It has all the ingredients of a classic Bruckheimer film: Tom Cruise as a young, rebellious ingénue, the wise older man who comes out of retirement to train said ingénue (preferably via a montage) in whatever death defying stunts the film requires, the enemy who later becomes a friend, the real enemy and a sophisticated love interest. Days of Thunder was made in 1990 and centres around the Nascar Winston Cup Series, think Top Gun on wheels.
This time it’s Jeff Bridges’ turn to play a naive stock car driver who gets in over his head. It tells the true story of Junior Johnson, one of the early stars of Nascar racing. He developed his driving skills while running moonshine and is credited with inventing the “bootleg turn” in which a driver escapes a pursuer by doing a 180 degree turn in a speeding car on the highway.
A 1968 comedy in which a Volkswagen Beetle with a mind of its own triumphs over lots of bigger, faster cars. Dean Jones plays a down-at-heel racing driver who has been reduced to competing in Demolition Derby. His fortunes change when he buys Herbie, the adorable, anthropomorphic car. The film spawned a raft of sequels including the dire Herbie Fully Loaded starring Lindsay Lohan.
Driven
It seems the producers of this 2001 offering blew the entire budget on special effects leaving nothing to spend on the actual plot. Once again a talented, rookie driver benefits from the advice of a wise, former racing star, this time played by Sylvester Stallone (who also wrote and produced the film, which explains a lot).
Le Mans
This film centres on a 24 hour race on the world’s hardest endurance course: Le Mans in France. Steve McQueen plays Michael Delaney who returns to the race having caused a horrific accident the previous year. There’s very little dialogue but lots of iconic cars doing lots of racing.
