Travel Movies to Satisfy Extreme Wanderlust
(08/04/2020)
Movies can be the best way to escape everyday life, whether you're spending an afternoon in someone else’s shoes, following an astronaut to the depths of outer space, or being transported to the thrilling worlds of superheroes and mythical beings. Obviously, some movies offer more of an escape than others, with gorgeous and exotic destinations — some so exotic they aren’t even on this planet. If you’re in need of a little vacation, these great travel and destination movies are just the ticket. The further down the list you read, the further they'll take you away from home.
Dirty Dancing (1987)
[Image Credit: Vestron Pictures]
This uplifting classic takes us back in time to 1963 for one unforgettable summer in New York’s Catskill Mountains. Frances — known to friends and family as Baby — is forced to join her parents at a vacation resort, where she’s definitely not having the time of her life. That is, until she meets charming and handsome dance instructor Johnny, played by the late Patrick Swayze. Johnny teaches Baby how to dance and opens her heart to a world beyond her privileged life.
Roman Holiday (1950)
[Image Credit: Paramount Pictures]
She had been in a few other small projects, but the legend of Audrey Hepburn begins with ROMAN HOLIDAY. This was her first starring role, which won Hepburn her first and only Oscar. It's a delightful movie, with Hepburn as a sheltered European princess who sneaks out of her embassy while visiting Rome — and promptly runs across an American reporter (Gregory Peck) on assignment to cover her visit to the city. Naturally the two fall in love, and their holiday affair is one of the most wonderful getaways you can have through the lens of a movie camera.
In Bruges (2008)
[Image Credit: Focus Features]
Not everyone takes a trip abroad because their time off is well-earned. Ray and Ken (Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson), the two gangsters at the center of this vulgar vacation, have been sent to Belgium following a criminal job gone very wrong in London. Stuck in a cramped hotel room in a city Ray hates, waiting for their boss to call, isn't exactly anyone's idea of a good time. Eventually, they both try to make the best of it, at least until Harry (Ralph Fiennes), their vicious boss who is somehow far more foul-mouthed than the dismissively coarse Ray, makes his plan known.
Casablanca (1942)
[Image Credit: Warner Bros. Pictures]
Set in the eponymous city of Morocco, CASABLANCA is one of the greatest romance films ever made. Its gorgeous setting helps set the mood for this story of a nightclub owner named Rick (Humphrey Bogart), who runs into his former girlfriend, Ilsa (Ingrid Bergman)... and her new husband. Ilsa enlists Rick’s help in getting out of the country with her husband, a rebel who is being pursued by the Germans.
E.T. (1982)
[Image Credit: Universal Pictures]
Even extra-terrestrials need a little vacation sometimes, even if it’s accidental. In Steven Spielberg’s extraordinary family classic, a young boy named Elliott befriends a curious alien stranded on Earth and tries to help him evade government authorities to return to his home planet.
Interstellar (2014)
[Image Credit: Warner Bros. Pictures]
Filmmaker Christopher Nolan gives us blockbusters that defy expectations and challenge audiences. He kicked things up a notch after INCEPTION with INTERSTELLAR, a sci-fi epic about a brilliant NASA physicist (Matthew McConaughey) who mounts an ambitious and daring mission to save humankind from the disastrous effects of global warming—by using time travel.