# Careening down a mountain road-- **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 7, 2013, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/careening-down-a-mountain-road/673288 "2013-11-07T00:27:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Rocketeer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocketeer/32/4437_2.png) [@Rocketeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rocketeer)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2013, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/careening-down-a-mountain-road/673288/1 "2013-11-07T00:27:32Z")
All of a sudden I have an urge to watch a movie where the hero or heroine, whose car has been tampered with, careens wildly down a mountain road! He stomps frantically on the brake pedal, but it flops lifelessly to the floor! She saws at the steering wheel, but the car continues on its own mad course, towards a fateful rendezvous, a rendezvous with…DEATH! What are some movies with scenes like that? Extra bonus question: Which Hitchcock movie is it where the hero drives drunk (an attempt to murder him)? Slips my mind just now. ---
**Author:** ![Patch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a183cd/32.png) [@Patch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patch)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2013, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/careening-down-a-mountain-road/673288/2 "2013-11-07T00:31:08Z")
North by Northwest. I believe happened in _Bob and Doug McKenzie’s Strange Brew_, and John Candy in _Who’s Harry Crumb_? ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2013, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/careening-down-a-mountain-road/673288/3 "2013-11-07T02:31:39Z")
It’s not quite the same, but Jake and Elwood tamper with the Good Ol’ Boys’ Winnebago with similar effect in _The Blues Brothers_… ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2013, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/careening-down-a-mountain-road/673288/4 "2013-11-07T02:49:29Z")
> [@Patch](#): > > North by Northwest. “No more for me, guys, I’ll take the bus…” ---
**Author:** ![Flywheel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Flywheel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flywheel)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2013, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/careening-down-a-mountain-road/673288/5 "2013-11-07T03:35:32Z")
[And now, a word from our sponsor.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdkuGMmW9co) ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2013, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/careening-down-a-mountain-road/673288/6 "2013-11-07T04:27:29Z")
_Drowning Mona_ opens with a scene as described. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Ed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Just\_Ed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Ed)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2013, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/careening-down-a-mountain-road/673288/7 "2013-11-07T05:16:53Z")
If I recall correctly, there is a scene like that in Wolfgang Petersen’s _[Shattered](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0102900/combined)_. ---
**Author:** ![JLRogers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ce73a5/32.png) [@JLRogers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JLRogers)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2013, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/careening-down-a-mountain-road/673288/8 "2013-11-07T12:54:15Z")
_And now he’s rolling down the mountain going fast, fast, fast. And if he blows it this one’s gonna be his last. Run to Acapulco to turn the golden keys. Henry keep the brakes on for this corner if you please._ ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2013, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/careening-down-a-mountain-road/673288/9 "2013-11-07T13:50:02Z")
Hitchcock has a scene like that in **Family Plot,** too. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2013, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/careening-down-a-mountain-road/673288/10 "2013-11-07T14:39:08Z")
[Jackie Chan’s _Police Story_](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089374/?ref_=nv_sr_3) (1985) has enough action in the first ten minutes for any three films, including an insane sequence of two vehicles plunging down a hill through the middle of a shanty town. Also not exactly a “No brakes!!” situation, but the [1971 Spielberg film _Duel_](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067023/reviews?ref_=tt_urv) includes a scene where Dennis Weaver is chased down a mountain road at high speed by the evil truck driver who bedevils him throughout the movie. ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2013, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/careening-down-a-mountain-road/673288/11 "2013-11-07T15:39:59Z")
Not a movie, but in the episode “Welcome Home Jaime” (Part 1) of **The Bionic Woman** (the original series) this happens to the heroine. ---
**Author:** ![Rocketeer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocketeer/32/4437_2.png) [@Rocketeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rocketeer)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2013, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/careening-down-a-mountain-road/673288/12 "2013-11-17T01:24:12Z")
Thanks, all; there ought to be something in my collection that fits the bill! ---
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2013, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/careening-down-a-mountain-road/673288/13 "2013-11-17T01:59:36Z")
Not a movie, but the Rockford Files episode “The Trees, The Bees and T.T. Flowers” has one of those. Someone put laughing gas in Jimbo’s Firebird. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2013, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/careening-down-a-mountain-road/673288/14 "2013-11-17T23:07:58Z")
Every other episode of _Mannix_ used to feature him avoiding death on a winding mountain road after an evildoer had tampered with his brakes. By actual count, he also suffered 37 separate concussions from being whacked on the head during the series run. ---
**Author:** ![Number](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/number/32/242_2.png) [@Number](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Number)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2013, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/careening-down-a-mountain-road/673288/15 "2013-11-18T05:00:45Z")
> [@Patch](#): > > I believe happened in _Bob and Doug McKenzie’s Strange Brew_, and John Candy in _Who’s Harry Crumb_? [Yup](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWORVTX9mnU). ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2013, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/careening-down-a-mountain-road/673288/16 "2013-11-18T21:39:37Z")
Not quite the same but _Remo Williams_ steals a truck with bad brakes. ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2013, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/careening-down-a-mountain-road/673288/17 "2013-11-18T22:13:53Z")
How about a song: "Well, from there on down it just wasn’t real purdy: it was hairpin county and switchback city. One of 'em looked like a can full’a worms; another one looked like malaria germs. And right in the middle of the whole damn show was a real nice tunnel, now wouldn’t you know? Sign says clearance to the twelve-foot line, but the chickens was stacked to thirteen-nine. Well we shot that tunnel at a hundred-and-ten, like gas through a funnel and eggs through a hen, and we took that top row of chickens off slicker than scum off a Loo-siana swamp." (from “Wolf Creek Pass” by C. W. McCall) ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2013, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/careening-down-a-mountain-road/673288/18 "2013-11-19T00:15:19Z")
If we’re doing songs, Harry Chapin’s “30,000 Pounds of Bananas” probably counts. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2013, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/careening-down-a-mountain-road/673288/19 "2013-11-19T01:06:13Z")
A couple of cars, a beater and a '73 Riviera, chasing and leaving the road to careen downhill in Thunderbolt and Lightfoot. ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Nader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Darth\_Nader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Nader)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2013, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/careening-down-a-mountain-road/673288/20 "2013-11-19T03:27:16Z")
If you’re up for reading such a scene, try Stephen White’s “Kill Me”. Lots of Interstate 70 chaos. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/careening-down-a-mountain-road/673288.md?page=2)