History Main / RoadMovie

* ''AGoofyMovie'' is about Goofy (yes, the Disney character) taking his son Max on a father-son trip, while Max attempts to take a trip to a concert he wishes to attend. After Goofy discovers what he's been up to, they end up doing both.
* ''BeavisAndButthead: Do America''
* In ''Blue State'' two Democrats take a road trip to move to Canada after George W Bush is re-elected President after the 2004 elections.
* ''TheBluesBrothers'', man, ''TheBluesBrothers''.
* The first half of Film/BoysOnTheSide.
* ''BunnyAndTheBull'' is a strange variation. For most of the movie, it appears that you're merely watching Stephen, his best friend Bunny and their mutual love interest Eloisa having a bizarre trek across Europe, but as the film progresses, it becomes apparant that [[spoiler: although these events ''did'' occur, they're being reconstructed in hindsight by Stephen - with his current-day hallucinations added on, just to confuse things - who hasn't left his flat in a year. Plus it seems likely that [[DeadAllAlong half the cast are dead by this point]].]]

* ''ChasingLiberty'' involves air, rail, lorry/car, and aquatic travel.

* ''Dogma'' is about a trip/chase from Illinois to New Jersey. ''Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back'' is about their shenanigans on the way from New Jersey to Los Angeles.

* ''DumbAndDumber'', Harry and Lloyd travel from Rhode Island to Colorado on a dog shaped van.

* ''Film/EuroTrip'' does not use any particular vehicle, instead several trains, planes, and automobiles (including a Yugo outfitted to look like the [[DukesofHazzard General Lee]].
* ''Fanboys'' is about four ([[FiveManBand later five]]) ''StarWars'' fans going from Ohio to California to break into George Lucas' house to see ''the Phantom Menance'' for a friend who won't live to see the film come out.
* ''FearAndLoathingInLasVegas'', both the book and the film.
* ''GenerationKill'' is effectively described as a combination of this genre with a war movie, as it deals with the members of Marine Recon driving through Iraq during the 2003 invasion.

* ''LittleMissSunshine'' is about a family who travels across state lines and has various misadventures along the way, while trying to get to a beauty pageant in time for their daughter to participate.

* ''PriscillaQueenOfTheDesert''.
* All of the Hope/Crosby "[[RoadTo On The Road]]" pictures.
** Referenced in ''FamilyGuy'', with an annual "Stewie and Brian on the Road to (Blank)" episode usually being the highlight of the season.
* ''RoadTrip'' and its spiritual successor, ''Euro Trip'', as well as its spiritual cousins, ''Film/HaroldAndKumarGoToWhiteCastle'' and ''Film/HaroldAndKumarEscapeFromGuantanamoBay''.
* ''TheMuppetMovie''
* ''{{Narcissu}}'' is a VisualNovel example.

* ''RainMan''

* ''Film/TheRoad'', a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel and film starring Viggo Mortensen about a boy and his father following an abandoned highway AfterTheEnd.
* ''RubinAndEd'' comically relates a trip made through Utah to give a man's deceased cat a proper burial.

* ''TheStand'' turns into an AfterTheEnd version of this.

* ''TommyBoy'' follows Tommy and Richard's travels as they attempt to sell brake pads. Complete with singing along with the car radio, hitting a deer, and other events typical of the genre.
* ''{{Transamerica}}''

* ''WildAtHeart''
* Director WimWenders has made at least four road movies (''KingsOfTheRoad'', ''Alice in the Cities'', ''The Wrong Move'' and ''ParisTexas'').

* ''WristcuttersALoveStory'' features a road trip in a CrapsackWorld afterlife for those who have committed suicide. The main characters, one in search for his girlfriend, is joined by a girl who ended up there by mistake.

* ''Sex Drive'' - A guy, his buddy, and female friend drive across the country to meet up with a girl he met on the internet who promises to "go all the way."

* ''RV''

* ''Film/TheMotorcycleDiaries'' follows a young Che Guevara and his friend Alberto touring South America on a motorbike. His experiences on the road slowly shape his revolutionary views.

* ''LittleMissSunshine'' is about a family who travels across state lines and has various misadventures along the way, while trying to get to a beauty pageant in time for their daughter to participate.
* ''Film/TheWizard'' is about a boy who runs away from home and breaks his brother out of a mental institution. The two meet a girl who discovers the younger boy's knack for video gaming, and the three set out to participate in a national video game tournament. The kids aren't old enough to drive, but it involves the use of a vehicle in instances when various adults are able to help them. Otherwise, it's a borderline case.
* ''I Went Down'' is about two low level gangsters sent out by their boss to find a wayward associate and bring him back. Managed the impossible by making a car journey across Ireland, which can easily if not comfortably, be done in a single day, seem like a truly epic journey.
* All of the Hope/Crosby "[[RoadTo On The Road]]" pictures.
** Referenced in ''FamilyGuy'', with an annual "Stewie and Brian on the Road to (Blank)" episode usually being the highlight of the season.
* ''RoadTrip'' and its spiritual successor, ''Euro Trip'', as well as its spiritual cousins, ''Film/HaroldAndKumarGoToWhiteCastle'' and ''Film/HaroldAndKumarEscapeFromGuantanamoBay''.
* ''TheMuppetMovie''
* ''National Lampoon's Vacation'' and its sequels.
* ''RV''
* ''{{Transamerica}}''
* ''Interstate 60: Episodes of the Road''

* ''RainMan''
* ''Film/{{Starman}}''
* ''{{Narcissu}}'' is a VisualNovel example.

* ''TheStand'' turns into an AfterTheEnd version of this.
* ''TheBluesBrothers'', man, ''TheBluesBrothers''.
* "Thunderball Rally", a campaign for the ''d20Modern'' RPG in ''Polyhedron'' magazine and inspired by {{Road Movie}}s, puts the players in an illegal cross-country road race in 1976.
* ''Sex Drive'' - A guy, his buddy, and female friend drive across the country to meet up with a girl he met on the internet who promises to "go all the way."

* ''WristcuttersALoveStory'' features a road trip in a CrapsackWorld afterlife for those who have committed suicide. The main characters, one in search for his girlfriend, is joined by a girl who ended up there by mistake.
* In ''Blue State'' two Democrats take a road trip to move to Canada after George W Bush is re-elected President after the 2004 elections.
* ''Film/EasyRider'' centers around the main characters' road trip to New Orleans. [[DownerEnding It isn't]] [[ShootTheShaggyDog a comedy]].
* ''DumbAndDumber'', Harry and Lloyd travel from Rhode Island to Colorado on a dog shaped van.
* ''Film/{{Zombieland}}'' is pretty much a RoadMovie set after the zombie apocalypse. Initially, Columbus is looking to get to Columbus, Ohio to find his estranged parents (mostly for want of anything else to do) and the girls are going to Pacific Playland. Tallahasee is [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge mostly just in it for the zombie killin']] (and the [[TrademarkFavoriteFood Twinkies]]). [[spoiler:Halfway through Columbus finds out his parents are very probably dead already, and once the climax at Pacific Playland is over the end of the movie seems to signal the four of them starting their WalkingTheEarth]].
* ''BunnyAndTheBull'' is a strange variation. For most of the movie, it appears that you're merely watching Stephen, his best friend Bunny and their mutual love interest Eloisa having a bizarre trek across Europe, but as the film progresses, it becomes apparant that [[spoiler: although these events ''did'' occur, they're being reconstructed in hindsight by Stephen - with his current-day hallucinations added on, just to confuse things - who hasn't left his flat in a year. Plus it seems likely that [[DeadAllAlong half the cast are dead by this point]].]]
* ''FearAndLoathingInLasVegas'', both the book and the film.
* Director WimWenders has made at least four road movies (''KingsOfTheRoad'', ''Alice in the Cities'', ''The Wrong Move'' and ''ParisTexas'').
* ''Film/{{Duets}}'' follows the stories of three pairs of people as they progress through a national karaoke competition.
* ''Wir können auch anders'' may be the only example set entirely in Germany. Twist: The two brothers who are the protagonists are illiterate and can't read road signs. As the director said, Germany's too small (compared to the US) and too well signposted to make a road movie story set there long enough, otherwise.

* ''Film/TheReturn'' is about a father-son fishing trip...where the father has been missing for the past 12 years and returned just the previous afternoon under mysterious circumstances, leaving the two sons to wonder if their lives are in danger.
* ''RubinAndEd'' comically relates a trip made through Utah to give a man's deceased cat a proper burial.
* ''TommyBoy'' follows Tommy and Richard's travels as they attempt to sell brake pads. Complete with singing along with the car radio, hitting a deer, and other events typical of the genre.
* ''PriscillaQueenOfTheDesert''.
* ''Film/TheMotorcycleDiaries'' follows a young Che Guevara and his friend Alberto touring South America on a motorbike. His experiences on the road slowly shape his revolutionary views.

* ''Film/TheSureThing'' is a great example from TheEighties.
* ''Film/StandByMe'' is about four boys about to enter middle school who travel from their hometown and follow the train tracks in the hopes of finding the dead body of a local boy who was hit by a train. Their adventure starts with the simple morbid curiosity of seeing a genuine dead body, but a lot happens along the way.
* ''Film/EuroTrip'' does not use any particular vehicle, instead several trains, planes, and automobiles (including a Yugo outfitted to look like the [[DukesofHazzard General Lee]].
* And of course, ''Film/PlanesTrainsAndAutomobiles''.
* ''Film/TheDarjeelingLimited'' has three brothers trying to reconcile family bonds on a train across India.
* ''Film/TheRoad'', a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel and film starring Viggo Mortensen about a boy and his father following an abandoned highway AfterTheEnd.
* ''BeavisAndButthead: Do America''
* ''ChasingLiberty'' involves air, rail, lorry/car, and aquatic travel.
* ''WildAtHeart''
* Richard Scarry's Cars and Trucks and Things That Go
* Film/JoyRide
* The first half of Film/BoysOnTheSide.

* ''Literature/TheOdyssey'', in a way. It's basically about a king and his men on their journey home from war. By sea, of course.

* TheOdyssey, in a way. It's basically about a king and his men on their journey home from war. By sea, of course.

* DrivingLessons

-->--'''E.B. White''', ''One Man's Meat''

* ''TheSureThing'' is a great example from TheEighties.
* ''StandByMe'' is about four boys about to enter middle school who travel from their hometown and follow the train tracks in the hopes of finding the dead body of a local boy who was hit by a train. Their adventure starts with the simple morbid curiosity of seeing a genuine dead body, but a lot happens along the way.
* ''EuroTrip'' does not use any particular vehicle, instead several trains, planes, and automobiles (including a Yugo outfitted to look like the [[DukesofHazzard General Lee]].
* And of course, ''PlanesTrainsAndAutomobiles''.
* ''The Darjeeling Limited'' has three brothers trying to reconcile family bonds on a train across India.

* {{''Film/Paul''}} is about two bumbling nerds who are on their way to a Sci-fi convention to pitch a comic one of them's written, only to wind up picking up a [[TheGreys Grey]] named Paul who escaped Area 51 and was trying to get to an area he could contact his people to leave. Hijinks and an accidental kidnapping ensues.

* ''TheRoad'', a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel and film starring Viggo Mortensen about a boy and his father following an abandoned highway AfterTheEnd.

* ''Film/KnockinOnHeavensDoor'': Two terminally ill guys with just a couple of days left to live get to know each other and refuse to just sit in a hospital and await their fate. They still a car and go on a last road trip to see the ocean for the first and last time in their lives. The thing is, the car was used by gangsters to deliver a substantial amount of money to a kingpin.

* JoyRide

Compare [[TenMoviePlots Snyder's description of this plot]], under the title ''Golden Fleece''. Also compare TheQuest, along with [[TheSevenBasicPlots Booker's version]] of the archetypes behind it.

* ''{{Easy Rider}}'' centers around the main characters' road trip to New Orleans. [[DownerEnding It isn't]] [[ShootTheShaggyDog a comedy]].

* ''RoadTrip'' and its spiritual successor, ''Euro Trip'', as well as its spiritual cousins, the ''HaroldAndKumar'' series.

* ChasingLiberty involves air, rail, lorry, and aquatic travel.

* And of course, ''[=~Planes, Trains and Automobiles ~=]''.

----

Compare [[TenMoviePlots Snyder's description of this plot]], under the title ''Golden Fleece''. Also compare TheQuest, along with [[TheSevenBasicPlots Booker's version]] of the archetypes behind it.

Not all Road Movies involve use of a vehicle, but it's often what one associates with the genre: a family or group of friends traveling in a car or a van from one place to another, with stuff happening at each location. Because of the vastness of the continental United States compared to other countries, most road movies take place there.

Not all Road Movies involve use of a vehicle, but it's often what one associates with the genre: a family or group of friends traveling in a car or a van from one place to another, with stuff happening at each location.