Best / Worst "Car" movies

[zombie no.one]

list 'em up...favourite movies centered around or involving a car.

I haven't givcen this too much thought so Im gonna post the first that come into my head


DUEL 1971: classic film making, maximum suspense with minimum of dialogue/special effects (although some scenes are really well done its not exactly SFX)


BACK TO THE FUTURE: the DeLorean with the flux capacitor(sp?) such a cool car, and it can facilitate time travel, which is a nice bonus.


CHRISTINE 1979: the posessed car routine. pretty good film not a classic though, and I havent read the book but its probably better.


WRAITH 1986: this film is CRAP from beginning to end, in a good-bad-movie sort of way. all about a gang of illegal racers... think The Fast & The Furious crossed with a comedy version of Robocop.

thats all the ones I can think of ATM, maybe do some more later. but add on if theres any more good (or bad) ones.

[RCMerchant]

Whaaaa...?!
Where's DEATHRACE 2000?
EGAD?
How about that classic of cinema,the CAR?Or the MAD MAX films? AlSO
TWO LANE BLACKTOP
VANISHING POINT
The CANNONBALL RUN movies
USED CARS
EAT MY DUST with Ron(Opie)Howard!
MAXIMUM OVERDRIVE
RACE with the DEVIL
GONE in SIXTY SECONDS (the original 70's version)
DIRTY MARY and CRAZY LARRY (a oersonal favorite...)
SMOKEY and the BANDIT
the CARS that ATE PARIS

[zombie no.one]

good call on Vanishing Point, that's a great film....not sure about Maximum Overdrive though, that was about technology going heywire in general  wasn't it? don't remember a specific car. good soundtrack by AC/DC anyway.

and we both forgot HERBIE

[Bill C.]

The Car.

What, nobody else remembered that one?    (Not that I remember much apart from its existence and a lot of dirt...)

[RCMerchant]

I liked the CAR (1977). A great B movie!
I mentioned MAXIMUM OVERDRIVE on the basis of the killer semi trucks,in perticular the one with the Green Goblin on the grill,which seemed to be the Boss. A lot of people don't like this movie...I love it. And AC/DC kick ass,as usual.Yeah,it was  a result of some Night of the living machines type of deal,(though why the VW being drove by the newlyweds wasn't affected is beyond me)but the main attraction was the evil semi trucks.

[BeyondTheGrave]

Would the "Hitcher" count as a car movie?

[Menard]

Would the "Hitcher" count as a car movie?

I wouldn't count it.

Best IMO: Vanishing Point

Worst IMO: (sorry RCMerchant) Maximum Overdrive; The AC/DC soundtrack rocked.

There is probably a lot worse than Maximum Overdrive, but it is on my mind right now, being that it was mentioned, and is pretty bad for the budget and talent involved.

[JaseSF]

THE WRAITH is actually more like HIGH PLAINS DRIFTER. A lot of fun though in it's B-movie way.

[Poogie]

My favorite car movies would have to be..Duel, The Car, and Christine. When I lived in Idaho we used to go to this dam, it was fixed up to look like a beach. We had to drive up this very steep road in the mountains to get to it. This was also a logging road with alot of trucks. They'd get right up to our bumper, moving pretty fast and scare the you know what out of us. Going down the mountain was even worse, there was no where to pull over for these guys. The famous DUEL movie would come to mind every time we took this joyous trip.   

[Duckmancgy]

What about American Grafitti?
or Black Dog

I will try to remember some as I can..

[Andrew]

You know one I haven't seen in years, but I remember it having a prominent black supercar?  "Black Moon Rising."  I should check that one out again.  My mother loved that movie back then.  I wonder if she still likes it or it was just a phase.

[JaseSF]

That one's pretty bad. I covered it recently in my "It Came From My Collection" thread over at scifilm. Never have I seen so many talented actors in something so well...average and forgettable. And from a script by John Carpenter too.

[Shadow]

Corvette Summer -  a nice cheesy slice of 70's fashion, music and sensibilities.

[Joe the Destroyer]

I don't watch too many car movies, but one I always hear my friends saying is really bad is Red Line. I actually saw it in the Wal-Mart dump bin and was almost tempted to pick it up just to see how bad it actually is. 

Though it's not a movie, I always liked Stephen King's Dolan's Cadillac.  Very moody, kind of slow, but ending was totally worth it.

[quabrot]

Maximum Overdrive would be my favorite, and my least favorite would be Trucks.  Shows how much good and bad you can dp with the same source material.

Haven't seen The Car, but it's on Svengoolie this weekend...

Stephen King is usually good with his car stories.  Dolan's Cadillac is a great story, as is the first 2/3 of Christine (I usually hate the ways King ends his novels).