If art imitates life, then it makes sense why there are so many movie scenes that use gas stations and convenience stores as locations for important parts of movies; millions of people go to these places every day! We found ten of our favorite movie gas station scenes and listed them below.
The Birds (1963)
The Birds has one of the most iconic gas station scenes in movie history. A gas attendant gets attacked by a flight of birds, starting a catastrophic chain reaction. Lesson learned: Don’t upset the seagulls.
James Bond: Diamonds Are Forever (1971)
Riding in Style: In the early Bond classic, James Bond (Sean Connery) and Tiffany Case (Jill St. John) pull into the Shell station next to the Alpine Village Inn in Las Vegas. Tiffany blocks the way out of the station with the ‘71 Mustang Mach 1, while Bond crawls into the back of the villain’s van.
Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)
Horror movies love gas stations: In the classic Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Sally and her friends stop at a gas station on the way to her grandfather’s grave. Much to their dismay, the gas station has no gas, forcing them to stay in the area for the night – NEVER a good sign in horror flicks! Bonus: Just in time for Halloween…if you’re the type who likes some thrills, you will now be able to eat BBQ at this gas station and for the very brave, spend the night there. According to the official page, their grand opening is this Saturday, Oct 8.
The Jerk (1979)
Ever wonder how many cans are at a gas station? Gas attendant Navin Johnson (Steve Martin) gets acquainted with oil cans, soda cans, and the paint cans when a crazy gunman starts shooting at him and missing, hitting all of the cans instead! As Navin puts it: “he hates the cans!”
Back to the Future Part II (1989)
When Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) blasts to Hill Valley in the year 2015, he sees flying cars, holographic sharks, and this floating futuristic gas station! It’s 2016, where are our robot gas attendant and flying car?
Dumb and Dumber (1994)
Dumb and Dumber’s Harry (Jeff Daniels) falls for a cute girl at the pump on his way to Colorado, stumbling over his words and spilling gas all over his pants. As the movie title suggests, offering to light the girl’s cigarette is not the smartest idea after spilling gas.
Tommy Boy (1995)
After Tommy (Chris Farley) and Paul (Rob Lowe) have a nasty time cow-tipping, they head to the nearest gas station to hose down the mess. When Paul starts spraying Tommy, Tommy starts dancing to “I’m a maniac, maniac!” while covered in cow poop. What would you do if you saw a scene like that at your local station?
The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997)
Peril at the pump: Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) and Sarah Harding (Julianne Moore) find themselves face to face with an angry tyrannosaurus rex at the local 76 station. When the T-rex realizes Sarah is holding her baby dinosaur, she flips a few cars, knocks over the 76 station sign and charges after the speeding car. (PS: This is an actual station you can go visit in Granada Hills, CA!)
Zoolander (2001)
Living it up at the pump: What’s the best way to blow off some steam? Orange mocha frappuccinos and a gas station party, of course! What starts as an innocent squeegee fight progresses to a full out, gas hose-down with Derek Zoolander (Ben Stiller), and his roommates Brint (Alexandre Manning), Rufus (Asio Highsmith), and Meekus (Alexander Skarsgård). Of course, we don’t encourage any of this behavior because SPOILERS: spontaneous gas fights ALWAYS end badly…
Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003)
Comic Relief: While Connor (Nick Stahl) fills up the tank, the Terminator (Arnold Schwarzenegger) walks into the convenience store and grabs anything that interests him, including a whole container of lollipops and a new pair of sunglasses. When the cashier asks if he’s going to pay, the Terminator turns to him, raises his hand and says: “Talk to the hand” before exiting the store.
Post originally appeared on the GasBuddy blog on October 4, 2016.