3x3: great scenes set in cars

Cathcart, a catbus isn’t a car. At least, I don’t think it is. And it’s not the cat-ess that I have a problem with. It’s more the bus-ness. I don’t think buses count as cars. If they do, you’re opening the door to trains and subways, and that way likes madness and Predator 2.

As to you people just picking driving scenes or car chases: FAIL! These should be scenes in cars. Ideally, there should be a reason the scene is in a car. It should somehow have something to do with the car. I do like LT’s Twilight Zone scene with Akroyd and Brooks. Good call on that. The Large Marge scene can’t hold a candle to that!

Madkevin, something from a 1949 movie? Dude. I didn’t even think they had cars back then.

Frank, watch Virgin Suicides again. Both car scenes are sooo good, but that last scene of the sisters escaping with the boys in the station wagon is just so fucking brutal. I prefer the exhilaration before the fall in that Pontiac Firebird. Plus, you know, Crazy on You is the best Heart song of all time. Of all time!

 -Tom

Good point. But I think Madonna’s cover of the song is better.

-xtien

“Touch me once and you know it’s true.”

These are just three. They may not be the three, but they’re three I quite like.

  1. Bonnie and Clyde: Gene Wilder’s first screen role. Bonnie and Clyde and company steal his car. He gives chase, they let him catch them, and then he his girlfriend go for an awkward joyride with the gang, culminating in their getting kicked out of the car when he reveals his occupation. I don’t think they even let him finish his burger…

  2. National Lampoon’s Vacation: Aunt Edna’s farewell.

  3. North by Northwest: Cary Grant goes for a drive.

Format (I can’t remember how to capitalize that) already mentioned Thelma and Louise, which I would have given an honorable mention to if no one else brought it up.

I almost picked this, then disqualified it because technically she’s “above” the car.

Diner has some amazing car scenes, starting with the “I been waitin’ for weeks–WEEKS with that ketchup bottle” one, then going forward to Fenwick and Boogie encountering the girl on horseback (“What fuckin’ Chisolm Trail?” “You ever get the feeling there’s somethin’ goin’ on we don’t know about?”) and culminating with Eddie and Shrevie sitting on the hood of the car and Eddie’s roundabout questioning of what marriage is like and Shrevie not really wanting to say what he thinks…"…but it’s good. No, it’s good" leading up to the stark revelation “we just got nothing to talk about.”

One that never gets mentioned: O Brother Where Art Thou. Love the scene that starts out with “You boys is dumber than a bagful of hammers”, and then they pick up Tommy at the crossroads and we get the awesome “I guess I’m the only one who remains unaffiliated” line. Love that movie.

Finally, Midnight Run. So much great dialogue between Charles Grodin and Robert DeNiro, much of it shot from within a car.

One that would have gone great with the f-word 3x3 as well:

“I’ve had a rough night, and I hate the fucking Eagles, man.”

Oh, but she was in the car to set up the scene.

I know, right?

The scene (which I linked above) is a poor indication of the rest of the movie, because that one scene is shot in an almost verite style, with the actors clearly ad-libbing most of their dialog. The rest of the movie is more studio-bound, although there’s a nice budget-saving bit at the end when they (SPOILER!) die at the end in a fog-enveloped swamp.

Still, take a look at that scene. It’s only a couple minutes long, and Tarantino himself couldn’t make it any more tense. I also love the wild-eyed look Peggy Cummings gives when she turns back to look at the chaos in their wake.

Wow, Mr. Kevin, you weren’t lying. That scene is fantastic! Why didn’t that set the world on fire back in 1950? That must have been either seriously subversive or so ahead of its time that no one even noticed it.

I’m afraid I’m going to have to watch the whole movie now and be disappointed.

I don’t know how to say this other than to just say it, but that look back was seriously hot. No joke. The director obviously knew it, too, because the camera zooms in on her a little. I don’t know who Peggy Cummings is, but I trust she was painted onto the noses of bombers during WWII.

 -Tom

Here’s me agreeing with Tom. Damn madkevin, that was beautiful.

I love her line, “Did he have it coming to him?” What should have been a total tipoff to the cop [copper, that is] that he wasn’t just dealing with some harmless dame, and he completely misses it because he’s thinking about his story and her hotness.

Also, a great instance of smoking early on in the scene when he gives her a puff off of his cigarette. Loved that little moment and loved her “Thanks.”

Great scene.

-xtien

“Yes, but it wasn’t much fun watching him go down…”

Basically the entirety of Night On Earth, which I think is one of Jarmusch’s best films (if not the best) and is mostly overlooked now. The whole cast is fantastic…even Roberto Begnini is tolerable.

Tom and Xtien: Glad you liked it! And, yeah, she’s quite the little sexpot in the rest of the movie too. Tell me what you think of the rest of it when you get around to watching it.

Rex Kramer driving to the airport in Airplane! Love that scene. Can’t think of any others off the top of my head.

1.On the Waterfront - He could have been a contender

  1. Vanishing Point - "And there goes the Challenger, being chased by the blue, blue meanies on wheels. The vicious traffic squad cars are after our lone driver, the last American hero, the electric centaur, the, the demi-god, the super driver of the golden west! "

  2. Repoman - the floating car is neat but Harry Dean Staton giving out Repoman advice is that movie. “Look at 'em, ordinary fucking people, I hate 'em.”

Was the cigarette lighter scene from Freeway? I’m not going to watch it again to find out, however.

There are some good driving scenes in Ghost Dog as well.

The scene at the end of “Thunderbolt and Lightfoot”.

  1. “I coulda been a contenda” scene from On The Waterfront

Yep – probably the best scene-in-a-car I’ve ever seen. Brando is so good. Instead of playing it the obvious way (angrily), he instead chastises his brother with unexpected gentleness.

“My night! I coulda taken Wilson apart!” – every inflection of Brando’s is so perfect, so on-the-money.

I thought for sure your were going to say that scene where the Raiders of the Lost Ark guy was teaching Luke how to drive the thing. And a stow away walks by and says “Oh, boy, I’m just so tired of all these Star Wars.”

For me it was the titular line in Out of Africa, where Meryl Streep says “I just can’t believe I’m driving a car.”
And the other guy says “I’m just so tired of all this traffic. I can’t wait til we get out of Africa.”
“You are a very good driver. Meryl.”

Very nice, Mr. Strummer. You are obviously well-acquainted with the titular characters in movies!

-Tom