006 6:15PM
Awesome, but I'm going to convince myself somehow that those were Louisiana floodmobiles :) There's nothing more pimpalicioius than a black 2 door Cutlass Supreme.
Chris @ Oct 18th 2006 11:54PM
I agree with Ben I can't wait to see the final ad in January. I was almost certain he showed us a camera inside the car so the comercial should show us more!
Richard Warren @ Oct 19th 2006 5:40AM
Actually, this was a trailer of a new movie coming out for the Bob Newhart show reunion. Emily spends too much, Bob puts here in the car after bonking her on the head stuffs her in the car and sends her to the river. "But officer it was an accident" Tired of his neighbor Howard he decides to go for "accident" number 2
mike @ Oct 19th 2006 12:18PM
The best chicago chase scene is the final 20-30 minutes of the Blues Brothers. When the nazi pinto station wagon goes off the interstate overpass, I laugh every time. I still can't count the number of POS oldsmobuicks that get wrecked in that movie.
Richard Warren @ Oct 19th 2006 1:04PM
But Mike. "The new Oldsmobiles are in early this year"