At MotorTrend, we love car movies. Not just movies about great cars, but also great movies that happen to have cool cars in them. So you know that when our editors debate which car movies are the greatest of all time, it’s going to be a lively discussion. And the results are as varied as our staff’s individual interests—keep reading for some of our favorites. You never know—you might just find a couple to tack onto your never-ending list of movies to rent.
Diner (1982)
This isn’t a movie about cars, but it’s a great movie (what a cast!) featuring cars that time has forgotten. These aren’t the gleaming trailer queens you’ll see in most period pieces; rather they look used and a little tatty from years of neglect, as you would expect from hand-me-down cars owned by guys just out of college in 1959 working-class Baltimore. The list includes a Triumph TR3, Hudson Hornet, Chevy Bel Air, Nash Metropolitan, Studebaker Hawk, Cadillac 62, and Packards galore. Best of all, during a scene of intense dialogue, in the background plays a cheery ad for the Renault Dauphine, featuring its “city horn” and “country horn.” – Mark Rechtin
Back to the Future (1985)
Any list of the best car movies would be incomplete without Back to the Future. Sure, it doesn’t boast the elaborate chase scenes, but how many feature a sleek sports car that serves as both a time machine and a hover craft? And is fueled by plutonium? We might have forgotten about the short-lived but remarkable DeLorean DMC-12 had this movie not etched it into our collective memories. – Kelly Lin
Gone in Sixty Seconds (2000)
Based on the 1970s film of the same name, Gone in Sixty Seconds centers around a car thief on a mission to steal 50 vehicles, resulting in a heist of epic proportions. From the chase scenarios to simple panning scenes that gave you a glimpse of all the tasty automotive eye candy right before they’re stolen, the film made you appreciate cars in their unmodified state and want to be in on the action. – Stefan Ogbac
Furious 7 (2015)
I’m not afraid to say I shed a tear at the end of the seventh installment in the Fast & Furious franchise. Leading man Paul Walker was killed in a single-car crash halfway through filming, and the final goodbye between his character, Brian O’Conner, and the family-obsessed Dominic Toretto (played by Vin Diesel) is a genuinely touching cinematic moment I never expected from one of the F&F movies. Not to mention that every frame is packed with supercars, muscle cars, and tuner cars, and they jump a seven-figure Lykan Hypersport between not two but three skyscrapers in Dubai. It’s huge and silly and ridiculous and I love it. – Duncan Brady
The Triplets of Belleville (2003)
The Triplets of Belleville‘s strangeness is delightful. Toward the end of this 2003 animated film, the bad guys fumble over themselves to catch (or kill) our heroes who make their escape—slowly—in a bicycle-propelled vehicle while comically stretched Citroën 2CVs successively meet their end. As cartoonish as some action movies can get, for me, they’ve got nothing on watching Belleville’s blocky bad guys bash up their cars in amusing ways in this memorable film. – Zach Gale
Grand Prix (1966)
Besides its three Academy Awards (editing, effects, and sound), much of what you see in the Fast & Furious car movies today owes it all to Grand Prix. Its director, John Frankenheimer, and cinematographer, Lionel Lindon, essentially invented the camera rigs, booms, and so on that now define the genre. Taking place during the 1966 Formula 1 season, the race cars are real, and so are some of the drivers (and cameos). You might’ve heard of Dan Gurney, Phil Hill, Bruce McLaren, Jim Clark, Graham Hill, Chris Amon, Juan Manuel Fangio, Jochen Rindt, Jack Brabham, Richie Ginther, Joakim Bonnier, and Jo Siffert. If you haven’t seen Grand Prix, you’re not a real car enthusiast. – Chris Walton
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019)
I am a cinema aficionado, and the films by Quentin Tarantino and Martin Scorsese are car porn. Before I saw Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Goodfellas was my choice. As much as I like that red 1966 Chevrolet Corvette that belonged to the dude Henry Hill beat up in Goodfellas, I LOVE the blue Volkswagen Karmann Ghia (ode to Kill Bill) that Brad Pitt’s character rides in like the badass that he is along Cielo Drive in this latest movie. And don’t get me started on the black 1968 Porsche 911 or the 1966 Cadillac Coupe DeVille. This Tarantino bona fide gem is packed with an insane amount of classics (more than 2,000!) and QT even had the Hollywood freeway and iconic Hollywood streets closed down for extremely epic framings of cars that once cruised there in 1969. – Erika Pizano
Death Proof (2007)
As someone who is only casually aware of newer movies, it seems like most car stunts are nothing more than computer generated fakery. That’s why Death Proof is my favorite car movie. The whole 113-minute movie essentially consists of two long, real car chases, where cars like a badass blacked-out Chevy Nova SS with a skull and crossbones on its hood are slid, jumped, and wrecked with abandon. – Christian Seabaugh
Day of the Jackal (1973)
It has one of my favorite cars in it, an Alfa Romeo Giulia Spider, and all the background scenes have French cars, though some of them are not accurate. It’s set in 1963, but you see Renault R16s, which weren’t around then. – Angus MacKenzie
Ronin (1998)
First of all, unlike Bullitt and Bond movies, Ronin has two great car chases—and the two best of all time at that. The cars were chosen by someone who loves cars. Having an M5 and a S8, then saying they need to change out the S8’s injectors so it really moves. Chasing a Citroën XM, that was a fast car. Then using a Mercedes 6.9 to shoot a bazooka out of. Perfect. – Jonny Lieberman
Rush (2013)
There’s a sequence where Niki Lauda and Clay Regazzoni arrive at a party in Clay’s Ferrari 308 GT4, then Clay ditches Niki, and Niki gets a ride with his future wife Marlene in her Peugeot 504. The Peugeot breaks down, and they hitchhike a ride with a couple young Italians in a Lancia 2000 Berlina. The Lancia guys recognize Niki and beg him to drive, whereupon Marlene accuses Niki of driving like a grandpa. His pride wounded, he tears up the countryside in the admittedly sad sedan. – Scott Evans
Road House (1989)
Everyone has selected great, obvious car movies, but they’re all wrong. The very best car movie ever made stars Patrick Swayze (RIP), a national treasure and supernatural talent in both acting and hair growth. Am I kidding? I am most certainly not. Name another movie that prominently features (and jumps) a Mercedes-Benz 560SEC. Or one in which the hero buys a used 1965 Buick Riviera for surprisingly practical reasons (protected headlights!) and the bad guys drive a Big Foot Ford F-250 through a car dealership. With so many good cars in Road House, it is the greatest car movie ever made, nearly the greatest movie period. After Point Break, of course. – Ed Loh
Lady Ice (1973)
Here’s a great heist movie to put on with the sound off during a car-pals party. Donald Sutherland romances a wealthy young Jennifer O’Neill, whom he suspects of fencing stolen diamonds. The cars are pure ’70’s exotica. He drives a ’70 Maserati Ghibli Spyder quite hard, she tools around in a ’71 Ferrari 365 GTB/4 Daytona. A ’72 911 S participates in some chase scenes as well. Good fun. – Frank Markus
Roma (2018)
My friends laugh at me when I say that I’ve seen Roma a handful of times—and I could watch it again and see things I hadn’t noticed before. The attention to detail that director Alfonso Cuarón created in Roma is exceptional. From the sets to the storytelling to the characters, Roma is full of surprises and inspirations. And the cars! Whether it’s the immense Ford Galaxy that served as a status symbol for middle class families in Mexico City in the ’60s and ’70s or the down-to-earth Renault 12, Roma is full of classic cars, some of which can still be seen on the streets today. Of course, the VW Bug—a Mexican icon— was also there serving as the third car for the family. — Miguel Cortina
Highwaymen (2004)
Not to be confused with Netflix’s 2019 film The Highwaymen, 2004’s Highwaymen is about a man seeking revenge on the serial killer who murdered his wife and numerous other women. The killer’s weapon of choice? His 1972 Cadillac El Dorado. The killer’s vigilante pursuer, played by Jim Caviezel, hunts him down in his ’68 Plymouth Barracuda, which has been stealthily modified for a total sleeper look. The two men engage in a game of vehicular cat and mouse that culminates in a chase scene that takes a page out of the Fast & Furious franchise’s physics textbook. Despite the ’Cuda charging at full speed, the El Dorado is able to outrun it—in reverse. But realism aside, Highwaymen is an underrated thriller that car fans are sure to enjoy. — Alex Nishimoto
Duel (1971)
Most “car movies” celebrate all that’s good about the automobile. Duel, however, takes a different approach. We all love the freedom our cars afford, but sometimes that freedom comes with a dark side; rather than a tribute to spirited driving or an homage to excitement, Steven Spielberg’s directorial debut dwells on paranoia and fear. The hero car, if you can call it that, is a red Plymouth Valiant, piloted by a solitary salesman along remote desert highways, and the film follows his attempts to elude an antagonizing Peterbilt. The cars themselves, though, aren’t all that important. It’s the terror of isolation and inescapable dread—like a sinking fishing boat with a great white circling—that matters here. – Jesse Bishop
The Matrix Trilogy (1999-2003)
Cars aren’t a focus of The Matrix trilogy, but whoever on the production was tasked with automotive casting did an awesome job. In the original, a black Lincoln Continental as the Morpheus-mobile could hardly have been a better choice. The Matrix Reloaded had an epic freeway chase featuring the then-new and futuristic Cadillac Escalade and CTS. Finally, in The Matrix Revolutions, there’s a garage full of retro and period-correct vehicles like a Porsche 912 or Audi TT and S4. Sometimes I wonder which of these brands would choose to face the truth, take the red pill, and start again. – Alex Leanse
If you’re looking for cool films with cars in them, also check these out:
- Repo Man
- The Italian Job (the original movie)
- Gone in 60 Seconds (the original movie)
- French Connection
- The Racers (with Kirk Douglas)
- Bad Boys (franchise)
- Fast & Furious series – 1, 4, 5, and 6
- Mad Max: Fury Road
- Donnie Brasco
- Goodfellas
- Casino
- My Cousin Vinny
- Le Mans
- Bullitt
- Kidnap
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