It’s your last chance (and probably too late for some of you) to get in that summer road trip. I myself have been trying to plan a Great Southern Road Trip. The idea was to head from Texas to Lorman, Mississippi (home of the Best Fried Chicken in the World), then up through Atlanta, on to Memphis, and finally ending in Nashville.
Alas, since my girlfriend refuses to spend more than six hours at a time in the car and most of my friends are now “adults” with “children,” I don’t think it’s going to happen this summer. To console myself, I’ve put together a list of my top 10 favorite road trip movies. This list tends to run more to the zany side, because I feel zaniness is a key element to a road trip movie.
1) Fandango
This only beat out Smokey and the Bandit because it’s based entirely in Texas and briefly features The University of Texas.
2) Smokey and the Bandit
The best road trip movie car and the best road trip song (/poem) ever:
Eastbound and down, loaded up and truckin’,
We gonna do what they say can’t be done.
We’ve got a long way to go and a short time to get there,
I’m eastbound, just watch ol’ Bandit run.
You’re welcome for getting that stuck in your head.
PS—I listened to that song like 10 times while writing this post.
3) National Lampoon’s Vacation
This movie still holds up as one of the best travel movies ever. And it features the second best road trip song: Holiday ro-ooo-ooo-oooad!
4) Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure
I’m a loner, Dottie, a rebel.
5) Planes, Trains and Automobiles
With Steve Martin and John Candy, this was never going to be anything short of a classic.
6) Easy Rider
Every time I watch this, I’m determined to get a motorcycle for the next week or so. Then the realization that I would quickly kill myself on one sets in. Then I am sad.
7) The Muppet Movie
Muppets are the best.
8) Road Trip
This pretty much had to be on the list for the title, if nothing else.
9) Rain Man
I had a very tough decision to make between Rain Man and Dumb and Dumber here. I put Rain Man to show my serious side. But just know that in my heart, this spot is reserved for Dumb and Dumber.
10) The Cannonball Run
Since this is a race, it may not technically count as a road trip. But I’m putting it here because I love wacky hijinks and shenanigans, and because I thought — nay, I knew —that this list needed two Burt Reynolds movies.
Very difficult decisions were made in selecting these movies. Here are some honorable mentions that didn’t quite make the cut:
Dumb and Dumber
Gymkata (Okay, this isn’t technically a road trip movie, but it is one of the best movies of all time, and it does involve travel. And ninjas. And gymnastics-based martial arts.)
Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle
Into The Wild
Little Miss Sunshine
Lost In America
Midnight Run
Sideways
Thelma & Louise
The Blues Brothers
The Motorcycle Diaries
The Sure Thing
For others of you who can’t make a trip this year, check out our Virtual Movie Road Trip.
