30 Dec 2016

Bottle Rocket (USA, 1994 & 1996)

It appears that Wes Anderson likes pinball, and managed to put a couple in some of his films... and...

There are two versions of Bottle Rocket... the original short, and the feature-length one released two years after. Both have a scene where they play pinball, but not the same machine or location...

Bottle Rocket (short) (USA, 1994)

Director: Wes Anderson. Stars: Luke Wilson, Owen Wilson, Robert Musgrave...

There's a scene where Anthony's playing a Diner (Williams, 1990) whilst Dignan talks about the money they'll get fencing the stuff they just robbed...




Then Dignan mentions something that upsets him so he leaves and Dignan is left to finish the game...  except that suddenly the machine is an Earthshaker! (Williams, 1989)...


Bottle Rocket (USA, 1996)

Director: Wes Anderson. Starring: Luke Wilson, Owen Wilson, Robert Musgrave, Lumi Cavazos, James Caan...

Same scene, different location, and this time they're playing a
Power Play (Bally, 1977)...






Bonus:

The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (USA, 2004)

Director: Wes Anderson. Starring: Bill Murray, Owen Wilson, Anjelica Huston, Cate Blanchett...

A repainted / re-themed Gottlieb wedgehead pinball machine is onboard their vessel. There is no shot of the playfield, so all we have to go on is the cabinet. Based on the style of coin door with the embossed circle and sticker, it is from late 1976 onwards... but it looks like they didn't repaint the backbox nor the front of the cabinet, which matches that of Team One (Gottlieb, 1977).



More Bonus:

Wes Anderson designed the interior of an Italian café, the Bar Luce in Milan, including two re-themed Gottlieb wedgehead pinball machines. One of them has a Steve Zissou theme, but is not the same one depicted in the movie (because the latter had a design painted on the side of the cabinet, whereas this one is plain, plus this one has an earlier model split door)...

Bar Luce photo: Attilio Maranzano from www.fondazioneprada.org
Both games appear to have the same playfield layout, and based on some photos thereof, they look like rethemed Tiger (Gottlieb, 1975) machines.

More photos of the place in this article: Wes Anderson Designed A Cafe In Milan, And It’s Exactly What You Would Expect.


Extra More Bonus:

A pinball machine appears in a café scene in Wes Anderson's The French Dispatch (2021). It's called "Modern Physics!", but it appears to be a rethemed Casanova (Williams, 1966).



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