How did they make cars fall apart in old movies (2017)

Craft of Falling-Apart Cars & Practical Effects

• Many comments praise the combination of engineering and choreography in old car-collapse gags.
• Older cars’ body-on-frame construction, fewer welds, lighter materials, and looser tolerances made them easier to rig to disintegrate safely.
• A detailed example: the 2CV in Le Corniaud was cut into hundreds of pieces, reattached with hooks and small explosive bolts, triggered by the actor.
• Other iconic collapse scenes cited: Revenge of the Pink Panther, The Blues Brothers, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.
• Several lament that today such scenes are often done with “crappy CGI” instead of practical effects.

Buster Keaton, Stunts, and Film Aesthetics

• Strong admiration for Keaton’s physical courage, precision, and innovation; he’s compared to a silent-era Jackie Chan.
• Stories of him being covered in bruises and even breaking his neck underline how real the stunts were.
• Viewers report that his work still lands with children and adults a century later.
• Some argue his visual inventiveness makes modern dialogue-heavy films look flat; others push back, saying different films have different aesthetic goals and Keaton’s skills wouldn’t improve every kind of movie.

Risk, Ethics, and Entertainment

• A major subthread debates whether it’s acceptable for performers to endanger themselves.
• Some refuse to watch content where creators escalate self-harm for views, or where stunts seem poorly risk-managed.
• Others note that many jobs and sports (NFL, mining, fishing, stunt work) inherently “sell the body,” and that moderate injury risk is normal in performance.
• Cited research suggests stunt performers do experience head impacts and concussion-like symptoms, challenging claims that stunts are mostly “just bruises.”

Civil War Portrayals and Historical Context

• The General is praised for stunts but criticized for making Confederates sympathetic while erasing slavery.
• Context is given: 1920s America was a high point of Lost Cause revisionism, Confederate monuments, and organized white supremacy, with direct lines to ongoing racial politics and “states’ rights” rhetoric.

Language & Cultural Notes (French 2CV gag)

• A French line about the destroyed 2CV (“now it’ll run much less well”) sparks discussion on translation nuances, humor, and the convention of referring to cars as “she” in English.

Car Design, Simplicity, and Modern Equivalents

• Discussion on why there’s no modern 2CV equivalent: safety, electronics, and manufacturing economics make ultra-simple, farmer-repairable cars rare.
• Modern “spiritual heirs” mentioned include tiny EVs (e.g., Ami), simple budget cars (e.g., Nano), and rugged 4x4s (Hilux, Ineos Grenadier).
• Some argue complexity isn’t the core issue; rather, modern designs don’t plan for repair, using minimal, fragile material.

Effort and Craft

• A quoted idea from magic: the “secret” is doing far more work than audiences think is worth it.
• Commenters generalize this to filmmaking, engineering gags, and many fields: extraordinary results often come from unseen, painstaking effort.