he Top Car Movies Ever Made and the One You Voted as the Best Vehicular Violence and Cool Cars Always Make a Movie Better. Here AreOur Top 40 Picks of the Best Car Movies on DVD - Vote for Your Favorites! Hot Rod Magazine, October, 2006 4 The final results are in and the winner of the best car movie of all time, as chosen by you, is "American Graffiti." The contenders were the winners from the intial voting on the best movie from each era. There were some obvious winners but some surprises as well. In the 50s to Early 70's era "Bullitt" won handily, which is no shocker, by garnering 64% of the votes. "Amercian Graffiti" easily won in the Early 70s to Mid 70s category with 42% of the more than 2000 votes. "Smokey and The Bandit" won with 33% of the votes in the Mid 70s to Early 80s era, but "Blues Brothers" (15%) and "Hollywood Knights" (10%) weren't too far behind. The major surprise was in the Early 80s to 2000s era. The remake of "Gone in Sixty Seconds" with 29% of the votes edged out "Ronin" (16%) and "The Road Warrior" (14%) to take the honors. Anyone who was watching the totals knew this was a fairly up-and-down race as "The Road Warrior" was in front at one point while "Ronin" quickly caught up in the last few weeks but fell short. So, it was down to "Bullitt" vs. "American Graffiti" vs. "Smokey and The Bandit" vs. "Gone In Sixty Seconds." Here are the results from the Final Four voting: "Bullitt" (1968): 21% "American Graffiti" (1973): 52% "Smokey and The Bandit" (1977): 14% "Gone In Sixty Seconds" (2000): 12% Thanks to all of you who voted! If you missed the review of the Top 40 Car Movies Ever you can check out the whole list starting just below. Cars and movies go together like peanut butter and jelly, and for morethan a century Hollywood has commingled cars with cinema, each timeforcing us to flock to theaters like the obedient lemmings we are. Andwhen affordably priced DVDs started showing up, a lot of us startedaccumulating collections of car movies that rival our collections ofstolen road signs, rubber scraped from defunct dragstrips, and HotWheels. There are literally hundreds upon hundreds of films that could fit intoa loose definition of "car movie," so we pared this list of 40indispensable titles down to include only films available on DVD andonly films that were first released in theaters. We stuck with DVDsbecause the digital transfers are (generally) better than tape, and VHStapes are a technological dead end. Most DVDs package extras alongsidetheir featured attraction, usually display the film in a letterboxformat that preserves the full widescreen frame, and the studios havepriced them for people to own rather than rent. The prices quoted hereare from Amazon.com at press time (except where noted). For HOT ROD, a perfect car movie should first and foremost feature hotrods. But not every movie does that and some have the compensatingvirtues of compelling storylines and amazing car chases. So the filmshere range from car-centered to just good action; from car-obsessed tocars incidental; from blockbuster to never-heard-of-it. Some of them arereally good movies while others are on the list because of strongelements amid the muck, strong historic significance, or just curiosityfactor. And some are pure garbage, but garbage we love. Five of thesefilms feature Dodge Chargers in prominent roles, and those are noted inour icon bars. Some of these have fantastic looking women in them, sowe've noted those. And what's the most popular city for filming carchases? Long Beach, California. So we've noted those six films too. Disagree with us? Fine. Just don't write telling us that Stroker Ace,Driven, Days of Thunder, Cannonball Run 2, Smokey and the Bandit 2,Smokey and the Bandit 3, 2 Fast 2 Furious, The Car, The Betsy, BluesBrothers 2000, or The Wild Ride should be on the list. We've alreadydetermined that they all suck. 1> American Graffiti (1973) Director: George Lucas Stars: '32 Ford five-window, '55 Chevy, '58 Chevy People: Ron Howard, Richard Dreyfuss, Charles Martin Smith,Harrison Ford, Cindy Williams, Mackenzie Phillips, Candy Clark, and PaulLeMat Why: The obvious choice. Despite all those Star Wars movies,American Graffiti is director George Lucas' best film. Four friends incentral California face the future dusk-to-dawn one summer night in1962; cruising, hanging out, wreaking havoc, and ultimately streetracing. In 200 years people will still watch this movie to know what itmeant to grow up in an America obsessed with hot rods. And they'll stillwant to drive Milner's '32 and Falfa's '55. Look For: You know Milner is in trouble when he opens his car'sheaders. Trivia: The license number on Milner's car is "THX 138" referringto Lucas' first film, THX 1138. DVD: Lucas tweaked the film before releasing it on DVD a fewyears ago (adding a computer-generated sky behind Mel's Drive-In in theopening shot for instance), and it's now available as a "Drive-In DoubleFeature" with its sequel on a single disc. $17.98 2> Two-Lane Blacktop (1971) Director: Monte Hellman Stars: '55 Chevy, '70 GTO People: James Taylor, Dennis Wilson, Warren Oates Why: There's a plot in here somewhere, but no one cares. Twoitinerant street racers without names (Taylor and Wilson are "TheDriver" and "The Mechanic") wander across America until they encounteran older guy in a GTO (Oates) who can't shut up. They stop and streetrace. Then they stop and drag race. Then there's an impromptu race witha Dodge Charger. It all boils down to attitude--and you either like thator just leave the TV tuned to Lifetime. And their '55 Chevy issolid-axle wicked; a car built when '55s were bad-asses instead ofantiseptic nostalgia rods. Look For: The only movie ever in which a character stops to buy arebuild kit for a '70 Quadrajet. Trivia: Richard Ruth, who built the '55, is the guy in theGlendale Speed Center T-shirt at the first gas station they stop at. Andyeah, painted black, the '55 was Falfa's car in American Graffiti. DVD: The limited-edition DVD that came in a tin box with a posterand key chain is now a collectible with some sellers asking $200 ormore. So look for a used disc on eBay. 3> Vanishing Point (1971) Director: Richard C. Sarafian Star: '70 Challenger R/T People: Barry Newman, Cleavon Little, Dean Jagger Why: For no apparent reason, Kowalski (no first name) needs toget from Denver to San Francisco in less than 15 hours and has only awhite Challenger and a fistful of amphetamines with which to do it. Thecops try and stop him, and a lot of excellent high-speed stunt drivingensues. All the '70s counter- culture/existential stuff is bizarre, butthe music is still solid. This is the ultimate Mopar movie. Trivia: Driving the Challenger most of the time was legendarystuntman Carey Loftin. DVD: $11.24. Make sure you're getting the original 1971 VanishingPoint, and not the insulting 1997 remake. 4> Bullitt (1968) Director: Peter Yates Stars: '68 Mustang GT 390, '68 Charger People: Steve McQueen, Jacqueline Bisset Why: The chase in Bullitt--the definitive movie car chase--hasbeen obsessed over for nearly 40 years and it still holds up. Sure, toomany hubcaps come off the Charger and McQueen upshifts the Mustang sooften he'd be in 16th gear by the end of the sequence, but it'sgroundbreaking film making and worth watching once a month. The moviealso has Bisset in her jaw-dropping prime and McQueen at his coolest. Trivia: While McQueen did much of his own driving, it was CareyLoftin who piloted the Mustang during the hairiest stuff. DVD: At $21.59, the two-disc special edition (featuringdocumentaries on McQueen and film editing) is worth it. 5> The Gumball Rally (1976) Director: Charles Bail Stars: '65 Shelby Cobra 427, '70 Camaro, '71 Ferrari DaytonaSpyder People: Michael Sarrazin, Raul Julia, Gary Busey Why: This is the first genuinely funny car movie. The drivingisn't the best (it's good), but the script has wit, there are great carsin every scene, and the viewer winds up wanting to go and organize hisown illegal cross-country road race. Or at least drive through the L.A.River in a Cobra. Raul Julia is great as Franco Bertollini, who rips theDaytona's rearview mirror off and explains, "[That's] the first rule ofItalian driving . What's behind me is not important." Trivia: Released in August 1976, Gumball hit theaters a coupleweeks after Cannonball (number 18 on this list) making it the secondfilm inspired by Brock Yates' Cannonball Baker Sea to Shining SeaMemorial Trophy Dash. That event first ran in May 1971. DVD: Finally released in August 2005, it runs $11.23. 6> Thunder Road (1958) Director: Arthur Ripley Stars: '50 Ford, '57 Chevy, '57 Ford People: Robert Mitchum, Gene Barry Why: Of all the tales of moonshine running, Thunder Road remainsthe best, first because it has tough- guy Robert Mitchum in the lead,second because seeing a '50 Ford driven hard is always fascinating, andthird because the action is so good you almost forget the movie is inblack and white. Plus the cops have a '57 Chevy that grabs onto suspectvehicles' bumpers. Filmed on location around Asheville, North Carolina,Thunder Road may not be authentic, but it looks it. Trivia: The 'shine cars in the film were supposedly bought fromactual runners. And the primary stunt driver was Carey Loftin.