Directed by Steven Spielberg • 1971 • United States
Starring Dennis Weaver, Jacqueline Scott, Eddie Firestone

In Steven Spielberg’s legendary feature debut, an insane trucker pursues an innocent motorist (Dennis Weaver) along a barren stretch of desert highway. And that’s . . . pretty much it. B...

Directed by Jacques Tati • 1971 • France
Starring Jacques Tati

In Jacques Tati’s TRAFIC, the bumbling Monsieur Hulot, kitted out as always with tan raincoat, beaten brown hat, and umbrella, takes to Paris’s highways and byways. In this, his final outing, Hulot is employed as an auto company’s di...

Directed by Lee H. Katzin • 1971 • United States
Starring Steve McQueen, Siegfried Rauch, Elga Andersen

Steve McQueen is in the driver’s seat in this pure adrenaline rush of speed cinema, which may just be the most authentic car-racing film ever made. Filmed on location in the French countryside...

Directed by Richard Fleischer • 1971 • United States
Starring George C. Scott, Tony Musante, Trish Van Devere

Retired Chicago getaway driver Harry Garmes (George C. Scott) has never been lucky: his wife has left him; his son is dead. He should be quietly enjoying his retirement on the coast of P...

Directed by Michael Tuchner • 1972 • United Kingdom
Starring Barry Newman, Suzy Kendall, John Vernon

Based on a novel by thriller specialist Alistair MacLean, this excitingly unpredictable action joyride stars Barry Newman as an underwater salvage expert who, after his family is killed in a plan...

Directed by Gordon Parks Jr. • 1972 • United States
Starring Ron O’Neal, Carl Lee, Julius Harris

Charismatic Harlem cocaine dealer Youngblood Priest (Ron O’Neal) lives in luxury, drives expensive cars, and plans one last big score to escape his life of violence. But when corrupt cops working for...

Directed by Lamont Johnson • 1973 • United States
Starring Jeff Bridges, Valerie Perrine, Geraldine Fitzgerald

Based on an article by Tom Wolfe, this engrossing and authentic drama follows the saga of Junior Jackson (Jeff Bridges), the wild son of a backwoods North Carolina moonshiner (Art Lund)...

Directed by Philip D’Antoni • 1973 • United States
Starring Roy Scheider, Jerry Leon, Tony Lo Bianco

The sole directorial effort by Philip D’Antoni—who had produced the hits BULLITT and THE FRENCH CONNECTION—features, like those films, one of the most thrilling car chases in all of cinema. This ...

Directed by Joseph Sargent • 1973 • United States
Starring Burt Reynolds, Jennifer Billingsley, Ned Beatty

Gator McKlusky (Burt Reynolds) is a moonshine runner who wages war against corrupt police officials in this two-fisted action extravaganza full of rousing car chases, bone-crunching brawls,...

Directed by Peter Weir • 1974 • Australia
Starring Terry Camilleri, John Meillon, Kevin Miles

The debut feature from Australian New Wave legend Peter Weir is a brilliantly original blend of cracked comedy and macabre horror that Stanley Kubrick selected as one his all-time favorite films. Woe be...

Directed by John Hough • 1974 • United States
Starring Peter Fonda, Susan George, Adam Roarke

After robbing a supermarket to finance his racing career, wannabe NASCAR driver Larry (Peter Fonda) finds himself on the run from the law in a 1969 Dodge Charger, with thrill-seeking one-night stand Mar...

Directed by H. B. Halicki • 1974 • United States
Starring H. B. Halicki, Marion Busia, Jerry Daugirda

Cars were harmed in the making of this movie. Indeed, no less than 127 vehicles were destroyed or damaged in the course of production—ninety-three of them alone in the electrifying, forty-minute...

Directed by Michael Cimino • 1974 • United States
Starring Clint Eastwood, Jeff Bridges, Geoffrey Lewis

Clint Eastwood and Jeff Bridges are a pair of modern-day outlaws in this bold, tough, and witty crime thriller, the feature debut from director Michael Cimino (THE DEER HUNTER). Thunderbolt (E...