What's the greatest car movie ever?

I can't lie, its Herbie the Love Bug. Great vintage cars, even a Volvo 1800.  Some might say Bullet, but if you watch the car chase between the Mustang and the Charger flying through the streets of San Francisco, in every scene there is the same little green VW that is faster then either of those two cars in order to somehow be in every scene. Plus I cried a little at the end of Herbie. Obviously, Peter Thorndyke (Villain) is played by Frenchy because of his driving of an XKE. Am watching it right now on Disney +.

The fast and the furious.

Not the Paul Walker / Vin Diesel garbage. 

The Roger Corman garbage from the 50s. 

You get to see XK120s, Allard, etc being hooned around like they should be.

Terrible movie but great cars.

Tough to choose because their are so many ways to judge. I like the 1969 version of the Italian Job, Vanishing Point, LeMans. I even have a soft spot for Cannonball Run.

Ronin

There was a movie that I saw back when I was like 13 back in the late sixties about a bonneville racer who pioneered the first turbine land speed car. I have looked for hours but can't find any thing about it on the interweb.

In reply to ShawnG :

I caught that flick one early morning, like 4 am, woke up and couldn't get back to sleep. I watched before heading out to the track. Great footage.

Gumball Rally.

Slippery said:

Ronin

Came here to make that exact same post.

Blues Brothers

Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry was on TCM last night.  One of the worst movies ever.  I quit watching after 40 minutes or so.

American Graffiti.

In reply to M2Pilot :

I watched it all the way through; first class stinker. They do go up in flames in the end.

Grand Prix

Plot is fair but that early go-pro race footage is excellent. 

In reply to stuart in mn :

Was going to say American Graffiti as well. Everything takes place in and around cars, not just a one car scene.

M2Pilot said:

Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry was on TCM last night.  One of the worst movies ever.  I quit watching after 40 minutes or so.

Then you missed the best parts.

The answer is The Hollywood Knights. Dumb, juvenile,  and perfect .  Oh so much car culture.

Also Heart Like a Wheel and The World's Fastest Indian.

Smokey and the Bandit.

johndej said:

Grand Prix

Plot is fair but that early go-pro race footage is excellent. 

+1, Incredible movie, even today, but for 80s B movie bliss, the Wraith has to be mentioned.

Rush. 
 

All the vintage love, fantastic racing footage, plus modern cinematography and a good story. 

I'm surprised none of you have said Corvette Summer....

The best by far are Grand Prix and Two Lane Blacktop.  You guys do get credit for picking all the movies people who hate cars claim to be great car movies though,  Bullitt is the worst.  Watching 20 minutes of 5 minutes of film spliced 8 different ways isn't a great car scene. Watching the bad guys lose 17 hubcaps is ludicrous.  

If I was going to pull one out of my movie collection right now and watch it...

It would be: Catch Me If You Can

Similar to Hollywood Knights and American Graffiti but more racing and filmed in MN doesn't hurt my opinion on that either

Oh good, this topic is back for it's annual visit. 

There is a big difference between "best movie with cars" vs "best car chase" vs "best car chase movie" vs "best movie about cars". My nominees:

Best Movie With Cars:  It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World

Best car chase:  tough one, but I'll go with the opening of Mad Max

Best car chase movie:  Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry  (I don't understand the previous hate for this one)

Best movie about cars:  The Love Bug is a good pick. Though not a theatrical movie, Love The Beast fits the category.

Worst movie ever made that happens to have cars in it:  plenty of contenders, but Two Lane Blacktop is probably my top pick.  Pointless, dumb story with wooden acting and nothing much ever really happens. I think there are a couple cars in a few scenes, but anyone who thinks Bullit is a dud with a car chase ought to look harder at this gawdawful mess of a movie.

Streetwiseguy said:

Gumball Rally.

This. 

Cars.

The original "Gone in 60 Seconds" (not the Nicholas Cage remake). Low budget, has a Jensen Interceptor in it as a theft target, and I'm not 100% sure the movie maker actually had permission to film some of the chase scenes they filmed on public roads in Southern CA...