Edgar Wright enjoys films. Throughout his own film and tv job, you can see this from the abstract and artistic comparisons. So if you don’t see the homages or references on the frame, he has been able to reveal the names he’s been dreaming about when conceiving, composing and guiding his films. Which is why we have looked into movies like Baby Driver.
He has not only discussed his favorite car chase and heist movies in interviews supporting his new, Baby Driver, but he has also scheduled screening series for the British Film Institute and the Brooklyn Academy of Music linked to both.
Obviously those are all the films he’s suggested. Some of them are films that I do suggest, but the list of items to see this week after you see Baby Driver is more of my personal choices, most of which have little to do with what specifically instructed Wright’s quick, music-driven crime picture. However, after I talk about the eight I chose, I will list the others he’s quoted as honorable mentions, and I’ll try to be exhaustive there.
Here is the list of Best Movies like Baby Driver :
Smokey and the Bandit
Available on Netflix | Amazon Prime
As with Baby Driver, Georgia, car chases, and Paul Williams are involved in the first Smokey and the Bandit. The story tracks two good ol’ boys chasing a truck full of Coors liquor, then from Texarkana to Atlanta in just 28 hours illegally east of the Mississippi. Williams portrays one from a father-son team who gives the job to a truck driver called the Bandit (Burt Reynolds), who ends up operating a Trans Am as a “blocker” for the haul that the Snowman (Jerry Reed) is working for. A Texas sheriff portrayed by Jackie Gleeson is chasing them along the way.
Why does that special “Smokey” chase them across many states? Because the fiancee of his son (Sally Field) dug him down at the altar on their wedding day and wound him up hitching a ride with the Bandit, for whom she fell, of course.
Reynolds and Field have great chemistry, the kind that obviously led to a real-life romance, and Reynolds and Gleeson have a great dichotomous relationship despite having very few moments in which they share the screen (both were too big to fight over the occupancy of frames). This is the Gleeson role to my nostalgia, even more so than Ralph Kramden.
The Driver
Available on Netflix | Amazon Prime
If among Wright’s picks and references there’s one movie that’s more related to Baby Driver, it’s this Walter Hill movie (who’s got a cameo in the latest movie). Both include getaway drivers, maybe the greatest who have ever existed, at least in the sense of their crime-focused environments.
Here’s the lovely Ryan O’Neal in the role as a loner who meets hire crews and is able to walk the streets and elude the police any time, including though a investigator played by Bruce Dern is setting up him. He doesn’t require any lyrics, just a screeching tire soundtrack.
It goes very slowly because it’s not going very quickly and all the scenes of Dern and his fellow cops are dull and meaningless. Even in her role I think Isabelle Adjani completely lifeless as the love interest. But the car scenes are great, the nameless character of O’Neal is as good as possible without being Steve McQueen (who actually turned down the movie).
Shaun of the Dead
Available on Netflix | Amazon Prime
Recommending Wright’s breakthrough movie might seem pointless or needless, especially given that Baby Driver is poised to be the biggest success of the director — grossing more over its first five days than either of the combined domestic box office of all of his previous features over their entire theatrical runs.
Many filmgoers will see their first Wright, so some people still ought to go back to the start — okay, maybe not as far back as his movie debut, A Fistful of Fingertips, just for interest, but where he first began his big screen career.
There are definitely elements of all the previous four features of Wright evident in his new, like the above-mentioned Hot Fuzz Point Break-influenced action, but I mainly see Baby Driver linking back to this zom-rom-com where Simon Pegg stars as a guy who wants to grow up and win back his woman (Kate Ashfield) as the zombie epidemic escalates around them.
Noise (2007)
Available on Amazon Prime
Not to be confused with the film featuring Tim Robbins with the same title and release year, my mysterious choice of the week is Australian film Chaos. I had been talking of devoting the slot to a tinnitus series, but people with real-life disease, though enthusiastic about the knowledge that Baby Driver would offer, are worried about its portrayal.
Baby Driver and Noise, written and directed by Matthew Saville, who went on to lead the Joel Edgerton-scripted-and-starred Crime, aren’t much in common. But both of the key protagonists are suffering from tinnitus, with Noise’s Brendan Cowell portraying a young police constable, new to his progressively unpleasant and disorienting state.
They are both crime movies too, but not in any manner that aligns them. Noise is based on a murder in the metro, a woman who escaped it, another assassination and the man whose fiancee was the one murdered.
Drive
Available on Netflix | Amazon Prime
Wright must have been irritated with this Nicolas Winding Refn video, at least a little. After all he had tried to make his own story about a getaway master influenced by The Driver for decades. I haven’t seen him notice the relation anywhere except when he mentioned that Refn and other directors besides himself inspired Hill ‘s film.
Wright certainly realized he should be able to clone Drive with Baby Driver as part of it. There have been similarities between them as soon as he revealed the project right down to his latest ratings. The truth is, there’s not really anything to link them aside from each being’s simple idea of being about cool hired guys driving getaway vehicles for various robbery crews. Refn and Wright are both rather trendy filmmakers but their optical or tonal technical preferences have no resemblance.
The key characters and appearances of Ryan Gosling, Carey Mulligan and Albert Brooks are indeed nothing like their Elgort, James and Kevin Spacey Kid Driver equivalents. Neither is the better picture, and that is partially because they’re both too distinct to really compare each other. Interestingly enough, given the fact that Baby Driver is so soundtrack-focused and tied to an concept that Wright once used in an actual music video (Mint Royale’s “Blue Song”), Drive is the one I feel more like a long music video.
The Town
Available on Netflix | Amazon Prime
Ben Affleck came back to Boston for his second directorial film that cemented him behind the camera as a true talent. The Town stars Affleck as the chief of a thieve gang that pulls off deadly thefts while staying clear of authorities. Although the film doesn’t allow as many laughs as Baby Driver, and takes the plot even more seriously, the heist scenes are always too even fun and filmed amazingly well. That is an action-packed thriller with a stellar ensemble behind Affleck.
The Town,” Affleck’s second film as a director, tries to do even more, to create a biographical and also metaphysical point regarding the world of crime, but it doesn’t do it as effectively as it does. Here’s a well-made procedural crime, and viewers are sure to love it at that level, but maybe the fundamentals of film crime got in the way of the greater aspirations of Affleck.
“The Town” reveals that Affleck has the quality of a real producer, as did his first picture, “Gone Baby Gone” (2007). Here’s all. It’s an interesting suspense, he’s collaborating closely with performers, he has a pacing style.
Ant-Man
Available on Netflix | Amazon Prime
While Edgar Wright stepped down from directing Ant-Man due to creative differences, many Marvel fans were considerably bummed out. That move, however, enabled him to go and make Baby Driver while the Ant-Man movie we got proved to be still a very fun movie.
The film establishes a special heist film inside the Marvel Cinematic Universe, focused on Wright ‘s initial plot. To steal some valuable technology before it gets in the wrong hands, Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) becomes the titular shrinking hero. It’s a funny and thrilling approach to the superhero genre with some fun connections to the rest of the MCU.
“Ant-Man,” a comic-based superhero movie built on one of the most potentially ridiculous heroes in Marvel Comics (the first award will go to a guy called Paste Pot Pete — please don’t ask) retains its unique charm by making its proceedings just as weightless as its shrunken-down hero.
What the film delivers for most of its total length is a remarkably arresting mixture of “The Incredible Shrinking Man” and “Rififi” through Brian De Palma’s first “Mission Impossible” film, except for the goofball element thrown back in the mix by Jules Dassin.
Out of Sight
Available on Amazon Prime
Out of Sight is one of the coolest movies ever made as the whole thing simply feels like a smooth, stylish romp. George Clooney is acting as a professional thief who has just fled prison and is plotting his next major game. Jennifer Lopez is doing her best to hunt him down as the US Marshal. Of course, in the end these two nice people continue to fall for each other.
The film is packed with funny and humorous dialog based on Elmore Leonard ‘s book, yet still treating the facets of the crime in a realistic manner. It’s a simple yet gripping story full of memorable characters.
“Out of sight” by Steven Soderbergh is a crime film that is less interested in crime than in how people talk, flirt, lie and get themselves into trouble. It relishes Leonard ‘s deep comic ease based on a novel by Elmore Leonard; the characters mosey through scenes that exist primarily to savor the dialogue.
This is the fourth recent adaptation of a Leonard novel, after “GetShorty,” “Touch” and “Jackie Brown,” and the most loyal to the style of Leonard. What all four films show is how useful crime is as a human comedy setting.
The Taking of Pelham One Two Three
Available on Netflix | Amazon Prime
The Taking Of Pelham One Two Three is a 70s heist film worth checking out if you haven’t already seen it. Robert Shaw plays the leader of a band of criminals in New York City who take a subway car hostage and demand a ransom for the passengers’ release.
While the crime is taken quite seriously, the film is filled with hilariously colorful characters who add to the story a great sense of humor. Walter Matthau is great as a transit officer who tranquilly wants to cope with the scandalous case. It is a film which provides laughs and thrills from beginning to end.
There’s not much wrong with “The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3” by Tony Scott, except there’s not much that’s really right. Everyone is wound up terrifically, perhaps for the ones with special effects. Yeah, John Travolta is furious and Denzel Washington is ready but in the performances you don’t see fire.
Inside Man
Available on Netflix | Amazon Prime
Spike Lee has produced a number of hard-hitting dramas but Inside Man has proven to be just as successful with major genre movies. The film stars Denzel Washington as a detective who is called in when a group of thieves takes over a New York City bank to handle hostage negotiations.
The film starts as if this were a traditional heist movie, but when we learn more and more about the robbery and the various complexities involved it is something entirely new. Washington is brilliant in the twisty and thrilling thriller as is Clive Owen as the robbers’ boss.
Many of these same issues apply to the character, Det. Keith Frazier, in order to give the film its due. Denzel Washington portrays him as a cross between a traffic policeman and one of those armchair sleuths who see a crime through and politely describe it to his inferiors. Frazier is on the scene early after four armed robbers storm a bank on Wall Street, grab hostages and begin making demands.
The Italian Job
Available on Netflix | Amazon Prime
The stunt driving is a huge part of what makes Baby Driver so much fun and The Italian Job is another highly entertaining car-centered heist movie. Mark Wahlberg, Jason Statham, and Charlize Theron bring on a group of thieves that are expecting payback after getting double-crossed by one of their associates (Edward Norton).
Though the film on which it is based is a classic, thanks to its lovely cast and some genuinely impressive action sequences, this remake is remarkably successful. Especially enjoyable are the Mini Cooper chase scenes.
Ocean’s Eleven
Available on Netflix | Amazon Prime
Ocean’s Eleven is another reboot for this series, this time a much superior version to the initial source content. An all-star ensemble including George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, and Don Cheadle is heading this ultra-cool movie about a group of robbers attempting to pull off in one night a bold heist of three Las Vegas casinos.
The star-power on screen is one attraction for viewers, but what makes the movie so unique is the charm, sleek direction and creative script. It’s a nice trip from start to finish with plenty of likable stars as a treat.
Logan Lucky
Available on Netflix | Amazon Prime
Logan Lucky is Steven Soderberg’s third film on this chart, after Ocean’s Eleven and Out of Reach. The guy obviously loves the theme of heist and appears to have fun discovering fresh and exciting ways to portray these stories.
Channing Tatum and Adam Driver appear in Logan Lucky as two bankrupt brothers who have collaborated with an inmate (Daniel Craig) to rob a NASCAR meet. The film is filled with much Southern charm and some funny comedy with Craig showing off his lighter side particularly. Soderberg is another smart and enjoyable trip.
Three Kings
Available on Netflix | Amazon Prime
David O. Russell is a rather imaginative thinker who discusses how he could envisage this unusual twist on the genre of heist. Set at the end of the Gulf War, a squad of soldiers is on an illicit quest to rob some gold from a neighboring bunker from Saddam Hussein.
Three Kings feature George Clooney, Mark Wahlberg, and Ice Cube, all of whom work beautifully in the wild, action-packed, and hilarious adventure movie. While there are certain unfortunate tales behind the scenes concerning the project, it is still a wonderful film.
Inception
Available on Netflix | Amazon Prime
As Christopher Nolan sets out to produce a heist movie, you should be assured that this is going to be an optimistic take on that kind of story. Inception stars Leonardo DiCaprio as a professional robber accessing the minds of his target and stealing their thoughts. He is compelled to carry on a much more risky mission to return to the community he left behind.
The concept of the film is extremely imaginative, and Nolan is creating a mesmerizing universe for such great concepts to go along with. The scenes of the action are like none that has existed before and the entire thing is an exciting experience that will leave you shocked.
Checkout More Movies Like Inception
Conclusion
Edgar Wright became best recognized for his famous Cornetto Trilogy’s funny and ridiculous British comedies. Baby Driver represented his first American-set film and proved to be one of the most thrilling genre productions today, regardless of where his films occur.
The movie happens to a highly entertaining heist film that has its own fantastic soundtrack, giving the movie very thrilling energy. Heists movies have been loved by their fans ever since their conception. Although some movies have been able to entertain us with their linear crime, there have been many movies like Baby Driver that showed us that they can be as fun with a few extra elements thrown in.