Alfa Romeo Automobiles S.p.A. is an Italian automaker founded on 24 June 1910 in Milan. Alfa Romeo has been a part of the Fiat Group since 1986. The company was originally known as A.L.F.A., which is an acronym for Anonima Lombarda Fabbrica Automobili translated Lombard Automobile Factory, Public Company.
Alfa Romeos have been natural television and film subjects, due to their excellence of styling. Appearances have been numerous and widespread. The following list is not exhaustive. Appearances are listed according to their impact on popular culture.
The Graduate
Certainly the most famous appearance and presence on screen of any Alfa must be
Dustin Hoffman's Spider runs out of gas in The Graduate.1967's hit film The Graduate, starring Dustin Hoffman, Katharine Ross and Anne Bancroft. It gave worldwide celebrity to the "Spider" best known by the Italian nickname of "Duetto", or as "Osso di Seppia," meaning "cuttlefish bone," or Round-tail), and also for its elegant and attractive form. The Spider depicted on screen had its engine note accurately recorded, and electrical foibles (the non-functional fuel gauge reproduced. On the strength of the Spider's appeal, Alfa Romeo continued to sales of the Spider into 1980s in the United States as the Alfa Graduate.
The entire set of scenes featuring the Spider in the Graduate were replicated in satire by Mike Myers in his comedy, Wayne's World 2. The Spider here cuts out Simon & Garfunkel's "Mrs. Robinson" when passing under a bridge (implying music being played on a radio, but still has a non-functional fuel gauge - causing it to ultimately grind to halt (fortunately at the correct church!
The Spider was designed by Pininfarina; derived from several design studies dating back to the late 1950s, the Spider is believed to be the last design on which Battista Farina personally worked.
The Italian Job
Alfa Romeo Giulia 'Panthers' appear as Polizia cars in the 1969 movie The Italian Job. During the chase in Turin each suffers an unpleasant, yet humorous demise. Memorable 'deaths' include breaking down on top the roof of a gently sloping building dome, and being washed away by the flow of water from a weir while chasing a mini.
James Bond
Alfas have featured on-screen in three James Bond films.
Blue Polizia Alfettas are seen in For Your Eyes Only, haring up a snowy mountainside in one shot.
One of the most prominent roles was when James Bond (Roger Moore) stole and then drove a silver GTV6 in 1983's Octopussy. In the scene is pursued by two Bavarian BMW 5-series police cars.
A pair of black Alfa Romeo 159s 3.2 Q4's appeared in the opening scenes of the 2008 James Bond film Quantum of Solace. They featured in the car chase with James Bond's Aston Martin DBS V12 around Lake Garda, Italy. Noteworthy attention was paid to the sound of Alfa's, which have the characteristic 'Big V-6' sound on-screen. The same film also features a Carabineri Alfa 156. Rene Mathis also has an Alfa, a white 2600 GT coupe.
Other films
Giulietta Masina in Fellini's Juliet of the Spirits is courted by a "Romeo" in a Giulietta (Spider), a double play on words.
Edward Fox's character, the titular Jackal, in 1973's The Day of the Jackal drives a white Giulietta Spider. He repaints the car blue in a rented garage to avoid police, then crashes the car.
Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) in The Godfather drove a black Alfa Romeo 6C while in exile in Sicily. This was actually the car that was booby-trapped and explodes with Apollonia, his Sicilian wife, in it toward the end of the movie.
John Malkovich, as Tom Ripley, in Ripley's Game, drives a red Alfa Romeo 156 Sportwagon.
In 2009s The International, starring Clive Owen, has a black Alfa Romeo 164 integral in a pivotal scene.
Aside from this, Alfas on screen are widespread in numerous Italian local productions.
Television
In the television crime film series Ein Fall für Zwei ("a case for two", over 250 episodes made so far), the leading actor Claus Theo Gärtner, who plays the role of the private detective Josef Matula, has always been driving Alfa Romeo, starting from Giulia Super to the latest Alfa Romeo models.
Alfa Romeo had also a "role" in the Austrian detective series Kommissar Rex (Inspector Rex). At the beginning, Tobias Moretti drove a 155 and later Gedeon Burkhard drove a 166.
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