You Think We’re in Ohio Yet? Road Movie Nominating/Voting Thread - VOTING CLOSES MIDNIGHT, MAY 15th

Just to keep everything in one place, here’s a new thread--this is meant to be both a continuation of the nominations and also the voting thread. I’m hoping there’s enough interest for 20 ballots.

Nomination deadline: Monday, May 1. (I’ll add any nominations that come in later, though.)

Voting deadline: Thursday, May 11.

Send ballots to: sayhey at rocketmail dot com.

Ballots: pick your 25 favourite road movies. Define “road movie” however you want, but try to honor the spirit of the phrase. A film like After Hours has some key elements--it’s episodic, the protagonist meets up with lots of quirky people during the course of the film, he’s always moving--but there’s just not much physical space. I think some ground should be covered.

Scoring: I’ve got Pazz & Jop blood, so you get 200 points to split among your 25 films. The maximum for any one film is 40 points--split the 200 points up however you want.

If you don’t like math, here are five other ways you could score your ballot:

1) Unranked, 8 points per film.

2) Top 5 films get 20 points each; other 20 get 5 points each.

3) Top 10 films get 14 points each; other 15 get 4 points each.

4) Top 10 films get 11 points each; other 15 get 6 points each

5) Top 5 films get 24 points each; next 15 films get 5 each; bottom 5 films get 1 each.

They all add up to 200 points. Just depends how strongly you feel about the films near the top of your list.

Here’s the list of nominated films:
http://docs.google.com/document/d/1_Vo7swLaeS1ZCbciqrHKrSzlOm-DozyZBi_lpKIGGtI/edit

Write-ins are fine. Shorter ballots are fine--I'll adjust the scoring as necessary.

Sorry for the extra-long post.

http://i1059.photobucket.com/albums/t427/sayhey1/paradise_zpsfplx89aq.png

will vote! May even watch things I haven't seen in preparation

I generally go with what I already know, music polls included; finding time for films is even harder. But I did find Je Tu Il Elle on YouTube, so I'm going to watch that, and also Stroszek, which I haven't seen for 30+ years but really liked at the time.

is Inside LLewyn Davis a road movie?

That seems reasonable--I put it on the list. It's kind of the opposite of Midnight Cowboy/Goin' Down the Road, which begin and end as road movies but stay put in the middle; Llewyn has the road movie in the middle.

Interesting that you disqualify After Hours in the op - i assume its LA analogue Into the Night is disqualified for similar readons?

I didn't mean to give that impression--I don't want to disqualify anything that someone thinks should be on the list, so I've added both. It doesn't feel like a road movie to me, but if three or four people vote for it, I'll assume I'm missing something. (I do like After Hours, by the way--more than any non-documentary Scorsese's done since at least Casino.)

I dont really disagree that they dont fit. I just take any opportunity to mention those films (they belong in a special subcategory: Films That Take Place Almost Entirely in Cities at Night)

Collateral?

I mean, it's in one city. But the whole thing is on the road.

But I did find Je Tu Il Elle on YouTube, so I'm going to watch that

I can speak for whatever else you watch on YouTube, but you might get some, er, exotic recommendations after viewing it.

Speaking of Ackerman, Travels With Anna should be on the list if it isn't already.

"I can't speak..." not a hacker here.

More noms:
Bless the Beasts and Children
Damnation Alley
Into The Wild

What was the original thread?

Road Movie Poll (If There's Enough Interest, This Becomes the Nominations Thread)

Also:
Crystal Fairy & the Magical Cactus
Festival Express (if documentaries are allowed)

12 Monkeys might almost qualify

Another one I liked:
Hideous Kinky

maybe The Sheltering Sky qualifies as well.

A couple of those seem dicey to me, but I added everything.

ha forgot I already made this thread: Movies that take place entirely at night in the city

many xps

Two-Lane Blacktop
Cannonball Run

We're in business, we have a ballot. (I sent you--whoever "you" is--an e-mail about a duplicated film.)

I got a bit confused in the other thread when someone mentioned Homeward Bound, because I thought that it was the US title for The Incredible Journey, but in fact it's the title of the remake, I think? I would nominate the original Incredible Journey, anyway, just for fond childhood memories (the remake was made when I was still a kid, but a bit too late for proper tiny child-me to have watched it, and I'm 99% sure there were no zany '90s in-jokes in the version I saw). And it is definitely a road movie.

Anyone seen Until the End of the World by Wim Wenders? Its tagline is "the ultimate road movie" so it should probably be on the list.

The Hitcher counts as well, right?

Also the Hitch-Hiker by Ida Lupino.

The Blues Brothers? A little deadline-based, it's true.

I picked up American Honey from the library today thanks to this poll, even though I'm nervous about it (Shia + something about it just gives off Larry Clark vibes to me) and while I was there, I also grabbed L'Avventura and Gun Crazy, neither of which I've ever seen.

Beyond that, trying to prioritize what I re/watch. There are a few movies (Paper Moon, Wild Strawberries) which I haven't seen in a long while, but I remember loving enough that including them here is a no-brainer. There are others (Bonnie and Clyde, It Happened One Night) that I remember liking a lot, but saw long enough ago that my memory is fuzzy. And then there's something like Easy Rider, which I liked okay the one time I saw it years ago, and which might plausibly benefit from another look.

And while the campaigning/voting window is completely reasonable, this poll also comes around just as I am in the last weeks of preparing for my final qualifying exam, which is held the day after ballots are due. So, while I'd love to just binge on as many of these movies as possible right now, I can realistically only afford the time to watch one movie every couple of days until its time to submit.

I'll be tabulating votes and putting images together the weekend after the 11th, cs, so feel free to submit on the weekend, if that helps.

I saw the 4-5 hour cut of Until the End of the World last year. I really liked the sci-fi half. Just checked what I posted at the time, and I called the first half "a rag-tag, elephantine road movie"--so yes, it belongs! (Probably a little harsh.) I think that's the fourth Wenders film on the list, and there are no doubt others, too.

Is Jonathan Demme on the list? Something like Melvin and Howard has the feel of a road film, and there's the great opening scene with Dummar and Hughes in the car, but that might be a stretch. I don't know about Handle with Care/Citizen's Band, which I haven't seen in ages.

Found two books on the subject.

http://i1059.photobucket.com/albums/t427/sayhey1/road%20books_zpskulr0i8b.jpg

Don't know anything about either, but I ordered a copy of the one on the right from Abe that was three times cheaper than the overpriced Amazon copy. Won't get here in time to be of any help in catching omissions, but the indices for both are on Amazon, so I'm going to try to skim through them on the weekend.

Demme on the road: Something Wild

Yeah, dumb question--that was one of the first to go on the list. I just added about 20 more from those two indices (things I'd already come across mention of elsewhere).

I suppose they need to be pretty well-known to make the nomination list, so maybe only one of mine qualifies:

Güeros
The Bird People in China
The Passenger

Pop Aye (2017)

A man and his elephant walk into a bar: well, not quite -- but close. POP AYE is the story of a successful Bangkok architect whose late-midlife crisis leads him to an encounter with the elephant (Pop Aye) with whom he spent an idyllic childhood in the Thai countryside. Together they embark on a road trip to deliver both man and beast to their origins. The local police cite him for not having a permit to travel with an elephant; a transgendered prostitute joins him in a karaoke duet at a roadside dive; and a poetic, possibly delusional, pauper offers companionship. But the real star is the big guy: Pop Aye lumbers along with great dignity and endless fortitude. He is the center of a mysterious, funny and often absurd universe that while seemingly particular to Thailand is, ultimately, not unlike our own.

The genre lives on, it seems! Coming soon to Film Forum.

I suppose they need to be pretty well-known to make the nomination list

No way! I mean, it's unlikely that something super-obscure will make the final top howevermanywe'redoing, but nominating is a great way to get other people to check out things you like.

tati - trafic

haven't seen in ages & not entirely sure if it fits, but: bunuel's the milky way?

Milky Way is on the list.

so it is: sub with goodbye pork pie

I haven't seen Holy Motors but isn't it, like, all set in a car?

Mind you, I also keep perversely wanting to nominate Fitzcarraldo and I know that doesn't actually fit, so feel free to ignore any of my suggestions.

Oh, one thing: you've got Sightseers missing an 's' from the end on the nominations list.

Not Holy Motors, but there is the Croenenberg with Robert Pattison?

Crash?

I kid, I kid, though that is, er, a road movie of sorts. No, I looked it up and you mean Cosmopolis, which I think I might actually have been entirely conflating in my head with Holy Motors?

Important book from 1982

http://68.media.tumblr.com/4106ce1889cfd59fee679303291cdb7c/tumblr_ol5sxew1NI1ucnbv4o1_500.png

Was about to suggest Goodbye Pork Pie

A couple more nominations:

Slow West
Leningrad Cowboys Go America

Thanks. The list is up over 200 now, most of which passed the "(title) + road movie" Google test. Nominations technically close Monday, but that's fluid. I would like to finish up by mid-month, so hopefully ballots will start to trickle in next week. There are a few copies of that book on Abe--new ones expensive, used about half that.

This is such an amorphous genre. When voting in the comedy poll, I could always fall back on "Does this film make me laugh?"; in the horror poll, "Does this film scare me?" (or, sometimes, "Does this film look great and creep me out?"). Here it's something like "Does this film capture my restlessness and vague feelings of unfulfillment in an atmospherically elliptical way--and do people drive a lot?"

I really want to see Eight Miles High.

http://www.hotflick.net/flicks/2007_Eight_Miles_High/007EMH_Natalia_Avelon_004.jpg

"Does this film capture my restlessness and vague feelings of unfulfillment in an atmospherically elliptical way--and do people drive a lot?"

Results thread title

As I said, keeps my mind off work.

http://i1059.photobucket.com/albums/t427/sayhey1/poster_zpszjqxih7n.jpg

it's a shame the true winner The Dog of the South is a book.

Some more:

La Nuit de Varennes
Stagecoach
Kill List
On the Road
Arigato-san (Mr. Thank You)
The Motorcycle Diaries
Race with the Devil
Detour (1945)

Haven't seen Detour, but sounds like a solid noir. It's up on youtube, will watch.

I guess this never happened:

http://filmschoolrejects.com/hilarity-ensues-bill-hader-greg-mottola-adapting-dog-of-the-south-e9227032291e

Does it have lots of unexpected enounters?

Yes, almost all of which involve the protagonist being mocked.

Probably for the best that never worked out. In a perfect world the Coens would do it with Goodman as Symes.

Ok, I see 40 points max in the original post.

Driving Visions, that book I ordered, got here today. The key films from each chapter are highlighted upfront--these five weren't nominated, so I added them to the list.

The Wild One
The Wild Angels
Repo Man
Raising Arizona
Delusion

Haven't seen Repo Man in ages, but I don't remember it being a road movie myself.

From the first chapter ("Paving the Way"):

"The road movie appears a a dynamic manifestation of American society's fascination with the road. Comprised of an intricate matrix of cultural predilections, the genre of the road movie explores the 'borders' (the status quo conventions) of American society. Often from a culturally critical perspective, the road movie asks, What does it mean to exceed the boundaries, to transgress the limits, of American society?"

My brain doesn't really work that way--and "transgress" is something close to a red-flag word--but I guess that's an accurate enough description of the Bobby Dupeas and Willies and Stars who capture a kind of aimlessness I find very appealing (even if I don't live that out in real life--I do partly).

Just past halfway to 20 ballots. We're taking the Alvin Straight route.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fryGyqTJPU

Wtf Raising Arizona? No.

That seems pretty dubious too. I mean, I know there's stuff with choppers, but Nicholas Cage and Holly Hunter don't really go anywhere, do they? Again, it's been a while for me.

Nobody goes anywhere!

They go to pick up some Huggies...

apologies for dallying, rather than posting my ballot, but two that I very much love and had overlooked: Coogan/Brydon's The Trip and The Trip to Italy.

Wait, what? Isn't that a TV series? Did they make a film too?

Hey, The Straight Story sits at #1,000 right now on TSPDT's big list:

http://www.theyshootpictures.com/gf1000_all1000films_table.php

xp

yes, both series were edited and released as films. that's the way I saw them. loved them enough that I will eventually get around to watching the original episodes.

Just finished Stroszek, which I hadn't seen since '79 or '80. I remember that my university roommate and I thought it was pretty much the damnedest thing we'd ever seen. I'm sure that whatever print we saw wasn't nearly as beautiful as what I lifted off YouTube.

The bank guy reminded me a lot of Harold Ramis in the earliest SCTV episodes. Like some of the Wenders films from the same era, felt like a European attempt at one of the early '70s American attempts at a '60s European art film. Which probably sounds negative, but no, not at all--liked it a lot. The ending was like a perfect mix of Fassbinder and Five Easy Pieces. Was just reminded of the Ian Curtis connection.

Made me feel nostalgic for that first viewing. I would have 18 or 19--everything was new, everything was ahead.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_n35PfUpWyak/SeM4xSxyOdI/AAAAAAAANIw/NarqzAm1XSY/s1600-h/Stroszek+6.JPG

"would have been"

http://i1059.photobucket.com/albums/t427/sayhey1/herzog_zpswhtxdaoo.jpg

It's a lovely film, but like Goin' Down The Road, one of those that doesn't feature quite enough road to qualify as a road movie for me. But then again, at this point, I gotta stop being so picky if I'm ever gonna get a ballot together.

Actual on-the-road footage probably totals two or three minutes. But I think emotionally it fits perfectly--unhappiness, leaving one bad situation and finding something just as bad or worse--and some of those road shots look incredible.

Completely fits the emotional character for me because Stroszek is permanently out of place. Even if most of the travel happens offscreen America seems to be arbitrarily moving around him and his 'family' and home are ultimately transitory. Also for me the most poignant scenes all happen on the road: driving out of New York, Eva leaving with the truckers, the house driven off, Stroszek's final drive.

Yeah, it definitely feels like a road movie. And the feel is honestly the most important factor to me.

(I am gonna try to get this done by tonight, I swear!)

It's definitely a matter of feel for me. A vague, amorphous definition of a vague, amorphous genre.

Goin' Down the Road comes and goes on YouTube. If you've got the capability of downloading it and watching it on a big screen, it's up there at the moment.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khvy2-Qxuzw

Errr... it looks like my top five might all be 'road movies on foot'. Is that okay?

Of course! Planes and boats would seem weird, but on foot works.

Finally took a couple of minutes to learn how to grab screenshots. This is the kind of thing I'll obsess over. Stroszek:

http://i1059.photobucket.com/albums/t427/sayhey1/screenshot_zpsswfc3e1x.jpg

Yeah, I've actually cut out Fitzcarraldo entirely in favour of other Herzog, and iirc I refrained from nominating Knife in the Water because "too boaty, not roady enough".

I always like to use song lyrics or quoted dialogue for poll titles, otherwise I'd go with "Too Boaty, Not Roady Enough."

Funny that there are three movies in release right now that qualify - Like Crazy, Folk Hero & Funny Guy, and Paris Can Wait.

I had planned to watch Je, tu, il, elle tonight, but turns out the YouTube I lifted is without subtitles. I take it there's not a whole lot of dialogue anyway, but I still need subtitles. Then I went to watch The American Friend--not nominated, but I came across a couple of great road images online--same thing. (And when I realized I had it on DVD anyway, I couldn't find it after a 20-minute search--maddening.) So I'm going with what I know.

Up to 13 ballots--would really appreciate seven more tomorrow. Coming up a bit short won't be all that bad--there are 40 films with at least three votes right now, and 25 with at least four--but I always think of 20 ballots as a reasonable floor for these polls.

(Looks like Like Crazy came out six years ago, unless it's a different one.)

Because I can't deal with numbers right now--my mathematical incompetence + this week's stress has left my brain fried--would it be cool if I just sent you a list of 15 and then you can assign points accordingly? Obviously, I don't care much about point distribution, just that I like my #1 film better than my #9 film and so forth (and even that I'm not all that fussy about).

That's no problem. Actually, if you take 120 points, 15 + 14 + 13 ... + 1 works out to exactly 120.

This Like Crazy is in Italian - two women from mental facility take car on the road. It's being presented as new here in Los Angeles.

Also, I just sent my ballot via your ILX email.

Got it--thanks, appreciate that.

Oh! That's great. I'll get this to you tomorrow, then (one more thing I wanna rewatch first).

Just sent one in there. Didn't say but just weight it equally, 1 most points to 25 least ta

Would you like me to change the title to give a finishing date for ballots?

Thanks, that'd be great: midnight, May 15.

or something: 25-1 doesn't work--it adds up to 325 points. I sent you an alternative, see if that works.

Watched The Scarecrow (1973) for this last night. Previously unaware of it, shared the grand prize at Cannes. Hackman and a nice comic turn from Pacino, beautifully shot by Vilmos Zsigmond. A happy find.

Also saw Lupino's The Hitch-Hiker. William Talman (the DA on Perry Mason) has a great time playing the baddie.

nobody's mentioned "Dumb and Dumber" yet.

It's in the nomination list.

http://docs.google.com/document/d/1_Vo7swLaeS1ZCbciqrHKrSzlOm-DozyZBi_lpKIGGtI/edit

Emil.y and cryptsicko, wherever I may find them: we're on the clock now--get those damn ballots in! I do appreciate that you're putting care and thought into this. But if your third favourite is actually your fifth favourite, or if you leave off something that should have been #22, it's not a big deal. On the road of life, this poll is but a five-minute detour for drive-through coffee in the middle of Wisconsin.

Hoping for those two, plus two more--that'd be 20.

Coming up shortly! Btw, I read 'midnight, May 15th' as being midnight tomorrow, not midnight tonight, if you get what I mean?

Okay, sent. I actually ended up with too many films that I wanted to put on the list, but I think it's a solid ballot in the end.

Yeah, I goofed there--meant midnight tonight, which is more accurately the 14th.

xp
Yeah, I had about eight that I finally decided to cut, so I didn't end up giving a lot of films 1 or 2 points.

It's coming! After dinner + walking the dogs, I'm watching one more road movie, just in time to squeeze the ballot in before midnight.

One more road movie for the road...

Voted with three mins to spare. In my haste, I forgot the points breakdown but the one you quoted to me upthread works.

Here's a surprise: the actor to appear in the most number of films on my ballot is Randy Quaid.

Thanks, everyone. I'll get images ready the next couple of nights, then do #40-21 on Wednesday, #20-1 on Thursday. Nineteen ballots, so just missed 20. I won't start embedding text into images until tomorrow night; I'm working from an easily updateable spreadsheet, so if any ballots show up overnight or through the day tomorrow, I'll count them.

Really looking forward to the images in the countdown! Realised I forgot Something Wild on my ballot so hoping others didn't.

Something Wild was one of the ones I cut. Kind of a Sophie's Choice with each of them.

Sent!

Which was the elusive 20th ballot I was hoping for--thanks...#41-50 are strong, so I'll do #50-31 on Wednesday, #30-11 on Thursday, and the Top 10 on Friday. I want to do it during the day, which'll mean posting from work; the posts will be half-an-hour apart, but I'll get everything set up ahead of time so I can work that. ("Teacher, teacher--" "Just give me 15 seconds here.")