Christine (1983)

A nerdish boy buys a strange car with an evil mind of its own and his nature starts to change to reflect it.

Director:

John Carpenter

Writers:

Stephen King (based upon the novel by), Bill Phillips (screenplay by)

Stars:

Keith Gordon, John Stockwell, Alexandra Paul

2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Keith Gordon	...	Arnie Cunningham
John Stockwell	...	Dennis Guilder
Alexandra Paul	...	Leigh Cabot
Robert Prosky	...	Will Darnell
Harry Dean Stanton	...	Detective Rudolph Junkins
Christine Belford	...	Regina Cunningham
Roberts Blossom	...	George LeBay
William Ostrander	...	Buddy Repperton
David Spielberg	...	Mr. Casey
Malcolm Danare	...	Moochie
Steven Tash	...	Rich
Stuart Charno	...	Don Vandenberg
Kelly Preston	...	Roseanne
Marc Poppel	...	Chuck
Robert Darnell	...	Michael Cunningham

Storyline

In 1957, in Detroit, a red Plymouth Fury is built and is the cause of two accidents, one of them fatal, still in the assembly line. Twenty-one years later, the outcast and bullied nerd Arnold "Arnie" Cunningham is getting a ride with his best and only friend Dennis Guilder and he sees the wrecked car for sale in a garden. Arnie immediately falls in love with the car. The car was given the name Christine by its first owner. He brings the car to a repair shop of the despicable Will Darnell and works hard to restore the classic car. While he works in the restoration, he changes his personality to a cocky teenager and he dates the most beautiful girl in the high-school, Leigh Cabot. Soon Arnie becomes selfish and jealous of the supernatural Christine that kills everyone that is a threat to them.

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Plot Keywords:

friendship | killer car | year 1978 | year 1957 | murder | 

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Taglines:

How do you kill something that can't possibly be alive?

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Genres:

Horror | Thriller

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Certificate:

R

Did You Know?

Trivia

According to Keith Gordon on the DVD Commentary, he kept having trouble with Christine's TorqueFlite automatic transmission control. The 1958 Plymouths (along with all other Chrysler products that year) used push buttons to select "Reverse," "Neutral," "Drive," etc. (The buttons can be seen in some shots located near the steering column but are never seen being pushed in the film.) He says that it would routinely take several tries to put the transmission in gear. In a few instances, filming would be delayed so that a technician could repair the selector buttons, and even then he'd still have trouble with it.

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Goofs

When Arnie takes Leigh back home, he switches off the windshield wipers when they're on the outside of the windshield. When he comes back to Christine a few minutes later, the wipers are in their normal position.

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Quotes

Arnie Cunningham: Okay... show me.

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Crazy Credits

In the opening credits when the titles are appearing, Christine's engine can be heard.

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Alternate Versions

CBS edited 15 minutes from this film for its 1987 network television premiere.

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Connections

Referenced in Hollywood Mouth 3 (2018)

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Soundtracks

Beast Of Burden
Written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards
Performed by The Rolling Stones
Courtesy of Promotone B.V.
Cannel Ltd.

User Reviews

how could it be better?

Let's face it. Christine is far from the best novels of King, especially this creepy dead former owner, sitting on the backseats, and teasing Arnie.

Carpenter chose not to put this character into the movie. What a great choice. Which other movie has shown a true love between a human and a machine ever since? I mean, a film with no ridiculous situations and tired old gags. None.

Big John created a weird teenage movie, with a great cast (Keith Gordon has never been better) and a hypercool soundtrack. One of a kind you won't easily forget!

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

9 December 1983 (USA)

Also Known As:

John Carpenter's Christine

Filming Locations:

Pickwick Drive-In Theater - 1100 W. Alameda Avenue, Burbank, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$9,700,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$3,408,904, 11 December 1983

Gross USA:

$21,017,849

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$21,017,849

Company Credits

Production Co:

Columbia Pictures, Delphi Premier Productions, Polar Film

Technical Specs

Runtime:

110 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Stereo Dolby Digital Dolby Atmos

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1