External Combustion: Difference between revisions

 

== [[Comic Books]] ==

 

== [[Film]] ==

** This one is so famous it could be the trope codifier.

* Yuri's uncle in ''[[Lord of War]]'', after Yuri gifts his car to him.

* [[Subverted Trope]] with a side order of [[Dangerously Genre Savvy]] in the film version of ''[[The Sum of All Fears]]''. Dressler has his bodyguard start the car first, as he's savvy enough to know people like him get offed this way. After a tense moment, the car starts just fine. When Dressler (who was established early in the film to be a chain smoker) pushes in the car's cigarette lighter, it explodes as soon as the lighter pops back up. The bodyguard who started the car survives.

* The ''[[X Files]]'' Movie, where the Well Manicured Man is eliminated in this fashion.

* In ''[[Johnny Dangerously]]'', Roman Maroni does this to you [[Disproportionate Retribution|if you park in his space]].

* Parodied in ''[[Film/Mafia|Mafia]]'' (the Jay Mohr comedy), where Mohr's character is in the car when this happens. He survives, but loses most of his skin in the accident (leading to a major [[Squick]] moment when he eats a tangerine, leading to a multiple [[Vomit Indiscretion Shot]]). By the time {{spoiler|he meets up with his wife again}}, he only has a small bandage on his cheek. When he is asked what happened, he replies, [[Unexplained Recovery|"Car exploded."]]

* Famously done [[How We Got Here|in the opening scene]] of ''[[Casino]]''. Sam is narrating to himself as he walks out of a restaurant into his car, and it explodes when he turns the key. {{spoiler|Subverted, however, as we see later on that he survived.}}

{{quote| '''Sam:''' When you love someone you've got to trust them, there's no other way. You've got to give them the key to everything that's yours. Otherwise, what's the point? And for a while, I thought that was the kind of love I had. <BOOM!>}}

* Used in Fox News' [[Memetic Mutation|infamous]] "Hackers On Steroids" 4chan expose.

* In an episode of ''[[FX the Series|F/X]]'', a main character is saved from this by her habit of remote-starting the car with one of Rollie's gadgets: The car explodes in front of her and she's hospitalized.

* ''[[Due South]]'': The fate of Ray's second ([[Running Gag|or third]]) [[Cool Car|'71 Buick Riviera]]. Rigged to the driver's side door handle in this case. <ref>However, Ray, the intended target, wasn't the one who opened the door. [[Tear Jerker|Poor Louis]].</ref>

* ''Hunter''. A journalist writing a story on the mob is apparently blown up in his car. Later his wife is shocked to find him [[Not Quite Dead|turn up at their home]] in the middle of the night; when she asks who was in the car he replies: "The unluckiest car thief who never lived."

** ''[[All My Children]]'' did something similar when investigative journalist Edmund Grey was tailing a corrupt politician, shocking his wife and his other loved ones when he walked into his own funeral and revealed that the politician himself must have died in the explosion. Apparently the man didn't trust his own lackeys to do the job right and decided to plant the bomb himself.

* ''[[The Professionals]]'' ("The Purging of CI5"). Bodie and Doyle have just escaped a bomb in their phone, and Doyle worries there might be another in the car they've just gotten into. He suggests Bodie wait across the street while he starts the ignition. Bodie just gives him a contemptuous look and says "Oh just [[Ho Yay|stick it in!]]" (There's no bomb).

{{quote| '''Jeff''': Looks like someone sent us a message... a tiny, thoroughly underwhelming message.}}

* In the ''[[Miami Vice]]'' pilot, this is what happened to Crockett's first partner.

* This occurred once or twice on ''[[The Rockford Files]]''. However, the interesting part was not the explosion, but rather Jim's attempt to explain what happened to his insurance agent.

* An episode of ''[[My Name Is Earl]]'' in which Earl was studying for a GED ended up with this trope as a downtrodden teacher was convinced to play a trick on an unruly student but got some wires crossed. The car was supposed to lock the teenager in and play and annoying tune, butthe results were a bit more dramatic.

* On ''[[General Hospital]]'', Sonny's wife Lily was killed this way, when her father planted a bomb meant to kill ''Sonny'', enraged that he had not stopped carrying on with his ex-girlfriend. The sad irony is, Sonny and Lily had just reconciled and resolved to start over. She was driving the car because Sonny had drunk too much champagne celebrating her pregnancy. The scenes played out very much like in the play description--a joyful Lily walking towards the car, turning to smile back at Sonny, getting into the car, starting the ignition. . .cue the sound of the explosion and a [[Big No]] from the now widowed Sonny.

 

 

== [[Video Games]] ==

** And later {{spoiler|you can end up on the receiving end of this trick if you're not careful}}.

* ''[[Grand Theft Auto Vice City]]'' has a garage which outfits any car you drive in with a remote-detonated car bomb.

* In ''[[Hitman]]'' one of the missions in Hong Kong requires Agent 47 to use this method. Same goes for one mission in St. Petersburg in ''Silent Assassin''.

 

== [[Web Comics]] ==

 

== [[Western Animation]] ==

* One of Bill Plympthon's early shorts had a vignette titled "The Mafia, the Early Years", which showed a cowboy's horse blowing up after he spurred it.

 

== [[Real Life]] ==