April 11, 2006

RV movies.

Adam, at Throwing Things, ReViles the new Robin Williams movie. At his behest, I viewed the horrible, horrible trailer -- no pun intended -- for "RV." Pee-yoo!

(Okay, somebody slam me this time for hating a movie I haven't seen. I dare you!)

Anyway, there's an RV movie tradition, isn't there? I think of "Lost in America" and "About Schmidt." These were both quite good, and used the RV to good effect. And, at the edge of my consciousness, just beyond reach, there's some movie with Randy Quaid parking his RV in front of some relative's house and causing trouble.

What are the other movies of the RV genre? (And does Williams's new movie exploit all the clichés?)

What is the original RV movie? It's "The Long, Long Trailer," right?
It's a fine thing when you come home to your home and your home is gone!
Comedy gold, mined since (at least) 1954.

24 comments:

al said...

"Stripes"

You forgot the classic line:

"Czechoslovakia! It's like going to Wisconsin."

Christmas Vacation (a classic in our house) is the movie Ann is trying not to remember.

knox said...

*Anything* with Robin Williams = P.U.

That poor old thing is just obnoxiousness personified. And now he's old, so there's something kind of yucky and unseemly about it too....

Telecomedian said...

Randy Quaid's perfect delivery of the line "the sh!tters' full!" was in National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation.

knox said...

The "Stripes" comments makes me think of Bill Murray, who, unlike, Robin Williams is aging gracefully and getting better "like a fine wine" LOL

Ann Althouse said...

Speaking of going to Wisconsin, there's the wonderful movie "Strozek," but it's more of a stationary trailer type thing, not an RV.

Verification word: refrge. No, I don't want to live like a refrge. Even in an RV.

Barry said...

Albert Brooks' absolutely brilliant Lost In America. Two yuppies quit their jobs, sell their house, and decide to roll across America in a Winnebago.

"You spent the nest egg!"

Laura Reynolds said...

The Long, Long, Trailer. First thing that came to my mind before I saw you had it. Is it fair to compare anything to that?

jeff said...

Perhaps one of the earliest wide-release movies to involve an RV: Disney's Escape to Witch Mountain probably did very nice things for Winnebago's popularity.

Susan said...

OMG The Long Long Trailer: The first movie I remember the whole family piling into the Packard to see at the drive-in.

Bissage said...

Susan: OMG = TMBG = "Everything right is wrong again, just like in the long, long trailer. All the dishes got broken and the car kept driving and nobody would stop to save her!"

Somebody had to do it.

I'm Full of Soup said...

Ann: I thought About Schmidt was pretty bad entertainment.

SippicanCottage said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
knox said...

sippican:

I haven't seen anything funnier...

"...unless round is funny"

SippicanCottage said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Troy said...

I recall a movie from the early 1980s (Ricky Schroeder and Willliam Holden... Ricky's parents are RV'ing and they park their RV on a precipice. The brakes fail and both parents do an unintentional "Thelma and Louise" off the cliff leaving little Ricky to cope with the gruff Holden.

Can't recall the title, but a great RV smashing scene.

SpaceBalls also had the RV version of the Millennium Falcon.

Pat Patterson said...

The first RV film actually has to be The Grapes of Wrath with Henry Fonda and no breast feeding scene. Just a group of Oklahoma tourists looking for an Orange Julius and an avocado sandwich.

al said...

(1) Kill Bill (I or II?) - best RV movie fight scene ever....even better than the Raising Arizone fight.

Pretty that was Kill Bill II.

Have to agree with Wild Thornberrys. Thats a pretty decent movie.

As for "Meet the Fockers" anything with Hoffman and/or Striesand is unwatchable. Such a letdown from "Meet the Parents"

Reel Fanatic said...

Agree that Lost in America is comedy bliss and that RV sounds more like something you might find underneath one's tires .. can't believe Gob Bluth is in this

knox said...

The first RV film actually has to be The Grapes of Wrath

LOL

sonicfrog said...

Yeah, that RV thing does not look like the star vehicle Robin Williams was hoping for... Yuk, Yuk!

There's a cute Parrot movie called "Paulie" (parrots are to me what squirrels are to Ann).

Does the tour bus in "Almost Famous" count.

"It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World" had an RV in it, didn't it?

"Rat Race", the IaMMMMW remake, had one, but the movie is God Awfull. Stinks!!!

Stri.. "We had a car waiting".. pes.

I was thinking of an old movie that was titled "Yours Mine, and Ours" which I associated with Lucile Ball and an RV. It turns out, like the rest of you, I was realy thinking of "The Long, Long Trailer", though Mrs. Ball did produce "Y,M,O", and I don't Know if it had an RV in it.

If busses count as RV's, then I have to include 1976's "The Big Bus". Best movie line: "Eat one lousy foot and they call you a cannibal!"

Ron said...

Can't forget the RV in From Dusk til Dawn!

Troy said...

Steve "The Jerk" Martin loses his virginity to a carnie in an RV.

Reel Fanatic said...

I would have to say my favorite RV movie is Lost in America, but the best Albert Brooks movie, in my opinion

BREntBROwn said...

I can't believe no one added the Peter Fonda classic, "Race with the Devil!"