Every week at SiftPop.com, we challenge our writers to choose what they think is the best movie under a certain topic related to a recent release. So this week, with the release of Gran Turismo, we’re counting down our favorite movies about auto racing! Let us know @SiftPop what your ranking is!
Speed Racer is definitely not what you would expect after The Matrix and V for Vendetta, yet the Wachowskis’ particular flair for the dramatic and understanding action prevents this explosion of color from becoming forgettable. Whether you love or hate Speed Racer, one thing is certain: You remember it. When it first came out, I remember loving the world building and the fully realized wacky reality in which these characters live. The movie pays homage to the old TV show in one of the first attempts at a live action anime adaptation, and for better or worse, I personally think it’s pretty faithful. If I had one complaint, it’s that it doesn’t give Christina Ricci enough to do, though she takes the character of Trixie and has fun with it in her own unique way which is different from previous roles. The ensemble as a whole is really strong; from the incredibly loving and supporting parents played by Susan Sarandon and John Goodman, to the outlandish, over-the-top villains, everyone leans hard into the silly, and you can tell they had a blast filming. Speed Racer is not a masterwork of cinema, but it is a really fun time with a lot of cool visual effects which bring the video game aspect of the racing to life. (Nick Ferro)
Back when Will Ferrell was one of Hollywood’s heaviest comedic hitters, and Adam McKay was still doing straight up comedies, they produced a satirical take on racing culture that’s still quoted today with Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby. Simply put, it’s the overdramatized tale of a daredevil NASCAR star who gets put off his game after a wreck. This movie was everywhere — particularly as I was growing up in small town America. Lines like, “If you ain’t first, you’re last,” and “Help me, baby Jesus!” were ever-present. It’s a script that gets laughs out of the ridiculousness and a cast completely committed to the bit. In addition to Ferrell in the titular role, it’s also the film that introduced us to Ferrell and John C. Reilly as a comedic duo, with the latter playing his partner-turned-rival, Cal Naughton, Jr. The film also features Michael Clarke Duncan as the crew chief, Sacha Baron Cohen as Ricky Bobby’s flamboyant French foe, and Gary Cole as Ricky Bobby’s crazed father. If that’s not enough to convince you, Christopher Nolan himself views it as a comedy classic. What more do you need? (Jake Bourgeois)
Did you ever watch Hanna-Barbera’s Wacky Races as a kid? The villains, Dick Dastardly and his sidekick Muttley, were always my favorite, so you can imagine my surprise when I flipped on The Great Race to find screen legends, Jack Lemmon (Professor Fate) and Peter Faulk (Max), playing what amounts to their live action counterparts in a battle for daredevil supremacy against Tony Curtis (The Great Leslie) in the early 1900s. And as if that wasn’t enough star power, Natalie Wood rounds out the cast as suffragette journalist, Maggie Dubois. Everything about this looks and feels like a cartoon in all the best ways. The vehicle designs are quirky and creative, the music and sound effects are farcical, Curtis dresses in hero whites, and Lemmon not only dons black attire and a top hat, but literally has a black curly mustache that he actually twirls… twirls! The three end up as the sole competitors in a race from New York to Paris, and it really just goes off the rails from there. Anything can and does happen, from hitchhiking polar bears and handcuff mishaps, to flying on a tandem blimp-bike, keeping the laughs constant throughout this ridiculous race. The cast all seem to be having a lot of fun, and considering the ludicrous premise, bizarre vehicles, and wild stunts, how could they not? Comical, clownish, and seriously chucklesome. (Patrice Downing)
I remember the first time I saw Cars. I thought it was going to be some cutesy movie about talking cars. I got the complete opposite — a film that mirrors the real world, but with cars. The story is about Lighting McQueen (voiced by Owen Wilson), the rookie racing car competing for the Piston Cup, and who believes everything he does is all due to his own skill. Lighting finds out much about family and friendship; there’s no “I” in team. With the help of the folks from Radiator Springs, Lighting shows that he can be a better car, and that he has a heart. Yes, you have the typical story: the hot shot that ends up in love with the local girl after being sentenced to fix something in town. But Lighting does grow and makes friends with the cars in town, realizing being number one isn’t all that it’s all hyped up to be. With spot-on voice performances from Wilson, Larry the Cable Guy, Bonnie Hunt, and the late, great Paul Newman (in his final voice acting role), dazzling visuals, and another nominated original song, “Our Town,” Pixar had themselves a hit, as this film gave us two more sequels and spin-off. With Cars, you’ll never forget where you came from. (Chantal Ashford)
What type of film does Steven Soderbergh seem to have an affinity for? The heist film. Rick & Morty might have a whole episode dedicated to heists, but Soderbergh is the one who keeps coming back to that well and shaking things up. Where Ocean’s Eleven is the cool men’s heist film, Logan Lucky is the redneck version of the classic formula. The biggest reason is that the heist occurs at one of the most beloved sporting events for people from the American south… NASCAR. We have the likes of Channing Tatum, Adam Driver, Riley Keough, and Daniel Craig teaming up to steal large sums of money from a raceway on race day. This star-studded cast is filled with earnest and fun performances, with Craig selling the film big time with some impressive character work. You get all the complexity and mystery of a classic heist in a fresh, new package. Logan Lucky is a fast-paced ride worth your time. (Shane Conto)
If you took the original Speed Racer anime and gave it steroids and a bit of an edge, you’d get Redline. Directed by Takeshi Koike of Animatrix fame, the anime follows daredevil racer JP (voiced by Takuya Kimura) in the titular intergalactic race, as he and his crush Sonoshee (Yû Aoi) attempt to dodge both the authorities and their opponents’ weaponized rides to finish the no-holds-barred Redline alive. This thing absolutely oozes style, and is over-the-top in the best way. That encompasses everything from the visuals to the performances. As Team Subs Over Dubs, it’d be easy for me to blame the latter on it being the dubbed version, but that seems highly unlikely. Our hero is an Elvis-inspired human competing against alien racers and machines in a souped-up Trans Am. The animation is striking, and the action is shot in a way that really makes the speed and danger translate to the viewer. If you can give yourself to the excess, you’re in for quite a fun ride. (Jake Bourgeois)
Ayrton Senna is often considered one of the greatest Formula 1 drivers of the modern era. The documentary, simply titled, Senna, covers his career and tragic death using only archived footage. The closest thing to a narrator is a voiceover by various people involved in the events. For the most part, however, the narrative is driven (no pun intended) by the footage and things said by people at the time. Much focus is on Senna’s rivalry with French driver Alain Prost and their toxic cat-and-mouse game on and off the track. Prost wins the world championship because Senna is disqualified from a race for missing a chicane when Prost forces him off the track. Then Senna wins the championship after both drivers crash out of a race, causing him to feel conflicting emotions about the win. Prost moves to the Williams team, which has far more advanced technology, making it impossible for Senna to compete with him. There is even a moment where Prost asks Senna not to be his teammate, perhaps knowing Senna would always be quicker than him in the same car. The focus of the crash that killed Senna is that of a lamentable accident that no one could have done anything to prevent. The only voiceover during this part explains things the footage isn’t showing, as director Asif Kapadia lets the pictures speak for themselves. (John Tillyard)
I love Formula 1. While I only really latched onto the sport in the past five years, I have also done some deep diving into its early days as well, and one way I have done that was by watching the 1966 film, Grand Prix. It takes you back to the early days of Formula 1, a time where aerodynamics hadn’t even been considered outside of a slim monocoque, safety was an afterthought, and the most important thing on the grid was to win. Filmed during the actual 1966 Formula 1 season, the film follows four drivers as they race to win the F1 Drivers’ Championship. Capturing the thrills and dangers of racing, while featuring the world famous drivers of the time (Graham Hill and Jack Brabham to name two) and circuits such as Monaco, Spa, and Monza in configurations that we will likely never see again, this is a fun ride from beginning to end. Not only is the racing a fantastic aspect of this movie, but we also get to see the aspect of Formula 1 on a human level outside the driver’s seat, as drivers’ relationships with family, lovers, and rivals build during the season. From a dramatic opening in Monaco to a nail-biting and shocking end of the season, this movie deserves to have more eyes on it. (Joseph Davis)
One of the things I love about sports movies is getting the chance to see a story from a sport that I know nothing about. The rivalry between James Hunt (Chris Hemsworth) and Niki Lauda (Daniel Brühl) during the 1970s Formula One circuit is legendary within the racing world. They pushed one another to be great, while being polar opposites personality-wise. Performance-wise, everyone is fantastic. Hemsworth and Brühl are outstanding as the bitter rivals. Where Rush really excels is the race scenes. I feel the exhilaration of each lap, and everything from the cinematography to the sound to the editing are fantastic. Rush embodies what’s great about racing: the thrill of victory balanced with the spectacle of going fast. It’s also a great character study about what drives people to win, and the consequences of letting success get the best of you. (Mike Hilty)
The thing we often appreciate most about a good sports movie is not necessarily the sport itself — or even the achievement in winning a race, game, or tournament. It’s often the achievement alongside the sport that gets us rooting for the characters more than anything. Ford v Ferrari has that secondary tension in droves, both with Matt Damon as Carrol Shelby and Christian Bale as Ken Miles. Both men face obstacles in having their talents and ideas taken seriously when it comes to the Ford Motor Company endorsing them and allowing them to lead the charge at Le Mans in 1966. As with any story that’s based in real events, it’s the dramatization of these characters’ very real lives that’s at the heart of the movie, and the sport of auto racing almost takes a back seat, despite being so very present throughout the film. It’s the story of two men who bond over building something together, whether it be a very physical car in which to compete, or the intangibles of a professional and amicable partnership. It’s their performances and the way their characters shine on screen that allows the races to be as engaging as they are, and they’re what make this one of James Mangold’s finest movies. (Chris Bakker)
Le Mans
Few automotive races are as famous, or as well regarded, as the 24 Hours of Le Mans. A cornerstone of the World Endurance Championship, it should come as no surprise that there has been more than one film made of the race. For this, we have to look back at Steve McQueen and the 1971 film Le Mans for the first crack at this legendary race. Admittedly, this movie does not do a lot of character work, but the main goal of the film, I think, is more to show the automotive prowess, the will to win, and a drivers’ love for the sport at the end of the day. Filmed during the 1970 event of the race (the only time the race started at a standing start with the drivers in the car, by the way), this movie is definitely the one to go to if your main interest is to see the cars and hear the roar of the engine as the race progresses, along with a classic rivalry between Porsche and Ferrari. (Joseph Davis)
Fast Five
The Fast & Furious franchise has been churning out movies since 2001, and will probably continue forever. One of the better sequels is Fast Five, and with Fast X involving events from this movie, it’s time to take another look at this entry. The film picks up after Fast & Furious. Brian (Paul Walker) and his crew break Dom (Vin Diesel) out of jail, and they hide out in Brazil. The U.S. Government sends Luke Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) after them. While running from Hobbs, the crew decides to take down the biggest crime lord in the city. This sounds like a major deviation from the original movie about street racers who steal DVD players, and it is. Fast Five is where the series swerves from mostly street racing to Mission: Impossible heists. It also marks where Ludacris and Tyrese Gibson return to help the family. This movie is probably where the realism of the series died down, and that’s saying something when there’s a sequence where the crew drags a giant vault through the streets of Brazil, but that’s okay since this franchise has always been one where you can turn your brain off and enjoy. Fast Five quickly became a fan favorite, and is mostly held as one of the best in the series. Remember to take everything a quarter mile at a time. (Austen Terry)
The Love Bug
There’s only one race car so iconic over 50 years after its racing debut that you can still find replicas driving down the street with the number 53 emblazoned on the hood. Sentient speedster Herbie (The Love Bug), turns the world of race car driver, Jim (Dean Jones) and his best friend, car-whispering mechanic Tennessee (Buddy Hackett), upside down when he drives himself out of the dealership and into their lives. Jim wins his first race with Herbie at the wheel and quickly becomes the target of perpetual Disney protagonists, Peter Thorndyke (David Tomlinson) and Havershaw (Joe Flynn). Clued in on Herbie’s unique abilities, Peter attempts to win him back by betting the remainder of the car payments against Jim’s partial ownership, on a popular race. The tactics employed by Peter and Havershaw escalate considerably in a scheme to win back ownership of the world’s first self-driving car. Because this film is from a time before CGI, the racing, stunts, and even the giant, full-wall maps, complete with tiny little Hot Wheels-esque replicas of the racers, are all done with practical effects and fun set pieces on location, making the races feel more immersive. And did I mention the announcers? What a riot, using phrases like “mamby pamby” to describe delicate drivers, and constantly referring to Herbie as “the little car.” If you’re looking for some harmless family fun this weekend, give The Love Bug a chance; you really can’t go wrong with Jones and his cheeky, compact co-star. (Patrice Downing)