You might not think of ‘The Blues Brothers’ as a car flick, but its chase scenes are classic too. To wit, its many spectacular high-speed pursuit scenes ending in a smashed-up mess added to the reason this film was one of the costliest comedies ever made. The hilarious “Bluesmobile” is so famous it now lives in Tennessee at Rusty’s TV and Movie Car Museum.
The 1980 film starring legendary comics John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd created an iconic masterpiece out of a Saturday Night Live skit. The Blues Brothers band played for real, and its fictional characters lived as household names. The movie was chock full of epic scenes. Director John Landis brought the backbone of American soul music into a sprawling collage that is a musical, a comedy, a drama, a production of unmatched cinematic proportions. Aretha Franklin, James Brown, Ray Charles, to name a few, sing, dance, and make ‘The Blues Brothers’ live on as a gift to American culture.
The Transporter
Ex-Special Ops officer Frank Martin (Jason Statham) is available for hire. His price is steep, but he will transport anything, no matter the risk. He’s called the transporter, and everything goes well until it doesn’t.
'The Transporter' hit theaters in 2003. The action-thriller also stars Matt Schulze and Qi Shu. Filmed in France and directed by French director Louis Leterrier along with director Corey Yuen, it was inspired by The Hire series from BMW Films. It’s filmed on location. The transporter’s car is a slick black BMW 735i. Some highlights are shot racing through Nice. Reviews were “meh.” It’s a packed genre, to be sure, but hot-pursuit chases by elite team-level operatives played by Statham are always fun.
Gran Torino
Clint Eastwood needs no introduction. In 'Grand Torino' (2008), Eastwood produces, directs, and stars as cranky old vet Walt Kowalski. Riddled with PTSD, he’s not the most pleasant man to be around, but cracks of kindness in his veneer endear the film.
You can imagine the gun-toting old man was not happy when some thieves tried to make off with his precious Grand Torino. He helped build that car on the Ford assembly line when he was a worker. The local gang members, those who torment his neighbors and steal his prized classic car, are no match for this old army dude. Audiences loved it more than critics according to Rotten Tomatoes.
Holy Motors
'Holy Motors' may be an artsy, intellectual French film, but that doesn’t mean it’s not loaded with bawdy humor and surreal car scenes. Limousines parked in the Holy Motors garage chit chat. While you’d expect cars to be talking to one another in an animated Disney movie, you don’t expect it in a full-length sci-fi film. The surrealist 'Holy Motors' pulls it off masterfully. In this film’s magical fictional world about a mystery man named Monsieur Oscar, one of those limousines is Oscar’s mode of transport.
When The Guardian asks director Leos Carax why he chose to feature those particular luxury cars, he said, “I always liked [stretched limos]. I thought they were both sexy and morbid, obviously, they’re meant to be seen, but you can’t see who is in them, like a bubble or a virtual world.” He also pointed out that they are always rented, no one owns a limo. Critics at Cannes goggled over it. At that festival, 'Holy Motors' was nominated for the Palme d’Or. Many considered it the best film of 2012. Denis Lavant plays Monsieur Oscar. Édith Scob, Eva Mendes, and Kylie Minogue also star.
The French Connection
Another classic car movie is 'The French Connection' (1971). Gene Hackman and Roy Scheider are an NYC detective team on the trail of a European international narcotic crime syndicate. It’s based on a true story. The movie is legendary. At the Times UK, a reviewer observed, “It’s hard to imagine it now, but there are only two types of cop movies: pre and post-The French Connection. That’s how big it is.”
It wouldn’t be the same movie if not for the cars. We love the Lincoln Continental Mark III that comes over from Marseilles packed with narcotics. More favorites are Sal’s (Tony Lo Bianco) ’71 Ford LTD and ’61 Comet Sedan. There’s a ’66 Pontiac LeMans used for a chase scene inside the subway.