Maserati Cars in Movies: 1950 to Present

Maserati is the main sponsor of the 70th Venice Film Festival, the oldest film festival, which opens August 28 with the jury headed by Bernardo Bertolucci. Maserati will hold the exclusive courtesy car service and ensure a constant presence of the Trident cars on the red carpet. Other than that, the Maserati Terrace, in the pool area at the Hotel Excelsior will be a space dedicated to interviews, meetings, cocktail parties and events.

To acknowledge the main sponsor-Maserati, we have decided to look back into the films which the Trident cars have made appearance, at least some of which you all know.

1. Cronaca di un amore, 1950
In English, it means the “Story of a Love Affair” and is one of the earliest films in which a Maserati was featured. It’s a romance film with controversies, set in the 1950s in Italy the home of the Maserati. They used a 1948 Maserati A6G 1500. The cars were commonly known as the Maserati A6s back then but became the A6 1500 Pininfarina-designed two-door berlinetta of which 59 units were made and 2 units of the spyder variants.

2. Checkpoint, 1956
This was a British film that revolved around racing, where one team sends out a man to steal car designs of the opposite team, a situation that results to a blood shed. The best must be done to contain the situation. Several Maseratis were used in this film, they include the 1955 Maserati 150S, 1956 Maserati 200S and the 1953 Maserati A6GCS. Only 27 Maserati 150S were made and all meant for racing, they replaced the A6GCS and used the 140hp 4CF2 1484.1 cc engine which has initially been tested on a boat.

3. Cash on Demand, 1961
Another British film yet on crime, this one revolved around a bank robbery that took place two days before Christmas. The 1957 Maserati 3500 GT was featured on the film, a car that saw Maserati’s first attempt in the Gran Turismo market segment. It was unveiled at the 1957 Geneva Motor Show with a Maserati 350S-derived straight-six cylinder. Today, the 3500 GTs go for over $200,000. (Pictured car not from the movie)

4. Two Weeks in Another Town, 1962
A drama film acted in Rome, it revolves around the life of a Hollywood actor whose career slips away, he tries a comeback and is given a role for a film in Rome only to be met with difficult and Romance at the same time. In this movie, a Maserati 3500 GT Spyder was used, it is the convertible variant of the 3500 GT which we named above.

5. Doctor in Distress, 1963
A British comedy film produced in 1963 which also has a romance theme in it; in this movie they used a Maserati Sebring. The Sebring was named after the 1957 victory of Maserati in the 12 Hours of Sebring in the US, the car was positioned towards the Gran Turismo market of North America and was based on the Maserati 3500. The car was produced in two series, I and II. A spyder variant was built by Vignale but it never went into production.

6. La bambolona. 1968
This was an Italian comedy film which was internationally known as the Big Baby Doll. They used a 1965 Maserati Mistral Spider in this movie, the last Maserati to feature a straight six engine and it was the successor to the 3500 GT. The car was named after a wind from France and had engines ranging from a 3.5 liter with 235hp to a 4 liter with 255hp.

7. Gone in 60 Seconds, 1974
This is probably the best car movie of all time, it was even redone in 2000 featuring Nicolas Cage. The main car is always the Eleanor but a Maserati Ghibli was also featured in the film The movie revolves around car thieves and all the crazy car chases and driving one would imagine off.

The original Maserati Ghibli was introduced in 1967 and designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro who now owns Italdesign which has designed quite a number of Maserati cars, the Ghibli was such a hit it outsold the Ferrari Daytona and the Lamborghini Miura. The Ghibli was revived in 1992, this time V6 engines were used as opposed to the V8s, and most recently is the Ghibli III which has already showed signs of good performance in the market ahead of its official market launch later this year.

8. Scarface, 1983
In this well-known action film, a 1975 Maserati Merak was used. The Merak was introduced in 1972 as the smaller version of the Bora, it used a V6 engine as opposed to the Bora’s V8 engine.

9. James Bond: License to Kill, 1989
This one requires no introduction, James Bond’s 16th movie and which was not new to cars. James bond movies have mainly featured Aston Martins but in general, the movies utilize more than enough cars throughout. In License to Kill, Timothy Dalton played the role of James Bond and it was his second and final Role.

A Maserati Biturbo 425i was used in the film. The Biturbo was a car made when the company was under the ownership of Alejandro de Tomaso, the owner of De Tomaso Automobili founded in 1959. The Biturbo was a success for Maserati selling over 40,000 units. The car utilized a 2 liter V6 biturbo engine and was manufactured from 1981 to 1994.

10. The Godfather III, 1990
The famous mafia film sequel which featured quite a number of cars some of which have gone into major auctions. They used a 1980 Maserati Quattroporte III. The same car was also featured on other films such as Miami Vice, The Dead Zone and Rocky V.

The Maserati Quattroporte was introduced in 1963 and has seen six generations till today, each carrying the luxury sedan trend nobly. The Maserati Quattroporte III was also known as the Royale, in fact, out of the 2155 units produced; one was meant for the Italian presidential use. These cars were rear wheel drive powered by V8 engines and produced from 1979 to 1990.

The Quattroporte V was the one that got featured most and has appeared in movies like The Dark Knight Rises, Ocean’s Thirteen, The Punisher; TV Shows like Nikita, Hawaii Five O and the O.C.

11. Underworld 2003
A fantasy movie revolving around the life of vampires and werewolves, they featured the Maserati 3200 GT. This is also the car that has been featured in the most number of recent films with Maserati cars.

The Maserati 3200 GT was produced between 1998 and 2001 and designed by Italdesign, who by the time were not new to Maserati’s as the founder- Giorgetto Giugiaro had also designed the Maserati Ghibli, Bora and Merak. This one featured a 3.2 liter V8 biturbo similar to that in the Quattroporte IV and Shamal. It had an output of 365hp and 363hp in the GTA which was the automatic variant.

12. I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead, 2003
Again the Maserati 3200 GT is featured in this movie; a British crime film revolving about murder where a garage plays a key role. The garage has quite a collection of cars including a Ferrari 360 Modena, Ferrari 550 Barchetta and Maranello, Jaguar S-Type and a Porsche 911 Turbo.

13. James Casino Royale, 2006
Yet another James Bond movie where a Maserati was featured, this time two were featured here; a 2004 Maserati Coupe and a 2002 Maserati Spyder.

14. Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, 2010
A fantasy film based on the novel Percy Jackson & the Olympians. It revolves around a lighting bolt belonging to Zeus which gets stolen and its Percy Jackson who gets accused. Rare for a fantasy film of its nature to take a modern approach, but they did feature the Maserati Coupe.

The Maserati Coupe is based on the 3200 GT, similarities in looks are quite many but unlike the 3200 GT, this model was sold to the US, after an 11-year absence of Maserati in the North American Market. The car was also known as the 4200 GT due to its 4.2 liter V8 engine and it was built in both coupe and spyder forms. These models were produced from 2001 to 2007 when the Gran Turismo arrived.

15. Limitless, 2011
This is a thriller film starring Bradley Cooper who after suffering a writers block sees a series of troubles following him. He later regains success after using a drug that increases brain activity and as a result giving him a new life, of course the story will get deeper than just that. In the movie the used the Maserati GranTurismo which was driven by Cooper.