14 replies to this topic

[seeindoubles]

I have seen the Questar 3.5 in at least two Hollywood films. "The Mechanic" starring Charles Bronson had the Questar 3.5 featured in at least two different scenes where he was surveilling a mark and later when he was using it to photograph drug dealers making a drop. It was also used in "Body Double" where it was set up in a unique house on stilts where the main character uses it to spy on the lady in the apartment across from the house.

Any of you know of other Questar in films appearances?

[dougm]

"Into The Wild", a Sean Penn film from 2007. Main character gives his father, played by William Hurt I think, a Questar for his birthday.

[seeindoubles]

I will have to check that one out. It would be interesting to see anyway as I have heard it wasn't a half bad movie.

I myself have a used Questar Standard waiting for pickup at the post office first thing Monday. I can hardly wait!

[JimK]

There's an old (1966) Jerry Lewis movie "Way... Way out" where a Questar is used as a bludgeon. It's about minute 1 into this link: http://www.youtube.c...h?v=pgh5kHqTjh0

As mentioned earlier, there's "The Mechanic" with Charles Bronson (1972). It's a little over 1 minute into this link: http://www.youtube.c...h?v=mdmRcgjN1m0

Also mentioned earlier, is the (1984) movie "Body Double", and the last 4 minutes of this link (although its a dubbed language): http://www.youtube.c...h?v=kpuxKu6s4OA

[seeindoubles]

Jerry Lewis movie?! What a low for the Q.

[Augustus]

There's an old (1966) Jerry Lewis movie "Way... Way out" where a Questar is used as a bludgeon. It's about minute 1 into this link: http://www.youtube.c...h?v=pgh5kHqTjh0

As mentioned earlier, there's "The Mechanic" with Charles Bronson (1972). It's a little over 1 minute into this link: http://www.youtube.c...h?v=mdmRcgjN1m0

Also mentioned earlier, is the (1984) movie "Body Double", and the last 4 minutes of this link (although its a dubbed language): http://www.youtube.c...h?v=kpuxKu6s4OA

The Jerry Lewis movie makes me cringe. Why deface such beautiful optics?

[frebie]

It didn't appear in a film, but when Francis Ford Coppola was producing the film Rumble Fish in Tulsa in 1983, he bought a 3.5" from us to give to his cinematographer, Stephen Burum, as a birthday present. I guess he knew his cinematographer would appreciate great optics.

[Kevin Barker]

I vaguely remember that film. Mickey Rourke's character was colour blind.  There was a great scene near the end kind of playing on that fact. I wonder if the cinematographer used his Questar much??

 

What a great present.

[Terra Nova]

The Jerry Lewis movie makes me cringe. Why deface such beautiful optics?

For me, the Questar movie that makes me cringe is Body Double. That scene was the auger drill, OMG!  I saw that movie at the show 35 years ago when it first came out and that scene is still burned into my mind! 

[Gregory Gross]

It didn't appear in a film, but when Francis Ford Coppola was producing the film Rumble Fish in Tulsa in 1983, he bought a 3.5" from us to give to his cinematographer, Stephen Burum, as a birthday present. I guess he knew his cinematographer would appreciate great optics.

This afternoon, I happened across an August 1976 article in Atlantic Monthly that noted that Francis Ford Coppola had become a Questar owner himself not too long after that article was published. Add another person to the list of celebrity Questar owners!

[98105dude]

Jerry Lewis was a great man. He entertained millions of people, and he helped tens of thousands of people who really needed a friend in their corner.

[RMay]

I was working with Questar in LA when the request came in for a 3.5 ‘loaner’ for Body Double, and it was suggested that I let them use my own recently purchased scope, a request that I politely declined. DePalma’s people then purchased the scope from Q that was used in the movie.

Ron

[DrAstro]

Back in the 70s, I toured the facility that made the optics for Questar. The company, in a suburb of Washington DC is named J.R. Cumberland Optics and is still in business. The company makes other optics but they are most famous for the Questar optics. At one point during the tour, the owner told us that they couldn't always get the glass to behave and sometimes the corrector could not be made to the specification required by Questar. With that, he picked up a 3.5" corrector that  he indicated couldn't be figured. "What do we do with them?", he asked. With that, he took the glass and banged it against the edge of the metal work bench, cracking it in half. 

 

We all cringed. LOL

[Gregory Gross]

In a roundabout way, I came across this profile on Harvard Film Archive's website this morning of a short art film entitled Vite (1969). Its producer, painter-sculptor Daniel Pommereulle, was apparently inspired to include shots of the Moon through a Questar in the film after having first encountered Marlon's Brando's Questar at the actor's Southern California home in 1968.

 

This little tidbit adds to what we know about Brando's ownership of a Questar as discussed in this CN thread from 2010 and this post from 2015.

Edited by Gregory Gross, 11 June 2022 - 01:42 PM.

[munirocks]

Resurrecting this thread, as I just spotted a Questar while watching the last lecture (of five lectures) of the 1991 Royal Institution Christmas Lectures given by Richard Dawkins.

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