The Zippo appears in cinema

The Zippo in period films

The Zippo is featured as early as 1948 in "Homecoming" by Mervyn Leroy, curiously in the hands of a woman, Lana Turner, partner of Clark Gable.
Donna Reed (another woman!) follows five years later ("From Here to Eternity" by Fred Zinneman - 1953 - Evocation of Pearl Harbor) then the Zippo returns to the more masculine pockets of the Marines during the Battle of Saipan illustrated by "The High and the Mighty" and directed by Raoul Walsh (1954), in those of Lee Marvin on the occasion of "Attack".staged by Robert Aldrich or by Errol Flynn vividly experiencing his "Adventures in Burma".

But the most striking fact in the cinematic history of the Zippo is perhaps "The Longest Day," in which two of these lighters were present alongside Robert Mitchum and Richard Burton in 1962. The distance from war does not, however, break the pace of the Zippo's appearances on screen. John Wayne takes over from Burton and Mitchum, and through the lighter this time passes the emotion of "The Green Berets."The Zippo of one of them who died in combat is indeed recovered from a double agent Viet Cong. The dedication it bears then appears on screen in a close-up shot: "Sergen tD. Seabright, Special Forces Congratulations Green Beret: Love Joanne".

This lighter loaded with meaning will be given at the end of the story to a journalist (David Jensen) who harshly criticized these battles. Closer to us still, Martin Sheen's Zippo is featured in the first images of "Apocalypse Now"by Francis Ford Coppola (1979) or accompanies a young recruit (Matthew Broderick) in his training before his departure for the front ("Biloxi Blues" by Mike Nichols-1968-).

The French war film also contributes to these reminders of the most "historic" lighter. In "La 317ème section" (1964), set during the end of operations in the Indochina War, Pierre Schoendorffer illustrates the role that the Zippo played among the men of the French expeditionary corps… A tribute to the Zippo in a cinema classic.

Television is not left out,William Friedkin was the first to highlight the symbolism of the Zippo in "Light of Darkness," an episode of "The Twilight Zone" in which the lighter's flame keeps the veteran awake, who, when he dozes off, relives in his nightmares the battles he has gone through.

Beyond "fiction" and the screenplay, always more or less novelized, one must take into account war reporting. The Zippo appears again, almost more lifelike than nature, companion of George Stevens, director of "Giant" but filming there The news footage of Operation “Overlord” recreated in “D Day for Berlin” (“The March of the Heroes”).
To this obvious presence of the Zippo in productions based on historical events where it played its part in the news follows its appearance, even more striking, in adventure films, dramas, or others, this time with no connection to past conflicts.

Having thus acquired its true image as a token during war epics, the Zippo has since determined the profile of its user, virile, adventurous, solid: an image that any American would wish to be able to reflect. In this category, the poster for Gilbert R. Kay's melodrama "Three Bad Sisters" opens fire in 1955, depicting its three starlets, Maria English, Kathleen Hygues, and Sara Shane, extending their cigarettes toward Zippos held by male hands. Another appearance, on the walls of Paris this time, at the much more recent evocation of "Une Jeunesse" by MoshéMisrahi (1983), adaptation of Modiano's novel in which he dominates the screen with his towering flame, almost relegating the main actors, Jacques Dutronc and Charles Aznavour, to the background. In the early Sixties, Elvis Presley, for his part, lets go of the torch and responds with a detached look that he does not smoke to a little tease who, "Under the blue sky of Hawaii," offers him her flame via her Zippo. Three years later, having become "The handyman," the King then extends that same fire to his provocateurs.

The Zippo in today's cult films

The following decade still honors the creation made in Bradford through, for example, two French works by Jean-Pierre Melville and George Lautner: "Le cercle rouge" (1970) and "La valise" (1973), emphasizing the American "look" of the protagonists.

Since then, the Zippo tends to appear only alongside true adventurers, for a good cause… Thus Lambert Wilson lights up a festival of dynamite in "Bleu comme l'enfer"which allows him to eliminate Tchéky Karyo, and Bruce Willis can, thanks to the Zippo, light his way and move through the ventilation pipes of a burning skyscraper in order to trigger the fire safety system that will prevent the "Die Hard" trap from closing in on him. The Zippo is also the detonator for the "explosive" ending of "Terminator" with Arnold Schwarzenegger and for the equally spectacular ending of the pirates' plane, whose burning fuel tank no longer even gives them " 58 Minutes to Live ».

Finally, under Steven Spielberg's cameras, he will once again save father and son (Sean Connery, Harrison Ford), allowing the former to burn the bonds that hold them prisoner thanks to the lighter taken from the latter's pocket (« Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade »). The last cinematic winks of the Zippo, Michael Douglas's model, stamped with the miniature insignia of the New York police, « C385 », with which the actor burns a $100 bill under the dazed gaze of his Japanese partner (« Black Rain ») and, finally, the image of Eddie Murphy, triumphant and laughing, holding on the stretcher on which he is lying, the Zippo that he finally managed to steal from Nick Nolte, in « 48 Hrs. More ».

Also let's mention the Zippos of Paul Burke, private detective facing Steve McQueen in « The Thomas Crown Affair » by Mickey Rourke, « The Irishman » also known as « Johnny Got His Gun » by Willem Dafoe (« Wild at Heart ») and Power Boothe finally, facing Nick Nolte in « Extreme prejudice".

Such a filmography allows one to measure the extent of the Zippo's impact, whose presence almost single-handedly defines the hero's personality. The Bradford workshops, aware of this stardom, themselves projected cinema onto their product. As early as 1965, a special stamped copper lighter paid embossed tribute to Richard Brooks' "Lord Jim." Following came the "Miami Vice" ("two cops in Miami") and "Mystery Train" films by Jim Jarmusch, not to mention, in the "American Classics" series, the Zippo withHumphrey Boggart's getaway.

Also noteworthy are other themes with a younger or humorous connotation featuring, between 1981 and 1989, the characters of Walt Disney, from Disneyland to Disneyworld, and finally, a model, 1989 version, adorned with a camera and a clapperboard on which it reads: "Hollywood Studio: scene 6, take 4".

The Zippo as seen by director Sydney Pollack

Let us, to conclude, give the floor to the director Sydney Pollack, who, coming to Paris for the release of his new film "Havana," praised the Zippo, emphasizing that the Zippo is one of the key elements of American culture, one of its successes. It is the best lighter in the world. It is sturdy, tactilely soft, almost voluptuous. Its weight is perfect. In the continuity of my film "Havana," it contributes to defining the character played by Robert Redford.

The comfort, the elegance of the Zippo correspond, respond to those of cowboy boots, practical in the countryside and not clashing with the elegance of a dressed-up evening. The Zippo might only be practical, it is also decorative. Its beauty lies in the perfect way it fulfills its function and goes beyond it.

The Zippo in literature

Having captivated cinema, the Zippo could not leave creators of graphic literature indifferent. The artists of the golden age of comics therefore followed the trend, such as Alex Raymond, one of the greatest in this field, who places the legendary lighter in the universe of his two classic strips: "Jungle Jim" and "Rip Kirby".

The Zippo then continues its brilliant career in detective comics, in the adventures of "Secret Agent X-9" sketchedby Robert Storm based on an idea by Mel Grafe for "Mike Hammer" created in 1953 by Ed. Robbins. He also reappears in 1970 in the hands of "Johny Hazard" in "Johny the newspaper of the Golden Age," by Frank Robbins, and more generally in the albums of Dupuis editions in the hands of "Buck Danny," "Test Pilot" carrying out a "Top secret" mission in the "Korean Sky" under the pencils of Victor Hubinon on scripts by Jean Michel Charlier.

Just like in cinema, it will also establish itself in " Comics » inspired by the conflicts in Korea and Vietnam. For the latter, the adventure begins with « Tales of the Green Berets » illustrated by Joe Kubert based on the book by Robin Moore and continues with many other series such as « The Nam » (Marvel) whose issue number one was released in December 1986.

The Zippo is still at the forefront of the images in « Vietnam Journal » (Apple Comics) or « Steve Canyon » by Milton Caniff, this time concerning the Korean War.

The ultimate in this field, however, is constituted by the appearance of a fully-fledged hero straight out, in 1943, from the imagination of Tony Di Preta. This character from "Hillmann Periodicals clue Comic" whose hood features a dial as a crest, a masked vigilante just like "The Flash", "Captain America" or "The Fighting Yank", is simply called "Zippo".

Among the distinctive features of this superhero are two other dials, which at his ankles replace the wings of Mercury and, of course, transferred on the chest of his tights, a giant Z not for Zorro but for "Zippo," who lived between January 1943 and May 1947, the duration of fifteen issues.

At the same time, Otto Soglow, father of the "Little King," stages a story in honor of Zippo, against a background of baseball, in Collier's magazine.

About six years later, Sam Cobean dedicates him in turn within the pages of the same Collier's through a true advertising board in comic strip form.
Final tributes, after having intruded In the worlds of cinema and comic books, the Zippo takes on the daily press and appears on January 14, 1987, in the hands of a Ronald Reagan parodying Don Johnson from “Miami Vice,” in the pages of the International Herald Tribune.
A wink this time and an exchange of courtesy also take place during the tribute paid by Zippo to comic books, with the appearance, on a 1950 lighter, of the silhouette of a warship, the " USS Des Moines – CA 134 – featuring superimposed, in the purest tradition of pin-ups for soldiers, the characters of Daisy Mae, the scantily dressed fiancée with a generous neckline from "Li'l Abner," a comic strip by Al Capp.

Finally, her latest conquest, her very noticeable entry into the world of video games thanks to a creation from City Video

Productions; "The What Now Copper" (1990).