Since it's travel month on Apartment Therapy, we're beginning a list of our favorite film escapes. There are so many good movies about travel — amazing locations that move the plot forward are a director's dream. It seems almost silly to pick just 8 movies, but we're starting with a small number in the hope that you'll help us round out the list.
- To Catch a Thief (1955): Cary Grant and Grace Kelly travel through the French Riviera in high style.
- North by Northwest (1959): The always-elegant Cary Grant runs from foreign spies through a series of gorgeous U.S. locations and modern interiors.
- Lost in Translation (2003): Rainy, moody shots of Tokyo and swanky Japanese hotel interiors.
- The Darjeeling Limited (2007): A hand-painted train and beautiful shots of India with lots of turquoise, orange, and pink. Add to the style file: one set of monogrammed Louis Vuitton luggage.
- Up in the Air (2009): A well-dressed George Clooney cruises through airport bars and executive hotels. Of course, there's a lot more to the film, but the style is very business class.
- Roman Holiday (1953): Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck zipping around 1950s Rome.
- Pierrot le fou (1965): Jean Luc Godard's film about a bored-to-tears Parisian who runs away with the babysitter. Beautiful European locations and saturated colors.
- The Passenger (1975): Jack Nicholson travels through North Africa, while director Michelangelo Antonioni captures some incredible panoramic shots.
This list is just a beginning...fill it out with your favorite stylish travel films!
Photos: North by Northwest via Wikimedia Commons, Lost in Translation via the MovieDB, The Darjeeling Limited via IMDB, Roman Holiday via IMDB, Up in the Air via IMDB, Pierrot le fou via Romance in the Picture, To Catch a Thief via IMDB, The Passenger via IMDB
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Two for the Road, Audrey Hepburn and Albert Finney, best road movie ever! (and one of the best movies about marriage ever filmed...
Out of Africa, The Sheltering Sky and A Handful of Dust.
I was moved to rid my home of all things "old world/traditional" and modernize all of my decor after I saw "Lost in Translation". All EXCEPT for my bedroom, which will be Indian as in "The Darjeeling Limited". Okay, so that's a weird mix but hey...it's my home!
This list makes me hope for a rainy day and a trip to Blockbuster!
Before Sunset (makes me want to be there)
Paris Je Taime (makes me feel I am there)
Oooh - French Kiss, The Long Trailer.
And to ditch the tv for a book - On the Road (it will change your life).
The English Patient and Under the Tuscan Sun are my "escape movies"...the latter is another cheesy one and a little annoying with all the whining and screaming - but it'll have to do until I can get there myself!
Houseboat with Cary Grant and Sophia Loren! That movie always made me want to live in a big float house :)
Julie and Julia!
mamma mia is like a quick trip to the greek isles and stealing beauty is the ultimate bohemian trip to italy.
Barcelona, Whit Stillman.
A Room with a View--one of the few movies that rivals the book.
An Affair to Remember (Ahh, the S.S. Constitution was a lovely ship)
The VIPs (Heathrow NEVER looked so good)
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes ("Is this the way to France, Europe?")
How to Marry a Millionaire (Boarding the wrong TWA flight is impossible in todays world)
The French Line
The Lady Eve
Sabrina (Both of them)
Bon Voyage (the 1962 film was shot in part aboard the S.S. United States)
Some Like it Hot ("Goodnite Sugar!")
Gidget Goes Hawaiian (The panoramic shots of Waikiki are startling in the lack of highrise resorts back then!)
Boeing, Boeing
It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World ("WE'RE the ones in the Imperial and WE'RE running last!?")
But the best travel movie of them all:
Around the World in Eighty Days (1956)
For a good laugh, "If This is Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium".
"Under the Tuscan Sun" is another good one.
you could just have an audrey hepburn travel movie marathon--don't forget funny face!
I love so many already mentioned.
Some others I adore=
Pedro Almodovar's colorful interiors and for the love of Spain-
Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown
Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!
High Heels
The ever stylish Hitchcock
Notorious-beautiful shots in Rio de Janeiro, that mansion
Wings of a Dove- Venice
From Here to Eternity- filmed at my favorite beach in Kauai North side near Hanalei
Against all Odds- the mexico part in Cozumel and Tulum
my favorite vacation spots
White Mischief- in Kenya and the clothing OMG beautiful
"Murder on the Orient Express", "Death on the Nile", "Evil Under the Sun".... Agatha Christie is not just for reading on your travels!
'Into the wild' for it's amazing nature shots and , ofcourse, for it's ever traveling main character!
@Balwearie --
Oh yes - Those are great travel films!
Also:
The Talented Mr Ripley
Brideshead Revisited (the scenes aboard ship were visually stunning!)
Summertime (Venice never looked more beautiful)
Julia (Jane Fonda wearing that fur hat on the train to Nazi Berlin still gives me the chills...)
I'll jump on the Audrey Heburn and Carey Grant wagon and add Charade!
amelie! its all i need to watch for a mini vacation!
All the films mentioned are personal favourites! I would add "The Holiday" - charming English cottage v/s California mansion Kate Winslet, Cameron Diaz, Jude Law and Jack Black.
@xelalex Those are the first destination movies that pop into my mind too!
@bepsf "Is this the way to Europe, France?"
Up in the Air? All you see are airports and hotel rooms.
How about "Enchanted April"? Wait, maybe it's better to watch this one during the wet, cold wintertime...
This doesn't really fit in with the "stylish" theme, but ever since I saw Motorcycle Diaries, I've fantasized about traveling via motorcycle. esp. with Gael Garcia Bernal.
Before Sunrise and Before Sunset - not cheesey at all, utterly beautiful!
On a similar theme, 2 Days In Paris, shows a very real Paris.
For a stunning look at outback Australia, with a beautiful story, Japanese Story with Toni Collette.
I remember loving all of the gorgeous French beach scenes in Pauline at the Beach. I think I have to see that again. Or any foreign vacation film for that matter.
I agree with so many of these - The English Patient, Out of Africa, Amelie, Before Sunrise, Before Sunset, A Room With A View. And did anyone mention La Dolce Vita? I would also add Indochine for the most gorgeous scenes of Vietnam - even set against the backdrop of war, it's stunning.
James Bond movies and The Sound of Music
So many have been mentioned... (all the Almodovar films...)
Another vote for A Room with a View (think of it every time I visit Florence);
The Year of Living Dangerously (sort of a travel movie, and the only Mel Gibson film I like);
Y tu mamá también;
Sex and Lucia;
Shirley Valentine;
Jupiter's Thigh;
Hideous Kinky;
Bagdad Café;
Priscilla Queen of the Dessert;
Picnic at Hanging Rock;
Whale Rider;
the Piano (okay, they last 3 aren't exactly about travel, but they made me want to go there...);
The Illusionist;
Amadeus; and yes,
Before Sunrise/Before Sunset and Amelie.
The last time I visited my Mum in Canada, she insisted that we watch one of her all-time-favourite movies - "Love and Pain and the Whole Damn Thing" - and I was glad she did: Timothy Bottoms and Maggie Smith and Spain at its gloriously dramatic best...
And, on a totally different level, Takeshi Kitano's "Dolls" is also a kind of travel movie. In their part of the story, the lovers, bound by past promises, traverse Japan through four seasons, connected by the red cord of responsibility. It moved me to tears. It also deepened my longing to one day see the Land of the Rising Sun.
b77 -- You made me curious because I know that part of Kauai quite well, too. But according to imdb.com, From Here to Eternity was filed on Oahu, not Kauai ... ???
Shirley Valentine - 1989 - Greek Islands
Zorba The Greek - 1964 - the rocky terain
Mediterraneo - 1991 - a "mythical" remote Greek island
and this is why I am going - to Santorini - to just sit, have coffee, and watch life go by.......all of these, so very inspiring...
How about the beautiful aesthetics of "I am Love" with Tilda Swinton?