Happy 100th birthday to Route 66.
She was decommissioned in 1985, but 85 percent of the original 2,448-mile “Mother Road” is still drivable. She’s been replaced in spots by soulless interstates, but millions each year still get their kicks on Route 66, as the song goes.
Starting at Grant Park in Chicago and spanning eight states and three time zones before ending in Santa Monica, California, Route 66 has an irresistible pull on the imagination. As Route 66 historian Michael Wallis notes in his acclaimed book, Route 66: The Mother Road, it has been “an inspiration to literature, music, drama, and art,” as well as to Jack Kerouac acolytes who want to hit the road with “nothing behind me, everything ahead of me.”
Route 66 inspired a classic TV series (though, ironically, it wasn’t filmed on location), and it has been a scenic backdrop for countless movies that now serve as a time capsule to its heyday, when iconic roadside attractions, authentic diners, and inviting neon-ablaze motels beckoned travelers to take a detour from their cross-country odysseys.
The lure of an end-of-summer driving excursion along “the main street of America” is strong, but the cost of gas being what it is, the next best thing is to experience Route 66 with a centennial cinematic road trip without leaving your driveway.
We asked Wallis to serve as our guide to 10 memorable films in which Route 66 steals every scene.
Cars (2006)
Cars (2006) Trailer (Uploaded to YouTube by Rotten Tomatoes Classic Trailers)
Any resemblance between the animated world of Radiator Springs and Route 66 is not a coincidence. Director John Lasseter reached out to Wallis to give his Pixar team a guided tour of the iconic highway that served as inspiration for the Oscar-nominated family favorite. The film’s Cozy Cone Motel, for example, was inspired in part by the Blue Swallow Motel in Tucumcari, New Mexico. Cars’ success sparked renewed interest in Route 66. Fun fact: Wallis himself was cast as the voice of Sheriff, the 1949 Mercury police car.
Route 66: The Main Street of America (2026)
Route 66: The Main Street of America Trailer (Uploaded to YouTube by First + Main Films)
Premiering in September, John Paget’s documentary celebrates Route 66’s centennial. Wallis is featured and is a big booster of the film. As a commissioner on the Route 66 Centennial Committee, Wallis calls it “far and away” the best Route 66 documentary.
The Grapes of Wrath (1940)
The Grapes of Wrath Trailer (Uploaded to YouTube by 20th Century Studios)
John Ford’s masterful adaptation of John Steinbeck’s classic novel earned him an Academy Award for Best Director. The film shows “spoonfuls of Route 66” with its evocative portrayal of a family’s desperate westward journey navigating the one-two punch of the Depression and Dust Bowl, Wallis says.
Easy Rider (1969)
Easy Rider Trailer (Uploaded to YouTube by thecoolidge)
In this counterculture classic, the road means freedom for long-haired bikers Dennis Hopper and Peter Fonda. But as their short-lived traveling companion Jack Nicholson presciently cautions them, “Don’t tell anybody that they’re not free, because they’ll get busy killing and maiming to prove to you that they are.” Easy Rider wannabes come from around the world to drive its expanse. Wallis recalls visiting the Blue Swallow Motel and meeting six men from Germany who had rented motorcycles in Chicago. The next morning as they prepared to leave, one approached Wallis. “You need to know this,” the man told him. “Ever since I was a young man and saw Easy Rider in Berlin, I have wanted to make this journey.” “He was weeping,” Wallis recalls.
Green Book (2018)
Green Book Trailer (Uploaded to YouTube by Universal Pictures)
Peter Farrelly’s Best Picture-winning drama was not filmed on Route 66, but Wallis included it more for the historical importance of the film’s subject. Published by Victor Hugo Green between 1936 and the late 1960s, the Green Book was a guide for Black travelers to the lodgings, restaurants, gas stations, and other establishments they could safely patronize in the segregated Jim Crow era. “That book saved many lives,” Wallis says.
Thelma & Louise (1991)
Thelma & Louise Trailer (Uploaded to YouTube by Amazon MGM Studios)
A road trip with your best friend is a real joy ride…until it isn’t. This, too, was not filmed on Route 66, but it speaks to “the spirit of the road,” Wallis says. A popular side trip inspired by the film takes drivers from Flagstaff to the Grand Canyon, where the fugitive duo were forced to choose between turning themselves in to law enforcement or “let’s keep going.”
Rain Man (1988)
Rain Man Trailer (Uploaded to YouTube by Rotten Tomatoes Classic Trailers)
One of the pivotal scenes in Barry Levinson’s Best Picture-winning drama was filmed at the Big 8 Motel in El Reno, Oklahoma, where hustler Charlie (Tom Cruise) reaches a profound understanding of his autistic brother (Dustin Hoffman in an Oscar-winning performance). Another Route 66 site that continues to attract visitors is the now-abandoned W.S. Kelly Gas Station and General Store in Cogar, Oklahoma.
Bagdad Café (1987)
Bagdad Café Trailer (Uploaded to YouTube by Rotten Tomatoes Classic Trailers)
One of the quirkier stops on our itinerary is this charmer starring Marianne Sägebrecht as a stranded German tourist and CCH Pounder as the proprietor of the title establishment. Friendship and a romance with a former Hollywood set painter (Jack Palance) blossom in the Mohave Desert. The café, located on Route 66 in Newberry Springs, California, is a popular roadside attraction.
The Outsiders (1983)
The Outsiders Trailer (Uploaded to YouTube by StudiocanalUK)
Route 66 plays a major supporting role in Francis Ford Coppola’s adaptation of S.E. Hinton’s coming-of-age drama. The before-they-were-stars cast (Tom Cruise, Patrick Swayze and Ralph Macchio to name a few) and some Route 66 sites helped put Tulsa on the map. Among them, the Admiral Twin Drive-In and a house that was used in the film that now serves as the Outsiders House Museum.
No Country for Old Men (2007)
No Country for Old Men Trailer (Uploaded to YouTube by Rotten Tomatoes Classic Trailers)
Another Best Picture winner, the Coen brothers’ adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s novel features memorable Route 66 locations standing in for West Texas. The now-shuttered Grand Sands Motel in Albuquerque, New Mexico figures prominently in the film’s climactic shootout. “It deserves to be on the list,” Wallis says.
Many other movies were filmed along Route 66, including Monte Hellman’s cult classic Two-Lane Blacktop (1971), Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris’ Little Miss Sunshine (2006), and John Carpenter’s Starman (1984). All offer time capsule glimpses of an America before it became generic, Wallis says: “Route 66 is a living museum. One of my mantras is ‘Life begins at the offramp.’ Route 66 is alive and well.”
Onscreen and off.
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