Filming
Though the cars used in the movie were supposedly built by the fictional Assan Motors (the name being an obvious play on the real-life Nissan Motor Company), they are actually made by Fiat and the most commonly seen model is the Fiat Regata. Some cars in the movie bore resemblance to the Dodge Omni/Plymouth Horizon twins (which were still in production at the time of the movie's release), while the car on the official movie poster bore some resemblance to the front end of the then-current model of the Chevrolet Cavalier (though in actuality it is the front of a contemporary Dodge Charger with a chrome grill added.) Coincidentally, the Cavalier was manufactured at Lordstown Assembly, a short drive from where the bulk of Gung Ho was filmed.
The factory where the cars were produced was shot in Rosario, Argentina, while the majority of the rest of the movie was shot in central Beaver County, Pennsylvania near Pittsburgh, mostly in Beaver, as well as neighboring Bridgewater and Rochester. Other portions of the movie, including shots of the Assan Motors plant were filmed at the old Mesta Machine Plant in West Homestead, Pennsylvania.
Many references to Pittsburgh were made in the movie. Keaton, a native of nearby Coraopolis closer to the city of Pittsburgh, would mention constantly in the movie (much to the chagrin of his friends) about leading the town's high school basketball team to the state championship in Pittsburgh. In reality, most PIAA state championships in Pennsylvania are played in Hershey, which is more geographically central in the state and is near the state capital of Harrisburg. The WPIAL, a division of the PIAA whose jurisdiction covers the Pittsburgh metropolitan area (except for Pittsburgh Public Schools, which has their own championships in PIAA District 7), does play their championship games in Pittsburgh, however. In addition, many extras in the movie are seen wearing Pittsburgh Pirates hats and Pittsburgh Steelers apparel. One worker is even shown wearing a WDVE t-shirt, in reference to the popular classic rock station in the city.
A notable casting choice is that of Soh Yamamura as Mr. Sakamoto, the fearsome CEO of Assan Motors. Yamamura played the role of fleet admiral Isoroku Yamamoto in Richard Fleischer and Kinji Fukasaku's war film Tora! Tora! Tora!, another movie analyzing the complicated historical relationship between America and Japan.
Read more about this topic: Gung Ho (film)