Oscar’s Car Picks For Best Picture
Throughout 81 years of The Academy Awards several films centering around transportation or impromptu road trips have been nominated for an Academy Award. You won’t find Gone in 60 Seconds at the Oscars, but we still love seeing these classic motion pictures receive nods for their acting, directing, and setting – which many times includes some gorgeous automobiles and other moving scenery. Thanks to Wikipedia for help with plot summaries.
Shanghai Express – 1932
In 1931, China is embroiled in a civil war. Friends of British Captain Donald ‘Doc’ Harvey (Brook) envy him because the fabulously notorious Shanghai Lily is also a passenger on the express train from Peiping to Shanghai. This classic was nominated for Best Pictures that year, and takes place mostly on board the very train mentioned in its title.
Around the World in 80 Days – 1956
Around the world in a hot air balloon – Around 1872, an English gentleman Phileas Fogg (the great David Niven) claims he can circumnavigate the world in eighty days. He makes a PS£20,000 wager with several skeptical fellow members of his London gentleman’s club, the Reform Club, that he can arrive back within 80 days before exactly 8:45 pm.
Bonnie & Clyde – 1967
From car chases in a Model T to the greatest shoot out and murder (of criminals and their vehicle) in film history – Bonnie & Clyde went out with a bang, just like they lived. In the middle of the Great Depression, Clyde Barrow (Warren Beatty) and Bonnie Parker (Faye Dunaway) meet when Clyde tries to steal Bonnie’s mother’s car. Bonnie, who is bored by her job as a waitress, is intrigued with Clyde, and decides to take up with him and become his partner in crime.
The French Connection – 1971
Gene Hackman stars as Det. Popeye Doyle in this gruff crime thriller. It is often cited as containing one of the greatest car chase sequences in movie history. The chase involves Popeye commandeering a civilian’s car (a 1971 Pontiac LeMans) and then frantically chasing an elevated train, on which a hitman is trying to escape. The scene was filmed in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn roughly running under the B subway line , which runs on an elevated track above 86th Street.
American Graffiti – 1973
The story is presented in a series of vignettes focused on the four main characters, Curt Henderson (Richard Dreyfuss), Steve Bolander (Ron Howard), John Milner (Paul Le Mat), and Terry “The Toad” Fields (Charles Martin Smith). The four meet in the Mel’s Drive-In parking lot at sunset as a car radio plays a rock and roll station. Steve and Curt are preparing to leave town to attend college in the East, and this is the last night they will spend with their friends. Despite receiving a scholarship from the local Moose Lodge, Curt is reluctant to head off for the unknown, but Steve is eager to get out of Modesto. His girlfriend Laurie (Cindy Williams), Curt’s younger sister, is unsure of his leaving, to which he suggests they see other people while he is away to “strengthen” their relationship.
Taxi Driver – 1976
One of the greatest team-ups between Robert DeNiro and Martin Scorsese, Taxi Driver revolves around a war veteran who begins an unhealthy obsession with crime, sex workers and general scum during 1976 New York City. Much of the film takes place inside DeNiro’s Chevrolet Checkered Cab.
Rain Man – 1988
Charlie Babbitt (Cruise), a Los Angeles car dealer in his mid-twenties, is in the middle of importing four grey market Lamborghinis. The deal is being threatened by the EPA, and if Charlie cannot meet its requirements he will lose a significant amount of money. After some quick subterfuge with an employee, Charlie leaves for a weekend trip to Palm Springs with his girlfriend, Susanna. Charlie’s trip is cancelled by news that his estranged father, Sanford Babbitt, has died. Charlie travels to Cincinnati, Ohio, to settle the estate, where he learns an undisclosed trustee is inheriting $3 million on behalf of an unnamed beneficiary, while he is to receive a classic Buick Roadmaster convertible and several prize rose bushes. Eventually he learns the money is being directed to a mental institution, and he discovers that it is the home of his autistic brother, Raymond (Hoffman). This great road trip film includes some of the best acting from both characters.
Driving Miss Daisy – 1989
Trying to get your old white misses to the Piggly Wiggly is harder than it seems – especially in the still very segregated South. It is 1948 and Mrs. (“Miss”) Daisy Werthan, a 72-year-old widow, lives in Atlanta, Georgia, alone except for an African American housemaid named Idella. After a driving mishap where her Chrysler automobile is totaled, Miss Daisy’s son Boolie tells her she will have to get a chauffeur because no insurance company will insure her. She refuses, but Boolie is determined to find her one. Meanwhile, she is stuck at home and is unable to run errands or visit friends. Boolie finds a man named Hoke Colburn, who had driven for a local judge until he died, and he decided to remain in the area rather than accompany the widow when she moved away.
Pulp Fiction – 1994
Quentin Tarantino’s crime caper film features classic scenes in a car along with shots sitting in the a ’57 Chevy Bel Air turned booth seating. And don’t forget the fun time cleaning brain and blood out of the back seat. Much like Tarantino’s other movies Pulp Fiction is viewed out of order with its events. Unlike his other stories, there aren;t (too many) feet shots.
Fargo – 1996
“Maybe we can take care of this right here…in Brainerd.” Fargo, directed by Joel & Ethan Cohen, revolves around a Buick salesman who wants to off his wife. That simple task becomes out of control with killers Steve Buscemi and Peter Stormare.
Crash – 2004
The film depicts several characters living in Los Angeles, California during a 36-hour period and brings them together through car collisions, shootings, and carjacking. Through these characters’ interactions, the film seeks to depict and examine not only racial tension, but also the distance between strangers in general. Crash has garnered much controversey with its use of racism and prejudice.
Little Miss Sunshine – 2006
Sheryl Hoover (Toni Collette) is an overworked mother of two children, who lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Her brother, Frank (Steve Carell), is a scholar of French author Proust and a homosexual, temporarily living at home with the family after having attempted suicide. Sheryl’s husband Richard (Greg Kinnear) is a Type A personality striving to build a career as a motivational speaker and life coach. Dwayne (Paul Dano), Sheryl’s son from a previous marriage, is a Nietzsche-reading teenager who has taken a vow of silence until he can accomplish his dream of becoming a test pilot. Richard’s foulmouthed father and war veteran Edwin (Alan Arkin), recently evicted from a retirement home for snorting heroin, lives with the family; he is close to his seven-year-old granddaughter Olive (Abigail Breslin). Olive learns she has qualified for the “Little Miss Sunshine” beauty pageant that is being held in Redondo Beach, California in two days. Her parents and Edwin, who has been coaching her, want to support her, and Frank and Dwayne cannot be left alone, so the whole family goes. Because they have little money, they go on an 800-mile road trip in their yellow Volkswagen T2 Microbus.
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