Burn Rubber to the Library Movie Collection!
We will be bringing back our monthly movie nights this year, with the first event on Wednesday, September 3. Our first film will be the recent blockbuster F1, in which Brad Pitt stars as a washed-up driver coaxed from retirement to compete for his friend’s flagging team in a do-or-die Formula One season. Come back on Wednesday, September 17 for Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, Will Ferrell’s comedy of an arrogant NASCAR driver who must rebuild his life after a crash and nervous breakdown. We have a myriad other similar movies– featuring race cars, drag races, jets, and even a sprinter!
The summer of ’62 is almost over, and a quartet of recent high school graduates are out on the town in Modesto, California. Curt (Richard Dreyfuss) and Steve (Ron Howard) are about to move to the East Coast for college, but are reluctant to leave their hometown. John (Paul Le Mat) cruises around town, ready to defend his title as the local drag racing king. Terry the Toad (Charles Martin Smith) borrows Steve’s car to appear cooler to girls. Throughout the night, Curt is distracted by the possibility he may run into a beautiful woman in a Thunderbrid who once told him, “I love you.” (1973, dir. George Lucas, 112 minutes)
Stuntman Mike (Kurt Russell) owns a vintage car with a roll cage and other Hollywood modifications to make it “death proof”…for the driver. Mike uses his tricked-out car to kill women in high-speed traffic accidents, but when he targets a trio of stunt-women test driving a 1970 Dodge Challenger (Rosario Dawson, Tracie Thoms, and Zoë Bell), he learns they aren’t such easy prey. (2007, dir. Quentin Tarantino, 113 minutes)
David Mann (Dennis Weaver) is a traveling salesman, out on the road, yet again. While driving through the Mojave Desert, he passes a semi-truck on the highway, then passes the truck again when it overtakes him later. This enrages the truck driver, who begins to harass David with unquenchable road rage. Based on the short story by Richard Matheson. (1976, dir. Steven Spielberg, 90 minutes)
It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
Smiler Grogan (Jimmy Durante) has kicked the bucket. His car crashes off the highway; a group of motorists stop to help. With his last breath, Grogan reveals that a suitcase of mob money is buried in Santa Rosita Park beneath a “big W”. Unable to amicably divide the loot among themselves, the witnesses rush off in their cars to be the first to claim the $350,000 treasure all for themselves. Meanwhile, Captain Culpepper (Spencer Tracy), an embittered police veteran, monitors the convoy and the havoc they leave in their wake. Features an enormous cast including Ethel Merman, Sid Caesar, Mickey Rooney, and Terry-Thomas. (1963, dir. Stanley Kramer, 159 minutes)
Returning to France a year after an injury, American driver Michael Delaney (Steve McQueen) finds himself drawn to the widow (Elga Andersen) of a racer who was killed in the same accident. Delaney will face danger once more as he guns for a victory for his Porshe team in the 24 Hours of Le Mans endurance race. Features footage from the 1970 Le Mans race and stunt driving by professional racers, including McQueen himself. (1971, dir. Lee H. Katzin, 106 minutes)
The Road Warrior (AKA Mad Max 2)
Post-apocalyptic drifter Max Rockatansky (Mel Gibson) is enlisted to help a band of refugees cross the Australian wasteland with their cornucopia of fuel, the most precious of commodities. Their trek is threatened by a gang of punkish marauders on tricked-out vehicles, led by Lord Humungus (Kjell Nilsson) and his lieutenant Wez (Vernon Wells). (1981, dir. George Miller, 96 minutes)
Time is running out for Lola (Franka Potente). She’s just received a frantic phone call from her boyfriend, Manni (Moritz Bleibtreu), who’s misplaced 100,000 Deutsche Mark belonging to his mobster boss on the Berlin U-Bahn. If Lola doesn’t replace the money in twenty minutes, Manni will die. A lot can happen in twenty minutes, but will fate favor Lola? (1998, dir. Tom Twyker, 80 minutes)
Waitress (Susan Sarandon) and housewife (Geena Davis) are off to a weekend cabin vacation in Arkansas when they stop at a roadhouse. After shooting a rapist bar patron (Timothy Carhart), the women go on the lam in a 1966 Ford Thunderbird. As they try to manage their affairs on the road to Mexico, they are pursued by an Arkansas State Police detective (Harvey Keitel). (1991, dir. Ridley Scott, 129 minutes)
After more than thirty years of service as a top naval aviator, Pete “Maverick” Mitchell (Tom Cruise) is where he belongs, pushing the envelope as a test pilot. Yet, Maverick must confront the ghosts of his past when he returns to TOPGUN to train a group of elite graduates and encounters Lt. Bradshaw (Miles Teller), the son of his former wingman “Goose”. Rivalries ignite as the pilots prepare for a specialized mission that involves many surface-to-air missiles. (2022, dir. Joseph Kosinski, 130 minutes)
Drag racing east from L.A. in a souped-up Chevrolet 150 are the wayward Driver (James Taylor) and Mechanic (Dennis Wilson), accompanied by tag-along Girl (Laurie Bird). Along the way, they meet a Pontiac GTO-driving wanderer (Warren Oates) and challenge him to a cross-country race. The prize: the loser’s car. (1971, dir. Monte Hellman, 102 minutes)
Kowalski (Barry Newman) delivers cars for a living. His next job: drive a 1970 Dodge Challenger from Denver to San Francisco. While scoring uppers, he bets his drug dealer (Lee Weaver) that he can make the delivery in 15 hours. Blasting the car down the highway at 160 MPH, Kowalski is aided in his sprint by a sympathetic radio DJ (Cleavon Little), a rattlesnake hunter (Dean Jagger), and other characters as he outruns the police. (1971, dir. Richard C. Sarafian, 145 minutes)
Race car driver Lucky Jackson (Elvis Presley) travels to Las Vegas to compete in the city’s first annual Grand Prix. Lucky raises money to purchase a new engine, but loses it when distracted by swimming instructor Rusty Martin (Ann-Margret). As he works off his hotel bill and sings in a talent show to recover his lost money, Lucky must also contend with his racing and romantic rival Count Elmo Mancini (Cesare Danova). (1964, dir. George Sidney, 85 minutes)
