You have to be old like me to remember that moment in the summer of 1985. You’re in the cinema, watching the movie that everyone is talking about, and when the DeLorean time machine makes its first appearance? The audience giggles, a smattering of knowing scoffs and a few “cha, right” exclamations.
That’s because by 1985, the “car of the future” was already dead in the water. It was a pop culture flash in the pan, already passé. In fact, it may well have been the film franchise that has kept its memory alive today.
But it had one hell of a backstory in its namesake, John DeLorean. The new 3-part docuseries Myth and Mogul: John Delorean chronicles the rise and fall of the auto exec who started with humble beginnings as the son of immigrants in Detroit, rose to rockstar millionaire status, and then lost virtually everything.
Unlike most “moguls” whose basic background is strictly Business, DeLorean was a wunderkind, an actual engineer who had a second specialty: hype! As a young up and comer at General Motors, it was he who recognized that an important demographic was being virtually ignored: young males (or older ones who wanted to be young). The Pontiac GTO was just one of the cars he was behind as a result- and, again, not just design, but marketing ideas. While the rest of the industry was still mostly about the “family car,” DeLorean was developing his own dream.
That dream would be the genesis of the DeLorean Motor Company and the eventual release of the aforementioned “time machine,” the DMC DeLorean Motor Car. A two-seater with gull-wing doors and no room for anyone other than the lucky driver and his presumably hot girlfriend.
Ah, if only it had been that easy. The golden boy encountered one snag after another. There was already plenty of archival footage of the silver-haired man of his time – he was no stranger to the camera. Tons of news footage and interviews for the taking, and, speaking of time machines, the film takes you right back to the 70s and 80s.
But the filmmakers also got access to 30 hours of rarely/never seen film shot by Oscar winning director D.A Pennebaker (1925-2019) and used in cooperation with Pennebakcer’s widow and longtime creative partner, Chris Hegedus (she is an Executive Producer on the series).
Yes, old people like me will remember that DeLorean was seen on a hidden camera negotiating a drug deal with undercover agents, hoping that a quick infusion of cash might save his disastrous venture which was hemorrhaging money by the millions. But how many will remember that he was acquitted? After losing it all? I had forgotten that part.
I also didn’t know that he’d gotten a chin implant, long before plastic surgery was common, in order to look stronger, cooler, someone in whom you could have confidence…if you dared. Insight from his former wife, Cristina Ferrare and his son, Zachary, are interspersed with journalists and those who were there from the beginning,
And so, even those who remember a lot of bits and pieces from the early 80s will find new discoveries. And those whose only point of reference comes from the 1985 movie will be engrossed by the story of the man who flew too close to the sun.
Myth and Mogul: John Delorean | Streaming on Netflix Beginning July 30 | 3 ½ out of 4 Stars
