If you can't make a Road Trip this summer, you can surely watch a great Road Trip movie. Here are my, completely subjective, selections for Best Road Trip flicks. One more advantage, you never have have to hear "Are we there yet?" or "Stop looking at me!" during this Road Trip.
1) Vacation Kind of the holy grail of Road Trip movies, the Griswolds make their trek to Walley World and hilarity ensues. Poor Aunt Edith.
2) It Happened One Night One of my favorite movies, with Clark Gables and Claudette Colbert in their prime. Winner of 5 Academy Awards, including Best Picture, a classic romantic comedy. They don't make 'em like this anymore.
3) Easy Rider Two hippie bikers travel cross country, from LA to New Orleans, in search of America and their place in it. Peter Fonda and recently deceased Dennis Hopper star in this counter culture classic.
4) Two for the Road My film professor's favorite film, starring Audrey Hepburn and Albert Finney as a couple in a troubled ten year marriage, traveling across the south of France. Kind of cynical and depressing, great score by Henry Mancini.
5) Thelma and Louise Another one of my favorite movies. Reminiscent of Terence Malick's Badlands. What starts off as a carefree road trip, ends with a plunge off the Grand Canyon.
6) Sideways A soon-to-be married bachelor and his friend have a last hurrah and travel to California's wine country. The scene where the English teacher (played by Paul Giamatti) goes off the deep end and drinks the dregs of the spit bucket is hilarious. Merlot sales declined rapidly after this film's release.
7) Little Miss Sunshine A little girl who doesn't fit into the traditional category of "beauty pageant" material, travels with her family in a VW bus, to pursue her dream. A suicidal uncle, brother who has taken a vow of silence, self-help Dad with issues and grandfather with a penchant for strippers and heroin, round out the eclectic family unit. At least Mom is sane.
8) Smokey and the Bandit Burt Reynolds and Sally Field star together in this Southern Fried road trip that put the Pontiac Trans Am on the map. A guilty pleasure of Alfred Hitchcock!
9) Honeymoon in Vegas Maybe not the most traditional road trip movie, but engaged couple Jack and Betsy do make the trip to Vegas, then Hawaii and back to Vegas. Loved the Elvis impersonators and James Caan. Sarah Jessica, pre Sex, plays Caan's deceased wife (tan, blond and trash-romance reading) at the beginning scene by the pool.
10) Rain Man Tom Cruise before he went crazy, and Dustin Hoffman playing Autistic, before autistic was well-known, drive across the country and bond as brothers. "Let me let you in on a little secret Ray. Kmart sucks."
So ladies and gentlemen: "Fasten your seatbelts. It's going to be a bumpy night!"
Margo Channing in All About Eve
No comments:
Post a Comment