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.

5) Death Race 2000

The 21st-century U.S.A. is a bloodthirsty society ruled by a fascist. No, this is not an Iraq war documentary. Frankenstein (David Carradine), Machine Gun Joe (Sly Stallone), Matilda the Hun and a field of equally outrageous contestants race cartoonish hot rods from New York to “New Los Angeles.” You’ve seen the transcontinental road race before, but Death Race spices it up with a vicious twist. Drivers run over pedestrians to score points. Toddlers are worth 70, and mowing down a senior citizen nets a whopping 100 points! Skip the flashy remake and rent Roger Corman’s campy, pseudo-political ‘70s classic.

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Eva Holland is co-editor of World Hum. She is a former associate editor at Up Here and Up Here Business magazines, and a contributor to Vela. She's based in Canada's Yukon territory.

Eli Ellison


6 Comments for 10 Great Travel Race Movies

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.

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