California calls itself the Road Trip Republic so it’s no wonder that Hollywood loves a silver screen tribute to driving. Here are our top 20 movie Detours.

1. The Blues Brothers

“It’s 106 miles to Chicago. We’ve got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it’s dark and we’re wearing sunglasses”. So begins one of the most destructive car chases in movie history as Jake and Elwood lead a trail of carnage in the wake of their ‘mission from god’ to deliver $5,000 to save their old catholic orphanage. John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd and an ensemble cast of incredible musicians from James Brown to Aretha Franklin ensure that the soundtrack is also one of the best in the business.

2. Planes, Trains and Automobiles

It’s Thanksgiving and snooty adman Steve Martin and curtain ring salesman John Candy are both trying to get home from New York to Chicago for the holidays. But the weather is against them. And, initially, they’re pitted against eachother as they compete for transport. Soon enough, they’re thrown together in a rented Chrysler LeBaron Town and Country, sharing motel beds and becoming unlikely buddies in the process.

3. Midnight Run

Bounty hunter Robert De Niro needs to get mob accountant Charles Grodin back to LA from New York in five days. Obviously flying is the easy option, but that hardly makes a great road movie. And Midnight Run is right up there with the best. Pursued by the mob, the FBI and rival bounty hunters the pair make it across country by stealing, borrowing from ex-wives and performing the “Litmus Configuration” test to obtain cash. It’s a bit like Planes, Trains and Automobiles. With guns. We love it.

4. Two Lane Blacktop

With two of its leads best known for their vocals, it’s strange that Two Lane Blacktop is so light on dialogue. But that just means there’s more opportunity to focus on the action as Dennis Wilson and James Taylor’s sultry Driver and Mechanic drag race their way across the ‘States in their ’55 Chevy. When they meet Warren Oates’ GTO in a diner the race becomes a long-haul to Washington DC with the winner taking the loser’s car. The journey is far from smooth, as it’s punctuated by oddball hitch-hikers and the interfering attentions of a pretty girl.

5. Vanishing Point

Vietnam War veteran Kowalski, played by Barry Newman, has to deliver a Dodge Challenger from Denver to San Francisco. In less than 15 hours. To win a bet. Google maps says that’s 1,250 miles, so his average speed needs to be over 80mph including fuel stops, when the speed limit is just 55mph. His exploits get the attention of a blind radio DJ called Super Soul, who helps him avoid the police. Or does he? The film is essentially one big flashback from the opening scene where Kowalski drives straight at a pair of bulldozers forming a road block.

6. Little Miss Sunshine

Seven-year-old Olive Hoover has the chance to compete at the Little Miss Sunshine pageant in California so her rather complex family board their VW micro bus and leave Albuquerque behind. On board with Olive is her heroin-addicted Grandpa, brother Dwayne, uncle Frank and mum and dad. The trip is a series of shocks and disappointments, from Dwayne discovering he can’t fulfil his dream of joining the Air Force, to dad Richard losing a book deal, to, ultimately, Grandpa overdosing in a motel room. But the family vows to get Olive to the pageant nonetheless. This road trip is quite the emotional rollercoaster, so have a hanky handy.

7. National Lampoon’s Vacation

Comedian Chevy Chase obviously has the perfect name for a road trip movie. As Clark Griswald, he takes his family across the US from Chicago to Los Angeles in their new station wagon – their final destination: Walley World. Despite increasingly ridiculous misadventures along the way involving country cousins, dead dogs, off-road excursions and, most memorably Christie Brinkley in a red Ferrari 308 GTS, Clark is determined that the family get to Walley World at all costs.

8. Thelma & Louise

Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon – Thelma and Louise – are taking a trip in Louise’s 1966 Ford Thunderbird convertible, timid Thelma, briefly escaping her abusive marriage, with the independent Louise encouraging her. But within hours the dream holiday has become a nightmare. Thelma is almost raped in a car park, is saved by gun-toting Louise, but then shoots her assailant herself. Soon the FBI are chasing the women on their journey, which gets more complicated and explosive. This is a brilliant piece of movie making by Ridley Scott and the final scene is truly iconic.

9. The Cannonball Run

Based, loosely, on the original Cannonball Baker Sea-To-Shining-Sea Memorial Trophy Dash, created by Brock Yates, The Cannoball Run boasts a cast of stars including Burt Reynolds, Roger Moore, Farrah Fawcett, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr, Peter Fonda and Jackie Chan and cars including a Ferrari 308, Aston Martin DB5, Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow and a Lamborghini Countach. The plot is uncomplicated, the dialogue even more so, as teams race across the USA in this madcap comedy that was popular enough to spawn a sequel and several imitators.

10. The Motorcycle Diaries

In 1952 future revolutionary Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara was a medical student. Before his final year he and his friend Alberto took to the road on Ernesto’s Norton 500. Departing Buenos Aires in Argentina, their goal was to travel to Peru, some 5,000 miles north. Their journey would take them and the Norton they called La Poderosa (The Mighty One) on a spectacular road trip over the Andes, through the Atacama desert and up the coast. It is a journey that leaves Ernesto behind and brings Che to the fore as he encounters such injustice and poverty that he feels he must take action. “I am not me anymore. At least I’m, not the same me I was,” says Guevara.

11. Easy Rider

With money in the bank – actually the tank – from a drug deal, bikers Wyatt and Billy (Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper) are heading to New Orleans for Mardi Gras. Their unconventional looks and attitude make them a target for conservative America. As they ride through the landscape, accompanied by a classic soundtrack from Steppenwolf, The Byrds, Hendrix and Dylan, there are run-ins with police and locals, acid trips and a murderous finale. The groundbreaking movie led to the meteoric rise of Hopper, Fonda and Jack Nicholson.

12. The Straight Story

In 1994 Alvin Straight discovered that his estranged older brother had suffered a stroke. He decided that it was time to put the past behind and pay a visit. With Alvin’s health and eyesight fading he could no longer legally drive a car but he did figure out another way to make the 370-mile journey from Iowa to Wisconsin: a John Deere lawnmower. Hitching a trailer to the ride-on mower he set out on a five-week odyssey which is charted in this heart-warming movie.

13. Logan

It’s 2029, mutants have all-but disappeared, and Logan, aka Wolverine, is reduced to being a limo driver and part-time carer for Charles Xavier. He’s approached by a woman asking if he will take a mysterious young girl to Canada. Xavier has already had a premonition about her importance and they agree to help. Pursued by Reavers, with both Xavier and Logan’s health fading fast it’s a race against time and evil as they drive to get the girl to safety. This is no standard comic book adventure: it’s dark, intense and moving.

14. The Sugarland Express

Based on a true story, The Sugarland Express follows the misadventures of Lou Jean and Clovis Poplin – two small-town, small-time criminals desperate to prevent their infant child from being adopted. Lou Jean (Goldie Hawn) breaks Clovis (William Atherton) out of jail and they depart for Sugarland, Texas where their son is waiting. It’s not long before they’re stopped by patrolman Maxwell Slide and the couple decide to take him hostage. Directed by Steven Spielberg The Sugarland Express is most notable for its pioneering in-car camera work which lets the audience ride along with the unfortunate trio on their, ultimately tragic, adventure.

15. Rain Man

Raymond ‘Rain Man’ Babbitt (Dustin Hoffman) is the brother Charlie (Tom Cruise) didn’t know he had. When their father dies, sketchy car dealer Charlie inherits a Buick, while millions are in trust for Raymond. Eager to get his hands on the cash Charlie seeks out Raymond, only to discover that his brother is an autistic savant who has lived his life in a specialist institute. Nonetheless, Charlie insists that he takes his brother to Los Angeles in the 1949 Buick Roadmaster he inherited. As the miles increase and their adventures get more elaborate, Charlie and Rain Man bond as brothers. Rain Man won a slew of Oscars, with Dustin Hoffman singled out as Best Actor.

16. The Adventures of Priscilla Queen of the Desert

Drag queens Mitzi, Felicia and their trans friend Bernadette are travelling to Alice Springs for a show. Aboard their pink bus Priscilla they encounter a vast desert landscape and the small minds of the people they meet along the way.

17. Mad Max Fury Road

George Miller’s 2015 take on the original road warrior is an epic. In the post-apocalyptic desert, Imperator Furiosa (Charlize Theron) goes rogue, trying to save the young wives of desert king Immortan Joe. With the help of a sullen Max (a mostly silent Tom Hardy) they storm through the desert in an incredibly elaborate, fortified road train, pursued by Joe’s War Boys. The sheer scale of the desert chases, the imagination that went into the vehicle design and the explosive stunts make this a truly spectacular visual feast.

18. Due Date

Architect Peter (Robert Downey Jr) has to get home to Los Angeles for the birth of his first baby. But after being kicked off a plane thanks to the behaviour of actor Ethan (Zak Galifianakis), they rent a car for the long drive from Atlanta. There are plenty of twists and turns on the way, from crashes to an accidental venture into Mexico and a drugs bust. Will Peter make it in time?

19. Y Tu Mama Tambien

This Mexican coming-of-age movie follows Julio and Tenoch. Their girlfriends have left to travel Europe and, keen to impress beautiful older woman, Luisa they invent a fictional beach paradise and invite her to join them. As they drive through rural Mexico a complicated love triangle forms.

20. On The Road

Jack Kerouak’s seminal book inspired many to take to the road. This 2012 adaptation is fairly true to the story of Sal Paradise and his trips with Dean Moriarty and Marylou. But bringing Kerouak’s creation to the screen was always going to be difficult. It’s his words rather than just the actions of the protagonists that really bring on the wanderlust in On The Road. Give it a go, but better yet, read the book.

Detour's Top 20 Road Trip Movies