137 replies to this topic

[red stick]

Not a movie, but wasn't there a TV series about Route 66 back in the sixties? Perhaps Nelson Riddle wrote the theme music? I'm sure some TNFers were fans of this show back in the day; it was before my thyme, alas.

Martin Milner and George Maharis starred, along with a Corvette.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053534/

And since we're tripping through the 60's, was it also before your parsley, sage, and rosemary?

[Flat Black 84]

Martin Milner and George Maharis starred, along with a Corvette.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053534/

And since we're tripping through the 60's, was it also before your parsley, sage, and rosemary?

I'm guessing your favorite tune is "Cinnamon Girl."

[Miles Fenton]

Two great black and white films:-

"The Wrong Arm of the Law"

A little known Australian film (I think) called "Sidecar Racers"

And then there's Robert Redford in "Little Fauss and Big Halsey"

Tony Curtis in "Johnny Dark"

[johnny yuma]

Two great black and white films:-

"The Wrong Arm of the Law"

A little known Australian film (I think) called "Sidecar Racers"

And then there's Robert Redford in "Little Fauss and Big Halsey"

Tony Curtis in "Johnny Dark"

" Sidecar Racers" has a lot of footage in the pits and around the Mt.Panorama,Bathurst racetrack.Pre-1974 Easter was a gathering of car and motorcycle racers.Friday/Saturday bikes,Saturday/Sunday cars.I think the movie footage at the track was 1974 because I was not there as it became a Bike Only event that year,until repeated clashes with law enforcement officers in the campgrounds across the top of the mountain helped cause it's demise .It was fascinating for the many real-life characters and amateur actors but it suffered a bit with backyard barbecue dialogue and patchy story.Love to see it again though !
Possibly also known as "THE SIDECAR BOYS" ??

[Nanni Dietrich]

...

But what about A Man And A Woman? Much more subtle, and far more romantic, with a few GT40 racing scenes thrown in!

...

Frank

If I remember well, Jean-Louis Trintignant was actually entered by the film-production in the Rallye del Monte-Carlo (1966?) as co-driver in a Ford Mustang, only for "real shots" at the start of the rally. Don't recall the name of the driver.

Great.

[Russ Snyder]

Jim,

I understand that Chuck's Cafe is now a toney French restaurant called Le Chene (I believe that's the name). Wouldn't mind popping into that establishment just to experience an epiphany.

I'd also add that I love the landscapes of the American Southwest, and I suppose that's one of the reasons I like "Duel" so much.

FB - Chuck's Cafe is no longer Chuck's cafe? what a shame. I wonder if the new place still serves Swiss Cheese on rye, thats what Dennis Weaver orders. Duel is a superb film, the drama that builds is incredible. From the first meeting to the schoolbus scene. It takes to the edge of the seat and might be the first 'road rage' movie of its kind?

Its a Mad Mad Mad World will always be a favorite of mine. The cast is possibly the greatest cast ever in a film, so many stars and so many lines; "it would be easier to just shoot them down" is said outloud when the Colonel is trying to talk Buddy Hackett & Mickey Rooney in the landing sequence when Jim Backus's character is drunk and knocked out.....and the car chase scenes are something!

[Flat Black 84]

IAMMMW was my dad's favorite movie. Been a very long time since I've seen it. Perhaps I'll rent it for viewing after the 500.



And I doubt Le Chene serves the old Swiss cheese on rye. I've checked out its website and there is no mention whatsoever of the restaurant's "Duel" heritage. Perhaps a fine French chow hall sees a grimy road film like "Duel" as beneath it.

Edited by Flat Black 84, 19 May 2009 - 14:57.

[Russ Snyder]

IAMMMW was my dad's favorite movie. Been a very long time since I've seen it. Perhaps I'll rent it for viewing after the 500.



And I doubt Le Chene serves the old Swiss cheese on rye. I've checked out its website and there is no mention whatsoever of the restaurant's "Duel" heritage. Perhaps a fine French chow hall sees a grimy road film like "Duel" as beneath it.

Question for the 'Duel" fans......did we ever find out if the driver was in Chuck's Cafe? Or did he stay outside after he pulled into the lot? Weaver seemed to think many sitting at the counter could have been him after he came out of the bathroom. Any ideas?

[Flat Black 84]

Appeared to me as though the driver never entered Chuck's Cafe.

[Jim Thurman]

And I doubt Le Chene serves the old Swiss cheese on rye. I've checked out its website and there is no mention whatsoever of the restaurant's "Duel" heritage. Perhaps a fine French chow hall sees a grimy road film like "Duel" as beneath it.

You've got to quit assuming FB ;) I've seen interviews with the owner and he mentioned it appearing in "Duel" and seemed quite proud of it's heritage and history.

There are still plenty of places like Chuck's scattered around small, remote California towns. Not to mention a surprising amount of old hangouts that are still around despite formerly sleepy towns being subdivided around them.

[Jim Thurman]

best car movie ever....repo man.....young aimless man gives up everything- family, friends, career, love of his life...everything for the ultimate ride in the ultimate car.

"there's one in every car..you just watch"

besides- no other car movie has theme music by iggy pop.....

One of my all time favorites...

"Heading North at 100 miles per..."

"Life of a repo man is always intense"

[Flat Black 84]

You've got to quit assuming FB ;) I've seen interviews with the owner and he mentioned it appearing in "Duel" and seemed quite proud of it's heritage and history.

There are still plenty of places like Chuck's scattered around small, remote California towns. Not to mention a surprising amount of old hangouts that are still around despite formerly sleepy towns being subdivided around them.

Hmmm. Curious as to why there's no mention of "Duel" on the website. If the owner publicized the restaurant's connection with the flick, it would doubtless drum up some bidniss. On the other hand he may not seek clientele sporting oil and gasoline-soaked Levis, and tee shirts with Pork n' Beans stains on 'em.

Edited by Flat Black 84, 19 May 2009 - 19:20.

[red stick]

Well, and the movie's approaching 40 years old. Might seem kind of desperate. Near here is the plantation where part of Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte was shot, and I think they have even given up on publicizing the connection--too many "What?" moments.

[ZenSpeed]

OK, maybe I am really weird since nobody even mentioned it, but i would certainly chose Death Proof.

It's the 2007 film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino. The film is about this psychopathic stunt man (Kurt Russel) who stalks young women and then kills them in staged car accidents using his specially developed "death proof" stunt car. The film is clearly, among other things, a tribute to muscle cars.

[ZenSpeed]

Its not so much a road movie, more one of Tarantino's strange thought processes with lots of gore/ death etc.

Actually it was a Rodriguez movie, written by Tarantino, who also has a major role in it. It was really a epic of all the things the two fellas enjoyed as young men: hot rods, hot chicks, zombies, martial arts, violence, horror, and comic situations. The craziness is in putting all these non related elemement together in one movie!!!!!

It must be mentioned that there is an awesome scene with a bikini-clad Salma Hayek, as Santanico Pandemonium (she turns into a zombie soon after), where she performs an erotic dance with a snake, before sticking her foot into Tarantino's mouth and pouring beer on her leg and letting it flow right down Quentin's throat, under the stransfixed eyes of George Clooney. That scene alone is worth the ticket , but there aren't any serious car scene, really.

Edited by ZenSpeed, 20 May 2009 - 05:50.

[kayemod]

...pouring beer on her leg and letting it flow right down Quentin's throat.

"Waiter!! This beer's gone flat!".

[Glengavel]

This just about qualifies as a 'road movie', although a bit on the short side...

[275 GTB-4]

One of my favourites was Road to Zanzibar

[mehere]

Two great black and white films:-

"The Wrong Arm of the Law"

agreed - super classic film - I think I read somewhere that the "getaway" Aston Martin DB4 was Peter Sellers own car? - loved the first sight/sound of it too :- airbourne approach over a humpback bridge!

[mehere]

I guess it doesnt quite qualify here - but the George Lucas film [he of the later Star Wars] "American Graffitti " had a huge effect on this [then] young lad when it came out - and recently viewing the DVD with the directors comments was a real treat...

I believe that Harrison Fords Chevy is actually the same car as used in "Two-Lane Blacktop" ?????

oh and please, I wanna be a "Pharoh" ............. heehee

Edited by mehere, 30 May 2009 - 17:08.

[arttidesco]

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

What ever the criticisms regarding being thin and not standing the test of time I saw Vanishing Point when I was about 13 in 1972 and absolutely loved it, I watch the DVD at least once a year

[Flat Black 84]

I enjoy Vanishing Point because it runs through Colorado, where I live, and shows Glenwood Canyon as it was before the new road was built. But what about A Man And A Woman? Much more subtle, and far more romantic, with a few GT40 racing scenes thrown in!

Then there's that flick about the thugs transporting a guy from Spain into France in the 1960s Mercedes-Benz sedan. And the similar one with the equally ancient Peugot convertible and George C. Scott. And the one about the chaps who drive nitroglycerine-laden trucks through South America. Can't recall the titles: a mind is a terrible thing to waste.

Frank

The thugs-in-Spain film is The Hit, starring Terrence Stamp. Sorry for the delayed response. 

[Odseybod]

Jacques Tati "M. Hulot's Holiday."

 

'Nuff said.

[Lee Nicolle]

What ever the criticisms regarding being thin and not standing the test of time I saw Vanishing Point when I was about 13 in 1972 and absolutely loved it, I watch the DVD at least once a year

I too have watched it dozens of thimes from when it hit the driveins to current day. Dont get too picky about continuity,, the car 'killed' in the end was a 68 Camaro! Not a Dodge.

Probably why I like those 70 Challengers so much.

[Lee Nicolle]

As for continuity,,, the green VW in Bullit is a true star, it was in quite a few scenes.

Where is the VeeDub. We know where the Mustangs are, the Dodge was killed.

[10kDA]

Mad Max

[JoBo]

VANISHING POINT by Richard C. Sarafian (1971).

[ellrosso]

Vanishing Point for me with Duel a close 2nd - always a fan of Dennis Weaver.

[rl1856]

Road Movies....hmmmm......it is summer and such fare is perfect for a nostalgic visit to the drive in theater, loaded with friends, and well stocked coolers !

 

Greased Lightning.   The story of Wendell Scott, the first black NASCAR driver.  Portrayed in the movie by....wait for it....Richard Pryor !

 

French Connection.   Gene Hackman as "Popeye" Doyle chasing French Drug dealers.  Based on a true story, and featuring one of the best chase scenes captured on film.  Doyle drives a police car through the streets of lower NYC while trying to intercept a train travelling above him on an elevated track.  Some of the chase was filmed in real time, without closing off streets or without staging.  Some of the surrounding cars and people were real bystanders, not movie props or actors. The movie is considered to be one of the movies that ignited the car chase trend in US movies.

 

Gumball Rally.   Progenitor of the Cannonball movie franchise.   GR is a fictional account of the actual Cannonball Run, with the lead actors racing each other in a Ferrari Daytona and a Cobra 427.  Supporting drivers include 2 professors in Jag E that will not run, and 2 old English gentlemen driving a 300SL roadster while drinking bottles of Scotch for most of the trip. 

 

Blues Brothers.   Has it all. A car that is an integral part of a lot of the action in the movie.  Multiple car crashes, multiple chases, including the final chase, inaugurated by the characters declaring: "We're 106 miles from Chicago.  We've got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it's dark and we're wearing sunglasses !   Hit It !"   The movie is also known for it's sound track which reintroduced James Brown, and Ray Charles to the ears of late 70's (think disco, stadium rock, prog rock) audiences.

 

Road Trip.   Quintessential low budget teen-sploitation movie.   4 college students embark on a road trip half way across the country to intercept the delivery of a self made "action" video tape before it is viewed by one of the group's girlfriends.   They have about 3 days to complete their round trip before one of the group has to take an exam that will determine if he can stay in school.  Most of the movie takes place during the Road Trip.  Along the way they destroy a Ford Sedan, and borrow a school bus owned by a group of deaf Nuns.   

[70JesperOH]

Jacques Tati "M. Hulot's Holiday."

 

'Nuff said.

 

 

As road movie goes Jacques Tati's "Traffic" does it for me - in fact my interest in road cars was likely spawned by this movie. Here the cars and general car things are the center piece of the movie. As there's little dialog the sounds of cars, including wind screen wipers,  becomes a very integral part of the movie as well.

A huge crash at an intersection is the high point for me, with a Beetle snapping at it's spare wheel with its front trunk lid. The final scene seems to feature a Ford lot on a rainy day.

 

Tati's previous foray "Playtime" also has its share of car related puns. In a modern (1967) streamlined world everybody seems to be driving Simca 1500s, or a round about that has locked up with nobody able to move ..until a boy sticks a coin into a parkometer and every vehicle starts moving again to the tune of cirkus music. Hilarious to me.

 

The first "Smokey and The Bandit", as it introduced me to Jackie Gleason. As much as Burt Reynolds' Trans Am and to a degree Jerry Reeds' truck (what make?) the real star as of cars concerned, are Gleason's police car as it disintegrates bit by bit along the way. Can anybody help telling what make that is. I think i've read that it is a Pontiac or at least a GM of sorts.

 

Jesper

[Glengavel]

As road movie goes Jacques Tati's "Traffic" does it for me - in fact my interest in road cars was likely spawned by this movie. Here the cars and general car things are the center piece of the movie. As there's little dialog the sounds of cars, including wind screen wipers,  becomes a very integral part of the movie as well.

A huge crash at an intersection is the high point for me, with a Beetle snapping at it's spare wheel with its front trunk lid. The final scene seems to feature a Ford lot on a rainy day.

 

Tati's previous foray "Playtime" also has its share of car related puns. In a modern (1967) streamlined world everybody seems to be driving Simca 1500s, or a round about that has locked up with nobody able to move ..until a boy sticks a coin into a parkometer and every vehicle starts moving again to the tune of cirkus music. Hilarious to me.

 

The first "Smokey and The Bandit", as it introduced me to Jackie Gleason. As much as Burt Reynolds' Trans Am and to a degree Jerry Reeds' truck (what make?) the real star as of cars concerned, are Gleason's police car as it disintegrates bit by bit along the way. Can anybody help telling what make that is. I think i've read that it is a Pontiac or at least a GM of sorts.

 

Jesper

 

The truck is a Kenworth W900, and the police car is a Pontiac LeMans.

[marksixman]

French Connection.   Gene Hackman as "Popeye" Doyle chasing French Drug dealers.  Based on a true story, and featuring one of the best chase scenes captured on film.  Doyle drives a police car through the streets of lower NYC while trying to intercept a train travelling above him on an elevated track.  Some of the chase was filmed in real time, without closing off streets or without staging.  Some of the surrounding cars and people were real bystanders, not movie props or actors. The movie is considered to be one of the movies that ignited the car chase trend in US movies.

 

A really great film. Bullit was good, but was clearly very much staged. McQueen was cool, but Hackman was ANGRY.

[Bloggsworth]

Vanishing Point.

 

Sorry, typnig error...

Edited by Bloggsworth, 30 May 2024 - 20:14.

[70JesperOH]

The truck is a Kenworth W900, and the police car is a Pontiac LeMans.

 

Thank you for clarifying. Just spend a couple of days unravelling what the Pontiac LeMans series was. So far I've gotten from the 1961 unibody Tempest to the 1977 4th generation body-on-frame LeMans.

 

Jesper

[small block]

The Straight Story

[Ray Bell]

Not many mentions here for The World's Fastest Indian, which is a surprise...

 

When it was a new film and I was interviewing the public about what movies they'd seen, all kinds of people had been to see it and said they loved it. It must have been the most popular movie of the time.

 

I wanted my wife, Janet, to see it with me, to make it a nice experience for both of us as we rarely went to the cinema (I think The King's Speech was the last one I saw). I had movie tickets regularly arrive in the mail and it would have been easy, but she always rejected the idea.

 

Later I finally saw it on DVD at Peter Scott's place in San Diego and it lived up to expectations.

 

Another I would have mentioned had I thought about it at the time was Un homme et une femme (A Man and a Woman), which I saw when it was a relatively new film at the cinema, about the same time as The Graduate (which I did mention earlier in the thread), later this great French movie became the first foreign-language movie ever to show on Australian commercial television in the prime 'Sunday Night at the Movies' spot. It may still be the only one which has, I don't know.

 

But when it was dubbed in English it lost some of its charm.

[marksixman]

Not many mentions here for The World's Fastest Indian, which is a surprise...

 

When it was a new film and I was interviewing the public about what movies they'd seen, all kinds of people had been to see it and said they loved it. It must have been the most popular movie of the time.

Indeed, a really good film, which you have reminded me it is time to watch again.

 

When it is re-made (aren't they all !) it will, of course, become The World's Fastest Native American !!!  Shades of Guy Gibson's dog.

[marksixman]

Indeed, a really good film, which you have reminded me it is time to watch again.

 

When it is re-made (aren't they all !) it will, of course, become The World's Fastest Native American !!!  Shades of Guy Gibson's dog.

So, so, sorry everyone. I have been advised by a good woke friend that I should have said:  The World's Fastest First Nation American.

 

A fine name for a motorcycle.

 

RIP Trigger.