Green Hornet hits town

 ...another dymamic duo graced our television screens — The Green Hornet and Kato.

And, just like the caped crusader, the suave Hornet had a very special car with lots of really cool gadgets to deal with the baddies. In fact, the pair actually appeared in a couple of Batman episodes.

In a first foray outside the United States, the ultra cool car from The Green Hornet movie is touring Oz to promote its DVD release on June 1.

The movie stars Seth Rogen as playboy newspaper publisher Britt Reid/Green Hornet and Chinese singer Jay Chou as Kato his driver and trusty sidekick.  Chou reprises the role in which martial arts legend Bruce Lee made his Hollywood debut.  Together the pair spend their evenings kicking butt as the crime fighting duo.

In the TV series, kato drove a jet black 1966 Chrysler Crown Imperial that had been heavily customised one for its screen role. Known as "The Black Beauty" it reportedly cost $US50,000 to build and was the work of Dean Jefferies who authored many Hollywood vehicles including the Batmobile. For the movie the producers had plenty of offers from eager car companies wanting to see their steeds up in lights. But none of the contenders measured up to the cool original, according to star Rogen. So a 65 Imperial Crown was sourced and modified in a bid to convince director Michel Gondry it could still pull off the role. The trouble is the producers needed more than just one car.

What followed was a hunt for all the `64-`66 Imperials that the film makers could lay their hands, a search that spanned Canada and the United States — some 29 cars in all. Most were in pretty bad shape and had to be stripped back to the metal to provide the cannon fodder for the many stunt sequences. Many didn't survive the experience. Replacing the original Chrysler V8 was a big block 7.4-litre Chevy ZZ454, along with Race Trans Turbo 400 transmissions, Ford differentials and four-wheel disc brakes.

The finished cars were then handed over to the stunt department that added machine guns, missiles and a flamethrower. It's a far cry from the 60s TV series for which just two Beauties were assembled: one for close-ups and the other less detailed model for long shots.  But as was the norm in those days, many of the gadgets actually worked. You could fire rockets from the front and rear, although the first time they tried to do this for the camera, it blew half the front away. 

 A built-in TV camera could see "four miles" ahead and twin green headlights rotated, emitting a light that could only be seen by the Hornet and Kato. Built into the trunk was the launching mechanism for the Hornet Scanner, but in one episode this was replaced with a mortar. Pop out brooms swept away tell-tale tyre tracks behind each rear wheel. Steel rams in the front and rear locked into clamps which held the car tight as the floor on which it sat revolved to reveal Britt Reid's daily driver.

When it was originally delivered, Black Beauty was finished in black lacquer, but unfortunately it didn't show up well on film because the lacquer reflected the light. So the car was repainted in flat black.

Both the movie and TV series are based on the 1930s radio drama by George W Trendle. Trendle is reported to have bought the rights for the Hornet from Fran Striker, who was the creator of The Lone Ranger. The TV series ran over a two year period, between 1966 and 1967.  It starred Van Williams as the Hornet and martial arts superstar Bruce Lee as his chaffeur Kato. It was Lee's first major Hollywood role.

Trivia buffs will also be interested to learn that Van Williams lives in Ketchum, Idaho, where his next door neighbor is Batman star Adam West.  Though they're getting on in years the two are said to be the best of buddies.

You can see The Black Beauty at the Supanova Pop Culture Expo on from June 17 to 19 in Sydney's Olympic Park.