Anyone driving down Bank Street in New Milford center last weekend would have noticed the cruiser used in that scene, still wearing its NYPD "uniform" but looking as if it had survived a demolition derby, illuminated under the lights of the Bank Street Theater marquee.
Taking a left from Bank Street onto Railroad Street would have meant encountering another beaten-up NYPD Charger, one with the same license plate number, parked in front of Milano's Restaurant.
It may seem strange for those unfamiliar with the movie industry to see two demolished Chargers acting as the same cruiser, and stranger still to find them hanging around the streets of New Milford. But they are owned by Vince Imerti, who runs Milano's, and were brought out to help promote the movie that opened last Friday.
"I saw the picture was coming here, and so I asked the theater [manager Paul Schuyler] if he'd like to have the cop cars from the movie in front, and he jumped at it," said Mr. Imerti, who used to co-own Cinema Vehicle Services, a California-based company that leases automobiles to movie studios.
Mr. Imerti spent about 35 years in that particular line of work, and movie lovers know his products from films such as "Gone in 60 Seconds," "Starsky and Hutch" and "The Dukes of Hazzard." Though he left the industry several years ago, he occasionally works with his old business partner on getting cars into East Coast movies such as "The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3," an action film in which Mr. Travolta's character hijacks a subway train with a demand of $10 million.
Though Mr. Imerti couldn't bear living in California, he said the movie business is still "where my heart is."
The two cruisers seen in New Milford were among 11 autos total, or totaled, as part of the chase scene involving the cruiser. Mr. Imerti actually has a couple more of the filmed cars, along with an ambulance and two NYPD motorcycles, parked in a lot off Bridge Street, but he chose not to bring them out for the premiere because they are smashed up to the point that they're a liability.
Still, according to Mr. Schuyler, patrons coming in to see the movie over the weekend loved the publicity stunt. And he was even able to get some good pictures of moviegoers standing in front of the banged up vehicle.
The fact that Mr. Imerti approached him with the publicity idea turned out to be serendipitous, as Mr. Schuyler has already hatched a plan to make a night at the movies more of an interactive experience. For example, he'll bring out an ice sculpture of Scrat the Saber-toothed Squirrel to coincide with the release of "Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs," and a military-style climbing wall for the opening of "GI Joe," both set to come out this summer.
"I would've loved to have had someone in a lawn chair tied with balloons, and send them up in the air, but I figured that would be a little over the top," Mr. Schuyler joked about the opening of Disney Pixar's "Up." Besides, he guessed that he would have needed at least 20,000 balloons to repeatedly pull off such a stunt.
Mr. Imerti, meanwhile, is currently renting out another 20 cars for a new Nicholas Cage picture, "The Sorcerer's Apprentice," which is filming in New York. It's unclear what condition he expects the cars to be returned in, but as the film is set to be released next summer, it's feasible the Bank Street Theater and Mr. Imerti could pull off a similar act this time next year.
That's known in the business as a sequel-so stay tuned.