Mad Max
1979 · Australia · 88m
Obscurity: canon. watchable legally. banned somewhereMade for nothing on public roads. You can feel every dollar missing.
Carsploitation
1971–1981 · 13 films catalogued
Real cars, real speed, real crashes, no computers.
A brief American and Australian cycle where the car is the subject rather than the transport.
The serious end
Vanishing Point and Two-Lane Blacktop, both 1971, are road films where the driving carries the whole argument.
The other end
Gone in 60 Seconds (1974), made by insurance-adjuster-turned-director H.B. Halicki, is a 40-minute continuous chase. Ninety-three cars were destroyed. Halicki broke both his ankles.
Why it cannot be remade
Everything on screen is a real vehicle at a real speed, driven by somebody who could die. Insurance and workplace safety caught up around 1981 and that was the end of it.
Carsploitation films on file
All 13 Carsploitation films →
Mad Max 2
1981 · Australia · 95m
Obscurity: canon. watchable legallyThe template the whole Italian post-nuke cycle copied for a decade.
Death Race 2000
1975 · USA · 80m
Obscurity: canon. watchable legallyCorman satire with actual teeth. Stallone before anyone knew.
Vanishing Point
1971 · USA · 98m
Obscurity: known. watchable legallyA white Challenger, amphetamines, and an existential crisis at speed.
Two-Lane Blacktop
1971 · USA · 102m
Obscurity: known. watchable legallyAlmost no dialogue, almost no plot, and completely hypnotic.
Gone in 60 Seconds
1974 · USA · 105m
Obscurity: known. watchable legally93 cars destroyed for real. The director broke his own ankles. Worth it.
Dirty Mary Crazy Larry
1974 · USA · 93m
Obscurity: cult. watchable legallyNinety minutes of driving and one of cinema's great abrupt endings.
Road Games
1981 · Australia · 101m
Obscurity: cult. watchable legallyRear Window in a truck, with Stacy Keach and Jamie Lee Curtis.
The Cars That Ate Paris
1974 · Australia · 87m
Obscurity: cult. watchable legallyPeter Weir's debut. A town that farms car crashes. Very strange.
White Lightning
1973 · USA · 101m
Obscurity: cult. watchable legallyBurt Reynolds, moonshine, and the blueprint for a decade of Southern comedy.
Race with the Devil
1975 · USA · 88m
Obscurity: cult. watchable legallySatanists chase a Winnebago across Texas. Better than that sounds.
White Line Fever
1975 · USA · 92m
Obscurity: cult. watchable legallyTrucker versus the cartel. Earnest, blue-collar, better than expected.
Stunt Rock
1978 · Australia · 91m
Obscurity: obscure. watchable legallyNo plot. A stuntman and a prog band. Exists purely so Grant Page can work.