Road movie tonight?

Here is our pick of seven best road movies, one for each day of the week, to get you through this week of lockdown, the ones that we have enjoyed watching tremendously over the years...

Mar 29, 2020 TEAM TOS No Comments Like

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MUMBAI :

Sure, you miss your car and can’t wait to get behind the wheel to start driving on open roads again. That is something that most of us want to do as well. However, in these testing times of lockdowns, while most of us are cooped up at home, we bring you some of the finest road movies ever made. So, put that La-Z-boy to some good use, sit back and enjoy being on the road, only vicariously, this time instead.

1. Duel: Based on a short story by Richard Matheson which appeared in PlayboyDuel, is Steven Spielberg’s feature full length directorial debut that will have you hooked from the very first scene. Duel was initially aired as a Television film, but it soon saw an international theatrical release and that’s how it has so many fans worldwide. The film is basically a truck vs car movie, where an HMV (Heavy Motor Vehicle) takes on an LMV (Light Motor Vehicle) on the road. The story revolves around a sales executive, David Mann, en route to meet a client. The plot unfolds as Mann who is driving his Plymouth Valiant through the Mojave desert, earns the wrath of a truck driver driving a Peterbilt 281, whom he merely overtakes on the road and all hell breaks loose. The truck driver (whose face you never see throughout the film – yes, that’s Steven Spielberg at his best – playing those mind games with you in every frame) spares no driving maneuver to ensure that Mann is a dead man! From tailgating to over-speeding to overtaking to trying to run Mann off the road, every trick in the book is employed by the menacing truck driver who goes berserk with his truck in this high-adrenalin, suspense thriller. What makes this road rage movie stand out, besides the fact that there are hardly any dialogues in it, and that it is a suspense movie shot in broad daylight, is Spielberg’s brilliant camera work. Spielberg worked with five cameras which he had mounted not just inside the car but even on the blind side of the car and the truck to get as much moving footage as possible. Spielberg shot this cult film with a skeletal crew, in eleven days flat, all thanks to his meticulous planning. Watch this movie, if you haven’t already, and we guarantee that it will change the way you watch road movies forever and that’s why it features on No. 1 position on our list. 

 

 

2. Thelma and Louise:  Written by Callie Khouri and directed by Ridley Scott, Thelma and Louise features some of the best stars in the show business. Geena Davis plays Thelma, a housewife, while Susan Sarandon plays Louise, a quick-witted waitress, and then there is also the very youthful, Brad Pitt, who plays J.D., the vagabond. This is one of the finest road movies ever made because not only does this movie have ‘Female bonding’ as its core theme but it also features a great car – a 1966 Ford Thunderbird Convertible, which the duo use in order to get away from Arkansas and plan to drive to Mexico as their misadventures unfold. From an attempted rape to murder to armed robbery to a full-blown tanker explosion, there is never a dull moment in this thrilling road movie. Thelma and Louise is as much about having fun on the road in their 1966 Ford Thunderbird Convertible as much as it is about freedom that their convertible brings them. While the convertible has the whole laidback road trip vibe to it, cowboy hats and bandanas complete the road trip look. Thelma and Louise is also a road movie that deals with a kind of friendship that is seldom seen these days and which is best demonstrated by the duo in the movie’s climax, in the Grand Canyon scene (Which is actually Utah) featuring their classic car as it flies mid-air. If you’re looking for a road movie with female protagonists behind the wheel of a convertible, Thelma and Louise, it is.  And yet one can’t help but wonder how different the performances may have turned out had Meryl Streep and Cher accepted the roles or even Jodie Foster and Michelle Pfeiffer! As far as the convertible goes, there couldn’t be a better choice than that 1966 Ford Thunderbird Convertible, which truly epitomized what it meant to be a woman and free in America!

 

 

3. Little Miss Sunshine: If you thought your family was dysfunctional, you simply must watch Little Miss Sunshine where the Hoover family is full of the weirdest family members ever! From a cocaine snorting grandpa, (Alan Arkin) to a gay Proust scholar, who is recovering post a suicide attempt, (Steve Carell) to a Nietzsche-loving teenager who has decided to not speak another word until he becomes a fighter pilot (Paul Dano) to an aspiring beauty queen, (Abigail Breslin), here’s where you’ll meet them all. The best part of the movie? The 800-mile road trip that this family embarks upon, in their yellow Volkswagen Van, which is actually the Volkswagen T2 Microbus, chosen in the film primarily for its high roofline and clean sight lines which allows for easy placement of the camera to shoot inside the microbus. This road movie revolves around a road trip that the Hoover family takes all the way from Albuquerque, New Mexico to California because Olive Hoover (Abigail Breslin), the youngest family member, has qualified for “Little Miss Sunshine beauty pageant.” Along the way, the VW Van breaks down, family members have to get off and push the VW van for it to start while the driver engages the gear and once it is in motion, each family member has to jump in, because the VW Van cannot stop for fear of stalling again, and so it has to keep moving. All this results in a lot of hilarious scenes but watch this film for the crisp writing and splendid performances. Oh, and yes, there couldn’t have been a better choice than the VW Microbus for transporting this entire family, afterall, it didn’t earn the moniker of Transporter for nothing! We won’t play spoilsport and tell you what else the VW Van helps transport, watch this road movie and you will know exactly why the van also earned the distinction of the “Hippie Van.”

 

 

4. Kodachrome: Kodachrome directed by Mark Raso was infact based on an article that appeared in The New York Times written by A.G. Sulzberger and had Ed Harris (Ben), Jason Sudeikis (Matt) and Elizabeth Olsen (Zoe) in the lead roles. The story is about a renowned photographer who is dying of cancer and wants to get his last four Kodachrome films processed which he shot several years ago, in Parsons, Kansas, where the only lab in the country will do so before it finally shuts shop for good. Zoe implores Matt, who is struggling to hold on to his job to be kind to his absentee Father and take him there to which he finally concedes. The movie moves forward as the trio (Ben, Matt and Zoe) embark on a road trip from New York to Kansas in a red Saab 900 Cabriolet and it is on this road trip that the Father and son duo who have been estranged for a large part of their lives find themselves on familiar road and bond again. Their relationship has been beautifully explored in the film through this road trip which also happens to be Ben’s last one. Watch this film to see how a road trip can be a great way of bringing out the bitterness and resentment which in this film happens through some taut writing and don’t forget to keep an eye out for the cinematography which is what really makes it stand out. What all you auto lovers are really going to love in this heart-warming film is the tussle between analog and digital and though the whole film is about Kodachrome vs digital format, in the scene when Ben who is seated behind in his convertible snatches the GPS system from Matt’s hands and flings it out of the car is simply outstanding! Clearly, Ben doesn’t want to rely on GPS and take the fastest route to Kansas, instead he wants to take the more scenic and longer one. Ben has ensured that they’re going to be driving all the way to Kansas in his red Saab 900 Cabriolet the old-fashioned way, listening to cassettes instead of cds. The Cabriolet, in this road movie becomes a vehicle that crisscrosses different metaphorical roads from the past and the present. 

 

 

5. 4L: If Kodachrome was about a Father-Son relationship, 4L, (Spanish) is about a Father-Daughter relationship explored through a road trip. Only, in this road movie, the Father (Joseba), played by Enrique San Francisco, isn’t accompanying his daughter (Ely) played by Susana Abaitua, instead, she undertakes this journey from Spain to Timbuktu, Mali, to meet her ill Father, for one last time, with his two friends (Tocho) played by Hovik Keuchkerian and Jean Pierre played by Jean Reno in a car that means a lot to her Father, a Renault 4, also popularly known as the 1975 4L  which is a vintage Renault Paris to Dakar Rally car that he restored. Yes, after a long time, comes a road movie that has been named after a car and that is indeed heartening. 4L which means 4 Liters or Latas in Spanish is where the title has been derived from. The journey entails driving through the Sahara-desert, and on the way the trio have several adventures as well as misadventures as their car breaks down, they’re taken for a ride by bandits, detained at the border without valid travel documents by the Police, and while they’re at it, they also manage to get into trouble with a drug peddler! The heat and dust of the road trip as their 4L cuts through the Sahara desert has been captured beautifully and all the actors give splendid performances. This is a fun, light road movie that you won’t forget in a hurry. 

 

 

6. The Highwaymen: The Highwaymen is the story of the notorious duo, Bonnie and Clyde, (Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow) two outlaws, who created quite a stir in America, back in the 1930s but this road movie tells the story through the eyes of two Texas Rangers who return from their respective retirements to apprehend the duo. The Highwaymen, directed by John Lee Hancock, starring Kevin Costner as Frank Hamer and Woody Harelson as Maney Gault as the two Texan Rangers who eventually set a trap for them and get to them, is a re-telling of all the events that transpired during the process of trying to catch them. From the dirt two-lane roads to the old gas stations to the old-fashioned road signages to the cars used in the film, everything has been beautifully recreated to look authentic. Since most of the action happens on the roads of Texas, Arkansas and Oklahoma, the cars used in the film are also from that period. Bonnie and Clyde’s car is a 1934 Ford V-8, which was a really fast car back in those days whereas the Texas Rangers got a 1934 Ford V-9. The death scene of Bonnie and Clyde in their car was shot on location where it actually happened. See this film if you love American countryside and have a penchant for Ford’s antique black cars.

 

 

7. The Motorcycle Diaries: Director Walter Salles's The Motorcycle Diaries is about Ernesto Che Guevara played by Gael Garcia Bernal and his friend Alberto Granado played by Rodrigo de la Sema's motorcycle expedition that the two undertake before Guevara earns his Medical degree. Starting from Buenos Aires across South America, the duo set out to cover a distance of 14,000 kms in four months, passing the Atacama desert on Granado’s 1939 Norton 500 motorcycle called La Poderosa, or The Mighty One. It is on this journey, that Guevara has inner dialogues with himself thereby discovering who he really is as he travels through different cities and also often through inhospitable terrain, often leading to a breakdown of his bike which both he and his friend take turns in pushing to the nearest available garage. This road trip, which Guevara and Granado take, is a life altering one for Guevara, and he makes copious notes at night, in his journal, capturing everything that he sees and feels as he rides through the day. Considering this was an international film project with teams from several countries involved, they did do a great job in terms of magnificent story telling. Watch this road movie if you’re an avid biker who loves the freedom that a bike offers, more than what a car possibly can, and if you’re are looking at taking similar life-altering road trips. Also, if you’re a Che Guevara fan. 

 

 


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