The car's the star in the new film version of Starsky and Hutch. ANDY TATE looks at other eye-catching autos from the movie world.

Starsky and Hutch

From September 1975 to August 1979, detectives Dave Starsky and Ken "Hutch" Hutchinson trounced criminals in Bay City.

They had the clothes, they had the hair and they had the car Starsky's beloved red and white striped Ford Gran Torino, dubbed the Red Tomato.

None of the original Torinos from the popular buddy cop TV drama were available for the 2004 movie. But in 1976 Ford had produced 1,000 limited edition red and white Starsky and Hutch Gran Torinos.

The film's production used nine of them, and experts were brought in to customise them using tapes of episodes and old photos as a guide.

Producer Alan Riche said: "The car is a star. It's one of the truly great cars. I love to listen to it when they start it up. It reminds me of growing up, listening to dual pipes to the power of Detroit. It's sexy."

Ben Stiller, who plays Starsky in the new movie, said: "My biggest memory of the series is just that they were two really cool guys who drove a really cool car."

The Italian Job

There are two movies of The Italian Job, and two types of Mini.

The first movie, made in 1969, was the quintessential British caper film of the 1960s.

The flashy romp followed a team of career criminals through the streets of Turin as they attempted one of the biggest gold heists in history.

The star of the film, Michael Caine aside, was the classic Rover Mini, which came off the assembly line for the last time in 2000.

The 2003 remake moved the action to Los Angeles, and featured an ensemble of Hollywood B-listers pulling off some pretty impressive manoeuvres in a fleet of new BMW Minis.

The tiny cars were essential to the film's plot and proved to be the perfect getaway vehicles to manoeuvre in and out of tight spots and weave through seemingly impenetrable pathways.

Director F. Gary Gray said: "They're quick, they're nimble, they're compact, and they happen to be very stylish as well."

Though audiences see only three Minis one red, one white and one blue producers used 32 of the cars to film the escape with the gold during the height of rush hour traffic in LA.

Actor Mark Wahlberg said: "They're fun to drive but you don't want to be in the passenger seat when the stunt driver is showing you how to do the tricks especially after a big breakfast."

James Bond - 007

Say James Bond: think shaken martinis, exotic women, and that essence of British motoring, the Aston Martin.

Bond's first Aston outing was in Goldfinger.

He drove a silver metallic Aston Martin DB 5, modified to add the following: two machine guns, smokescreen, bulletproof steel plate, tire cutters, ejector seat, direction-finding radar device, oil spray, and ramming bumpers.

No one could accuse 007 of going ill equipped.

The car weighed about 300 pounds more than normal because of the numerous motors and other installed items, and the luggage compartment was relatively full.

But even the extra weight failed to dent the 330 horsepower output, providing a top speed of 144 mph.

Bond has been trying out BMWs for some of his more recent missions, but while the German engineering might come up with the goods and the gadgets, there's little doubt where Bond's true heart lies.

Back to the future

Forget Michael J Fox, the real star of the Back to the Future trilogy was the DeLorean DMC-12.

Adapted into a gravity-defying time machine with the addition of a hubcap from a 1960s Dodge Polara, the DeLorean helped the hapless Marty hop between parallel worlds and time zones with style.

The movie's producers bought six of them for the original movie.

Three were running cars and the others were cut up for studio use.

For the final part of the trilogy, which demanded a DeLorean to be smashed up by a train, a battered one was found for £4,000.

The subsequent years were not kind to DeLorean, and the ill-fated sports car remains a legend among failed automobiles.

The original DeLorean Motor Company factory was geared up to build 30,000 cars per year. They only built about 8,500.

In 1997, DeLorean Motor Company of Texas acquired the remaining parts from the factory stock, and continues to distribute them to keen collectors.

Andy Tate