My Favorite Road Trip Movies – Part 1
Part 1
As a lover road trips and the open road, I am also a big fan of the road trip movie. I’ve sought out and watched several over the years. Some inspire me to hit the open road while others have highlighted a new attraction I previously had not been aware existed. Without further ado, in no particular order, here is part one of my some of my favorite road trip movies.
The Muppet Movie (1979)
Classic buddy movie from my childhood. Follow Kermit’s journey to Hollywood in his hopes to “make millions of people happy”. This also includes one of my favorite Road Trip songs – ‘Moving RIght Along’
The Grapes of Wrath (1940)
Based on the novel by John Steinbeck; the classic story of the Joad’s. A sharecropping family from Oklahoma who was forced from their land due to drought, the depression and industrial changes in farming. The Joad’s head west following The Mother Road (Rt. 66) to California in hopes of finding honest work. Instead, they are little more than slave laborers living in shanty towns.
Not the happiest of road trip movies, but if you’ve traveled some of the long lonely stretches of Route 66, this movie will trigger visions of past travelers along The Mother Road
Easy Rider (1969)
Written by: Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper, and Terry Southern
Classic counterculture film from the 1960’s. Starring Fonda, Hopper and Jack Nicholson. Karen Black and Tony Basil (“oh mickey your so fine…you blow my mind…Hey Mickey”) also make appearances.
Great soundtrack, excellent cinema-photography with a story that captures the spirit of searching for freedom on the open road.
Check out this site which maps the route Wyatt and Billy took to the South. → Easy Rider Route
The video to the right is from one of my favorite scenes in the film. Billy and Wyatt traveling through the Painted Desert to Monument Valley in Arizona while The Weight by The Band is playing. Every time I’ve been around the Painted Desert or Monument Valley, The Weight is playing in my head.
Interstate 60 (2002)
Written & Directed by Bob Gale (Back to the Future I, II & III)
Interstate 60 is a whimsical story about a young artist named Neal Oliver, whose father is pressuring him to attend Oxford. Enter O.W. Grant; a strange but interesting guy that changes everything. Searching for answers, Neal travels the nonexistent Interstate 60. Following highway billboards of the girl of his dreams, Neal encounters a sorted group of fictional characters and fictional places.
Stars James Marsden, Gary Oldman and Amy Smart also appearing in the film are Ann Margaret, Michale J. Fox, Kurt Russel, Amy Jo Johnson, Christopher Lloyd, Chris Cooper and many more.
Horatio’s Drive: America’s First Road Trip
On a $50 bet Horatio Nelson Jackson set out on the first cross-country road trip. Directed by Ken Burns (who else?), this film follows the historic journey of what is truly American, driving the open road.
