In Response To Ralph Nader, John DeLorean, And Road & Track Magazine

Bear with me. This is going to be detailed response to an article in Road and Track, "Ralph Nader Can't Slow Down."

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The article is a new interview with Ralph Nader, written by Patrick Carone, and reprinted on their website on July 13, 2021. In this article, Ralph Nader is quoted as justifying his feelings about the Corvair through a reference to John DeLorean's book, "On A Clear Day You Can See General Motors." He says DeLorean agreed with him. He says DeLorean references executives on the subject, and that there was something about "the kids killed at Grosse Pointe" in DeLorean's criticism of the Corvair.

"Since we’re clearing the air, do you have a message for Corvair fans?

"They should be worried about how the Corvair treated people. Just look at [John De Lorean’s account] On a Clear Day You Can See General Motors. There’s a lot of stuff on the Corvair from the executives themselves about the kids killed in Grosse Pointe and all that. You know, 30 years ago, I was invited to speak to the Corvair Society of America. They had a gathering in the Maryland suburbs outside Washington. They had hundreds of Corvairs in the parking lot, all nice and shiny. I walk in and everybody was very cordial, but there was a real silence in the room. So I said, “Look, there’s one thing we agree on: In this room are some of the best drivers in America—because you have to be.” Have you ever been in a Corvair? They’re unbelievably tight and uncomfortable if you’re anything over 5'10". I don’t know how anyone bought that car in terms of comfort. It’s a pretty car, no doubt. You know, we have one at the tort museum."

Mr. Carone does not challenge him and Ralph Nader gives no references. I would also like to point out that the tort museum Ralph refers to had an event scheduled by Corvair lovers, twice, in recognition of July 20th being Corvair Vindication Day, but it was cancelled in 2020 for Covid19 reasons, and again in 2021 out of respect for the passing of Nick Gigante, grandson of Frank Winchell, Chevrolet's head of research and development and fierce defender of the Corvair in its time. Nick used to say that the 1963 Corvair at Nader's "tort museum" (air quotes intentional, see the links regarding Vindication Day) was a hostage.

Concerned with what was being said in Road and Track about the most innovative car that was ever built in an American factory, I determined to do the journalism that Patrick Carone did not, and checked DeLorean's book (not really his book, but we'll get to that) out at an online library. There are nine references to Ralph Nader, two of them in the index, and referring back to the other seven. Seven different uses of Ralph Nader's name, in the service of DeLorean's complaints about his own treatment.

When the book first mentions the Corvair, it is in reference to the GM corporate attitude regarding executive viewpoints, and the lack of respect given to those viewpoints, in DeLorean's opinion. Specifically, he mentions the concerns raised in 1959 by engineers (who were not a part of the project). Well, "specifically" isn't the right term. On page 6 of "On A Clear Day You Can see General Motors," DeLorean says that "Charlie Chayne, vice president of Engineering [at GM], along with his staff, took a very strong stand against the Corvair as an unsafe car long before it went on sale in 1959." He also said Chayne was threatened with termination if he didn't "shut up."

There are several things wrong with Ralph Nader's exploitation of this statement. First of all, he fails to take into account the context of the entire book itself. The "DeLorean book" (air quotes mine) wasn't even written by DeLorean. The author is listed as J. Patrick Wright, interviewing John DeLorean. DeLorean had been fired and was participating in the book as retaliation. Wright's work was a thematic study of what was wrong with the way General Motors was run, not the quality of its cars--except in service of that theme. John DeLorean had wanted to become president of General Motors, and had been denied that. He (DeLorean) tells the Corvair story to illustrate the stifling nature of the General Motors corporate environment, not as a vindication of Nader. He was merely using Nader's complaints as a way of reinforcing his own position. Like Nader's book, John DeLorean and J. Patrick Wright are talking about the industry in general, not the Corvair specifically.

Neither of the positions John DeLorean takes are expressed in the form of direct quotes, they are interpolations he makes based on what he experienced. His specific use of the engineering complaints, and saying they originated long before 1959, is extremely suspect because the Corvair was a secret project within the company, supervised by Ed Cole until they were ready to reveal it, not just to the higher up executives but to the world. Seperate departments of General Motors at that time had autonomy on development and research. With the Corvair, Code names and dummy cars were used. Much of the development took place in Australia. Charlie Chayne, from sources I can find, is not mentioned as having any involvement. If he had objected to the Corvair specifically before its public announcement in May 1959, he was too late to do anything about it, because he didn't know it existed: Ed Cole revealed the near-completely developed car to the engineering department after the launch of the 1958 models, and after he had the backing of GM president Harlow Curtice.

Engineers were of course used, but Corvair history says that executives in the top engineering department were surprised by and suspicious of the project. If DeLorean is to be believed regarding the corporate culture, this would be because "Chayne and his staff," Chayne being the only executive mentioned in "On a Clear Day..." by name, knew they couldn't take the credit. They weren't on the team, as DeLorean says.

Furthermore, any examination of the history of rear engine vehicles in America in general shows a bias against them, perhaps due to the designers' inability to find a way to integrate the technology into American design standards of the time. An article in the April 1949 issue of Mechanics Illustrated, provides a very interesting insight into what the American automobile establishment was doing with and saying (and rejecting) about rear-engine technology at the time.

As long as DeLorean and Nader are speculating, why not speculate that Ed Cole and Charlie Chayne would each have read that same article? After all, it was published only a few years before Ed Cole began developing the Corvair project in 1955. At any rate, the Mechanics Illustrated cover story gives some context as to why development of the car was such a massively covered-up secret. The top engineers of the time, who were often the least innovative men with the most to lose, had not dismissed the Corvair; it didn't exist. They dismissed all rear engine vehicles in general.

The only references John DeLorean makes in Wright's book to the idea of the Corvair killing people, are when he is making the point, summarized on Page 6, and expanded in pages 64-67, that, often because of peer pressure, men will approve something as a group that they would never approve as individuals. In his indictment of corporate culture, DeLorean uses the Corvair and its victims (all cars have their victims) as a symbol, without any consideration of whether he gets the facts right about the Corvair. His only point is to, well, be seen making a point.

But getting back to Ralph Nader and his use of John DeLorean as an authority: Much like people who also use Ralph Nader's own book as an authority, it is clear that Ralph hasn't read "On A Clear Day..." in a long time. Nader says, "There’s a lot of stuff [in the DeLorean book] on the Corvair from the executives themselves about the kids killed in Grosse Pointe and all that."

Hmm. We've seen where that mention of "the executives" gets us, now let's talk about Gross Pointe. Which we can't, because the words are not uttered anywhere in "On A Clear Day You Can See General Motors." Not even in the index. The only reference I could find was in a Wikipedia footnote about the book, indicating Grosse Pointe as the origin of publication. But the actual book's copyright page mentions only New York and Chicago. Perhaps he was refrencing the fact that many GM execs gave Corvairs to their teens--who yes, crashed them--and that they lived in Gross Pointe, but Nader's statement seems to be a complete fabrication. Or, being charitable, a dim recollection. Much like his recollection of not owning a car after his 1949 Studebaker, while failing to remember that he owned and sold a Corvair in 2016.

Nader does give an accurate description of the time he was invited to speak at the Corvair Society of America, at least as far as he remembers it, but his audience no doubt remembers it quite differently. Memories are subject to our experience. What isn't subject to experience is the written word. And the written word on the Corvair is that it is fine, at least in comparison to every other American car made at the time. You can read the National Highway Transportation and Safety Administration's 1972 statement about that for yourself.

I invite Ralph Nader to do a bit more reading of his own. To read particularly J. Patrick Wright's work, "On A Clear Day You Can See General Motors," before claiming any knowledge on the subject. I invite Patrick Carone to do the same.

Eric C. Player
President
Panther Pictures, LLC

P.S. - One other thing, I have been in three road accidents in my life involving the Corvair, in 1989, 2006, and 2007. Each of them were the result of the other driver's inattention to the road, as verified by their insurance. All resulted in substantial damage to my Corvair, and one completely totaled both cars. I walked away from all of the accidents unharmed. Probably why it was Car of the Year in 1960. Consider that.

Footage of a car expert testing out Ralph Nader's Corvair

Framing John DeLorean, the Movie

Blue Ribbon Corvair - 1960 Car Commercial

Ten Best Films of 2020

2020. The year we all found out who our friends are. It was just last January when CNN asked So Man-fung Peter, "Geomancy Consultant and Globetrotter," for his thoughts on the coming year, and he said, "You should be able to accumulate some wealth, especially if you're self-employed or an entrepreneur." and "To alleviate the impact of negative thoughts, you should travel more." Ah, so quaint.

I don't know about you, but here at Panther Pictures, LLC, we lost a lucrative contract to Covid-19, and scuttled a long-awaited production that we'd finally greenlit and had already spent four months ramping up. Right after casting the leads. But in the same year, we successfully tackled a production that had been abandoned 15 years earlier, and paid off several old debts. All in all a no gain/no loss situation, and considering that as of January 2021 the average tenant owes 4 months in back rent, we were luckier than most.

Like most of the entertainment industry, we experienced several delays in our plans--including a delay in this, our list of the Best Films of 2020. But with the 2021 Oscar ceremony not happening until April 25, and qualifying film releases stretched to February 28, 2021 (instead of being cut off on Dec. 31st 2020), a late January release of our choices doesn't seem so far off. After all, our 2015 picks didn't drop until February 13, 2016.

So, with all the usual disclaimers and rules and attitude, here is the Panther Pictures, LLC, list of the #TenBest Films (those things that come in sequels instead of episodes) of 2020. #PPLLCTenBest2020 #TenBest2020

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The Banker, Romulus Entertainment, Directed by George Nolfi

There seems to be an entire subgenre of independent films, or more properly "prestige films," that are made with stars from large $100 million productions, showing their acting chops in quiet $10 million movies. The thinking being, I suppose, it will be easier to notice their talent without all the distracting CGI explosions. The Banker stars three such actors, whom you may not recognize (*eyeroll) without the Marvel logo. Anthony Mackie and Samuel L. Jackson play black entrepreneurs who want to invest in property in white neighborhoods in the 50's and 60's, and who find a way to go from being jacked around by The Man to pulling the strings behind the scenes when they enlist Nicholas Hoult to, "be us, to the rest of the world." The story of how they pull it off, go on to purchase 3 banks, and still remain friends during the subsequent Congressional hearings, is one for the ages, and a great example to rest of us about how to encourage one another (or how not to) in the pursuit of our American dreams.

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The Midnight Sky, Anonymous Content, Directed by George Clooney

There were a lot of people looking forward to this, and then a lot of those same people panning it when it finally came out in streaming rather than in theaters. From the moment I heard about this production in the trade papers, I knew what it was going to be like, and I was interested in it anyway. George Clooney plays Depressed George Clooney (as seen in ER and The Descendants) playing a bearded man playing scientist. The last member of a scientific outpost, keeping the lights on after a vague global catastrophe. Incidentally, vague catastrophes are the best kind; this is one of those stories where it isn't important *what* happened as long as we understand that *something* happened. His only companions are a HAM radio and a little girl whom he tells not to trust him and maybe find someone else to rely on (which of course she can't). His feelings for her are wrapped up in his feelings about an old relationship, and so on and so on. All of this must take a back burner, however, when he realizes that a deep space mission is on its way back with what may be the last of humanity on board, and if he doesn't warn them to steer clear of earth the probe that's looking for whales will destroy them, too. Wait...let me re-read that... So anyway he has a journey to make to the top of a mountain where a long-range transmitter resides. You get the idea. It may be predictable but it is also sad and hopeful in the face of crushing despair. So, you know, perfect for this year.

Also the best use of "Sweet Caroline" this decade.

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Mank, Netflix Studios, Directed by David Fincher

A movie about the writing of Citizen Kane, structured much like Citizen Kane. But whereas Citizen Kane tells the story of a man as seen through the eyes of his friends, Mank is the story of a man seeing his friends through the eyes of his script for Citizen Kane. Herman Mankiewicz, the "mank" in question, both realizes this connection and stubbornly refuses to acknowledge it honestly to those friends. And that's really all I have to say about it, except that it proves, like Some Like It Hot before it, that female exploitation scenes are somehow more palpable in black and white. And I really have no idea what that says about myself and my relationship with cinema. Well, I have some idea. But I'm saving it for when I write the next Citizen Kane.

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Love and Monsters, Paramount Pictures, Directed by Michael Matthews

A movie about massive monsters that feels paradoxically small and charming. There is a lot that this film has going for it: clever mutations of familiar animals, an examination of how we all respond to the survival instinct, Giant crabs, Puppy Love, and a puppy. Well, a grown up dog that is emotionally stunted. Dylan O'Bryan plays Joel Dawson who, along with the rest of humanity, has been living underground ever since giant creatures took control of the land. His brightest comfort is his high school girlfriend, Aimee (Jessica Henwick), who is now 80 miles away at a coastal colony. Joel realizes that there's nothing left for him to do but head out to find Aimee, despite all the dangerous monsters that stand in his way. It's real Romeo and Juliet stuff. Best Monster Love Story since Swamp Thing.

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Pressure Point (1997), Edgewood Studios, Rifftrax Version

Released in 1997, but added just this year to the new-for-2020 "Rifftrax Friends" subscription streaming service--which is exactly the streaming service the world needs right now. When an assassination attempt fails in a part of Chile that looks suspiciously like Vermont (I stole that line), government operative Sebastian Dellacourt (Don Mogavero) is blamed and thrown in prison. Engineering an escape, Sebastian soon discovers that his freedom was only won in order to frame him in a plot to blow up Congress...I think. It's kind of unclear what the phrase "the congressional building" really means, given that most of the helicopters land in open fields. There are some impressively squandered explosions and a fake Magnum PI Ferrari, but everything, every moment, is treated by director David Giancola as if Mogavero is on a trip to the hardware store. Maybe it was the bad directing, or the bad acting, or the bad writing; I couldn't tell. It was too beautiful to understand. Take that, HBO Max!

Starring Don Mogavero, written by Don Mogavero, in order to give us a world where male pattern baldness is just another CIA gadget.

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The Trial of the Chicago 7, Dreamworks Pictures, Directed by Aaron Sorkin

I have a hard and fast rule against reviewing or giving any sort of props to Aaron Sorkin's work, for deeply personal reasons. He knows what he did to my family. That's not an exaggeration or a joke. He knows what he did, and it was to my family. (Hollywood is, in its way, like a small town.) But this is a story that needed to be told and re-examined, and he did it very well. He knows courtroom drama. (Another reason my personal issue with him is so raw.) Protests at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago turn violent (we've all seen the footage) and one of the most famous trials in history results--but what led up to it and how it was conducted feel brand new. I find myself examining it from the perspective of an observer in 2021, rather than 1968. Partly because I was born in 1973, and mostly because I watched it in the weeks after January 6, 2021. When is protest justified? Where does our free speech stop and where does incitement to violence begin? How much responsibility do we hold for our rhetoric, and what is the responsibility of those tasked with seeking justice? When does a trial stop being legal and when has it become political? Is any speech free anymore? Are our thoughts only ours to own? You better believe these are questions that resonate in 2021.

Dangit, Aaron we could have made beautiful music together!

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Rebuilding Paradise, Imagine Documentaries, Directed by Ron Howard

I watched Paradise, California burn down from afar, but it was just up the road (by California standards) from my own home. We saw and smelled the smoke. We see and smell it every year, 2020 was not the only year places burned. So it was with more than curiosity that I settled in to watch this one, at 2AM in my office when I should have been asleep--the overall emotion I felt was empathy. Ron Howard is a wonderful director (who knew?) and he unfolded the events in Paradise first in an immersive, social-media-drenched way (the way anyone who wasn't there experienced it), and then with a quiet desperation that went from anger, to denial, to bargaining, to depression. The final stage of grief may be acceptance, but Mr. Howard did not go there, because the citizens of Paradise have not gone there. They accept nothing but their faith in each other, and so they build again.

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2020 (A 1917 Parody), The Ascender Channel, Directed by Stephen Ford

I'm adding the first short film ever to my "Best of" list, because of the sheer talent it represents. The talent of the oppressed California filmmaker. This film's existence highlights the idea that 2020 was a year in which everyone found their circle of people to struggle with, laugh with, and rely on. In the run that these characters make for TP, the viewer is immersed in the oldest of feel-good movie cliché's--everything and everyone we need and love are the friends and neighbors who were there all along. I think I have something in my eye. Oh, wait, it's an ember from the fires.

Plus, as an homage to the movie 1917, this little film becomes a symbol of what we have lost, and what we know we will have again. Hopefully that doesn't include Murder Hornets.

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News of the World, Perfect World Pictures, Directed by Paul Greengrass

Like nominating Meryl Streep as best actress, Tom Hanks having a movie on a Ten Best list is a national tradition. This year, there were at least two choices, and Paul Greengrass' Western was the better one. Westerns are an American Passion Play, capable of reflecting whatever society has to reflect at the time they are made, and a grand mirror of the past's place in our present as well. That very generic statement means....what? Well, I don't know, because all that is for film historians to figure out in no less than 5 and not more than 15 years from the release of any given Western. But I can say that Greengrass directs as effectively as he ever directed any Jason Borne film, and that Hanks emotes as well as he ever has in any of his previous Ten Best-ers. Plus he has a beard, and is caring for an orphan. So it's pretty much the same movie as Midnight Sky. Yes, I think this movie is better than that one, but just as an aside I think both films would be better with their leading men reversed.

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The Outpost, Millennium Media, Directed by Rod Lurie

I'm well known for my distaste for exploitative nudity, vulgarity and foul language. I once wrote a prison movie with no cuss words in it. I believe most stories that are told in an R-rated manner never needed to be. I feel that way about the other two R-rated movies on my list. I do not feel that way about The Outpost. What the men who fought the Battle of Kamdesh went through, was told unsparingly, as it should have been. My best friend, two of my own brothers, and half a dozen of my cousins could have been there. Enough politics are attached to nearly every military engagement of the United States in the last hundred years, so as to micromanage every story arc ever told about every single one of them. But the most important statement to be made about all of those soldiers (in my view) is this: They were there. They believed what they were doing was the right thing to do. And they survived.

Anything else is just embellishment. Also, stay and watch the end credits.

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No honorable mentions this year, but I will list two massive disappointments. My own personal Razzies:

1) Wonder Woman 1984, Warner Brothers Studios, Directed by Patty Jenkins. Available on HBOMax.

We all understand the principle of the Spoiler Trailer, and the long-expressed lament that too many movies have too many reveals in their ads, to the point that there is no point in watching the movie. Why spend twenty bucks when those three minutes have already told you everything you need to know or could ever gain from the experience? "Oh, Rampage is like that? Well, okay nevermind; I'm off to watch Kong: Skull Island again."

The far superior trailer is the one that tells you nothing about what happens, while simultaneously milking your emotional need for the experience. "Looking for a good story? THIS is a good story. How good? Oh no you don't! You'll just have to wait." You know, like the new trailer for Little Things.

But there is a darker side to the Emotional Trailer. I call it the Emotional Manipulation Trailer. Where the flaming bag of an entertainment product is disguised as something shiny and new. Something rare and beautiful and jazzy and snappy. Something you cannot live without--which makes it all the more devastating when you bite into that ash sandwich.

Such was the trailer for Star Wars Episode 1, and such was the trailer for Wonder Woman 1984. New Order on the violin made me think I could dream again. New Order lied to me.

2) Mulan, Walt Disney Studios, Directed by Niki Caro, Available on Disney Plus

[Harrison Ford Voice] How dare you, sir? How dare you!

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So those are my pics for the best (American) movies of 2020. There are others being listed and liked out there, but in the world of today, this was all I could get within six feet of.

Eric C. Player is an independently poor filmmaker, and the president of Panther Pictures, LLC, incorporated in Salt Lake City, Utah, and operating in Fargo, North Dakota. He is a father, fan, storyteller, "Picker," Corvair driver and a graduate of BYU & Chapman University film schools. His films have played in theaters all across the United States, Europe, and Asia, and movies to which he was a contributing writer or producer are available on Netflix and Amazon. He has written and produced film and video content for over twenty-five years, and has been writing Chapter-Fiction since the sixth grade. His 2007 production, Nothing But The Best, was an Official Selection of the Newport Beach Film Festival. His 2016 short, Moment of Anger, received multiple honors including Best Short and Best Director at the Road House International Short Film Festival 2016 in Santa Monica, California. his 2019 short The Fruit was an Official Selection at the Los Angeles Cinefest. Eric C. Player on Imdb.

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