watching grand theft auto on tcm right now, just thinking about the whole wave of these movies. when the interstates were still new enough to seem kind of wild-west, i guess. and maybe more crucially when hollywood car-chase technology improved enough to really convey the rhythms of a high-speed chase. sorry for any omissions, feel free to write in. (there were obvious '60s precursors to this -- bonnie and clyde and easy rider -- but the '70s seems like the golden era, with '71 in particular a spectacular year.) using a loose and subjective definition of "road movie," and i haven't even seen all of these (including the wenders ones), but they seem to fit the general parameters.
Poll Results
| Option | Votes |
| Badlands (1973) | 10 |
| Duel (1971) | 4 |
| Two-Lane Blacktop (1971) | 4 |
| Paper Moon (1973) | 4 |
| Five Easy Pieces (1970) | 3 |
| Vanishing Point (1971) | 3 |
| Death Race 2000 (1975) | 3 |
| Smokey and the Bandit (1977) | 1 |
| Kings of the Road (1976) | 1 |
| The Sugarland Express (1974) | 1 |
| Alice in the Cities (1974) | 1 |
| The Wrong Move (1975) | 0 |
| The Last Detail (1973) | 0 |
| Grand Theft Auto (1977) | 0 |
― tipsy mothra, Tuesday, 30 December 2008 03:42 (fifteen years ago) link