10 Great Travel Race Movies
Lists: Slow travel is well and good. But there's something irresistible about a great travel race movie. World Hum Travel Movie Clubbers Eva Holland and Eli Ellison share their favorite vicarious thrill rides.
7) Smokey and the Bandit
Burt Reynolds is at his mustached best in this kitschy tale of big rigs and bootleg beer. Legendary truck driver Bo “Bandit” Darville (Reynolds) accepts a bet to try to get from Georgia to Texas and back—with 400 cases of illegal brew in his rig—in less than 48 hours. Along with sidekick “Snowman” and faithful dog, Fred, Bandit seems to have the task in hand—until a runaway bride (Sally Field) and a crazed Texas sheriff (Jackie Gleason, who nearly steals the show from Reynolds and his mustache) get in the way. Fair warning: this flick may leave you with a powerful urge to install a CB radio in your vehicle and start dropping 10-4s on anyone in range.
Kevin Fay 09.12.08 | 12:18 PM ET
Good stuff, guys. But you forgot “It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World.” Have you seen it? It’s really funny, and so, so weird.
slipstream 09.12.08 | 4:19 PM ET
Burt Reynolds is the man Smokey and the Bandit is a great race scene. I have him as the voice on my GPS that I got from Navtones.com. He often helps me escape from tricky situations now!
Eli 09.12.08 | 5:03 PM ET
Thanks, Kevin. I have seen Mad World and it was a tough call between that and Great Race. At the time, the latter just seemed to fit better, but I could go either way.
I’ll let Eva tell you all about her favorite Mad World remake: Rat Race.
Eva Holland 09.13.08 | 1:02 AM ET
Ooh, don’t even get me started on Rat Race!
It takes 2nd place in my list of All-Time Worst Movies To Be Stuck Watching On A Long Distance Bus Ride With The Sound On.
(The first was Jeepers Creepers. In Turkish.)
Sub 10.02.08 | 3:16 PM ET
Midnight run is classic! Rat Race is fun, not the greatest movie, but it does boast 3 Oscar winners.
Torah 10.04.08 | 4:36 PM ET
Yeah, I’d like to back up Kevin and say that “It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World” is missing. I’m not so sure what people have against Rat Race though; I thought it was quite humorous.
In my personal opinion, I think my favorite movie in the list is Death Race 2000.