Top 10 Actors-In-Cars-In-Cinema

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Apologies for my slowness in posting this list, but I’ve been up to my eyebrows in pre-production for Distracted, and have spent the last few days trying to source a jacket for one of the characters, a difficult task because apparently the colour was “out of season”, but I got there in the end.

Anyway, there was an extraordinary response to this one, thanks again to all those who took the time to suggest titles. Among the notable exclusions were Todd Haynes’ Carol, Claude Sautet’s Max And The Junkmen and Jim Jarmusch’s Stranger Than Paradise. Hitchcock was popular, so much so in fact that I’ve decided to create an Actors-In-Cars-In-Hitchcock sub-list, and will post in due course.

In no particular order.

1. Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! (Russ Meyer, 1965) Nominated by @Montserratlj.
Three go-go dancers seeking thrills encounter a young couple in the desert. After slaying the boyfriend, they take the girl hostage and begin scheming on a crippled old man reputedly hiding a tidy sum of cash, not realizing that the old man has a few sinister intentions of his own. MUBI.

2.1 Confidentially Yours (Francois Truffaut, 1983)
Suggested by @matouzap.
Julien Vercel, an estate agent, is suspected of murdering his wife’s lover. All clues point to him especially when his wife is also found dead. As Vercel is hidden in his office, Barbara Becker, his secretary investigates these suspicious murders. MUBI.

2.2 Mississippi Mermaid (Francois Truffaut, 1969)
@Heero99 nominated this.
Louis Mahe is a tobacco planter at Reunion Island. He is waiting for Julie Roussel to marry her. He only knows her by mail. The woman that comes does not look like the picture he got, but he marries her anyway. Soon, she flees with Louis’ money. Louis tries to find her…MUBI

3. The Things Of Life (Claude Sautet, 1970)
Thanks to @jhpcine for this one.
Pierre, a successful expert in building highways has a traffic accident. Being seriously wounded, he is lying waiting for death and remembering his past in flashbacks. MUBI.

4. The Man Without A Past (Aki Kaurismaki, 2002)
Suggested by @lintlvieno.
The film follows a man who arrives in Helsinki and gets beaten up so severely he develops amnesia. He starts his life from scratch, living in container dwellings, finding clothes with help from the Salvation Army and making friends with the poor.

5. La Dolce Vita (Federico Fellini, 1960)
@ashesofthesoul suggested this one.
This Palme d’Or-winning international sensation chronicles seven days in the life of a playboy paparazzo named Marcello Rubini as he gallivants around the vibrant city of Rome. MUBI.

6. Sunset Boulevard (Billy Wilder, 1950)
Nominated by @SkotArmstrong.
A hack screenwriter (William Holden) writes a screenplay for a former silent-film star (Gloria Swanson) who has faded into Hollywood obscurity in Billy Wilder’s classic backstage melodrama/film noir.

7. To Catch A Thief (Alfred Hitchcock, 1955)
Suggested by @Manuthebest58.
When a reformed jewel thief is suspected of returning to his former occupation, he must ferret out the real thief in order to prove his innocence. MUBI.

 

8. The Passenger (Michelangelo Antonioni, 1975)
Thanks to @SimonaVenturol.
An emotionally burnt out journalist attempts to escape his own existence by exchanging identities with a dead arms dealer. Shot on location, the protagonist goes on a life-changing journey through Africa, Spain, Germany and England. MUBI.

9. Withnail & I (Bruce Robinson, 1987)
Suggested by @lorelei20111
Two unemployed actors live off a diet of booze and pills. They attempt to exchange their squalid existance for a week in the countryside. However violent downpours and unfavorable locals prove to be less than ideal. MUBI.

10.1 Le Mepris (Jean-Luc Godard, 1963)
@linahatesthis suggested this.
A screenwriter hired by a pompous American, is torn between his own artistic expression and commercial success. His conflict parallels the disollution of his marriage as his wife becomes enamored with a rich playboy. MUBI.

10.2 Pierrot Le Fou (Jean-Luc Godard, 1965)
This was my pick.
Pierrot escapes his bourgeoisie existence by taking to the road with the babysitter, his ex-lover Marianne. Being pursued by foreign thugs, they embark on a haphazard crime spree through the French countryside all the way to the Mediterranean. MUBI.

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