As someone who likes to travel but doesn’t do it very often — when I had time I didn’t have the money, and now that I have the money I don’t have the time — I hate watching movies about people travelling. That being said, there are some movies about travelling that I’ve been meaning to watch and those are my picks for this week’s Thursday Movie Picks.
Easy Rider (1969)
Two bikers head from L.A. to New Orleans through the open country and desert lands, and along the way, they meet a man who bridges a counter-culture gap they are unaware of.
Into the Wild (2007)
After graduating from Emory University, top student and athlete Christopher McCandless (Emile Hirsch) abandons his possessions, gives his entire $24,000 savings account to charity and hitchhikes to Alaska to live in the wilderness.
Wild (2014)
A chronicle of one woman's (Reese Witherspoon) one thousand one hundred mile solo hike undertaken as a way to recover from a recent personal tragedy.
Oh dear Lord how I despised Easy Rider! It could be partially my fault for going into it expecting some sort of galvanizing experience because of all I'd read about it. But what I found was a terribly dated slog that I could make little sense of.
ReplyDeleteSorry to say I also didn't like Into the Wild but that was because I hated the main character-an entitled, selfish, cruel and foolish little brat who I felt zero empathy for.
Wild was better. I can't say I loved it or would ever watch it again but it held my interest and Reese was very good.
I went the wacky actual globetrotting route with mine.
The Great Race (1965)-Spoof of old time serials with the hero-The Great Leslie (Tony Curtis) all dressed in gleaming white and his sidekick Hezekiah (Keenan Wynn) going head to head with snidely Professor Fate (Jack Lemmon chewing on every piece of scenery in sight) all in black and his faithful assistant Max (Peter Falk) in a continent spanning motor race from New York to Paris at the beginning of the 20th century. Complicating matters is fellow racer, journalist and suffragette Maggie DuBois (Natalie Wood-never lovelier) who butts heads with Leslie as they head over land and sea to their goal. Shootouts, duels, pie fights and all manner of complications ensue!
Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines (1965)-In 1910 a wealthy British newspaper publisher Lord Rawnsley (Robert Morley) offers 10,000 pounds (about a million today) to the winner of an air race between London and Paris, a great distance at the time. The contest draws an eclectic and eccentric gaggle of fliers and amateurs including Rawnsley’s rebellious daughter Patricia (Sarah Miles) who compete in all forms of airborne crates including hot air balloons!
Those Daring Young Men in Their Jaunty Jalopies (1969)-The 1,500 mile Monte Carlo rally passing through England, Paris, Monaco, Monte Carlo, Monte Gelato Falls, the Treja River, Italy, Åre, Jämtlands and län, Sweden in the 20’s is the setting for this wacky sequel to Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines with some of the characters returning plus Tony Curtis from The Great Race as a brash American.
I'm not so sure I want to see them now haha. I'll have to add The Great Race on my list because I love Jack Lemmon.
DeleteI've only seen your last two picks, which I enjoyed. I didn't even think of using them this week.
ReplyDeleteHopefully I'll enjoy them too.
DeleteAh, 3 incredible films.
ReplyDeleteGreat to hear that!
DeleteI still have to see Easy Rider! Do you know my mom watched this movie..she didn't get it but she watched it. I can't believe both male leads have since died. I have heard of Into The Wild and not too sure I care to see it. I did enjoy Wild much more than I thought I would
ReplyDeleteI thought Easy Rider would be the one you'd seen. Anyway, I'm glad to hear Wild is good.
DeleteThese *seem* like great picks.... but I've only seen one of them (Into the Wild).
ReplyDeleteYou are so lucky in Europe, to able to travel to sooo many lovely places. In the States, it's like one cool city than 900 miles of hillbillies.
Honestly, living in Italy I don't even have to leave the country to see great places. There's so much beauty here. But I agree, US people aren't very lucky.
DeleteI wasn't a huge fan of Wild and the others I haven't seen. I didn't finish Into the Wild because it felt too depressing at the time. Still does.
ReplyDeleteWell... I definitely did not remember that. I started watching the film at school like 10 years ago but we never finished it and I guess I didn't care enough to finish it at home.
DeleteGlobetrotting is traveling around the globe so Into the Wild doesn't technically fit since he is basically in just Alaska, that's just in one state in one country. Wild sort of counts a little since at least the trail she's on goes through a few US states and the US Canada border, still though not quite around the world sort of thing.
ReplyDeleteI know they don't fit fit but I really didn't know which films to pick.
DeleteI'd be interested to get your take on them especially Into The Wild.
ReplyDeleteAnd you will get it soon. I'm planning on watching it in August.
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