Rich Hall on the road movie - BBC4 9pm tonight

mike65

Rich Hall's Continental Drifters

The comedian presents a history of the American road movie. He travels through South Dakota, Wyoming and Montana to explore how the country's culture has both shaped and been shaped by the genre, and analyses films including Bonnie and Clyde, The Grapes of Wrath, Thelma & Louise, Vanishing Point, Five Easy Pieces and The Wizard of Oz

His previous film doc, about the American western genre was pretty good (apart rom dissing Leone!).

mickoregan

I watched most of it. It was pretty lightweight, I thought. He didn't really have much in the way of anything original to say.
I did enjoy seeing some of those old clips again though - Vanishing Point, Five Easy Pieces, etc.

losthorizon

I sat down to watch it as it brings together two of my favourite subjects travel and movies and I find Rich Hall verry funny but I turned the programme off after about 15 minutes. His Factual programmes dont work for me and he should stick to comedy. It was just very boring.

bnt

I missed this, but they're showing it again: BBC4, 11PM Monday 21/11.

mike65

I thought the non film parts as Hall looked at the development of the US road landscape was the most interesting part. His definition of road movie was pretty narrow - he concentrated on the "personal journeys" aspect as people look to escape from or get to a better place. So no Smokey or Death Race 2000.

dr.bollocko

I have to say I really enjoyed it. The Lucas rant was pretty funny.

Russell Brand On the Road was after. Lasted 2 minutes before microwaving the remote.

take everything

Just watching this.
I really need to watch some of these films again.

bnt

I recorded this, just watching it now. Better than I was expecting from the comments here. I fully agree with Rich's interpretation about what a "road movie" is: it's about the journey, which (like The Wizard of Oz) doesn't necessarily have to involve a car. He quotes someone about the difference between being "rootless" and "homeless", which brought to mind another quote (from Kinky Friedman): "there's a big difference between the Street and the Road".

So, while the contestants on the Cannonball Run are crossing America at high speed, they aren't actually going anywhere, are they? Which kinda makes Smokey and the Bandit half a road movie, I think: the Bandit was just heading home with the beer, being chased by a mad Texas sheriff, but it was Frog (Sally Field) who was making a real personal journey.

If the programme gets a little confused, I think that reflects the growing confusion in "road movies" over the years, which in turn reflects confusion about what "the road" meant.