15 Must-See Movies for Car Enthusiasts

For this list, we've concentrated on more recent films we think are absolute musts for car enthusiasts. Why? We figure, if you're an enthusiast, you already know about great classics like Vanishing Point, Two-Lane Blacktop, Bullitt, and The French Connection. Those are fantastic films, but some other flicks have come along since those were made that we think are worth your time. Peep our list of 15 Must-See Movies for Car Enthusiasts.

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Stars: Charlie Sheen, Sherilyn Fenn, Randy Quaid, the Dodge M4S Concept Car/Turbo Interceptor

Why You Must See It: Long before Charlie Sheen made headlines for going on crazed rants and surrounding himself with cocaine and hookers, he spent time behind the wheel of a futuristic Dodge concept car, killing off members of a gang of street racers one by one. Well, on film, anyway. Is the storyline ludicrous? Yes, but in a fun way. And it’s excellent for car ogling, which is the important thing. If you’re wondering what became of the car from the movie, four of the prop cars were destroyed during filming, but one has been completely restored to its full movie glory.

Stars: Jeff Bridges, Joan Allen, Martin Landau, Elias Koteas, Christian Slater, and the 1948 Tucker Torpedo

Why You Must See It: Preston Tucker (Bridges) was a big dreamer. He wanted to bring something new to the American automotive table in the 1940s, but unfortunately, it was not to be. Still, there are several places where you can see a Tucker automobile in museums around the world. Their styling is like nothing else. The real Preston Tucker billed them as “the car[s] of tomorrow...today,” and their styling reflected that ethos. The Man and His Dream is an absolute must for any car enthusiast anywhere, and especially fans of this era of American cars. Did we mention it was directed by Francis Ford Coppola?

Stars: Robert DeNiro, Jean Reno, Natascha McElhone, Sean Bean

Why You Must See It: Director John Frankenheimer was no stranger to filming moving cars in the most realistic way possible, drawing you into the action as much as is possible without actually being there. By the time he did Ronin, he’d refined all his abilities to the point where the chase scenes here are nothing short of art. If you think we’re overstating our case, watch this film and see what we mean.

Stars: Samy Naceri, Frédéric Diefenthal, and a completely mad 1996 Peugeot 406 taxi

Why You Must See It: This is Euro-car porn. Also, it’s really funny. Much funnier than the ill-fated U.S. remake with Queen Latifah and Jimmy Fallon. Don’t get us wrong, we love both of them. We just didn’t love that remake. And the cars are better in the original, anyway. But we do give the remake points for casting Giselle Bundchen as head of a pack of completely ludicrous supermodel bank robbers.

Stars: Clive Owen, several BMWs, and different costars in each short film, including Madonna, Gary Oldman, James Brown, Forest Whitaker, Mickey Rourke, and Danny Trejo

Why You Must See It: Web series are a dime a dozen nowadays, but that wasn’t always the case. Back in 2001 BMW started a small revolution with The Hire web series. Consisting of eight short films directed by world-class directors, a cynic could say they’re simply slick advertising for BMWs. Although that’s not an untrue statement, it’s also an oversimplification. You don’t get the directorial likes of John Frankenheimer, Ang Lee, Wong Kar-Wai, and Alejandro González Iñárritu to direct things that are mere commercials. The first film in the series was “Ambush,” linked above. The following films were Ang Lee’s Chosen, Wong Kar-Wai’s The Follow, Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Powder Keg, Guy Ritchie’s Star, Tony Scott’s Beat The Devil, John Woo’s Hostage, and Joe Carnahan’s Ticker.

Stars: Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Michelle Rodriguez, Jordana Brewster, a 1970 Dodge Charger, several 1993 Honda Civics, a 1995 Toyota Supra, a 1995 Mitsubishi Eclipse GSX, a 1995 Nissan Skyline R33 GT-R, and a bunch of other awesome modern tuner cars

Why You Must See It: It’s the film that started a seemingly unstoppable franchise. Back in the day, movies with plots like these would have been drive-in favorites. They’re not going for Oscars, they’re simply flooring the pedal and taking you for a ride. Although they’re really silly, if you’re watching for the cars, this franchise is pretty great. Fast Five takes a turn and becomes more of a heist film than anything, which is extremely fun, too.

Stars: Jason Statham, Qi Shu, and a 1995 BMW E38 735i

Why You Must See It: Each entry into this series is basically performance car porn with Jason Statham. We can’t imagine why you wouldn’t want to watch that. If this Bimmer doesn’t do it for you, just watch Transporter 2 for the 2005 Audi A8L that Frank Martin (Statham) drives. Or, Transporter 3 for the 2008 Audi A8 6.0 W12. If you want luxury with your performance car porn, Frank Martin is clearly your man.

Stars: Mario Andretti, Sal Fish, Steve McQueen, Chad McQueen, and too many cool cars and bikes to count

Why You Must See It: This is a film about Baja, Mexico’s annual off-road race, the Baja 1000. Cars, trucks, and motorcycles are all encourage to participate. The racing footage of this grueling event is unparalleled, and must be seen to be believed.

Stars: Jay Chou, Edison Chen, Shawn Yue, Anthony Wong, Anne Suzuki, and a 1983 Toyota Sprinter Trueno AE86 tuned to within an inch of its life

Why You Must See It:Initial D is a name that should be familiar to any fan of Japanese tuner cars that mostly never made it to the U.S., as well as fans of drift racing. Japanese creator Shuichi Shigeno’s manga series is still popular and still running to this day. It spawned an anime series, several direct-to-video (or OAV) entries, and this Hong Kong live-action film. What’s amazing about this film, besides the cars, is that it’s shot like the comics. The action plays out precisely like Shigeno’s frames in the manga. We’ve never seen another comic-based movie like this, which is also also perfectly cast. Due to the series’ international popularity, it was released in the U.S. on DVD, and is also available streaming on Netflix.

Stars: Kurt Russell, Zoë Bell, Rosario Dawson

Why You Must See It: It’s helpful if you’ve seen both Bullitt and Vanishing Point prior to seeing this. Why? Because, much like almost everything Quentin Tarantino has done, this film features some serious nods to its predecessors. In this case, the chase-and-ram sequence between Stuntman Mike’s (Russell’s) 1969 Dodge Charger and the girls’ 1970 Dodge Challenger is the centerpiece of the homage. But apart from that, it’s just a damn cool flick to watch, Tarantino fan or no.

Stars: Eric Bana and his 1974 Ford GT Falcon Coupe

Why You Must See It: Long before he became a Hollywood star, Eric Bana was a car guy. For the 25 years prior to the making of this film, he poured his heart and soul into wrenching and racing this car, his first, which he bought when he was just fifteen. See it because you love cars or because you love Bana. Either way, you win. If you watch it with a non-gearhead, it might help them gain a little insight into why you feel as passionately about cars as you do.

Stars: Annabeth Barnes, Josh Hobson, Brandon Warren, and a whole lot of racing go-karts

Why You Must See It: Professional race car drivers, no matter what series they drive in, have to start racing and training very, very young. Racing go-karts is an integral part of the process. This documentary follows three top contenders in the World Karting Association’s National Pavement Series. You may have gone karting before, but these race karts can reach speeds of up to 70mph, which is pretty serious when you’re sitting as low to the track as they do. If you have a passion for speed, you should really make time to watch this. If you’re a Netflix subscriber, it’s available for streaming in HD.

Stars: Ayrton Senna, Alain Prost, Frank Williams

Why You Must See It: If you’re a Formula One fan, chances are good you’ve already seen this. If you’re not, it’s still an incredibly moving film. It’s a must-see for any motorsports fan, no matter what type of racing turns your crank. What’s even more amazing is that this tale of arguably the greatest racer in the history of Formula One has managed to move many people who don’t care about cars, or even racing, at all. Director Asif Kapadia has made, very simply, a good film and one well worth seeing, no matter who you are or what you like.

Stars: Ryan Gosling, Carey Mulligan, Bryan Cranston, Albert Brooks, and a 1973 Chevrolet Chevelle Malibu

Why You Must See It: This is an example of an economical, minimal script that pares it all down in service to the movie. The resulting film is lean, slick, and exactly how it needs to be, including all the scenes in which Driver (Gosling) is driving. Sometimes book-to-film adaptations don’t work. This one does, in part because of some great cars and fantastic scenes with them. The chase scene in this film is easily one of the best such scenes of the 2000s, if not the very best.

Stars: Chris Hemsworth, Olivia Wilde, Daniel Brühl

Why You Must See It: The next film from director Ron Howard will be the dramatic story of Niki Lauda, James Hunt, and the edge-of-your-seat Formula One season of 1976. We know what you’re thinking: It’s not out yet, so what’s it doing on this list? That one’s easy. If you watch this featurette, follow Ron Howard on Twitter, or follow Formula One in the modern era, you’ve probably heard or seen some of the work Howard has been doing on this film. If you can’t feel his absolute devotion to telling this amazing story in the best way possible, we don’t know what you’ve been watching. Plus, you know, dude clearly knows what he’s doing in that director’s chair.