LoC #132 Top 112 Road Movies / Journey Films

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MILE 36

Midnigt Run ( 1988 )

Studio: Universal Pictures
Director: Martin Brest

19 Points, 1 List, #7 Edward J Grug III

TRAILER

A bounty hunter must take a mafia accountant from New York back to California to face trial while avoiding the Mafia who wants the accountant dead.

Wise Guys ( 1986 ) was a rare comedy from Brian De Palma. A buddy film starring Danny DeVito and Joe Piscopo as small time gangsters. It was the first script for George Gallo, and it bombed at the box office. De Palma redeemed himself with his next film. The Untouchables ( 1987 ). Some of that film's success was due to a brilliant performance by Robert De Niro as Al Capone. with the completion of The Untouchables, De Niro decided he wanted his next film to be a comedy. Penny Marshall wanted him as the lead of Big ( 1988 ). The film was originally to be directed by Steven Spielberg and star Harrison Ford, but Spielberg eventually backed out, and Marshall took over. She wanted De Niro. but the studio decided they wanted Tom Hanks. Hearing that Robert De Niro was looking to do a comedy, director Martin Brest, offered him the lead in his next movie which was to be a comedy. Brest had previously directed Beverly Hills Cop ( 1984 ), a film that was to star Sylvester Stallone, but who dropped out two weeks before shooting because another movie he was working on with Dolly Parton called  Rhinestone ( 1984 ) was greenlit, forcing Brest to scramble at the last minute to recast, and settling on Eddie Murphy. Brest's new film, Midnight Run, would be the same mix of comedy and action as in Beverly Hills Cop. It would be the second script written by George Gallo, who had previously written Wise Guys.  It was to be made for Paramount Pictures, the same studio which made Beverly Hills Cop, and wanted another action comedy. They also wanted Cher to play the accountant. Brest refused to change the gender of the character. So they suggested Robin Williams, who in turn was eager to take the role. However, Brest had tested Charles Groden and wanted him for the role. Paramount suggested they cast Bruce Willis as a compromise, but Brest insisted on Groden. So Paramount backed out, and the film was offered to Universal instead. And that my friends is Hollywood Musical Chairs. Good night!

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MILE 35

Highway to Hell ( 1992 )

Studio: Hemdale
Director: Ate de Jong

21 Points, 1 List, #5 Pastor of Muppets

TRAILER

A young couple heading to Las Vegas to elope are pulled over by a demon cop who kidnaps the girl and takes her to Hell to be a bride for Satan. It is up to her fiancée to travel through the roads of hell to rescue her.

This is such a wild looking 80s fantasy film, full of effects, and full of prominent celebrity cameos, that I was hoping there would be plenty of production history  on Wikipedia for this write up. But there is none. Not even a mention of the AC/DC song that obviously inspired the movie ( or at the least, it's title. ) Just another one of those films that seems to have popped into existence. What I could dig up was that it was directed by Ate de Jong, a Dutch director who's only previous American film was Drop Dead Fred} ( 1991 ). The script was written by Brian Helgeland who had a more interesting career to talk about. He began his career writing Horror Comedies. His first script about Satan using a phone line to cause havoc was noticed by Robert Englund, the actor who played Freddie Kruger in the Nightmare On Elm Street franchise, who wanted to make the transition to directing. 976-EVIL ( 1988 ) became a first film for both of them, and it lead to Englund suggesting to New Line that Helgeland write the script for A Nightmare On Elm Street 4: Dream Master (1988 ). Along with Highway to Hell, Helgeland continued to write in the fantasy horror genre, writing television scripts for  Friday the 13th: The Series and  Tales From the Crypt, but then found success expanding into other genres. A notable year for him was when he won both the Academy Award for best script for L.A. Confidential ( 1997 )  and a Razzie for worst script for The Postman ( 1997 ).

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MILE 34

Leap of Faith( 1992 )

Studio: Paramount Pictures
Director: Richard Pearce

21 Points, 1 List, #5 Stethacantus

TRAILER

Reverend Nightingale and his crooked evangelical road show break down in a poor drought stricken Kansas  town called Rustwater, and decide to spend the week they are stuck there waiting for replacement parts for their truck to fleece the town with false miracles.  But God may have other plans.

What is making writing this LoC hard is when you look up the production history of a film, and all it has is that Mchael Keaton was considered for the lead, and nothing else. And this was a film I had on my list. It was directed by  Richard Pearce who's most notable work was as cinematographer  on Woodstock ( 1970 ) and written by Janus Cercone, who's only other credit is  co-writing Ed ( 1996 ) which if you don't remember ( and why would you, ) is a Matt LeBlanc comedy about a chimpanzee who joins a baseball team. It came out a year before Air Bud which had the same animal playing in a sport premise, only was far more better received than Ed which was dubbed by critics as one of the worst movies ever made. And, I just have to show you the poster.

Never has a movie poster clued you in to how much of a turd the movie is with such accuracy. So basically, Janus Cercone came on the scene writing  one of my all time favorite films, then ended his career four years later with a repulsive monkey baseball film. And as I have really nothing else to write about this film, I guess I could fill out the write-up with the Steve Martin films that were on no one's lists? Unfortunately, there are not many films he did in that genre.  Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band ( 1978 ) would count, as the band is traveling around looking for magical musical instruments or something. Three Amigos ( 1986 ) would have certainly counted as a road film. The remake of The Out Of Towners ( 1999 ), sort of... The Big Year (2011 ), which I haven't seen yet,  looks like it could count as a road movie from the trailer. And I guess one could make the argument that The Jerk ( 1979 ) is a road movie, as it begins ever so slightly with Martin on the road. And with that, another poor excuse for a write-up is completed.

[Pastor of Muppets]

I saw Highway to Hell maybe once, on HBO, late one summer night in the early 90s.  Somehow it just stuck with me all these years.  It's a fun movie.  I think it'd also make decent riffing material because it is still pretty cheesy.

I remember that part of the plot borrowed from the ancient Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice.  After the guy rescues his girlfriend from Hell, Satan (or someone) tells him to leave and not look back even once.  The guy fucks this up pretty quickly, although instead of the girl disappearing, a big ass horde of demons starts chasing them.

Also, at the beginning of the movie, when the guy and his girlfriend are driving through some desolate part of the American southwest, a local tells him "Ahead of here, you will see two Joshua trees about 100 yards apart.  Whatever you do, don't pull over and take a nap between them."

So naturally, when they see the Joshua trees, they pull over to get some sleep.  It's pretty late at night, so I understand that they're tired.  But come on man!  Literally the only thing these people had to do to stay safe was not take a nap in one very specific portion of the highway, and they somehow could not manage that.

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MILE 33

Up In Smoke ( 1978 )

Studio: Paramount Pictures
Director: Lou Adler

21 Points, 1 List, #5 RVRII

TRAILER

After they are accidently deported to Mexico, two stoners attempt to get back into the United States, driving in a van they don't realize is made out of Marijuana.

No production history for this film. No surprise. Why would stoners who made a movie remember how they made it? More likely no thought was put into any plot other than it stringing together a bunch of their comedy routines. So, without the history of this specific film to talk about, lets look at the history of Cheech and Chong. Thomas Chong was born o May 24th, 1938 in Edmonton, Canada to a Canadian mother and Chinese  father.  A high school dropout by age 16, he had decided he wanted a career in Rock and Roll, learning the guitar, eventually becoming the guitarist for  Bobby Taylor and the Vancouvers, a band who had a top 40  hit in 1965 with Does Your Mama Know About Me?. He left the band soon after, and not long after that met a Mexican American draft dodger from the United States called Cheech. Richard Marin was born in Los Angeles, California on June 13th, 1946. As an infant he was given the nickname Cheech by an uncle who said he looked like a little chicharrón, which was a popular Spanish dish consisting of fried pork. Cheech and Chong began as a comedic band, but soon began performing skits during their stage shows, usually playing the characters of stoners, which soon became their signature characters. About the same time Chech and Chong teamed up, record producer Lou Adler founded Ode Records. In 1971 he signed Cheech and Chong to the label. Their self titled debut album reached #28 on the Billboard album chart., and was nominated for a Grammy in the Comedy category. Their sophomore album Big Bambu was notorious for having a giant sheet of rolling paper in the sleeve. It reached #2 on the Billboard and also received a grammy nomination. Three more albums were released, all best sellers. The also had a few top 40 hits, and eventually won a Grammy. It was about this time that Lou Adler decided Cheech and Chong were ready to make the transition to film. Adler had produced a few films, including The Rocky Horror Picture Show ( 1975 ), and was eager to move into directing. Paramount agreed to finance the film, but upon screening the work print for Up in Smoke, wanted nothing more to do with it and refused to finance the post production, Lou Adler ended up financing it with his own money. The film became a hit, earning around $100 million.


Well, may as well finish the story. Shortly after the release of Up in Smoke, Cheech and Chong left Ode Records, along with Adler, taking the rights to their recordings to Warner Bros. Records. While Warner Bros. re-released their previous albums ( without their innovative package designs ) the only new Cheech & Chong album released was Lets Make a New Dope Deal ( 1980 ) which appeared to be unreleased material recorded for the previous albums. After seeing Up in Smoke, Ivan Reitman, who produced Animal House  and directed Meatballs thought that Cheech and Chong could be that generation's Abbott & Costello. He commissioned a script called Cheech & Chong Join the Army. It was shown to their manager, and he loved it. The script was then sent to Tommy Chong who insisted that he directs the Cheech and Chong films from now on, and would be rewriting the entire script to include mostly their material. Reitman was so insulted that he decided to have the script rewritten for Bill Murray, and it eventually became Stripes ( 1981 ). Despite Chong insisting that he direct their films, and that he and Cheech write the scripts and have full creative control, studios were eager to green light their films due to how cheap the budgets would be, and how much money they made at the box office. Their next movie was called Cheech and Chong's Next Movie ( 1980 ), followed by their Ice Cream truck film called Nice Dreams ( 1981 ) which easily could have also qualified for this LoC, and Things Are Tough All Over ( 1982 ) which was also a road movie. This was followed by Still Smokin ( 1983 ), which was essentially a concert film framed with a thin plot about Cheech and Chong going to a film festival in Amsterdam where they are mistaken for Burt Rynolds and Dolly Parton. With Still Smokin they had burned off the last of their comedy standup material on film. That same year they were asked to be in Graham Chapman's pirate film parody Yellowbeard, the first movie where they did not play stoner characters. This was the beginning of the end for the duo. For their next film, Cheech a d Chong's The Corsican Brothers ( 1984 ), they completely abandoned drug humor in favor of a parody of swashbuckler films. It was the most expensive budget up to that time, and their first movie to bomb. Having not recorded an album in years, they began work on Get Out Of My Room, a more polished album than their previous albums with almost no humor, and more song parodies than previous albums. An accompanying behind the scenes mocumentary which included music videos for the song parody was also released as a direct to video movie. Once again, fans did not respond well to the duo abandoning their stoner personas. However, the album did produce a successful single. Born In East L.A., a parody of Buce Springsteen's Born in the U.S.A,,  which peaked just outside of the top 40. The video, which depicted Cheech being deported and having to sneak back into America, became a hit on MTV. The final straw for the group came when Tom McLoughlin, who had been hired by Paramount to reboot their Friday the 13th film franchise after they had killed Jason off two films earlier, pitched to the duo that the next film should star Cheech and Chong as the camp counselors who accidentally bring Jason back to life, and have to figure out a way to stop him. Despite Cheech being interested, Chong refused to do it as they would have to follow  McLoughlin's script and direction. Cheech was offered a chance by Universal Pictures to write, direct and star in an expanded version of the Cheech and Chong video for Born in East L.A. ( 1987 ) Not bothering to ask Chong, Cheech went ahead and made a Cheech and Chong movie without Tommy Chong. The team was officially broken up. They would at least mend fences enough in 1990 for Cheech to take a small role in Tommy Chong's solo film Far Out Man ( 1990 ) and appear together in a nativity parody on Howard Stern's Channel 9 Show, but from that point on their team only did the occasional reunion project and otherwise worked independently.

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MILE 32

Two-Lane Blacktop ( 1971 )

Studio: Universal Pictures
Director: Monte Hellman

21 Points, 1 List, #5 Edward J Grug III

TRAILER

Two drag racers and the girl hitchhiker they picked up travel the Southwest challenging other drivers to street races. They meet one driver who challenges them to a cross country car race to Washington D.C.

The counter culture is pretty much non existent on this LoC, with no one even bothering to submit the most famous road movie of all time, Easy Rider ( 1969 ). However, one counter culture film did make this list. Monte Hellman's Two-Lane Blacktop. CBS had bought the old Republic Pictures Studios in 1967, initially to produce inhouse movies. But soon launched Cinema City Films which planned to shoot cheap low budget films for theatrical distribution that would later air on CBS. Their first release being the Doris Day comedy With Six You Get Eggroll ( 1968 ). Looking to produce content, Cinema City Films signed a two picture deal with producer Michael Laughlin. He in turn wanted to a short story by Will Corry about two young drag racers who travel across the country and are joined by a girl into a feature film. The film was offered to director Monte Hellman, who took it on condition that a different writer rewrite Corry's script for the film. Musicians  James Taylor and Dennis Wilson were cast as the leads, despite one of the two men in the story and first draft script being African American. About a week into shooting Cinema City Films cancelled the movie. Laughlin took the film to Universal Pictures, and they agreed to finance and release it. However, when the film was completed, head of studio Lew Wasserman hated it, and while contractually obligated to release it, released it without promoting it.

[Edward J Grug III]

Rewatched Two-Lane Blacktop very recently, and it's still amazing.

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MILE 31

Onward ( 2020 )

Studio: Pixar / Disney
Director: Dan Scanlon

21 Points, 1 List, #5 Pac-Man

TRAILER

In a realm inhabited by elves, two elf brothers go on a quest to resurrect their dead father for a day.

There isa touching  story on how director Dan Scanlon came up with the idea for this movie. His father died in an accident when he was just a year old. The family had home movies of his father, but on Super 8 with no sound, so he never knew his voice. A family member found a cassette tape of the family where just near the end his father could be heard saying two words. "Hi" and "Goodbye". And, this being a Pixar film, that is as far as the story goes. No explanation as to how  Scanlon went from hearing his fathers voice for the first time, to writing a movie about elves bringing their late father back to life. But tat's Pixar for you. "I once saw a fish tank as a kid." End result, Finding Nemo. "I once wondered what it would be like if my toys talked." End result, Toy Story. No explanation as to how the plot was developed. Just inspiration direct to completed film. And it is not as if there are a lot of on set stories to draw from, because this is a cartoon. So basically, I have a  two sentence story to pad out into an entire write-up. Thankfully this is the highest ranking Pixar film on this list. So with nothing else about this movie to write about, lets look at just some the other Road Movies from the fantasy genre that did not make this LoC, some which Iam surprised were not on anyone's list. Nothing from the Lord of the Rings or Hobbit films. Plenty of Hercules films had him on a journey, but not here. The many Sinbad movies were not on anyone's list either. Jason and the Argonauts ( 1963 ) may have found the golden fleece, but they failed to find their way to this LoC. Nor did  Clash of the Titans ( 1981 ) or it's remake Clash of the Titans ( 2010 ). Other 80s quest movies no one submitted are The Dark Crystal ( 1982 ), Ladyhawk ( 1985 ), Dragonslayer ( 1981 ), The Princess Bride ( 1987 ) and Willow ( 1988 ). And let's not forget Shrek ( 2001 ) an it's various sequels and spinoffs. Then there are those films that are iffy because not only are the characters not on a road, but their journey takes place in a single location. For example, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory ( 1971 ) all takes place in the same factory. Fantastic Voyage ( 1966 ) through one guy's body. The Goonies ( 1985 ) has a journey through a cave. Journey to the Center of the Earth ( 1959  ) in a much longer cave. Big Trouble  in Little  China ( 1986 ) through a magical underworld that seems to be just a block or two long. And Alien From L.A. ( 1988 ) through a much larger but far crappier underworld. Then, of course, the ultimate Road Movie, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang ( 1968 ), because who needs a road when your car can fly.

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MILE 30

The General ( 1926 )

Studio: United Artists
Director: Buster Keaton and Clyde Bruckman

22 Points, 1 List, #4 Stethacantus

TRAILER

A Confederate engineer must cross enemy lines to retrieve the locomotive Union spies stole from him. And perhaps save his girlfriend as well.

I was hoping to have some silent era films on my list. And did have a few when the list was not yet trimmed down to 25. My trimming process this time was to remove the marginal films that were the least like a traditional Road Movie. And a lot got cut. The one which was the least in the category was Safety Last, which would be in the genre if you substituted the road for the side of a building.  Coming close to making the cut was one of my all time favorite films The Thief of Bagdad ( 1926 ) where the hero is sent on a journey to find a box of magic dust. But that quest is just a small part of the film. About a third of the third act. Not Road Movie enough.  Sparrows 9 1926 ) had Mary Picford and a group of orphans making a dangerous journey through a swamp. But it didn't quite count as a Road Movie. The General was on the bubble, and just barely made it to the final cut. I mean, a railroad is still a road, even if it does have rails. Right? Perhaps my desire to have at least one silent film on this LoC got this into my top 25. But once in the final cut, everything is then ranked by favorite to least favorite. So what nearly didn't make the list now earns the #4 spot on my list., and #30 on the combined list.

Despite this movie being nearly 100 years old, and from an era that was abandoned after Hollywood converted to sound, it has a full production history.  Way more than enough for this write-up. On April 12, 1862, in the midst of the Civil War, a Union spy named James J Andrews and 26 Union soldiers in civilian clothes stole a train in Northern Georgia consisting of an engine called The General, three box cars, seven passenger cars and a caboose. The passenger cars and caboose were immediately disconnected to block the track, while  the telegraph wires were cut to prevent the station from wiring ahead that the train had been stolen. Andrews plan was to take the train all the way to the North, damaging tracks and burning down bridges as they progressed through the South, This would have disabled the Western & Atlantic line which the South needed to resupply their troops. The train's conductor, William A. Fuller, ran after the engine in what was the beginning of a 87 mile chase. Fuller would find other trains along the line to keep up with the stolen train, slowly gaining on The General as the Union spies periodically stopped to rip up tracks. Each time Fuller's various trains were stopped by torn up tracks, he would immediately return tio chasing after the General by foot, until he would fid another train further up the line. Confederate soldiers joined the chase, and the gap between Fuller and the General had closed enough that the spies no longer had the time to rip up tracks without Fuller's train full of Confederate soldiers catching up.  They decided instead to just set fire to the bridges along the line, but were prevented from doing this due to it raining.  Unable to stop for coal or to water the engine, the General ran out of fuel and came to a stop. Andrews and his men abandoned the train and ran off in different directions. But by the ed of the week, Andrews and all of the other Confederate spies were caught. Andrews and seven others were executed. Eight more of the spies escaped from captivity  and made it safely to the North. The remainder wee returned during a prisoner exchange. The entire incident would go down in history as The Great Locomotive Chase.

In early 1926 Keaton read an account of The Great Locomotive Chase. As a train enthusiast, Keaton thought it would make a great comedy. But realizing the majority of ticket sales for his films were in the South, Keaton decided to change the story a bit so that it took the side of the Confederacy. The new version of the Great Locomotive Chase would have the Union spies succeeding in reaching the North, and Keaton sneaking through enemy lines to steal the train back, leading to the film's second chase. Keaton wanted to film on the actual locations where the chase took place, and use the actual General steam engine,  which at the time was on display in the Chattanooga Union Station. His requests were turned down when the owners of the General found out the movie would be a comedy. Keaton ended up shooting the film in Oregon. The movie soon became one of the most expensive movies ever made, with one shot, that of a train unsuccessfully trying to cross a burning bridge ad instead plunging into a river, became the most expensive single shot in silent film history. It was initially a critical and financial disaster, but years later would be recognized as one of the greatest silent films ever made.

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MILE 29

One False Move ( 1992 )

Studio: I.R.S. Releasing
Director: Carl Franklin

22 Points, 1 List, #4 Charles Castle

TRAILER

L.A.P.D. detectives head to Star City, Arkansas to wait for a gang of killers they believe are headed there on a road trip. One problem; The town's police chief may have once been intimate with one of the gang members.

Only two sentences for the production history of this film in Wikipedia. And it is wrong. It basically says that producers Jesse Beaton and Ben Myron hired Carl Franklin to direct One False Move after seeing the film he made for film school. And that this first feature film. Only one problem. When you click the link to Carl Franklin's Wikipedia biography, and look at his filmography, he directed two prior movies in 1989. Nowhere to Run  made for Roger Corman's Concorde Pictures., which had a theatrical release. The Wikipedia page for it credits it as Carl Franklin's "feature film directorial debut". The other film he directed was Eye of the Eagle 2: Inside the Enemy which Carl also wrote the script for. Also made for Concorde, it was a sequel to Eye of the Eagle ( 1987 ). Oka, this got me curious. There is a Eye of the Eagle franchise? A franchise for a film that didn't make a dent at the box office? So I did as much research as I cold, as most websites barely acknowledge the films even exist. But the mystery was finally pieced together. Eye of the Eagle was one of many cheaply made Vietnam War films directed by Philippian director Cirio H. Santiago, because for some reason Vietnam War films were popular in the Philippians in the 80s. Corman would finance them, knowing he would make back his money in the Philippian film market, and release them here as rip-offs of the Rambo and Missing in Action franchises. After it's brief theatrical release, Eye of the Eagle was sold to M.G.M./UA Home Video for release, where it apparently made money for them. So they asked for two more direct to video sequels. Hince, the quickly shot Eye of the Eagle 2: Inside the Enemy and Eye of the Eagle 3: Last Stand at Lang Mei  ( 1989 ), both shot in the Philippians at the same time, which made it necessary for a second director. While Santiago, who produced both films, directed the third movie, Franklin shot the second movie. However, as Franklin is credited for writing the scripts for both Eye of the Eagle 2 and 3, I am going to take a wild guess that he was originally going to shoot both back-to-back. My guess is he was given Nowhere to Run for agreeing to give up the third film. ( Just a guess though. ) This wasn't the end of Corman's involvement with the Eye of the Eagle series. The master of cheap took all the battle scenes from Eye of the Eagle 3 and edited them into another one of his quickie films, Kill Zone ( 1993 ).

Sorry about that diversion there. Lets get back to Carl Franklin's biography, which actually turned out to be  more interesting than I expected, Prior to his switch to directing, he had been an actor for 16 years. Mostly for television where he guest stared on The Streets of San Fransisco, Good Times, Barnaby Jones, The Incredible Hulk, The Rockford Files, The White Shadow, Lou Grant, Quincy M.E., MacGyver, Riptide, Hill Street Blues and A.L.F. along with a bunch of other series. In 1977 he became a cast member of the short lived Science Fiction series The Fantastic Journey about a group of scientists who try to explore the Bermuda Triangle and end up time traveling. Cancelled after ten episodes, NBC had initially enough high hopes for the series that Franklin was chosen to be on Team NBC for Battle of the Network Stars II. He again became a cast member in another short lived series McClain's Law, but is probably better remembered as Captain Crane, one of the Military Police Detectives who were on the hunt for The A-Team, appearing semi-regularly in that series in 17 episodes. Wanting to graduate to directing, he enrolled at the AFI Conservatory in 1986, working for Corman immediately after graduating. After making one final film for Corman, Full Fathom Five ( 1990 ), he returned to his day job of television acting. He was guest starring on Rosanne when he got the offer to direct One False Move

It was written by Billy Bob Thornton, an actor who after years of only getting minor roles, he finally landed a cast member role on The Outsiders, which was unfortunately a FOX series, so got cancelled after 10 episodes. Deciding the only way to get a decent role would be to write one for himself, he wrote the script for One False Move with him as the leader of the criminal gang. The movie was  meant to be released direct to video. But did so well at it's test screenings that the producers decided to go for a theatrical release. Critics loved the film. Gene Siskel ranked it at #1 of the best movies of 1992. Billy Bob Thornton became a cast member to the successful sitcom Hearts  Afire, then a successful actor and director with Sling Bade  in 1996. Carl Franklin never quite recaptured the critical acclaim of One False Move, coming close with Devil in a Blue Dress in 1995. He  continued to direct for both movies and television, allowing him to give up his acting day job for good in 1992.

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MILE 28

Beavis & Butt-Head Do The Universe( 2022 )

Studio: Paramount+
Director: John Rice & Albert Calleros

22 Points, 1 List, #4 RVRII

TRAILER

It had been 26 years since Beavis and Butt-Head Do America. More than a quarter century is an unusually long time for a sequel, especially one that MTV Productions and Paramount had wanted for years. Mike Judge wanted to give up Beavis and Butt-Head as far back as 1995, citing how doing the Beavis voice was hurting his own voice. But it was a lot more than that. They had edited or banned his earlier episodes due to complaints from activist groups. Most notably was the removal of all references to fire, and the episodes where Beavis set fire to something, after a five year old boy set fire to his trailer resulting in the death of his two year old sister. The mother claimed that her son was inspired to burn their trailer down from watching Beavis and Butt-Head. Even after it was revealed that the family didn't have cable television and the child had never seen a [i[]Beavis and Butt-Head[/i] cartoon, the censorship on fire remained in place. As MTV increased it's censorship of the antics of Beavis and Butt-Head, two characters who were originally meant to be unhinged juvenile delinquents, they also began taking creative control away from the show's creator Mike Judge, bringing in other writers for the series. Mike's creative input was reduced to the music video segment where he would go through the MTV music video library and select the videos Beavis and Butt-Head were to comment on. However, after a magazine article where it was claimed that record sales were effected by whether Beavis and Butt-Head said a video sucked or not, MTV began selecting videos, and telling Judge which ones they wanted him to be positive on. The final straw was when Judge learned that MTV was making millions merchandising Beavis and Butt-Head without telling him or giving him any of the profits. As far as MTV was concerned, they owned the characters, they had creative control over the show, and Judge was just a hied voice actor to do the characters. Judge saw the writing on the wall when Nickelodeon fired John K. from The Ren & Stimpy Show and simply recast Ren. They didn't need him to continue making the series. He had already signed away his nights to both characters in order for the series to be made, and were o longer allowing him any creative input.

That was when  the newly formed MTV Productions asked him to agree to do a Beavis and Butt-Head movie. The production company had been founded to make theatrical versions of MTV owned media. Which was still just  their bumpers and cartoon shows, and were already producing a movie based on the Joe's Apartment bumper. Rumer was that MTV had auditioned voice actors to replace Judge, but were unable to find any that sounded like either Butt-Head or Beavis. They needed Judge's  voice for a movie. Judge agreed on the conditions that he had a share in merchandise and profits, and that he would both write and direct the movie. After Beavis and Butt-Head Do America was released, MTV was eager to follow up on it's success with a new season of  the show. Judge agreed, but only if it was to be the final season with a series finale, that the episodes were shorter, and that he would no longer shoot the music video segments, forcing them to rerun the music video segments from earlier episodes. The final season ended with the episode Beavis And Butt-Head Are Dead where the town mistakenly believed both characters had died and hold a memorial/celebration. MTV followed up Beavis and Butt-Head with the spin off series Daria In the second season of Beavis and Butt Head, MTV executives had insisted Judge create a female character for the series as a voice of reason against their antics, which had become the recurring character of Daria Morgendorffer. The new series had Daria's family moving to a new town and her attending a new high school, and introduced a lot of characters not from the series it was based on. Daria lasted five seasons, but never came close to the success of Beavis and Butt-Head

While this was going on, MTV was attempting to capitalize on the success of the not very talented Playboy model Jenny McCarthy, who MTV had hired as the spokesmodel for their gameshow Singled Out. A retread of the premise for The Dating Game with the gimmick that the contestant begins with a room filled with 100 potential suiters before narrowing the choices down to three, and then decides which one to date by having each perform in a sketch. Viewers cared nothing for the blatant Dating Game rip-off. They tuned in to see Jenny, who despite being extremely annoying, never disappointed in the outfits she wore. In 1997 MTV made the colossal  mistake of deciding to remove Jenny from Remote Control and giving her a show of her own. Carmen Electra was brought in as the new spokesmodel, and the ratings plummeted. Meanwhile, the sketch comedy show MTV gave Jenny McCarthy was also a ratings failure, mostly due to her not being talented. However, MTV caught a break when NBC showed interest in doing a sitcom with Jenny McCarthy as the star. It was ten that MTV Productions mad another colossal mistake, They insisted the sitcom air on Sunday Nights at 8:30 PM. The reason for insisting on that time slot was that MTV had learned that FOX had just picked up a new series from Mike Judge called King of the Hill which was essentially a younger version of  Tom Anderson, the next door neighbor from Beavis and Butt-Head, but legally different enough that MTV could legally do quat to stop Judge from making the show. FOX had a habit of cancelling promising series if they didn't do well in the ratings immediately, so MTV decided to sabotage King of the Hill by counter programming the Jenny McCarthy sitcom against it., drawing away any potential MTV viewers who were following Judge to his latest animated series. One problem. CBS, NBC and ABC had a long standing agreement with the FCC that programming on Sunday Nights between 7:00pm and 9:00pm be strictly G rated. As a result, CBS had the religious series Touched By An Angel in the 8pm slot, and ABC the second half of their Wonderful World of Disney anthology series. MTV's new sitcom Jenny was welcome in that time slot. But it would need to follow very strict standards and practices guidelines. Which meant no risqué humor, and Jenny McCarthy was forbidden from wearing anything sexy. ( For example, an episode where Jenny goes to the beach restricted her character to wearing a one piece bathing suit with a skirt, a style that had not been worn on young adults since the 1950s. )Without being crude or sexy, MTV fans of McCarthy quickly abandoned the show and watched King of the Hill instead. Jenny ended up cancelled after a few episodes.

Mike Judge was furious at MTV for attempting to kill off King of the Hill by counter programming  Jenny against it. So as far as he was concerned, he wanted nothing more to do with Beavis and Butt-Head. And that included any second movie, which MTV Productions were eager to make as many of their other movies wee bombing at the box office. In 2005 Judge had forgiven MTV enough to participate in a DVD release of the three volume Beavis and Butt-Head: The Mike Judge Collection. It was to be the original episodes including the banned episodes with all the censored and deleted material restored. Judge himself oversaw the restoration of a few episodes where material was deleted from the master tapes, sourcing the censored material from the work prints. However, in MTV's excuse for wisdom, they decided that most of the episodes remain censored, and instead of using the restored episodes, rereleased the same censored episodes as used in previous home video releases. Mike Judge was not told of this, and allowed to promote the collection as uncut, uncensored and unedited, even going as far as defending MTV on message boards saying he oversaw the restoration, and none of the episodes had missing material. When he was eventually shown a store bought copy with the episodes still censored, he had to write an apology letter to his fans. Once again he decided he was done working for MTV.

In 2009, with the final season of King of the Hill completed, Judge began to contemplate making new Beavis and Butt-Head episodes, and wondered if MTV, which had not aired the series in years, would be willing to license out the characters so he could make the series for FOX. Judge still liked the characters, and had only given up on them because he didn't like working with the executives at MTV. After some negotiating, Judge eventually agreed to make new seasons of Beavis and Butt-Head for MTV. Season 8 debuted on MTV on October 27, 2011, 14 years after Season 7 aired. 22 episodes were made, with MTV promising they would order additional seasons should it do well in the ratings. The new episodes of Beavis and Butt-Head did exceptionally well in the ratings, and Judge was sure he would get the call to make more seasons. The wait lasted months, then years, then Judge concluded that MTV had cancelled the series without telling anyone, and told as such to his fans who asked. He instead went on to make Silicon Valley for HBO. When Silicon Valley ended in 2019, Mike Judge again became interested i reviving Beavis and Butt-Head. Provided it was for a different network than MTV. Comedy Central was one of the MTV owned channels, yet worked independent from them. South Park had then been on the channel for 22 years and was not only still under the creative control of Trey Parker and Matt Stone, but aside from an episode depicting Mohammad  being pulled from broadcast out of fear of instigating a real terrorist strike against Comedy Central, had not censored any of the episodes ( aside from bleeping curse words when broadcast in prime time ) despite constant controversy and demand from pressure groups the show should be cancelled.  Judge felt it was the perfect network to air any new seasons and allow him to regain creative control. In 2020 it was announced that Comedy Central had ordered 20 episodes for broadcast on their channel. However,  the series was suddenly commandeered by Paramount+ as content for their streaming network. The new deal would have Judge produce 23 episodes which would originally air exclusively on Paramount+ before later being broadcast on MTV. Judge would get creative control as well as the budget he asked for. Furthermore, Beavis and Butt-Head began appearing as part of promotional commercials for Paramount+. As Judge negotiated for a second season for Paramount+, the Paramount executives told them their desire for a live action Beavis and Butt-Head movie that they wanted him to help them cast. Judge talked them out of it, telling them an animated film was what fans of the series really wanted. Eventually Judge agreed to write an star in a Beavis and Butt-Head feature film, the first since Beavis and Butt-Head Do America. Eventually it was decided that Beavis and Butt-Head Do The Universe would be a Paramount+ exclusive movie, which would be followed by 27 additional episodes of the series for a season 10, also on Paramount+.

[stethacantus]

MILE 27

The Wages of Fear ( 1953 )

Studio: Cinédis
Director: Henri-Georges Clouzot

22 Points, 1 List, #4 Edward J Grug III

TRAILER

An oil well is South America catches fire, and the only way to put it out is with an explosion using nitroglycerine. But the oilwell is remote, and the only way to get it there is by truck over  some extremely bumpy mountain roads which could easily cause the nitroglycerine  on board to explode. Four men desperate for money ae hired to make the dangerous journey.

With so much talk on this site of the William Friedkin film Sorcerer  ( 1977 ), I was surprised no one had it on their lists. Which is probably a good thing for me because it is a remake of this film, and this film has a thin production history. ( Then again, Friedkin claimed it was based on the source novel and not a remake of this film. But still, that would mean spreading a write-up between two different films.   Despite his reservations for the script, French film director Henri-Georges Clouzot  was contractually obligated to direct a comedy called Miquette (1950). The film bombed at the box office and was panned by critics, but it was not a total disaster for Clouzot . On the set he met aspiring actress Véra Gibson-Amado, who at the time was working as an assistant to the continuity supervisor. Both  Henri and Véra fell in love, and were married. An immigrant from Brazil, Véra wanted to return to her homeland for their honeymoon and show Henri the wonders of her country. He was inspired enough that he hired a film crew and began shooting a documentary of the country. However, it was shut down when the government found out most of the documentary would be about the poverty stricken neighborhoods instead of the picturesque  tourist spots. Forced to return to France without completing the documentary, Clouzot never the less picked up a love and fascination for South America. Back at home he sought out a book written by another Frenchman of South America. Georges Arnaud was the pen name of Henri Girard, an aristocrat with a notorious past. In 1941 the 24 year old Henri was arrested for the murder of his father and aunt, who were murdered in  their castle along with their servant. Henri claimed they had been killed by an intruder, who inexplicably let him live. He was arrested and put in prison to await trial, but due to the German invasion of World War II, remained in prison for two years before he was given his trial, where a jury found him not guilty. Once freed, he blew through his inheritance, and was eventually deep in debt with no money to his name. To evade his creditors, he fled to South America where he spent the next three years. He returned in 1950, became an author by the name of Georges Arnaud, and used his experiences in South America as his basis for his first novel The Wages of Fear. Wanting to do a movie based in South America, Henri-Georges Clouzot  acquired the rights to the novel, only making  a minor change by adding a female character so he would have a role for his wife Véra. It was a financial and critical success. It was released in America in 1955, but drastically cut after being deemed anti-American due to the negative portrayal  of the American executives off S.O.C., the fictional oil company responsible for the burning oil rig. Anything showing them negatively had to be cut before it could be released in America, resulting in the loss of 35 minutes of footage. Three years later, Howard W. Koch mad an unauthorized remake called Violent Road ( 1958 ) which substituted rocket fuel for the nitroglycerine  in the original. And as mentioned, William Friedkin made Sorcerer in 1977 which he said was based on the novel and not a remake of the Henri-Georges Clouzot  film. And a sad note about actress Véra Gibson-Amado who inspired the making of this film. She would go on to make two more films for her husband Henri-Georges Clouzot. Les Diaboliques  in 1955 where she was the co-star, and The Spies in 1957 . Shortly after completing The Spies, Véra suffered a sudden heart attack and died at the age of 46.

[Edward J Grug III]

While Sorcerer is a great film, Wages of Fear is better, IMO

[stethacantus]

MILE 26

Kingpin ( 1996 )

Studio: M.G.M.
Director: Peter Farrelly and Bobby Farrelly

23 Points, 1 List, #3 Pastor of Muppets

TRAILER

A former bowling champion who's career ended when thugs took his right hand,  discovers an Amish bowling phenom he wishes to manage.

When I made my own list, this is one of the films I completely forgot about, and may have put in my top 25 had I remembered it. An atypical Farrelly Brothers film that is part crude humor and part unexpectedly sentimental and heartwarming. Unfortunately this is another film without no existing production history, other than the Farrelly Brothers were handed a script that had been circulating in Hollywood for a couple of years that they thought was a parody of The Color of Money ( 1986 ), only replacing pool with bowling.  And I had to dig that nugget up by searching the internet for a Farrelly Brother interview where they talked about the film, which they are not eager to talk about as it bombed at the box office on release. So, usually when a film does not have any production history, the next step is to do the history of the source material. Was it based on a true event? Was it based on a novel? What was the history of that novel? If none exists, then does the author of the novel have an interesting history? A lot of the time the script was an original story with no source to look up. So the next step would be to look up the creatives behind the film. The script writer and the director. Sometimes you can find something in their histories that lead them to make the movie. Other times their biography is interesting enough to be mentioned. But then you find writers and directors who's biography you can't use, usually because they are too thin or non existent. Thay's when I am forced to resort to listing films that didn't make this LoC in order to have something in this write-up. Of course, I could simply do a critical analysis of the films. The problem is, while  I have seen all 25 films on my own list, there are too many films on the other lists I have never seen, so that option is out. With Kingpin I have a different problem. It is a Farrelly Brothers film. And I can't do the Farrelly Brothers biography yet, because they have more than one movie on this LoC, and I am saving it for their  highest ranking film. I thought I caught a break as this is one of the few Farrelly Brothers films they didn't write. So I could write up the biography of script writers Barry Finaro and Mort Nathan, right? Nope. Both of their bio's are a paragraph long and are mostly a brief list of the scripts they wrote. Here is the only thing of interest I found on the two. They are both a writing team, who wrote the series The Golden Girls. That's right. Kingpin is from the writers of The Golden Girls. I wonder why that wasn't on the poster or in the trailers? So with not enough to use for a write-up, my only option left was to resort to a list of sports movies that didn't make this LoC. That's when I realized. Most sports movies are about teams that travel from venue to venue. And then I realized. Tis is the only true sports film to make this LoC. Yea, there are a few films with car racing, mostly illegal street races. And a film that ends in a video game tournament. But Kingpin is the only one you could say is squarely in the Sports Movie genre. I recall Slap Shot ( 1977 ), A League of Their Own ( 1992 ), The Replacements ( 2000 ), The Mighty Ducks( 1992 ), Air Bud ( 1997 ), Major League ( 1989  ), Friday Night Lights ( 2994 ) and The Bad News Bears ( 1976 ) all having part of the film take place on the road. And then there are fictional sports films like Rollerball ( 1975 ). I haven't seen these films in years, sometimes decades, so I can't remember how much of the film has them on the road, and if it was enough to qualify for anyone's list. The only sports film I can say for sure would not qualify is Field of Dreams ( 1989 ). because that field does not move. ( Then again, didn't Costner go on a road trip mid film to find James Earl Jones and Burt Lancaster? )

[stethacantus]

MILE 25

The Straight Story ( 1999 )

Studio: Walt Disney Pictures
Director: Davifd Lynch

23 Points, 1 List, #3 Charles Castle

TRAILER

Alvin Straight wants to visit his ailing brother in Wisconsin , but can't drive a car. So he goes to plan B. Drive his lawnmower the entire 240 mile journey.

Another milestone. We have reached number 25. Much like Allvin Straight, we are slowly but surely getting to the end of our journey. The movie was based on the real life journey of Alvin Straight, a 73 year old who lived in Laurens, Iowa. In June of 1994 his brother in Wisconsin had a stroke. Alvin's eyesight too poor to get a drivers license, but after finding out he didn't need a license to drive a riding lawnmower, decided to drive his 1966 John Deer mower the entire trip to his brother's house by using the highway shoulders. His journey was reported in an article in the New York Times, which in turn was read by Mary Sweeney, a film editor who frequently worked for David Lynch. She thought it would make a great film, but found out that producer Ray Stark had already acquired the rights to the story and was turning it into a movie starring Paul Newman as Alvin. For whatever reason,  that movie was never made, and as soon as the rights became available again, Sweeney grabbed them. She immediately began writing a script along with a childhood friend named John Roach, and when completed, presented the script to Davil Lynch. He loved the script, and agreed to make the film.