What's the greatest car movie ever?

Mad Max: Fury Road.

Maybe it could be said that each generation has a "best".

In my youth it was obviously "Gran Prix" and then all time great "Le Mans".   Part of what makes them great other than early attempts at in-car footage is that they introduced road racing to the general American public.

I didn't like films like "Herbie" because the action scenes were not realistic.

"Cars" had such an impact on my grandkids.

In modern times I wanted "Rush" to fill the bill, but it has been dwarfed by "Drive to Survive"... even though "Drive to Survive" technically probably is not classified as a movie.

Lots of good mentions in the above posts.

Even Bond movies had some interesting cars....

The 1970s car movies require some chemical assistance to make them good movies.

Two Lane Blacktop
Christine
Most of the Mad Max franchise
Dazed and Confused is pretty good for cars if you look past the blatant anachronisms, like the 69 Chevy pickup with a steering wheel from a GMT400

M2Pilot said:

Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry was on TCM last night.  One of the worst movies ever.  I quit watching after 40 minutes or so.

Mrs VCH and I watched that movie on one of our early dates together. You gotta stick it out, it gets better. I own the DVD. 

Having kids has skewed my perspective somewhat, but Herbie is surprisingly good, as is Cars, and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. 

Blues Brothers is the best (maybe only) car musical. 

Not gonna lie, if there's a bunch of cars in a movie...I'm probably going to watch it, and like it on at least that level. 

"Oh, look!  A '79 Grand Prix!"

volvoclearinghouse said:

Having kids has skewed my perspective somewhat, but Herbie is surprisingly good, as is Cars, and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. 

Blues Brothers is the best (maybe only) car musical. 

Not gonna lie, if there's a bunch of cars in a movie...I'm probably going to watch it, and like it on at least that level. 

"Oh, look!  A '79 Grand Prix

Have to agree and add the original Gone in 60 seconds since it was filmed around here !

Such a diverse way of interpreting the question. 

The original GISS is one of my all around favorites, especially with original soundtrack, not the DVD release.

The opening of Mad Max is one of the rare things best experienced in the American dub vs original (DO YOU SEE ME, MAN???).

Ronin is a better heist movie than The Italian Job.  Won't change my mind.

Gumball Rally was silly fun.

I have more opinions but I have to get back to work.

In reply to stuart in mn :

To fully appreciate this movie you had to be there. Driving up and down the same streets, going nowhere and endless discussions about what to do and where to go after high school with a war draft requiring decisions based socio/economic status. Toss in beer, conversations about sex and an occasional drag race relieved the boredom until it was time to go home.

OK, but what is the best car movie that isn't stupid and/or has Burt Reynolds in it?

I'm going to go with the guys that said Ronin, with a nod to both Grand Prix and Le Mans (McQueen) and a soft spot for the short, Rendezvous!  I have the last on DVD and showing on my big screen (120") it stand up really, really well ever though it isn't a movie per se.

The Last Chase with Lee Majors and the last surviving Porsche 917. According to the webs you can find it on HBOMax

  I'm old enough  to have seen Le Mans in the theater. I had never seen anything like that (and ended up squeezing my girlfriend's hand during the opening flashback), so it's stuck with me since then. Also liked Two-Lane Blacktop. "That Plymouth had a Hemi with a Torque-Flite". Gumball Rally is good too and Grand Prix, but I like most car movies...

The Lively Set (1964). I was 8 or 9 when I saw this movie at the theater. Was it the great story line and girls or the cars that had my interest? It was the Bonneville racer scene that I vividly remember. I'm sure that I only got to see it because my older sister must have taken me and the only reason she would have gone was to see James Darren or Doug McClure.

nlevine said:

The original "Gone in 60 Seconds" (not the Nicholas Cage remake). Low budget, has a Jensen Interceptor in it as a theft target, and I'm not 100% sure the movie maker actually had permission to film some of the chase scenes they filmed on public roads in Southern CA...

Absolutely did NOT have permission. You know the scene where he's in the Mach 1 and tries to make an exit across traffic?  He clips the front bumper of some big barge and ends up spinning into and knocking over a light pole.

Totally unscripted and the car he hit were civilians with no idea a movie was being filmed.

GIRTHQUAKE said:

Mad Max: Fury Road.

I must be too young to get the love for Fury Road.  It's better than Thunderdome, but that's a low bar.

Now, the original Mad Max is perfect.

[Edit] Old. I meant too old to get it. 

Duke said:

nlevine said:

The original "Gone in 60 Seconds" (not the Nicholas Cage remake). Low budget, has a Jensen Interceptor in it as a theft target, and I'm not 100% sure the movie maker actually had permission to film some of the chase scenes they filmed on public roads in Southern CA...

Absolutely did NOT have permission. You know the scene where he's in the Mach 1 and tries to make an exit across traffic?  He clips the front bumper of some big barge and ends up spinning into and knocking over a light pole.

Totally unscripted and the car he hit were civilians with no idea a movie was being filmed.

 

The story I heard was not that it was "civilian" traffic, but a stunt driver who had missed his timing.

Per James Cameron himself, quite a few scenes from The Terminator were shot without permission or official notice.  One in particular I recall him talking about in an interview was the scene where it breaks into a station wagon and steals it.

Terminator, like Mad Max, kind of turned into an unintentionally car guy movie.  So many interesting things to see in the background!

There are some good answers here, but the best car movie is clearly Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

johndej said:

Grand Prix

Plot is fair but that early go-pro race footage is excellent. 

The opening scene where the chronometric Tachometers flick around to peak RPM is my hot button!!!! 

In reply to 1988RedT2 :

I mean, he takes a pile of garbage and builds a beautiful car out of it. Then he gets his whole family and friends into it for the maiden journey. Cantankerous father tells him "it'll never go" and then, when it starts on first cranks, fires back with "well then...it'll never stop!". 

Yep. Car movie. 

What? No love for "Driven"? (Sly Stallone version) 

Unfortunately Ford V. Ferrari was also done so poorly that it's more like a soap opera with cars. 

Two Lane Blacktop - did James Taylor have more than 2 lines in the whole movie? It was fun to see and hear Dennis Wilson too.....esp in a non-singing role. But for me Laurie Bird was the most interesting character in that movie, especially in the context of how soon her life ended after that....same car used in American Grafiti by the way.

There are some British movies from the 50's early 60's I've got on DVD that are entertaining if for no reason other than to see what racing cars could be rented for a modest budget.  

If you want Ultimate Cheese, Drive Angry combines nice cars with B-movie grade storyline and writing, terribad CGI effects, and William Fichtner owning every scene he is in.

"The car. What is it."

"S....sixty nine Charger."

"The Hemi or the 440?"

"F...Four forty"

*scoffs, then kills the guy*

The WORLDS Fastest Indian  with Anthony Hopkins  was pretty good , 

The California Kid with the chopped 34 Ford 3 window, 

and its a Mad Mad Mad world ......

VolvoHeretic said:

There was a movie that I saw back when I was like 13 back in the late sixties about a bonneville racer who pioneered the first turbine land speed car. I have looked for hours but can't find any thing about it on the interweb.

It's called The Lively Set and was made in 1964 with technical assistance from Mickey Thompson

Once upon a time the entire thing was on YouTube.  

edit: I see I was beaten to the buzzer

johndej said:

Grand Prix

Plot is fair but that early go-pro race footage is excellent. 

My son has done that. (Cameraman position)