Car culture has been featured prominently in television and movies, from classics like "It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World" and "American Graffiti" to the ever-growing " Fast & Furious" franchise . " Breaking Bad" creator Vince Gilligan tried to match the show's characters to suitable vehicles, and the sequel film "El Camino" centered around a stolen W80 series Chevy ute. Vans have made plenty of TV and movie appearances as well, although perhaps the most famous one never appeared on-screen.
In May 1993, Chris Farley introduced "Saturday Night Live" audiences to Matt Foley, a motivational speaker who lives "in a van down by the river." In July 2024, Esquire ranked the sketch SNL's second-best ever behind only "Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer," which also featured the late, great Phil Hartman. Farley returned to play Foley in several more sketches before his death in 1997, although the oft-referred van was never shown.
While the make, model, and condition of Matt Foley's van remains parked down by the river of viewer's imaginations, there are plenty of other vans that have had important on-camera roles in popular Hollywood productions. Children of the '80s no doubt remember the action series "The A-Team," which broadcast 97 episodes between 1983 and 1987. The show's human stars included George Peppard and Laurence "Mr.
T" Tureaud, a former bodyguard for Michael Jackson who broke into acting as boxer Clubber Lang in the 1982 film "Rocky III." Mr. T's "A-Team" character was B.
A. Baracus, a.