1976’s Boso Panic: The Big Crash was your typical action movie from the era. All the gritty ingredients were there: bank robber anti-heroes, a femme fatale, gunfights, and loads upon loads of car chases. What sets it apart is the fact that it was filmed in Japan, and thus the car-nage consisted of the exact cars JNCers know and love today.
200 cars were used in the filming. Of those, 20 were incinerated and an additional 30 were crashed. Likely filmed with sponsorship from Toyota (many Japanese films of the period got cooperation from a major automaker if cars were involved in any way), meaning the rides that met their bitter ends included a Hilux, Stout, a parade of S40 Crown police cruisers, and the hero car, a gold MS51 Crown Hardtop. Continue reading
