Whether The Great Race, Stroker Ace, or The Italian job, with Minis all over the place, movies and cars go hand in hand. If you were stranded on a deserted island, with only a flint, Rosie O’Donnell and an iPod, which car movie would you take along?
Le Mans, Grand Prix, Days of Thunder, there’s plenty of racing movies from which to choose. There’s also movies in which cars don’t play a central roll (I know, wtf right?) but instead supply a supporting cast that makes the film endurable. The Bank Job, On The Beach and the aforementioned The Italian Job come to mind.
Some others center on the drive more so than the car- films such as Vanishing Point and Two Lane Blacktop. Each of these, and many more can stir the loins of a car enthusiast, especially the films of yesteryear, which contain great cars doing things you wouldn’t do with them today due to their present day value.
So which is it- a movie about a car – Herbie Goes Bananas perhaps? Or maybe a film like Bullitt, where it’s less the car and more how it’s used that boxes your office? Whatever it is, let us know; what’s your favorite all-time car movie?
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Hooniverse Asks- What's Your Favorite Car Movie?
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77 responses to “Hooniverse Asks- What's Your Favorite Car Movie?”
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American Grafitti
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My favorite is Bullitt, and I absolutely adore Steve McQueen.
If were stranded on a desert island with Rosie O'Donnell, I'd probably drown myself.-
I'd drown her.
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Steve McQueen is the ultimate, but Bullitt starves his driving skill. LeMans all the way, it lets his driving truly shine.
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"Car's got a lot of pickup."
"So whaddaya say, is it the new Bluesmobile or what?"
"Fix the cigarette lighter."
<img src="www.goingincirclez.com/Kaleid/Albums/BON/bluesbrothers.jpg">-
Yep. I'm with you, that's my favorite car movie, and I think my favorite movie period.
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For pure entertainment value, either Cars or Smokey and the Bandit. I know, not the great racing or chase scenes of Le Mans, Grand Prix, or Bullit, but overall better movies.
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Cars was great. Loved the hell out of it. It was most definitely created for Hoons.
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In no particular order, The Italian Job (1969 version, naturally), Vanishing Point and, the STILL unavailable on DVD, The Last Run.
[youtube KWfwUGDeFCU http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWfwUGDeFCU youtube]-
However, if you're talking about racing movies, Grand Prix, Le Mans, and yes……The Love Bug.
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How can you not love a movie that features Buddy Hackett AND an Apollo 3500 GT?
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You have introduced me to a new car movie AND a new George C Scott movie? I thank you sir.
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Ronin. Every eurotrash dream car you could imagine, plus Jean Reno as an unshaven international terrorist.
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I still want an S8 as a result of Ronin.
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Yes! Still an epic chase scene.
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Epic indeed. A buddy's dad was A Cam/steady cam on that.
The BMW was not supposed to flip over that last time before going off the end – when you watch the movie you may note a few seconds of the footage (in-car) being inverted.
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A car movie, but not a car movie. Sad and fascinating…
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The Fast and the Furious
Yeah, I totally went there.-
I live life a quarter mile at a time…
…that movie sucked as soon as he parked the RX-7.
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Original Gone In Sixty Seconds. 45 minute car chase FTW!
and the Rosie reference….What the hell man, it's lunch time! -
And Hollywood Knights, with Bob Wuhl & Tony Danza as the world's oldest teenagers. Newbomb Turk, indeed.
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I disagree. The 2 minutes of badass Mercury footage is insufficient to overshadow the remaining 88 minutes of Stallone/Neilsen related crap.
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Strangely, I also disagree, despite my commenter name. I'd say Cannonball Run, with Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry a close second.
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Christine. Think about it, it's a love story about a guy and his car. Sure, the car's totally possessed and psycho, and ultimately makes the guy psycho too, but when you think about it that's pretty much status quo for any relationship, right?
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I used to go out with a girl named Christine, and you just nicely summed up that little situation. Gawd, what an emotional minefield.
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Let me think…yep, car driving me psycho…but in a good way.
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American Graffiti
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I'm surprised I'm the first to bring this up, but Transporter (the 1st one). The 735i (er…750 with a manual, but let's not get too picky) that Statham drives is almost as dreamy as Statham. There's also a host of Euro cars we don't see here in the States, including a Ford Sierra.
Also up on my list of movies with cool cars is The Bourne Identity. Hooning the MINI around Europe looks like fun.
I'd also put Gone in 60 Seconds (even the new one) up on my list. The cars make up for the acting.-
You pretty much stole my thunder right there. Transporter was an awesome movie. Transporter II was awesome for the first, what, 10 minutes? That awesome fight scene where they try and steal his new Audi, with the appallingly hot chick in the school-girl costume? Then it all went to shit. First Transporter, however, was just awesome. Car chase scenes done in much the same way as they used to be done. No CGI fuckery, no stupid explosions and stunts, just awesome driving and cool camera work.
Gone in 60 Seconds gets its place on my list because the actors did their own stunt driving, and because Angelina learned to not only drive, but stunt drive for the movie, and she didn't have to at all. She was not involved in any stunt driving scenes, but she learned because everyone else was doing it and it looked like fun. Good for her.
And Bourne… well, that shit is just well done. In fact the whole movie (and big portions of the sequels) can be held up as a positive example for Hollywood. For a suspense-action flick, it's just done right. Rather like Payback, but with better car chases.
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Whoa weird, I just watched Used Cars last night. Was surprised to find it on Netflix instant watch. Cannonball Run 2 was on instant watch as well, but the original isn't. Weird.
But man, it'd be hard to narrow it down to just one movie.-
LeMans, LeMans, LeMans!
Did I say LeMans?
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Two Lane Blacktop isn't for everyone, but the differences between the characters pretty much sum up how the kind of person who reads Hooniverse sees cars. The GTO driver has no real connection with his car, just bought it because it was the shiniest thing. He's a poseur. The Mechanic and Driver love their '55 Chevy like it was their child. Any true Hoon identifies with them immediately. If you haven't seen it, pick up the Criterion Collection release. It's pretty great.
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Yes, but the GTO driver is Warren Oates. Sgt Hulka > folk-rock hippie/beach boy hippie.
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OK yes Warren Oates is amazing. I give you that. But the point remains.
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Excellent choice.
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Many of these have been said – some haven't:
1) The Driver – the best film noir/car chase movie EVER. Inspired a video game – "How do we know you're that good? Get in."
The Driver only speaks 350 words
The Detective – Bruce Dern is fanstastic
The Player – Isabelle Adjani is gorgeous and a great actress
I would give someone else's kidney away for access to the director's cut
2) Gone in 60 seconds (original)
3) Love the Beast
4) Truth in 24
5) Ronin
6) Vanishing point -original
7) Italian Job – original
8) Repo man
9) Bullit
[youtube 7b-Mg27nyQ0&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7b-Mg27nyQ0&fe… youtube]
[youtube 43zcvKPnc60&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43zcvKPnc60&fe… youtube]-
You have many great movies on that list, and I salute you.
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Gumball! Or maybe Christine. Wait – or Death Race 2000. Dammit, there are simply too many.
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I love Slither (the 1973 James Caan/Sally Kellerman film, not the 2006 horror movie about snakes). Though, it's more "road movie" than "car movie."
I also like Grosse Point Blank, because John Cusak drives a '92 Town Car.-
If it showcased a chase, then yes Gross Pointe Blank. I can't help but love John Cusack. I guess that also spotlights Better Of Dead. Vintage Camaro FTW!
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The first five minutes of The Longest Yard
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The only correct answer is "Those Daring Young Men and Their Jaunty Jalopies." Also known as "Monte Carlo or Bust."
"Land…….there." -
<img src="http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/files/2009/04/cars-movie-poster.jpg">
It's somewhat distressing that the only good car movie ever to come from Hollywood (and surrounding areas) had to be animated.-
Calling it Hollywood's a bit of a stretch, but Eric Bana's Love The Beast captures a similar sentiment of what it is to love a car.
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Good point, I love that movie.
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If I were stranded on a desert island with those things, I would f**k the iPod, kill Rosie, and marry the rock.
Wait, what?-
Are you saying Pan, or Pam?
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Spaceballs.
Favorite romantic comedy? Spaceballs.
Favorite drama? Spaceballs.
Favorite…you get the idea.-
Favorite movie with Mega-Maid? Well…
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Yeah, that Winnebago spaceship rocks!
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LTDScott totally brought up a good one! Cannonball Run was the shizznit when I was a kiddo! The Lambo with the hot juggy chicks, the Ferrari 308 with the priests (the great SD Jr and Dean-O), a Silver Shadow, a DB5, and even a computerized rocket powered Subaru! That car was mind blowing for a kid in love with cars! And it even had its funny moments as well. IMO Cannonball Run is a light hearted, sex-infused, movie full of car pr0n that should be on every car guy's list. Thanks for pointing it out Scott!
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I think the crazy rocket powered Subaru was actually a Mitsubishi, plus it was Driven by Jackie Chan!
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The car was driven by Jackie Chan, indeed, but it was a 4WD Subaru hatchback.
http://images.wizarduniverse.com/WizardUniverse/P…
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I must 2nd two already mentioned, Hollywood Knights and the Blues Brothers. I would probably go for the blues brothers as it never seems to get old.
You would have to give me the DVD in a jewel case so I could fashion a weapon to kill Rosie. -
I'm going to nominate a film in the "road movie" genre: "Little Miss Sunshine." Great story, great acting, and in the yellow VW Bus, a great car-as-central-character in the tradition of the Bluesmobile.
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My favorite car movie has got to be The Blues Brothers. But another movie that's not about cars (though cars are a main character- sort of), but it's really funny and has a bunch of great looking cars in it is It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World.[youtube g2SpROYbYig http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2SpROYbYig youtube]
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"WE'RE the ones in the Imperial and we're in LAST?!"
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You beat me to it, I was going to mention IAMMMMW. One of the funniest movies of all time. I wish I had a copy of it. I remember laughing so hard the first time I saw it as a kid, I almost pissed my britches. Jonathan Winters FTW.
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I'd like to show Dude, Where's My Car some love for prominently featuring a Citroen DS wagon and a Renault LeCar (along with a suicide-door Continental and an SVT Lightning). Plus, it's stupid enough to amuse my inner adolescent. Not that it's my favorite, but it hasn't been mentioned yet.
Tucker: The Man and His Dream is also good.-
"Jack", the guy from whom the Uberbird gets many BMW parts has the car from DWMC amongst his Le Cars.
I don't know either…
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Here's one that nobody's ever heard of and hardly anybody's ever seen. How To Smoke Pot. A bunch of my buddies of mine and I shot it in Salt Lake in 1999, with a budget of like fifty bucks. One of the first movies shot on digital, with a Canon XL1. The lead character drives a '72 Coupe Deville. He's a pot dealer, go figure. I was the vehicle wrangler, gun handler, special effects guy, and drove the motorhome for the production. We also used my '71 Caddy for a drive-by shooting scene. I played a tweaker trying to run on his debt, as well. We had to get creative. At one point, the director was riding backwards on the back of my Suzuki GT550 shooting a scene with the Caddy following. Another time he was in the back seat of the Caddy filming the lead guy and another actor doing a scene while driving at night, in town, with me on the bike illuminating the car with my headlight on high beam. At one point in the movie, the Caddy blows its transmission in the middle of the desert, and I devised a system of wires and strings triggered by a guy in the trunk, so the camera filming out the back window sees all these gears, shafts, pinions and shit bouncing all over the pavement behind the car while the engine redlines. It worked! My best work on that movie was devising the effect for the electric bong shorting out. The movie kinda sucks, but man it was a blast working on it all summer.
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At least put that up on YouTube and give a link.
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I'll look around and see if Tom, the director, has anything up.
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[youtube D5uC9GY3Yas http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5uC9GY3Yas youtube]
Need I say more? -
What about favorite old shows for good cars…I have been watching Dragnet on HULU and there are lots of great street shots with plenty of iron on the road.
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Three really good movies that your GF/SO will also like that are filled with cars and should see wider release now they've gotten Oscar nominations:
1). "An Education", (Best Picture). A British car-spotters dream. The author of the autobiographical novel on which the screenplay was based was on-set and allowed to preview and comment (but not veto) any changes Nick Hornby made to the script. One concession she made was to move the story from 1961 to 1962, when British cars became available in colors other than black, gray, dark-blue, or dark-green. Since most of the action takes place in or around a Bristol 405 in traffic, the results of this simple change are stunning. My first comment when leaving the theater was, "They must have emptied every car museum in England just to get the background cars". Great story, too
2). "A Single Man", (Best Actor). Also set in 1962, this time in L.A., Tom Fords self-financed film is as beautiful as you would expect. Not as many cool cars, but still plenty. It's like a really dark, super stylized and surreal "Mad Men", if you can imagine that.
3). "A Serious Man", (Best Picture) It's 1967 in the Midwest, and the Coen Brothers at the helm. Can I say more? -
The Road Warrior. How can you go wrong with a Falcon XB, Arcadipane Concorde front clip, giant (nonfunctional) Weiand compressor, and a lot of matte black paint? Plus: explosions, motorcycle gangs, and a dystopian future.
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LOVE. THE. BEAST.
End of discussion, any disagreement is clearly wrong. -
A large percentage of my (modest) DVD collection are car movies. So, yeah, I have a few favorites:
1. Vanishing Point
2. Two Lane Blacktop (these two change positions on my list regularly)
3. Bullitt
4. Grand Prix
5. Cars -
I own "The Hire" on dvd, does that count? It is a series of BMW short films starring Clive Owen as a driver for hire. The best $3 I ever spent.
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My faves and my respective favorite car from each
1. Repo Man – Harry Dean Stanton's 71' Impala Barge
2. Dazed and Confused – Wooderson's Chevelle 'Melba Toast'
3. American Gangster – Richie's VW squareback
4. Two Lane Blacktop – The primer grey 55'
5. Public Enemies – any early ford v8 -
My current position at work keeps me from the Hooniverse during the work day, and as such, I am a bit late to the party, but since no one has said it yet…
<img src="http://www.chrisvscinema.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/wraith.jpg"> -
[…] Hooniverse Asks- What’s Your Favorite Car Movie? […]
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Here's a couple I haven't heard mentioned.
Duel, with Dennis Weaver, Maximun Overdrive, Joyride & how about Rockford files.
Wait maybe I'm showing my age here.
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