Why Sam Raimi Uses the Same Car in (Almost) All His Movies

The car has even shown up in a few Coen Brothers movies.

Devoted entertainment buffs enjoy spotting hidden messages and deciphering symbols in movies, series, and video clips. Whether it's a director cameo, a reference to past work or a celebrity nemesis, a common object, or a background character, Easter eggs come in all forms and sizes: a shirt, an insinuation in a line, a poster slapped on a bedroom wall, a piece of jewelry… and sometimes a vehicle. Mega-star Taylor Swift comes to mind as a prime example; she is always dropping hints about her other songs, her loved ones, and those who have wronged her. It's simply another way for any artist or creator to leave their distinctive mark, while perpetuating a tradition. And an American filmmaker as distinctive as Sam Raimi has made it a point to leave his decaying Oldsmobile, or its replica, in most of his movies.

The title that launched his career in 1981 was The Evil Dead, a low-budget supernatural horror that spawned sequels, a TV show, and a remake. He also directed the revisionist Western The Quick and the Dead, the neo-noir thriller A Simple Plan, the original Spider-Man trilogy, the supernatural horror Drag Me to Hell, the fantasy adventure flick Oz, the Great and Powerful, and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, to name a few. Not to mention executive-producing the cult fantasy series Xena: Warrior Princess, Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, and Legend of the Seeker; the supernatural American Gothic; and Starz's Spartacus: Gods of the Arena and Spartacus: War of the Damned.

So, what exactly is this car he keeps sneaking into most of his work, and more importantly, why does he keep doing it?

Related: Sam Raimi's 7 Most Underrated Films

One of the coolest and most recognizable cars on film is Raimi's yellowish 1973 Oldsmobile Delta 88. It may not be a collector's most pricey classic vehicle, but it was a profitable and respected model at the time, built on a B-Body General Motors platform, with a V 8-cylinder engine and a 124-inch wheelbase.

While the director has affectionately dubbed it The Classic (as opposed to "a" classic), his school friend and frequent collaborator, TV and film actor Bruce Campbell, has a love-hate relationship with it. Whether in his 2001 autobiography If Chins Could Kill: Confessions of a B Movie Actor, in interviews, or on social media, he calls it "Sam's crappy Delta 88" and "a rusted hulk." But he is also grateful for it because it was his and Raimi's school and activity ride. He says, "This car knew where the bodies were buried. It had some deep history. I’m not a method actor by any means, but it was really cool to have that crappy car back. It meant a lot. It made this real."

The Classic appeared, in some form or another, in most of Raimi's work: The Evil Dead (1981); Crimewave (1985); Evil Dead II (1987); Darkman (1990); Army of Darkness AKA Evil Dead III (1992); A Simple Plan (1998); The Gift (2000); Spider-Man (2002); Spider-Man 2 (2004); Spider-Man 3 (2007); Drag Me to Hell (2009); Fede Álvarez's re-imagined The Evil Dead (2013); and Doctor Strange in The Multiverse of Madness (2022).

To avoid anachronism in The Quick and the Dead (1995) and Oz, the Great and Powerful (2013), it was, respectively, stripped down and covered with a wagon, and disassembled and used as a machine's spare parts. Or so the rumor goes. Campbell insists on it in Disney+'s behind-the-scenes documentary Assembled: The Making of Doctor Strange in The Multiverse of Madness.

Additionally, given Raimi's longtime friendship with the Coen Brothers, the Oldsmobile can also be spotted in Blood Simple (1984), Raising Arizona (1987), Fargo (1996), and The Big Lebowski(1998).

From taking The Evil Dead protagonist Ash (Campbell) to dangerous places, to serving as the Parker family ride or in car chase scenes, to being converted into a Deadite-killing machine, and mimicked as a suburban boy's toy monster truck in the Multiverse, The Classic has been an uncredited movie star.

Picture this. You’re a teenager living in Michigan who is absolutely fascinated with the entertainment industry. One day, your dad Leonard brings home a 16mm camera. So, you practice shooting everything and everybody with it, and save up enough to buy an 8mm of your own. And Leonard also brings home a brand-new car, an Oldsmobile that was all the rage among middle-class American families back then. Your mom uses it to drive you and your friends to watch movies at the local theater. And then it is handed down to you, becoming your ticket to wheel independence. So, you decide to feature it as the hero's main ride in your breakthrough film The Evil Dead. Then, your career explodes. And you’re so grateful that you decide to use that Oldsmobile as a totem in most of your movies. Your dedicated fans have a hoot trying to spot it when it's sometimes featured in a less obvious manner.

That is what, in a nutshell, The Classic means to Raimi, and why it will probably grace the big screen for a long time. He clearly enjoys leaving this trademark, just like he loves blending comedy and horror.

Related: The Evil Dead: What Makes the Horror Franchise so Special

Campbell has been shouting publicly that he absolutely can't stand the vehicle, tweeting, "That damned car has been in more Sam Raimi movies than I have!" He even jokes it was so important to Raimi in high school that he probably lost his virginity in the backseat. The actor has apparently been trying to find out where Sam keeps it in storage, in order to destroy it once and for all. But Raimi has been relentless, and will probably always use his Oldsmobile Delta 88 as a symbol of his cinematic breakthrough, and his coming-of-age and family memories. Now that is loyalty.

Lebanese multilingual voice-over artist, copywriter, author/poet, and TV director.