Car flicks to drive you wild

Hopefully, not that many, since a good car movie is as much about the car as anything else in the plotline.

Take Christine, for example. Stephen King may have written the novel, but director John Carpenter created the villain, a 1958 Plymouth Fury that was as strong a character as any of the actors.

Whip out your video store membership card, car fans, because we've put together a list of our favourite car movies. Weighing in are Free Press movie writer Randall King, freelance automotive writer Michael Clark and Free Press automotive editor Kelly Taylor.

The Driver (1978)

The cars: See below

The stars: Ryan O'Neal, Bruce Dern

I'm more of a movie fan than a car fan, so while I don't know exactly what cars Ryan O'Neal is driving in this little-known neo-noir thriller, I really really love the way director Walter Hill shoots these indelible images of sleek fast vehicles speeding through L.A.'s dark streets. O'Neal is the best getaway driver in L.A., and Bruce Dern plays a corrupt cop gunning for him. Note the scene in the underground parking garage when O'Neal demonstrates why he deserves the money by precisely and systematically destroying the gang's "test" vehicle.

The Italian Job (1969)

The cars: three Mini Cooper Ss

The stars: Benny Hill, Michael Caine, Remy Julienne

Legendary French stunt driver Remy Julienne co-ordinated the fantastic chase sequence at the climax of this 1969 cult comedy-heist movie involving three Mini Cooper Ss painted red, white and blue evading cops -- jumping from building to building and dashing through viaducts -- in the middle of a traffic jam engineered by the eccentric Professor Peach (Benny Hill). It's being remade with Mark Wahlberg (?!) in the Michael Caine role.

Duel (1969)

The cars: 1970 Plymouth Valiant, one bad-assed truck

The stars: 1970 Plymouth Valiant, one bad-assed truck. Oh, and Dennis Weaver.

One Plymouth Valiant. One truck. Not a lot of dialogue, but a whole lot of white-knuckle suspense as the truck inexplicably, malevolently pursues the Valiant in what amounted to the feature debut of Steven Spielberg (although the film was technically a TV movie).

Bullitt (1968)

The cars: '68 Ford Mustang Fastback, '68 Dodge Charger

The stars: Steve McQueen, Robert Vaughn

You know that when the bad guy puts on the lap belt and tightens it, there's going to be a car chase. And what better place to have one than the hilly terrain of San Francisco. Steve McQueen stars as Leuitenant Frank Bullitt, in pursuit of mob hitmen who never smile. It's one of the first car chases shot at actual speeds, approaching 160 km-h. McQueen did his own stunt driving throughout. Diehard fans will notice the amalgamation of various camera angles to create the illusion of a much longer chase. (Just count how many times you see the green Beetle!) While the movie is like an old Dragnet episode, the chase is 15 minutes worth fast-forwarding to.

Vanishing Point (1971)

The cars: 1970 Dodge Challenger R/T, Highway Patrol Dodges, and two nasty front-end loaders

The stars: Barry Newman, Cleavon Little

A car delivery service driver known only as Kowalski (Newman) bets his drug dealer that he can drive from Denver to San Francisco in 15 hours. Sure, it's doable, if your average speed is about 190 kilometres per hour! As his escapades trickle across the police radio frequencies, he receives guidance from a blind DJ called "Super Soul" (Little) and becomes something of a high-octane folk hero. When he briefly lets his foot off the gas, he runs into the likes of snake worshippers, homicidal homosexuals, and the local constabulary who couldn't drive their way out of a paper bag. I won't give away the ending, but it's the only car-chase movie I've ever seen that'll get you misty at the end. And to think I've been called insensitive...

The Seven Ups (1973)

The cars: 1973 Pontiac Grandville, 1973 Pontiac Ventura, sacrificial NYPD squad cars

The stars: Roy Scheider, Tony Lo Bianco.

You might not think of lower Manhattan as the place for a gripping car chase. Yo! Whatsamattahwidyou? The movie was produced and directed by Philip D'Antoni, who also produced Bullitt. Listen to both carefully. How exactly does Bullitt's Mustang sound the same as Scheider's Ventura? Sloppy sound editing aside, count how many times Scheider swears during the chase. And the impossible physics of an airborne '73 Grandville, the biggest of the big Pontiacs. You'll definitely laugh and point at the world's saddest Plymouth squad car. (Even the siren sounds sick!) Apparently, a shotgun blast from the bad guys can launch your car's hood clean off. The bad guys get away, and turn Scheider's Ventura, and almost Scheider, into a convertible. As cop movies go, it's actually quite watchable.

The Road Warrior (1978)

The cars: A hopped-up Holden, a variety of hopped-up, home-grown, post-apocalypse speed demons

The stars: Mel Gibson

The movie that made Mel Gibson: a dark, pessimistic view of post-Third World War Australia where gasoline is everything and gangs of thugs will do anything to get it. Oddly, their only use for it seems to be tearing around the outback looking for more...

Gibson is chased around at perilously high speeds by crusaders in all varieties of horsepower-infused jalopies. These folk are not above using some nitrous oxide to get a few dozen extra kilometres per hour.

And Petter Solberg thinks World Rally Championship is hard...

American Graffiti (1973)

The cars: 1956 T-Bird, various 5-6-7 Chevies, 1932 Ford hot rod

The stars: Richard Dreyfuss, Harrison Ford, Suzanne Somers

OK, so it's the only meaningful role Suzanne Somers ever had, possibly only because she never speaks. But who could forget that beautiful... Thunderbird.

For fans of classic Detroit iron, this movie is a must-see. And it's probably the standard-bearer in coming-of-age films.

Also, who secretly has never wanted to pull off Dreyfuss's stunt with the chain, concrete pilaster and rear axle of a police car?

George Lucas, director.

A Night on Earth (1991)

The cars: Five taxis in five cities

The stars: Winona Ryder, Roberto Begnini, Rosie Perez

A hilarious series of stories of five cab drivers in five cities around the world.

The cabbies and their fares live out bizarre storylines as they whiz through L.A., Paris, Rome, New York and Helsinki. The capper was a brilliant performance by Roberto Begnini as a Rome cabbie who picks up an aging, frail cleric and literally talks him to death "confessing" to a youth misspent with, shall we say, farm animals.

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition May 16, 2003 $sourceSection$sourcePage