Hot Movie Takes: In a Road Pic State of Mind – Favorite Road Movies and Ones Still to See
Hot Movie Takes:
In a Road Pic State of Mind – Favorite Road Movies and Ones Still to See
©By Leo Adam Biga
Author of “Alexander Payne: His Journey in Film”
Having taken back to back road trips this summer, the cinephile in me got to thinking about road trip movies and how intrinsically satisfying they can be. It turns out that I have seen and you likely have too many good ones. There is also a large number of must-sees I have yet to view. I have curated here a list of notable movies I have seen that meet the basic criteria for a good road trip pic. There are many such flicks with great reps that I haven’t seen and I’ve also made a list of those that I intend to catch up with some day. Among those I have yet to see that are considered seminal road pics are “Wild Boys of the Road,” Kings of the Road” and “Two Lane Blacktop.”
On the list of road pics I have seen, three are by Omaha’s own Alexander Payne: “About Schmidt,” “Sideways” and “Nebraska.” His “The Descendants” could be considered a road pic as well. There are some selections that might better fit other categories, such as “The Terminator” franchise, but they absolutely work as road movies, too. A more recent example of this blurring or melding of categories might be “Mad Max: Fury Road” and the preceding films in that series.
I purposely excluded from my listings some movies I’ve seen that I know fit the road pic theme, such as the Hope-Crosby series and “It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World” because for my tastes anyway they just don’t work very well, at least not today.
For the following lists, the movies are ordered in a rough approximation of their release dates.
Among my personal favorite road pics are:
The Grapes of Wrath
Sullivan’s Travels
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
Gun Crazy
La Strada
The Searchers
Thunder Road
North by Northwest
Bonnie and Clyde
Easy Rider
Five Easy Pieces
The Out of Towners
Man in the Wilderness
Harold and Maude
The Getaway
Paper Moon,
The Last Run
Scarecrow
Badlands
The Last Detail
Emperor of the North
Thieves Like Us
Harry & Tonto
The Sugarland Express
Rafferty and the Gold Dust Twins
Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia
The Man Who Would Be King
Freebie and the Bean
Sorcerer
The In-Laws
Rolling Thunder
Who’ll Stop the Rain?
Bite the Bullet
Handle with Care
The Blues Brothers
Melvin and Howard
Cutter’s Way
El Norte
Something Wild
Lost in America
Mountains of the Moon
Rain Man
Dumb and Dumber
Map of the Human Heart
The Straight Story
O Brother Where Art Thou
Three Kings
Joy Ride
Almost Famous
Aboout Schmidt
Y Tu Mama Tambien
Sideways
The Motorcycle Diaries
Little Miss Sunshine
Nebraska
Between both lists, that is the list of movies I’ve seen and the list of movies I haven’t seen, a surprising number were either shot or set in Nebraska or have production histories or back stories that intersect wth Nebraska, including the three Payne films as well as “The Rain People,” “Paper Moon,” “Badlands,” “Convoy” and “To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything Julie Newmar.”
When I sat down to start thinking about and researching the subject of this post, it became very clear very early on that there are more really good road movies than I ever realized. Many top directors have explored this genre or sub-genre. It makes sense, of course, because characters on the open road, whether on foot or in a vehicle or in a stagecoach or aboard a train or on horseback, make for kinetic cinema, particularly when the characters are framed in space against dramatic landscapes and backdrops. There is nothing more elemental in cinema than figures moving through space and going on some journey. When the context for that movement, journey, trip, quest or escape includes elements of time or danger, or when the stakes are somehow raised because of the dramatic or comedic situation, then we are pulled right along on that path with the protagonists. It only works though if the basic narrative exposition is compelling enough. We’re only invested in the road adventure to the extent we are made to care about the characters and their dilemma or objective. The best of these films depict human yearning and growth through the physical act of travel, which invariably means encountering some kind of obstacles or conflicts en route. In one way or another, all of these movies are about searches – internal or external – and moving on to some desired destination or resolution or state of mind. These stories tap into the human heart and mind in terms of what makes us tick. For these reasons and more, road pics done well will always be relevant and engaging.
Here are virtually all the road pic movies I’ve seen that I can recommend:
It Happened One Night
You Only Live Once
Stagecoach
The Grapes of Wrath
They Live by Night
They Drive by Night
Sullivan’s Travels
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
Detour
Gun Crazy
The Wild One
La Strada
Westward the Women
Wild Strawberries
Thunder Road
North by Northwest
The Great Race
Bonnie and Clyde
The Rain People
Easy Rider
The Out of Towners
Man in the Wilderness
Harold and Maude
Five Easy Pieces
Duel
The Getaway
The Last Run
Scarecrow
Badlands
The Last Detail
Paper Moon
Emperor of the North
Thieves Like Us
Harry & Tonto
The Sugarland Express
Rafferty and the Gold Dust Twins
Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia
The Man Who Would Be King
Freebie and the Bean
The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings
Sorcerer
The In-Laws
Rolling Thunder
Who’ll Stop the Rain?
Bite the Bullet
Handle with Care
Smokey and the Bandit
Mad Max
The Blues Brothers
Melvin and Howard
National Lampoon’s Family Vacation
Cutter’s Way
The Road Warrior
El Norte
Starman
The Terminator
48 Hours
The Sure Thing
Stranger Than Paradise
Paris, Texas
Something Wild
Down by Law
Lost in America
Wild at Heart
Planes, Trains and Automobiles
Mountains of the Moon
Thelma and Louise
Rain Man
Map of the Human Heart
Crossing the Bridge
Terminator II: Judgement Day
Omaha the Movie
Dumb and Dumber
The Straight Story
Midnight Run
Flirting with Disaster
O Brother Where Art Thou?
Three Kings
Joy Ride
Almost Famous
About Schmidt
Terminator III: Rise of the Machines
Y Tu Mama También
Children of Men
Sideways
The Motorcycle Diaries
Little Miss Sunshine
Terminator Salvation
Nebraska
Here is a list of road pics I mean to get to one day:
Wild Boys of the Road
The Hitchhiker
The Wages of Fear
Journey to Italy
Il Sorpasso
Pierrot le Fou
Weekend
Wanda
Vanishing Point
Deadhead Miles
Two Lane Blacktop
Kings of the Road
Honky Tonk Freeway
The Living End
The Vanishing
Love and a .45
Vagabond
My Own Private Idaho
The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert
To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar
True Romance
Natural Born Killers
Get on the Bus
Smoke Signals
Central Station
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
In This World
Broken Flowers
Old Joy
Borat
Wendy and Lucy
Meek’s Cutoff
Mad Max: Fury Road
Grandma
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