ROAD TRIP CRIME MOVIES

The text of this article is written by and copyright D S Brown. Photos on book covers and movie posters are copyrighted to the individual studios and publishers who are not affiliated with OOCC.

ROAD TRIP CRIME MOVIES chronicle characters on the run from the law. The chase, escape or danger of capture drives the plot. Crimes that occur in the course of a road trip or criminals on a road trip don't automatically qualify the film for this section without a chase or evasion motivating the trip.  

THE FUGITIVE movie adaption would fit these criteria, but since it is discussed in relation to the TV series in THE FUGITIVE section of ROADTRIP MEDIA it doesn't appear here.

EASY RIDER doesn't qualify for this section even though crimes abound in the film. The protagonists use the proceeds of a drug deal to finance their road trip and are murdered at various stages of the film. In EASY RIDER, the road trip itself is not taken in order to commit crimes or evade capture. MY OWN PRIVATE IDAHO deals with street hustlers whose mode of transport is a stolen motorcycle, but again, the road trip is not being taken directly because of any crime or fear of detection. Only crime driven road trips appear in this section.

Chase movies which generally are fueled by a crime are in here despite the fact that arguments could be made for an entirely separate section for these films.

IN COLD BLOOD is the first nonfiction book written in the style of a novel, spawning the True Crime genre of writing. Capote's experimental 'novel' examined the characters behind the senseless, stupid mass murder of a happy family in Kansas.

The first movie version was filmed with actors who resembled their real life counterparts. Real life people and locations were used whenever possible. The reverie that can occur when travelling comes to life in a scene where Robert Blake as one of the killers rides in on a Greyhound bus. Blake lugs all of his stuff with him and goes off into a dream world in the mirror of a bus station bathroom mirror. The trip taken by the killers to get to the murder site and the subsequent flight in various cars as far south as Mexico spans a large part of the film. Details of the confession are revealed on a ride to trial in a police motorcade.   

The soundtrack by Quincy Jones is incredibly eerie and intense, and can be jarring to the extreme. One of the best soundtracks out there, it was released by Colgems Records.

The film was later remade in color with Eric Roberts as the killer, Perry Smith. Later, two films came out simultaneously detailing Capote's life. Both films touch on the murders and the killers' odyssey.

THUNDERBOLT AND LIGHTFOOT is Michael Cimino's first film (writing and directing). It broke new ground for Clint Eastwood, allowing him to slightly ratchet down his stoic screen image. Clint is a bank robber hiding out from disgruntled ex partners. When they catch up with him, he pairs up with young drifter Jeff Bridges in a stolen Firebird. They travel together in a stolen Fury and Riviera and later by ferry downriver in Idaho. Clint and Jeff team up with the gang to rob the bank again. The film takes time to follow quirky tangents that lead down dead ends that current films would not have time for, much the way the characters follow the landscape in their travels. An entertaining buddy film with Bridges gradually winning over the elder Eastwood.

ANOTHER DAY IN PARADISE follows James Woods on a cross country crime spree in his Cadillac with girlfriend Melanie Griffith. They recruit a young junkie and his girlfriend which leads to some character conflict down the road.

KALIFORNIA follows two hipster Serial Killer writer/ photographer chroniclers who need gas money. They revisit murder sites oblivious to the fact that they have real live serial killer Brad Pitt and his girlfriend riding with them in their Lincoln Continental convertible. Brad Pitt does a good job until his characterization gets lost in the overblown ending filmed around Amboy, on old Route 66.

NEON SIGNS has lots of desert, old motels and an old Caddy. Plenty of double crossing and conning, too.

THELMA AND LOUISE rides the edge between being a message film, a buddy film, feminist film and a crime film. The trip is motivated by a police chase, and crimes are committed enroute which nudges the film into this section. The freedom and emancipation the two experience while fleeing in their Thunderbird escalates until there is no way back. The elation that eluded them in normal life is fleeting and impossible to maintain except briefly on the road. A piece of trivia: Brad Pitt appears as a hitchhiker in this film. He also hitched a ride in KALIFORNIA.

Sutherland cruises the FREEWAY hunting for prey. The film retells Little Red Riding Hood.

David Lynch was the first to rework a classic tale for his road film called WILD AT HEART. Lynch sewed in references to the WIZARD OF OZ.

BAIL JUMPERS reminds me of HIGHWAY 61, also a sort of low budget road film...

DIRTY MARY CRAZY LARRY begins with a robbery which immediately becomes a chase. Peter Fonda is a former race car driver pulling crazy stunts while his mechanic simmers in the sidelines. Mary is a girl Fonda seduced the previous night who jumps into the first escape vehicle, a blue Chev Impala four door. They switch cars to a Charger, eluding squad cars and helicopters through a maze of vineyard back roads.

THE GETAWAY begins with Steve McQueen's release from prison, orchestrated by his wife (Ali McGraw). A robbery goes awry immediately and they are on the run from cops and criminals alike. The two go through some turbulent personal conflicts that become as intense as the chase itself which spans Huntsville, Texas through El Paso, Texas- about 730 miles of high speed driving in an Impala and a Mercury.