120 replies to this topic

[Flat Black 84]

I know there is already a great thread on TNF about racing films. The theme of this one, though, is quite different. When I talk about road movies I'm not talking about racing, although they may include racing. Instead, what I have in mind are films in which time on the road figures prominently. Specifically, these movies will feature long road trips, extensive vehicle chase scenes, truckers and/or bikers.

I'd like to get the show on the road by nominating "Duel."

If you haven't seen this one, it's a made-for-TV movie done by Spielberg in 1971. In fact, it was Spielberg's first full-length feature.

It's a great one. Stars Dennis Weaver as a business man driving through the Southern California desert in a tame and sane Plymouth Valiant for a meeting with his boss. En route, he rubs a trucker in a black 1955 Peterbilt the wrong way and is stalked by him mile after mile until the final, violent confrontation.

I saw "Duel" at the age of four when it first appeared on the telly and it has stayed with me ever since. In particular the scene where Weaver's radiator hose goes ("The radiator hose! God, please no!") lodged itself in my conscience.

Excellent film.

[kayemod]

I've watched Duel more than once, and it doesn't do a great deal for me. Just my personal opinion of course, but I think it's overated, if it wasn't for the Speilberg involvement, it would probably have vanished without trace years ago. One road film I do like though is Two Lane Blacktop, a clever and enigmatic work that has lots of unexplained loose ends, a circular plot and no real ending. It's about an on-off race along Route 66 by Warren Oates in a Pontiac GTO (?) and singer James Taylor and Beachboys drummer Dennis Wilson in what might have been the first big screen appearance for both, driving a 55 Chevy drag racer. About 1970 I think, but it's stood the test of time rather better than many other films from the hippy era.

[Flat Black 84]

Anybody see the original "Vanishing Point"? I haven't, but it looks interesting. May have to rent it one of these weekends directly.

[red stick]

Anybody see the original "Vanishing Point"? I haven't, but it looks interesting. May have to rent it one of these weekends directly.

I thought it very much a period piece. Of course, arguably, so is Easy Rider, but having heard about it for years, I thought Vanishing Point was way too thin.

Edited by red stick, 13 May 2009 - 18:50.

[kayemod]

I thought it very much a period piece. Of course, arguably, so is Easy Rider, but having heard about it for years, I thought Vanishing Point was way too thin.

Have to agree, neither Easy Rider or Vanishing Point have stood the test of time, though I still believe that Two Lane Blacktop does. Haven't seen the remake, but most have said that the original version of Vanishing Point with Barry Newman was far superior to the later TV version. That film was notable for a vast number of continuity errors, some of them quite amusing.

[red stick]

Have to agree, neither Easy Rider or Vanishing Point have stood the test of time, though I still believe that Two Lane Blacktop does.

Haven't seen that, but Warren Oates is generally a sign of quality in a movie. On to the Netflix list!

[red stick]

And being raised in the South, I should, out of a sense of cultural solidarity, nominate Smokey and the Bandit, which, if the criteria is "long road trips, extensive vehicle chase scenes, truckers and/or bikers," covers all but the bikers. And includes a black Trans-Am and lots of beer.


Wikipedia also has an extensive list of "road movies," rather broadly defined.

http://en.wikipedia....iki/Road_movies

Edited by red stick, 13 May 2009 - 19:35.

[COUGAR508]

I know there is already a great thread on TNF about racing films. The theme of this one, though, is quite different. When I talk about road movies I'm not talking about racing, although they may include racing. Instead, what I have in mind are films in which time on the road figures prominently. Specifically, these movies will feature long road trips, extensive vehicle chase scenes, truckers and/or bikers.

I'd like to get the show on the road by nominating "Duel."

If you haven't seen this one, it's a made-for-TV movie done by Spielberg in 1971. In fact, it was Spielberg's first full-length feature.

It's a great one. Stars Dennis Weaver as a business man driving through the Southern California desert in a tame and sane Plymouth Valiant for a meeting with his boss. En route, he rubs a trucker in a black 1955 Peterbilt the wrong way and is stalked by him mile after mile until the final, violent confrontation.

I saw "Duel" at the age of four when it first appeared on the telly and it has stayed with me ever since. In particular the scene where Weaver's radiator hose goes ("The radiator hose! God, please no!") lodged itself in my conscience.

Excellent film.

Yes, "Duel" had quite an effect on me when I first saw it. A first glimpse of Spielberg's talent.

"Easy Rider" is a great "period piece", but looks somewhat dated to modern eyes.

[Flat Black 84]

You know, I like the "dated" look because I like glimpsing bygone years. And that period right around 1970-71 is particularly fascinating to me.

PS--Before there was "Smokey and the Bandit", wasn't there a certain "Convoy"? Probably saw it back when I was a li'l spark, but don't recall for certain.

[red stick]

Smokey and the Bandit is Shakespeare compared to Convoy.

[JB Miltonian]

How about "Il Sorpasso", on the road in Italy with a Lancia B24 convertible?

[McGuire]

Thunder Road -- starring Robert Mitchum, with the inexplicable Keely Smith ripping up the screen. One of the best car movies ever.

Hot Rods to Hell -- same story arc as Duel but more nuanced.

The Lively Set - Featuring the Chrysler turbine car, Mickey Thompson, etc. A near-remake of Johnny Dark with Tony Curtis, which is also worth the ticket.

The California Kid -- Martin Sheen in the outsider/purifier role ala Shane, Eastwood's Pale Rider, etc, but here justice is served vehicularly. Co-starring Pete Chapouris' '34 Ford as the four-wheeled six-shooter.

Macon County Line-- much copied, extremely influential B-movie, favorite of the film school crowd, oft-cited by Quentin Tarentino. Script by co-star Max Baer Jr -- Jethro of the Beverly Hillbillies. The sequel, Return to Macon County, is unwatchable.

Death Race 2000 -- Delightfully awful even for Roger Corman. Hilariously appalling. Watch it and have a good laugh at Sylvester Stallone as revenge for Driven.

Corvette Summer -- teen-coming-of-age-on-the-road movie starring Mark Hamill, an adorable young Annie Potts, and the most hideous customized Corvette ever built.

White Lightning -- Burt Reynolds in the progenitor of all the Smokey movies.

Edited by McGuire, 13 May 2009 - 20:23.

[vivafroilan!]

For me it is still Vanishing Point. I still love its mood, and those old Challengers are my favorite American car ever. Probably too much of a stretch to call Near Dark a road movie, but that would be right up there as well.

[Flat Black 84]

In light of Dom Deluise's recent passing, I'm surprised nobody's plumped for "Cannonball Run."

[red stick]

In light of Dom Deluise's recent passing, I'm surprised nobody's plumped for "Cannonball Run."

That would have to go at the bottom of McGuire's list, or at the top of a "Ten Worst" road movies.

[HistoricMustang]

How can you not put this at or near the top?



And, of course Hot Rods to Hell.

But, in a very twisted way I really enjoy The Long, Long Trailer. Go figure!

Henry

[RA Historian]

Oooops, thought this thread was about Crosby and Hope. Never mind.
Tom

[TrackDog]

It really isn't a road movie in the traditional sense, but HATARI with John Wayne and Red Buttons has a lot of car scenes. The plot involves capturing wild animals in Africa for various zoos. The cars, actually a Jeep, a late '40's Chevy truck with an early 1960's Fleetside bed and a split manifold with a glasspack muffler and a Dodge Powerwagon figure prominently in the action and are essential to the plot. There are some scenes shot in a small city in South Africa that show old Mercedes, Volkswagen, Bedford trucks and a lot of other old cars. The movie was released in 1962, and one of the main characters(portrayed by Hardy Kruger) is a race driver when he isn't chasing animals. He's said to have had a bad crash at LeMans three years earlier, and his team boss is none other than Lorenzo Bandini!

There are a lot of scenes that involve the cars driving along in a convoy, or caravan in exotic locales, so I guess it IS sort of a road movie...anyway, it's a lot of fun to watch.


Dan

[Tony Matthews]

One road film I do like though is Two Lane Blacktop, a clever and enigmatic work that has lots of unexplained loose ends, a circular plot and no real ending. It's about an on-off race along Route 66 by Warren Oates in a Pontiac GTO (?) and singer James Taylor and Beachboys drummer Dennis Wilson in what might have been the first big screen appearance for both, driving a 55 Chevy drag racer. About 1970 I think, but it's stood the test of time rather better than many other films from the hippy era.

I saw Two Lane Blacktop on its release, The Screen on the Green, Chelsea in, I think 1971 or 2, and bought the DVD last year as a sort of trip down memory lane. It was better than I thought it would be after so many years, good enough to watch again fairly soon, and a lot better than Vanishing Point.

I don't supose The Blues Brothers qualifies as a Road Movie, but that is still entertaining - the music helps!

[Martin Roessler]

i also vote for two lane black top! great movie...
i also really like "the fast and the furious"...now before you throw stones...i'm talking about roger corman's 1955 original...not the cr@ppy remakes.
worth watching if you haven't already
cheers marty

[fines]

I thought "Duel" was Spielberg's last good movie...

[red stick]

I thought "Duel" was Spielberg's last good movie...

Jaws. Every time I catch it on TV I get drawn in.

[Ray Bell]

Have to mention Viva Las Vegas... the Elvis Presley road race movie...

Who didn't sit in the cinema and have their stomach go up and down with those cars on the desert road?

Also liked the Smokey and the Bandit movies, hated Duel.

[ovfi]

I was 15 when I first saw Viva Las Vegas, starred By Ann-Margret and others...

As people's wisdom says, an image is worth 10,000 words, so I made captions of the main scene:



Well, let's go back to my Glenfiddish...

[JtP1]

I'd like to get the show on the road by nominating "Duel."

If you haven't seen this one, it's a made-for-TV movie done by Spielberg in 1971. In fact, it was Spielberg's first full-length feature.

It's a great one. Stars Dennis Weaver as a business man driving through the Southern California desert in a tame and sane Plymouth Valiant for a meeting with his boss. En route, he rubs a trucker in a black 1955 Peterbilt the wrong way and is stalked by him mile after mile until the final, violent confrontation.


Excellent film.

It's not a black Peterbilt. It's an extremely grubby White.

[Lola5000]

The Yellow Rolls Royce.

[Frank S]

Warren Oates should have had the Supporting Oscar that (Two Lane Blacktop) year.

One movie (as opposed to "film") I seem to fall back into every time I come across it is "Midnight Run". I'm not a great DeNiro fan, nor a Grodin fan, and I believe the parts were not much of a stretch for either (nor for Yaphet Kotto), but I've traveled a lot of the roads they are shown on (not the river; that's in New Zealand, I think) and the scenery is still marvelous.

Some of the enjoyment is in catching this kind of stuff:
http://www.imdb.com/...tt0095631/goofs

Edited by Frank S, 14 May 2009 - 04:42.

[ghinzani]

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas for me, its vaguely set around an off road bike race.

[fines]

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas for me, its vaguely set around an off road bike race.

My favourite Terry Gilliam movie - and that means something!

[Tony Matthews]

It's not a black Peterbilt. It's an extremely grubby White.

And a dull red White, if memory serves me. I saw it once, years ago on TV, it does have, initially, a sense of menace, but I think it is a one-trick poney, once you reralise that it loses most of its impact.

[kayemod]

It's not a black Peterbilt. It's an extremely grubby White.

Would you settle for an extremely grubby Peterbilt?

[Tony Matthews]

Would you settle for an extremely grubby Peterbilt?

I'd settle for a pint of Stella, but it's a bit early.

[DJH]

There is an obscure European movie called " The Thieves ", has a 15 minute car chase through city streets, haven't seen the film on T.V. for ages. Chase is in the style of Steve McQueen's Bullit, another good one.
Anyone else remember The Thieves? The car chase is a rip-snorter.
Of course the original " Italian Job " is a classic road movie too......John

Edited by DJH, 14 May 2009 - 09:19.

[Nanni Dietrich]

There is an obscure European movie called " The Thieves ", has a 15 minute car chase through city streets, haven't seen the film on T.V. for ages. Chase is in the style of Steve McQueen's Bullit, another good one.
Anyone else remember The Thieves? The car chase is a rip-snorter.
Of course the original " Italian Job " is a classic road movie too......John

"Ronin" by John Schlesinger.
Another car chase in the style of Steve McQueen's Bullit, another good one. An Audi S8 against a Citroen XM, with a brown Mercedes 300 driven by Bob De Niro following, along the narrow streets of Nimes, France. Great.
And later, a Peugeot 406 and a Bmw in the tunnels of Paris.

[JtP1]

Would you settle for an extremely grubby Peterbilt?

I am sure it has a White badge on the grille, because I once watched it deliberately to see the make of truck.

[JtP1]

"Ronin" by John Schlesinger.
Another car chase in the style of Steve McQueen's Bullit, another good one. An Audi S8 against a Citroen XM, with a brown Mercedes 300 driven by Bob De Niro following, along the narrow streets of Nimes, France. Great.
And later, a Peugeot 406 and a Bmw in the tunnels of Paris.

"Ronin" I consider the best all round film. The best driving in the car chases and a film that is worth watching in itself. The fact it takes about 3 viewings to work out what is actually happening means you get to watch the chases lots of times.

[kayemod]

I am sure it has a White badge on the grille, because I once watched it deliberately to see the make of truck.

http://www.imcdb.org...ges/005/148.jpg

It's a 1955 Peterbilt 281.

[JtP1]

http://www.imcdb.org...ges/005/148.jpg

It's a 1955 Peterbilt 281.

Yes, I have just checked sand it is a Peterbilt. so the bonus points to you. That leaves the question of which truck road movie uses a White?

[Tony Matthews]

It's a 1955 Peterbilt 281.

At least I got the colour more or less right!

[D-Type]

It really isn't a road movie in the traditional sense, but HATARI with John Wayne and Red Buttons has a lot of car scenes. The plot involves capturing wild animals in Africa for various zoos. The cars, actually a Jeep, a late '40's Chevy truck with an early 1960's Fleetside bed and a split manifold with a glasspack muffler and a Dodge Powerwagon figure prominently in the action and are essential to the plot. There are some scenes shot in a small city in South Africa that show old Mercedes, Volkswagen, Bedford trucks and a lot of other old cars. The movie was released in 1962, and one of the main characters (portrayed by Hardy Kruger) is a race driver when he isn't chasing animals. He's said to have had a bad crash at LeMans three years earlier, and his team boss is none other than Lorenzo Bandini!

There are a lot of scenes that involve the cars driving along in a convoy, or caravan in exotic locales, so I guess it IS sort of a road movie...anyway, it's a lot of fun to watch.


Dan

The "small city" where the baby elephants go on a rampage is Arusha in Tanzania.
Definitely a "fun" film that doesn't take itself too seriously. For example, in one scene John Wayne throws away the pole and noose they are using to catch the animals and spins the loop around his head in classic "John Wayne the cowboy" style and lassoos the animal.

[Jonathan]

"Crazy Larry and Dirty Sally" would have been an awesome movie had they used an intelligent script. Even with the immature name calling, it is still an interesting film to watch.

"Race with the Devil" like "Two Lane Backtop" also stars Warren Oates (along with Peter Fonda) and is exciting to watch, even though there isnt much talent to driving an enormous motorhome down an interstate highway.

[johnny yuma]

At first I thought "Two Lane Blacktop" ,like any good movie it is ageless.However for cinematography,best supporting vehicle and true history nod, and Soundtrack,it just has to go to "Bonnie and Clyde" with Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway, the highlight being the little 1932 V8 Ford pursued by the law, swooping and dashing over Southern farmlands to,I think "Bitter Creek Breakdown",a country music classic in it's own right,matching the restless energy of the Barrow Gang in their V8 Ford as they undertake their fated trajectory of crime across depression USA. ( Downbeat scene follows as mechanic/driver/accomplice examines oil leaks following chase). Not dissimilar in overall angst to Vanishing Point or Two Lane Blacktop----BUT we need to include the superior Motorcycle based "The Wild One" with Marlon Brando and Lee Marvin in any list of top Road Movies.Classic line which stands up today,Johnny(Brando) is asked by the young thing serving drinks,as she reads their jacket motto "black rebels motorcycle club" ---" What are you rebelling against ?",his reply is "What have you got?"
The more things change,the more they stay the same !!

For movie buffs out there,"Wake in Fright",made in Australia in 1971 by USA people and released there as "Outback",is being re-released due to discovery of pristine cans (later for DVD).Three big facts,Chips Rafferty's last movie,Jack Thompson's first,and a wild kangaroo shooting rampage through semi-desert near Broken Hill in a circa-1960 Ford Fairlane,knocking over saplings,churning dust,wild oversteer slides while Jack and his animal mates scull beer and blast away with rifles at anything that moves.

[Tony Matthews]

... a wild kangaroo shooting rampage through semi-desert near Broken Hill in a circa-1960 Ford Fairlane,knocking over saplings,churning dust,wild oversteer slides while Jack and his animal mates scull beer and blast away with rifles at anything that moves.

I've had to stop all that, the neighbours were complaining about the noise.

Bonnie and Clyde is a much better film than Two Lane Blacktop, but I still think the latter has aged pretty well, and possibly fits the "road" movie catagory a little better.

[MPea3]

To me the best 80's road film is the fun and underrated "Fandango" with Kevin Costner and Judd Nelson. It's about four guys graduating from college who take that one last road trip together. Some great scenes include hitching a ride on a train while still IN a car, skydiving with a hippy pilot and the wedding we all wish we had. Those three scenes are worth the rental. Pat Methany music doesn't hurt either.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089126/

Another one nobody has mentioned is "Planes Trains & Automobiles". That's kind of a road movie isn't it?

[Flat Black 84]

I'm a heavy duty James Bond fand, and among the 22 official Bond films, "Goldfinger" has probably the best road scenes. Specifically, Bond tracking Auric Goldfinger and Oddjob through the Alps in his '64 Astin Martin, while unbeknownst to him, Tilly Masterson is also tracking them, is excellent stuff. Gorgeous cinematography, gorgeous automobiles, and ultimately, some witty writing.

PS--I used to love "Hooper" back in the day. Not sure how I'd find it now.

PPS--Isn't it "Dirty Mary and Crazy Larry"?

PPPS--Wasn't there a Bonnie and Clyde style movie starring Peter Fonda? Perhaps that's DMACL.

[Stephen W]

"Ronin" by John Schlesinger.
Another car chase in the style of Steve McQueen's Bullit, another good one. An Audi S8 against a Citroen XM, with a brown Mercedes 300 driven by Bob De Niro following, along the narrow streets of Nimes, France. Great.
And later, a Peugeot 406 and a Bmw in the tunnels of Paris.

I would vote for Ronin and Bullitt as my top two with The Bourne Identity a close third.

[FrankB]

Girl on a Motorcycle

I can't recall much about the plot (or even if there was a plot) or the motorcycle, but I certainly recall the girl.

[RA Historian]

Loved those photos from Viva Las Vegas. Wow! A Triumph TR-3!

Tom

Just kidding; I am not dead!

[red stick]

On the topic of films, my wife and I have long been fans of Two for the Road, starring Albert Finney and Audrey Hepburn, whose romance and marriage is explored via a series of auto vacations across Europe. It's a road movie for sure, but no chases to speak of, and certainly no bikers, truckers, etc.

[fines]

Just kidding; I am not dead!

You had me worried there for a moment! I actually thought I had to go back and see if there really was a car in the pictures...

Tease!