Ronin (1998; d. John Frankenheimer)
Suggested by Todd Brown.
Berserk. Insane. Gonzo. "Are they really ...??? ... !!!"
Vanishing Point (1971; d. Richard Sarafian)
You know that feeling when you've been driving for hours and hours, and the road ahead has telescoped to a tiny window barely the width of your eyeballs, and your eyelids keep interferring with your view? That's Vanishing Point, the point of no return beyond which Barry Newman keeps pressing the pedal to the metal and Cleavon Little keeps talking and a naked woman rides a motorcycle and Delaney & Bonnie sing for no apparent reason and the highway never ends.
Dirty Larry Crazy Mary (1974; d. John Hough)
Peter Fonda and Susan George are all that the title implies and more, intoxicated by speed and the thrill of running from the law and running away from life and running until their lungs figuratively burst. Crazy Mary: "Hey, wait a minute... why aren't we slowing down?" Dirty Larry, laughing: "She doesn't know me very well, does she, Deke?" Deke (played by the unfairly forgotten Adam Roarke): "Not likely she ever will, with about one second to live."
Lost in America (1985; d. Albert Brooks)
The vehicle of choice for Albert Brooks and Julie Hagerty is not a supercharged car but a huge Winnebago motorhome, but the sentiment is the same. They quit their jobs, sell their house, and set off to crisscross America, traveling the highways and byways in search of freedom. Things don't work out as they hoped, but Brooks (and frequent co-writer Monica Johnson) pierced to the heart of thirty-something childless couples in Reagan's America, not quite fitting in and pining for something better. The classic shot comes at the start of their journey, as the by-now-oversued "Born to Be Wild" accompanies the Winnebago's slow, stately Interstate Highway exodus from modern life.
Easy Rider (1969; d. Peter Fonda)
No question, this was the one that started it all. All you need are two wheels and a bag of grass, evidently. Easy Rider feels comfortably lived in, like a well-scuffed pair of immeasurably comfortable shoes, yet it soars with the promise of tomorrow.
Two Lane Blacktop (1971; d. Monte Hellman)
Monte Hellman painted with the camera; Two Lane Blacktop is the closest things to an existential piece of poetry that I've ever seen. It feels like a fever dream, like you woke up in the back seat of a car with a purring, rumbling engine, and no idea where you were. James Taylor and Dennis Wilson live to race and race to live; Warren Oates thinks he has the right stuff, but he's only a pretender.
Bullitt (1968; d. Peter Yates)
The film holds up as a solid police drama from Peter Yates, who would go on to make more personal favorites (The Friends of Eddie Coyle, The Hot Rock, Breaking Away). The car chase, with Steve McQueen clearly behind the wheel of a Mustang, as the pursuit speeds through the streets of San Francisco, banging up and down hills, squealing through corners, then bursting out of the city ... goose pimples, baby, goose pimples.
The French Connection (1971; d. William Friedkin)
Robin Moore wrote a crisp, amazingly-detailed account of a drug-trafficking scheme -- his book is well-worth tracking down -- and then Friedkin and company translated that into a big-screen experience, drawing from Friedkin's experience with documentaries, and soaring into the stratosphere thanks to the air-tight performances by Gene Hackman and Roy Scheider. The car chase sequence is intense, hair-raising, and scary to watch.
The Seven-Ups (1973; d. Philip D'Antoni)
The justly-famous car chase scene is notable for the ferocious speed of the vehicles involved -- as they bounce through wide boulevards filled with traffic and pedestrians, they look at though they're throbbing, on the verge of exploding into a thousand pieces -- and for its unerring sense of geography that inevitably leads to a smashing climax.
The movie is far from over at that point, though, so what the car chase has done is shred your nerves in preparation for an oncoming collision of the all-too-human emotions of greed and betrayal. The ending is far darker than what one might expect from the preceding drama.
The Road Warrior (1982; d. George Miller)
Flat-out thrilling.
Motorway (2012; d. Soi Cheang)
Built upon a strong narrative structure, the superior driving sequences exceeded my expectations for a movie set in Hong Kong. Even as a dedicated fan of car pictures, Motorway contains more than one scene that I’ve never seen before; the movie nods sagely at Walter Hill’s The Driver for inspiration, rather than conventional car chase pictures, or, say, the Fast and Furious movies, which are more interested in speed for speed’s sake. In particular, one sequence in the third act does a wonderful job of updating and expanding upon a certain idea that makes for an exquisite cat ‘n’ mouse experience.
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The Driver (1978; d. Walter Hill)
Walter Hill made an existential crime picture without pretensions. If you've only seen Drive, you're in for a treat to see one of that film's key inspirations. Ryan O'Neal is perfectly cast as the emotionless protagonist, and Hill constructs innovative chase scenes that are shorn of excess baggage.
Those are my top 11. Now, onward to picks from others ...
Brian Clark recommends ...
Christine (1983; d. John Carpenter)
The scene in the gas station, as the bad guys listen to "Beast of Burden."
Brian Clark recommends ...
Duel (1971; d. Steven Spielberg)
Great pick! Dennis Weaver battles an 18-wheeler on a long, lonely stretch of highway in the Southwest. Written by the great Richard Matheson, and Spielberg's first great action movie.
Brian Clark recommends ...
Bad Boys II (2003; d. Michael Bay)
"...when the bodies are flying out of the back of that truck."
In 2008, Shelagh M. Rowan-Legg recommended...
Aberdeen (2000; d. Hans-Peter Moland)
Shelagh commented: "A little seen flick about a woman, Kaisa (Lena Headey) who works in a high powered law firm, does drugs and sleeps with whomever whenever, whose mother calls to tell her that she's dying and wants Kaisa to bring her father (Stellan Skarsgard) from Norway to Aberdeen. ... It's not easy to make a road picture for Britain, which technically can be traversed in a couple of days, but this is a powerful film about the need to get somewhere no matter the obstacle."
Kurt Halfyard added:
"Just wanted to chime in and say that I really, really liked Aberdeen as well."
In 2008, Shelagh M. Rowan-Legg recommended...
Highway 61 (1991; d. Bruce McDonald)
"Canadian, dead body in a coffin filled with cocaine, sex in a graveyard, a man who thinks he's Satan & loves Bingo."
In 2008, Shelagh M. Rowan-Legg recommended...
Thelma and Louise (1991; d. Ridley Scott)
"No reason should be necessary to articulate."
In 2008, Kurt Halfyard recommended...
Blood Car (2007; d. Alex Orr)
"Certainly taps into the effect of rising gas prices and what people will do to keep the vehicle running. It's a fun film worth looking out for."
