Souped-up cinema: Our 10 favorite car movies

What makes a great car movie? We here at Up to Speed pondered this question while waiting in line for a matinee showing of “Flash of Genius,” the based-on-fact story of one man’s legal battle against the auto industry (opening today at a giga-plex near you).

We decided to put together a list of our 10 favorite car movies, hopefully avoiding the usual recital of road-race smash-'em-ups (although there are, of course, several of those in our tally) to leave room for a few less-obvious choices — films that say more about the role of the automobile in American life than simply speed, mobility or cool quotient.

Here, in alphabetical order, are our picks:

American Graffiti (1973) — Filmed mostly on the mean streets of Petaluma, this ode to cruising, street racing and an America that is all but unrecognizable today is on everyone’s list of great car movies, and deservedly so. The cars are classic — Paul Le Mat’s 1932 Ford coupe, Suzanne Somers’ 1956 Thunderbird, the Pharoahs’ 1951 Mercury — the acting is superb and the whole movie thrums like the well-tuned 454 in Harrison Ford’s ’55 Chevy.

Blue Collar (1978) — This movie isn’t about cars; it’s about the people who build them. Filmed around Detroit and in the old Checker Motors taxi assembly plant in Kalamazoo, Mich., and grounded by a slashing, bluesy soundtrack, “Blue Collar” depicts the auto industry — and, by extension, capitalism — as a soul-crushing fraud. And no one walks away clean. Workers, bosses, union reps, cops — they all exist on the downside of the American dream.

Bonnie and Clyde (1967) — Doesn’t usually make it on to greatest car flick lists, but this classic depicts the earliest entree into modern automobile-fueled criminal behavior (not to mention the template for the Grand Theft Auto Series of video games). For Warren Beatty’s Clyde and Faye Dunaway’s Bonnie, a car means freedom: freedom to rob banks, to attempt primitive drive-by shootings, and to bleed all over the back seat. For the record, the original gun moll and her man met their maker alongside a 1934 Ford.

Bullitt (1968) — A so-so flick, but the car chase through the streets of San Francisco — featuring a ’68 Mustang GT 390 — was so cool that Ford is still trying to make a buck off it 40 years later with its special edition Bullitt ’Stang. And any list of car movies has to name-check Steve McQueen at some point.

Repo Man (1984) — A postmodern paean to the Chevy Malibu, a car that’s collectible now but was a total junker in early ’80s, rundown Los Angeles. The definition of a cult film, it will forever change the way you think about opening the trunk. And teach you how to steal cars: “I never broke into a trunk. I shall not cause harm to any vehicle nor the personal contents thereof, nor through an action let that vehicle or the personal contents thereof come to harm. That's what I call the Repo Code, kid.”

Road Warrior (1981) —The Devastator from Down Under, this apocalyptic vision of a future without fuel made Mel Gibson a star. More important, it melded punk fashion, mobile mayhem and an old-fashioned hero-saves-the-day sensibility into a violent tale of death and rebirth that still resonates today.

Smokey and the Bandit (1977) — This ain’t a great movie, but it’s a fun one. It delivers Burt Reynolds at his (relative) best and seemingly endless car chases — really, the whole movie is just one big car chase, when you get down to it. True aficionados argue that Jackie Gleason’s sheriff Buford T. Justice is Darth Vader to Reynold’s Han Solo personage, and since the movie came out the same year as "Star Wars," find themselves rooting for the dark side of the force. Of course, a 1977 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am trumps the long arm of the law every time. Over and out, good buddy.

Two-Lane Blacktop (1971) — Solves the eternal peanut butter-or-chocolate riddle: How do you choose between an existential art film about the unbridgeable gap between human beings and a kick-butt movie about illegal drag racing? With this classic, you don’t have to! James Taylor when he still had hair. Warren Oates when he was still alive. Grit. Lots of engine noise. A ’55 Chevy versus a 1970 Pontiac GTO. Endless road ahead.

Used Cars (1980) — More junkers than classics here (except for a ’57 Chevy driven to literal heart-attack-inducing extremes), but this is hands down the funniest movie ever made about the automobile business. Slimy salesmen? Check. Odometer tampering? Check. Gratuitous nudity? Double-check.  And just remember: Fifty bucks never killed anybody.

Who Killed the Electric Car? (2006) — GM, big oil companies, pusillanimous politicians — they all get a share of the blame in this doc about California’s aborted effort to bring power to the people by forcing automakers to produce electric vehicles. It does for the alt-fuel movement what “An Inconvenient Truth” did for the global warming crowd.

-- Ken Bensinger and Martin Zimmerman

Photos: American Graffiti /Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Bonnie and Clyde /file photo; Repo Man /Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Road Warrior /handout; Two-Lane Blacktop /Cinema Collectors; Who Killed the Electric Car? / Matt Bohling, Sony Pictures Classics

Comments

[Greg R]

Thunder Road??????

[CH]

How 'bout Tucker?

[Alexander Brown]

what about disney's CARS???

[rod]

MAD MAX series, perhaps a prelude to the softer Lethal Weapons series, significantly added to the money belt Gibson now has.

"Mad Max" went beyond ozzie themes and employed many known oz actors

[Tim R]

How 'bout "Vanishing Point"?

[Chris]

Where is Grand Prix? All modern racing coverage is basically the camera shots thought up for that movie. Plus it has the banked turns at Monza. Ronin by the same director has some great car chases with zero CGI work.

Smokey and the Bandit was actually an important film in that it really captured something of the sense of the nation in 1977- CBs and a feeling that it was time to stick it to the man.

[twohoos]

Grand Prix (1967). The car as a means for ultra-competitive men in the post-war era to battle for the spoils of victory (glory, money, women), with too-often tragic results. Well-acted, superbly filmed; an all-time classic.

[Al Bundy]

How can you people leave out "Hot Rods To Hell" ??

[Andrew Burt]

I always wondered why they called it "Road Warrior" instead of "Mad Max" as its original name was/is.

Ausiie cult films often have the car/motorcycle as their central theme. Aussies, (Men) in particular, love their muscle cars and a few "Sheila's" thrown in makes a great movie.

Notable -
The Cars that ate Paris
Stone
The Big Steal

[DogBitez]

"The Duel", 1971 with Dennis Weaver... Plymouth meets Peterbilt. I'm a chick... I don't dig car movies... but The Duel is the exception to the rule.

[Robert B]

'Hudsucker Proxy' was better than some on this list I think and more related to the car theme.

[babbette]

Whenever anyone says 'what's your favorite car movie?' I automatically think:
"Repo man"

[Grognard]

1971's Vanishing Point - one man, one car, one road: no exit.

[Diego]

I always wondered why they called it "Road Warrior" instead of "Mad Max" as its original name was/is.

there were three movies:
1.Mad Max
2. Mad Max2: The Road Warrior
3. Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome

[Christopher Francklyn]

Car movies

Thunder Road, Robert Mitchum, 1958

Stock car racing came out of moonshine drivers...here's the story

Check it out.

[baslim]

Italian Job (original version)

Death Race 2000 ! a real hoot!

I also agree on
Ronin white knuckles on the steering wheel for sure.

Duel -- definitely -- the first road rage movie?

Thunder Road -- Robert Mitchum & a cool song

[toosinbeymen]

You're calling Bullitt a so-so flick? You have no credibility.

[St. Etienne]

Transporter
Ronin
The Hire (BMW shorts series)
Bourne Identity

[Matt Wiser]

Don't forget Gumball Rally and the original Cannonball Run; Two movies about the same real-life event: the Cannonball Sea-to-Shining Sea Memorial Trophy Dash. A simple, no rules speed dash from NYC to Redondo Beach.
Just stay away from Cannonball Run II and Speed Zone.

[peter g]

How can you leave Ronin out? De Niro. Fast european
sedans. Streets of Paris. Car collisions.Sheer arrogance
and insesitivity to human life shown by drivers.
Also French Connection.

[Lawrence P Beron]

Ever think that the '55 driven by H Ford in Graffitti looks a lot like the one in Two Lane Blcktop?

That's because it was the same car.

[julie]

Wbat? No Vanishing Point???

[Bill]

To Live And Die In L.A. had an awesome car chase scene, on the level of Bullitt.

Vanishing Point ... all car all the time. 1970 Dodge Challenger R/T 4bbl/440 engine.

[Hal]

no Vanishing Point? the list is bogus.

and Funny Car Summer. best dragster movie.

[Gerard]

A lot of people are hitting it on the head
NO Vanishing Point? or it's homage "Death Proof"
Bullit is far from So-So, by the way