Volkswagen Beetles in 70s and 80s films

[Arndt]

This is a bit of an odd question. For a time in the 80s I became convinced that American movies of the 70s and 80s had a thing going where they always had to feature a VW Beetle. Now you may say that VWs were a very common sight on the roads back then, and you'd be right, but as I began looking out for them in movies I seemed to notice a pattern emerging. This was confirmed by some oddities: In the 1971 Walter Matthau comedy A NEW LEAF there are no VWs in evidence at all - that is until the very last instant, when as the credits begin to roll suddenly three bugs come into view at the same time. George A. Romero's 1985 zombie shlockfest DAY OF THE DEAD is set completely underground in a post-apocalyptic world, but oddly enough there is a VW in the caverns. And then there is obviously Woody Allen's THE SLEEPER from 1973.
So, was there some in-joke going on with artistic directors and set designers at the time or is it just a figment of my fevered imagination? Was this some anachronistic product-placement strategy on Volkswagen's part or were the freemasons behind it?

[Mike Gebert]

I think they were just an iconic car back then, that symbolized being a bit of a free spirit, youth, hipness, all that stuff. (Sleeper was making a direct reference to an ad for VW back then about how hardy they were. One of the ads was about how they'd float, which led to a famously blackhumored National Lampoon parody.)

Several years ago my kids were into counting (modern) Bugs you saw on the road and on a trip to Wisconsin they were rattling them off quickly in Chicago, but fewer and fewer as we left town and none once we were out in farm country. Of course, practically you need something bigger in the country, like a pickup truck, but it also drove home how it was very much a car of a certain urban lifestyle now.

[sc1957]

Don't forget Herbie, the VW Bug that featured in six films from 1967 through 2005, and a short-lived TV series in 1982.

[silentfilm]

Don't forget the green VW Beetle that keeps appearing in Bullitt (1968).

[earlytalkie]

Volkswagen Beetles are prominently featured in the 1972 comedy What's Up Doc? with Streisand. The ability of the car to float features at the end of the hilarious car chase scene. Also, a VW Microbus is featured in a funny sight gag within the same sequence.

[LongRider]

Don't forget the green VW Beetle that keeps appearing in Bullit (1968).

Awesome! That green Volkswagen is my new hero!

[barry byrne]

Product placement may have been around for a lot longer than we think!

VW Beetles turn up very regularly in the beach movie genre also and of course no hippy is seen without a VW Microbus, either as his/her own transport, or providing a ride with like minded souls.

TWA aircraft also show up a lot in movies - and not just because of overlapping ownership issues, including Howard Hughes.