Car Movie Enthusiast Rankings

Ranking

Title and Review

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2nd Tier!T-Bird Gang: 1959. "exploitation mogul Roger Corman co-produced this film about a clean-cut kid who joins a hotrod gang to snare his fathers killers".

 Taxi. 2004. Queen Latifa and Jimmy Fallon. Lots of stereotypes here, as Jimmy Fallon (cop) enlists Queen Latifa (taxi driver) to help catch some Brazilian super-model bank robbers. Queen Latifa, who actually has reasonable acting skills (compared to Fallon), also has a Crown Vic taxi that with the flip of a couple of switches sprouts a supercharger and a race suspension - just the thing for that trip out to the airport. Jimmy Fallon, who has zero acting skills, is terrible as always (he makes a career doing this stuff?). Nevertheless, Queen Latifa saves the day, and it's a mildly brainless way to spend an afternoon if you don't have anything else to do.

Jeff Gordon has a cameo, and his acting skills are as poor as his recent NASCAR driving.

This movie was inspired by the French movie of the same name, although the storyline is very different.

 Taxi. 1998. French movie, has been seen in the 'states but is not available here. A comedy, in which a pizza delivery boy becomes a taxi driver... then gets involved in various high speed chases. I have not seen it yet, but I understand it's very good. I have it on order from Amazon in Britain. 
Taxi Driver: 1976. Sicko. You'll never get into a cab in NYC again - which are just as bad as the cabs at the DFW airport, but in this case the driver *really* is a psychopath.

Now available on DVD with extra material and background.

Texas Chainsaw Massacre: 1974. Don't ever get out of your car in the middle of Nowhere, Texas. A film classic (but would more accurately have been set in Arkansas)!
 They Drive by Night. 1940. Truck Driver brothers George Raft and Humprey Bogart get waylaid by the bad girl Ida Lupino (who is always great!).

Good film, although an odd and uneven script results in two very different halves to the film. I have it in my noir collection, and it's good.

Those Daring Young Men in Their Jaunty Jalopies. 1960. Tony Curtis, Terry-Thomas, Jack Hawkins (the lowest he has ever fallen). Absolutely terrible, nauseating. Sorry if you like Terry Thomas. Original British title was "Monte Carlo or Bust". This is one of those films that make you sorry to be in the car hobby!
Thunder Alley: 1967. A stock-car film starring Fabian and Annette Funicello. If you can suspend all disbelief of Fabian as a driver, you can also accept Annette as an alcoholic. My opinion: no redeeming value in this piece - it's another sad innocuous role for Annette in her post-Disney "retirement".

Thunderbolt, aka Pi li huo: 1995. Jackie Chan car racing film. Really terrible film, no substance, no plot, no good action (not a true martial arts film), and not a good Chan vehicle either. Immature racing and childish fight scenes (in which Chan, uncharacteristically, was often doubled).  The racing was held at slow speed, then sped up on film - and it shows. Pointless, not even as mindless entertainment.
Thunder Road: 1958.  Both Robert and James Mitchum star with Gene Barry in this classic moonshine and car chase film. I've seen it - it is a classic!
Thunder and Lightning: 1977. David Carradine, Kate Jackson. Moonshine equals car chases, inevitably. Not bad..
To Live and Die in L.A. 1985. One great car chase, but that's about it. Doesn't look like it's worth owning.

 

To Please a Lady. 1950. Not very good, it's basically a love match between Clark Gable and Barbara Stanwyck.
Truck Stop Women: 1974. A band of woman run a stereotypical truck stop but play with prostitution and hijacking behind the scenes. Then the mob tries to move in, with predictable results. I don't have a copy, undoubtedly SpeedVision will run it one weekend! 
2nd Tier!Tucker: The Man and His Dream. 1988. Jeff Bridges, Martin Landau, Lloyd Bridges. A very sharp film about Preston Tucker, who tried to build the car of his dreams in the 40s. The Big Three basically stopped him dead. A Francis Ford Coppola movie. An interesting film, although Bridges plays it over the top.
 Two-Lane Blacktop. 1971. James Taylor, Warren Oates and Harry Dean Stanton. 55 Chevy with Rat motor meets up with GTO on a cross-country race. Off course there is a girl hitchhiker involved. Good film, should be a cult classic. Also good for GTO fans - lots of action there.