Thursday Movie Picks by Wandering through the Shelves returns. According to the theme of the week, three to five movies are picked and shared with the reason. Should anyone be interested in joining in, feel free to visit the main page here.
The theme for this week is: cars or racing. I don’t fancy racing films, though I like films like Rush, Senna or TT3D: Closer to the Edge; but, I have some fascinations with movies about badass guys with great, vintage cars. There’s something about these guys that make us a real powerhouse, especially when they’re in the favorite cars. So, here’s my pick for 3 film about badass cars drivers along with the cars.
01. Mad Max (1979)
Mad Max (1979) | Mel Gibson stares at the V8 Interceptor
Long before the award-decorated Fury Road, Max Rockatansky (Mel Gibson) is an MFP’s top pursuit man, who revenged upon her family’s demise driving a supercharged V8 Inteceptor. Mad Max is the first breed of high-octane car-nage films, which survive until now. This V8 also survives for years in Road Warrior until Fury Road. Max is always mad in this supercharger.
02. Death Proof (2007)
Death Proof (2007) – Kurt Russell with 1970 Chevy Nova
In this grindhouse feature, Kurt Russell is Mike McKay, an aging stuntman who kills women with his death-proof stunt car, a black 1970 Chevy Nova with skull and lightning vigil on the trunk. This is a superlative exploi-car-tion films with stunning car stunts and b-movies delight; and Quentin Tarantino that his homage to exploitation films is deranged and superb.
03. Drive (2011)
Drive (2011) – Ryan Gosling inside Chevy Impala
Drive is Nicolas Winding-Refn’s magnum opus, which sees Ryan Gosling’s anonymous driver works as a stuntdriver by day and a getaway driver by night (well, not quite day or night shift actually). Gosling is charming and completely badass in this films, especially when he drives this Chevy Impala dividing the neon-bathed street of Los Angeles.
Thursday Movie Pick #14: Cars/Racing
15 responses
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I love Drive. Had I gone the route of movies I actually like this week, it definitely would’ve been on there. Death Proof was the weaker of the Grindhouse films for me, but definitely not terrible.
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Glad you liked Drive! I don’t know but I liked Death Proof better than Planet Terror, surprisingly.
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Haha. I do like how you mentioned 3 of my 4 picks. All great films.
From your list I’ve seen Mad Max and Drive..the latter is such a perfectly put together film.-
Yes! I didn’t pick them just because my smaller theme won’t let it. But, they’re all great.
Glad you liked Drive, too!
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Nice picks. I remember when Mad Max came out and what a splash it made, especially for Gibson who it propelled to stardom. It’s a bleak but compelling film miles better than the sequel.
Drive is a wonderfully brooding slick film with some wonderful performances. It’s a little dark to watch often but a good film.
Haven’t seen Death Proof.
I’m not a race fan either but as with most films relating to a sport it’s more the content that surrounds the action that make or break the film. I went for obscure films that deal with it that are more story based than race driven. I particularly like my second which is a daffy comedy.
Winning (1969)-Frank Capua’s (Paul Newman) dream is to win the Indy 500 and he is spurred on by his messy private life including a troubled marriage to Elora (Joanne Woodward) who is also involved with his main rival Luther Erding (Robert Wagner). The film inspired Newman’s lifelong love of racing and has some exciting scenes of the sport. While it doesn’t deliver on its ambitious tagline “WINNING is for men who live dangerously! WINNING is for women who love recklessly! WINNING is for young people who live for now! WINNING…is for everybody!” it’s a decent film with many of the stars of the racing circuit making appearances.
The Great Race (1965)-At the beginning of the 1900’s The Great Leslie (an all in white clad Tony Curtis) and his arch nemesis Professor Fate (Jack Lemmon equally black covered with a handlebar moustache and top hat to boot) compete in the title race from New York to Paris with henchmen in tow, Hezekiah (Keenan Wynn) for Curtis and Max (a hilarious Peter Falk) for Lemmon. Also competing and covering the race for The Sentinel newspaper is pioneering and rambunctious reporter Maggie DuBois (Natalie Wood at her most beautiful). MANY complications occur along the way including a western town brawl and shootout and an enormous pie fight. Blake Edwards directed tribute to slapstick and old time serials is zany fun with beautiful costume & set design, a game cast and for car lovers fantastic automobiles. The score was provided by Henry Mancini and includes the Oscar nominated “The Sweetheart Tree”.
The Big Wheel (1949)-Watch out Mickey Rooney’s on the skids in more ways than one! Billy Coy (Rooney) has something to prove, his father was a legend in the midget race car game until his death in a crackup, now Billy is trying to show his worth. The story is standard cocky hothead knocked down a few pegs until his learns the necessary life lessons junk but if you’re a race fan and don’t mind the obvious rear projection shots it has a certain entertainment value. Additionally parts were filmed at the Indy 500 raceway providing a glimpse of it in its infancy. Aside from Rooney there’s a good cast including Spring Byington, Thomas Mitchell and in a small part Hattie McDaniel in her last theatrical feature. This was made just as the Mick’s major star period was ending.
80’s Flashback Bonus-Catch Me If You Can (1989)-When her small Midwest high school faces closure class president Melissa Hanson (Loryn Locklin) is persuaded by school bad boy Dylan Malone (Matt Lattanzi) to gamble on the illegal car races he runs. Everything goes well at first but then the local mob moves in so Melissa and Dylan take drastic measures to save ol’ Cathedral High! Full of 80’s music (the film’s score is composed and performed by Tangerine Dream) 80’s fashion and of course 80’s hair complete with headbands!-
I first watched Mad Max on a midnight tv show, and I loved how campy it is.
Your recommendations were all new to my ears. I’m sure gonna do some gates and stuff about them.
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I didn’t like the first Mad Max, but I loved Drive. Death Proof is, in my opinion, Tarantino’s weakest film.
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First Mad Max is quite different from other installations.
Death Proof’s not really Tarantino doing Tarantino, but he’s doing homage.
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Mad max is pretty good and wish they would stop remaking the film. Deathproof is art cinema but some leave with a bad taste in their mouth. I enjoyed it and Tarantino is off kilter:) I haven’t seen your last film but it is on my list
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But, I loved Fury Road! Tarantino makes a big step with Death Proof and you know how he doesn’t become himself amazingly.
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Drive is amazing. Glad to see it getting so much love this week. Death Proof is also getting lots of love, but I’m not particularly fond of that one. Far as I’m concerned, it’s easily Tarantino’s worst picture. I still need to see Mad Max, believe it or not.
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Drive is an instant love for people! Well, Death Proof is the least of Tarantino’s films that feels Tarantino. But I love how he manages to keep it fun despite all.
Believe me, you need to watch Mad Max for sure!
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Not seen the first Mad Max but love the others. In fact all these picks are awesome, particularly Drive.
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Yeaaa glad you liked them too! The first Mad Max is kinda different from the others, but it’s pretty essential.
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[…] Picks along April in which I pick three films each week in accordance with the theme: Week 14: Cars/Racing | Week 15: Rivalry | Week 16: Disappearance | Week […]
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