Universal Pictures has given the green light to a fifth
film in the Fast and the Furious franchise. To be directed by Justin Lin and
penned by screenwriter Chris Morgan, Fast Five will star the old favourites
including stars Vin Diesel, Paul Walker. In celebration, FilmJuice has pulled
together the top car movies.
Bullit (1968)
Stars: Steve McQueen
Director: Peter
Yates,
Cars: 1970 Dodge
Charger , Ford Mustang
Adrenaline High: Car
chase scene through the streets of San Francisco is universally considered to
be the greatest screen chase of all.
Trivia: Bullitt’s
reverse burnout during the chase scene actually wasn’t in the script . McQueen had mistakenly
missed the turn.
The Italian Job (1969 )
Stars: Michael
Caine, Noel Coward, Benny Hill
Director: Peter
Collinson,
Plot: Just out of
prison, Charlie Croker hatches a plot to steal a gold shipment from an armoured car in Turin. The
only way of pulling it off is to cause a citywide traffic jam, and escape in 3 Mini Cooper cars.
Car: Mini Cooper cars
Adrenaline High:
Mini Cooper chase sequence
Trivia: “You
were only supposed to blow the bloody doors off!” was voted the most
memorable line in a film, in a 2003 movie survey.
Vanishing Point (1971)
Stars: Barry Newman,
Cleavon Little
Director: Richard C.
Sarafian
Plot: Antihero, with
help from a blind DJ, tries to deliver a car in record time.
Car: 1970 Dodge
Challenger R/T
Adrenaline High: The
highway drag race with an open-top Jaguar
Trivia: Sarafian’s
original choice for Kowalski was Gene Hackman,
but 20th Century Fox, insisted on using Barry Newman.
American Graffiti (1973)
Stars: Ron Howard,
Richard Dreyfuss, Harrison Ford
Director: George
Lucas
Plot: High school
grads on their last night of cruising the strip before heading off to college.
Cars: 1932 Ford
coupe, 1956 Ford Thunderbird,
1955 Chevy, 1951 Mercury coupe, 1958 Chevy
Impala.
Adrenaline High: Quote of the film sums it up: “I’ll
love and protect this car until death do us part.”
Trivia: About 300
pre-1962 cars were required to create the cruising scenes, and over a thousand
car nuts responded to ads in the local newspapers were interviewed.
The Blues Brothers (1980)
Stars: John Belushi,
Dan Aykroyd
Director: John
Landis
Plot: The Blues
brothers, on a mission from God, raise money to save their childhood orphanage
and put their old rhythm-and-blues band back together.
Car: The
Bluesmobile, a 1974 Dodge Monaco
Adrenaline High:
Numerous over-the-top stunts.
Trivia: At the time
of the film’s release, it held the world record for the most cars destroyed in
one film until it was surpassed by its own sequel.
The Fast and the Furious (2001)
Stars: Paul Walker,
Vin Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez
Director: Rob Cohen
Plot: Undercover
L.A. cop assigned to bust a ring of electronics thieves in the import
street-race ‘s scene.
Cars: Mazda RX-7,
Volkswagen Jetta Mitsubishi Eclipse, Toyota Supra, Honda Civic, Dodge Charger
R/T.
Adrenaline High: Cool nighttime street races and chase
sequences.
Trivia: Cohen was
inspired to make this film after watching an actual illegal street race at
night in Los Angeles.
Gone in 60 Seconds (2000)
Stars: Nicolas Cage, Giovanni Ribisi, Christopher
Eccleston, Robert Duvall,
Will Patton, and Angelina Jolie.
Director: Dominic
Sena
Plot: Retired car
thief forced to pull in 48 cars in a week.
Car: Star car Ford
Mustang Fastback named Eleanor stands out from the crowd.
Adrenaline High:
Impressive cars on the thieves’ hit list.
Trivia: Eccleston
did not actually have his drivers license during the shoot.
Grease (1978)
Stars: John Travolta, Olivia Newton-John, Stockard Channing, and Jeff Conaway.
Director: Randal Kleiser
Plot: Nice girl
Sandy falls for bad boy Danny in high school romance.
Car: Star car 1948
Ford Convertible, Greased Lightnin
Adrenaline High: taking our hero to Danny’s victory at
Thunder Ally behind the wheels of Greased Lightnin?
Trivia: Background
cars were actually 1970s models and not
from the 50s, the time when the film was set.
Goldfinger (1964)
Stars: Sean Connery,
Honor Blackman
Director: Guy
Hamilton
Plot: Bond on the
pursuit of gold smuggler Auric
Goldfinger, who plans a nuclear detonation inside the Fort Knox gold
depository,
Car: Aston Martin
DB5, 1964 Ford Mustang convertible1937 Rolls Royce Phantom III Sedance de
Ville, Goldfinger’s 12 cylinder made-of-gold car weighing 7000 lb and much,
much more.
Adrenaline High: The
car chase is one of the best and most amusing golf scenes ever filmed.
Trivia: Although
many of the locations in the film are American, Connery never set foot in
America during filming. All scenes based in America were shot at Pinewood
Studios, London.
Taxi Driver (1976)
Stars: Robert Di
Niro, Jodie Foster, Cybill Shepherd, Harvey Keitel
Director: Martin
Scorsese
Plot: An unhinged Vietnam
war veteran works as nighttime city taxi driver attempts to save a teenage
prostitute, unleashing his inner fury.
Car: The cab Travis
drove was Checker.
Adrenaline High:
“You talking to me?” Enough said.
Trivia: The story
was partially autobiographical for screenwriter Paul Schrader, who
suffered a nervous breakdown while living in Los Angeles.