According to the definition on WIKI, a road movie is a movie that takes place on a road trip. Its distinctive feature is that it is far away from the home, city or countryside that you are usually familiar with.
Road movies were born in the United States, which is "a country on wheels", and Old K believes that road movies in a narrow sense must have cars and roads.
Road movies began in the late 1960s and were also one of the important symbols of the "New Hollywood" from the 1960s to the 1970s.
Road movies are a subdivision of the movie category and are closely related to western movies. Western movies are not necessarily road movies, but road movies all have some characteristics of western movies.
Old K selected 6 masterpieces of road movies to share with you:
1. "Easy Rider" Easy Rider, 1969, United States, IMDb7.4/Douban8.4
Although not the earliest in time, the originator of road movies is generally considered to be "Easy Rider", starring Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper, Jack Nicholson and directed by Dennis Hopper . Just like the title of a 2003 documentary reflecting on that era:
How did the sex, drugs and rock and roll generation save Hollywood?
The 1969 "Easy Rider" uses drugs and sex throughout the film, with lazy light rock music as the background music, which was also born in that era. The whole film seems to be about the pursuit of freedom, but in fact it is a vivid representation of the dark corners and social conflicts in the United States at that time. While this film officially launched the road movie, it also held up the banner of "New Hollywood" with several other films of the same era. Due to its special historical attributes, such a movie has the characteristics of a living fossil. There was a sequel in 2012, just to mention it. The film is not even a sequel, so you can safely ignore it.
The 1967 "Bonnie and Clyde" is another Hollywood business card with the same historical status as "Easy Rider", but "Bonnie and Clyde" does not have the same road character as "Easy Rider" "Knight" is just obvious.
2. "Thelma & Louise", 1991, United States/France, IMDb7.4/Douban8.7-Douban Movie TOP250-195
Hollywood gold medal director, Lei Derry Scott's masterpiece. The road movie was already a very mature movie genre in the 1990s, and "Thelma and Louise" took a unique approach. It went against the stereotype of male-dominated movies in the past and innovatively used two lively and beautiful young women. As the two protagonists, and with the following ending that stands out from the crowd (sex), it opens a new chapter in the road movie!
3. "Duel", Duel, 1971, United States, IMDb7.7/Douban7.9
Another Hollywood director, Steven Spielberg's early career The work is a pure road movie, with almost all the movie scenes taking place on a speeding highway. "Duel" perfectly illustrates the road rage on American roads nearly half a century ago. The film's editing is smart and the shots are vivid, which is already rare for a 90-minute standard-length, 100% road movie. However, the film never shows the true face of the big truck driver, which exaggerates the film even more. A tense and scary atmosphere! The following hand-painted poster can well illustrate this feature of the film:
4. "Mad Max", Mad Max, 1979~2015, Australia/United States, highest score (the fourth episode in 2015 ): IMDb8.1-TOP250-200/Douban8.5
The "Mad Max" movie series was founded in 1979. Four episodes were filmed in 2015. The entire series of movies can be summed up in one word as "cool" "! The desolation and sadness of the end of the century, coupled with various strange vehicles and various characters also dressed in strange costumes, form a bizarre and bizarre picture.
Although this movie has the highest score of the latest fourth episode, and is currently the highest-ranking road movie in the IMDbTOP250 list (2017.9.), Old K still likes the first episode in 1979 nearly half a century ago the most, because That was Mel Gibson's famous work, because it was the first love between old K and this cool movie set.
First love? What a joke~
5. "Convoy", Convoy, 1978, United States/UK, IMDb6.3/Douban 7.3
The director of "Convoy" has filmed "The Wild Group" " and Sam Peckinpah of "Straw Dogs" are also the first American films introduced after China's reform and opening up. For Chinese movie audiences who have just reformed and opened up, they can experience the United States on wheels through a movie. For this reason alone, this movie should be commemorated. What's more, the famous director Sam Peckinpah is by no means unworthy of his reputation. The film's scenes and shots are eye-catching, and the plot is also good. The title of the film has been translated as "Big Convoy".
6. "No Man's Land", 2009~2013, China, IMDb7.4/Douban8.1
It's not that there must be a domestic movie to make up the number when introducing road movies, but Ning Hao's "No Man's Land" is like the first Hollywood movie "Convoy" introduced after my country's reform and opening up, and it has its indelible historical traces. The years behind the title above are 2009~2013. This is not a joke or a bug, it is a three-dimensional and vivid mark in the history of Chinese films.
"No Man's Land" is not only eye-catching because of the twists and turns in these four years.
A setting with a very steampunk feel:
There are also shadows of Gibson's "Mad Max" in terms of firearms:
This great liberation is also a bit complicated. Engrave the meaning of the big truck in "The Duel" introduced above:
"No Man's Land" once again proved that China does not lack good directors, good screenwriters, and good actors, but it only lacks film classification. With film classification, "No Man's Land" will emerge that does not have to wait four years before it can be released. Only then will Chinese filmmakers get on the right track and the Chinese film market will truly prosper.