This road trip movie trivia quiz has 90 free questions with answers about films where the story happens between the departure and the destination. It covers the crowd-pleasers first: the Griswolds and Walley World, Lloyd and Harry driving to Aspen, the yellow VW bus in Little Miss Sunshine, the Bandit's Trans Am, Jake and Elwood's Bluesmobile, Rain Man's Buick and the convertible Thelma and Louise refuse to stop. Then it heads down the back roads: Easy Rider and the New Hollywood it kicked off, Two-Lane Blacktop and Vanishing Point, Paper Moon, Badlands, Kalifornia, David Lynch's lawn-mower odyssey, Fellini's La Strada, Bergman's Wild Strawberries, Wim Wenders's Kings of the Road, The Motorcycle Diaries and Y tu mamá también, plus recent trips like Nomadland, Green Book, Queen & Slim and Logan. Questions ask about cars, destinations, directors, casting and the true stories underneath, and range from easy to properly obscure. Every answer was checked against each film's Wikipedia article before publishing, and each question shows its citation once you have answered.
30 of 90 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Which 1969 film has Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper riding choppers across the Southwest?
Easy Rider
Its success helped launch the New Hollywood era, and Jack Nicholson's turn as a boozy lawyer made him a star.
Q 02Which 1934 Frank Capra screwball comedy puts a runaway heiress and a reporter on a long-distance bus?
It Happened One Night
It was based on a short story called 'Night Bus' and came out four months before the Hays Code was rigidly enforced.
Q 03Louise's convertible in Thelma & Louise is a 1966 model of what car?
Ford Thunderbird
Witnesses at the bar identify the car, which is how the FBI closes in; the film's theme music is also called 'Thunderbird'.
Q 04Which future star played the charming drifter J.D. in Thelma & Louise?
Brad Pitt
He said filming the love scenes with Geena Davis was awkward with everyone standing around.
Q 05In National Lampoon's Vacation, the Griswolds drive from Chicago to which amusement park?
Walley World
It is billed as 'America's Favorite Family Fun Park', and of course it is closed when they arrive.
Q 06What is the name of the ugly, oversized car Clark Griswold is stuck with in National Lampoon's Vacation?
Wagon Queen Family Truckster
He is forced to take it after the car he traded in gets crushed; it was built on a Ford LTD Country Squire.
Q 07Who directed National Lampoon's Vacation from John Hughes's screenplay?
Harold Ramis
Hughes based the script on his own short story 'Vacation '58'; the film also marked Christie Brinkley's acting debut.
Q 08In Planes, Trains and Automobiles, what does John Candy's Del Griffith sell for a living?
Shower curtain rings
He passes them off as earrings to raise train fare after the pair are robbed.
Q 09Neal Page is trying to get home to Chicago in time for which holiday in Planes, Trains and Automobiles?
Thanksgiving
John Hughes wrote, produced and directed it, and it has become a Thanksgiving-week TV staple.
Q 10The car Charlie and Raymond drive across the country in Rain Man is a 1949 model of what?
Buick Roadmaster
It is one of the only two things Charlie inherits, along with some rosebushes; two convertibles were used in filming.
Q 11Rain Man won four Oscars, including Best Actor for which star?
Dustin Hoffman
It was the highest-grossing film of 1988; writer Barry Morrow based Raymond partly on the real savant Kim Peek.
Q 12In Dumb and Dumber, Lloyd and Harry drive from Providence, Rhode Island, to which ski town?
Aspen
They are returning a briefcase of money that was actually a ransom drop.
Q 13Which 2006 film's dysfunctional family drives a yellow VW bus 800 miles to a child beauty pageant?
Little Miss Sunshine
Screenwriter Michael Arndt chose the Volkswagen T2 Microbus partly because it was practical to film inside.
Q 21In which 1988 film does bounty hunter De Niro escort mob accountant Grodin across the country?
Midnight Run
De Niro took the part specifically to play against type in a comedy; Grodin's character had given $15 million of mob money to charity.
Q 22Which 1973 film cast Ryan and Tatum O'Neal as Depression-era con artists in Kansas?
Paper Moon
Tatum became the youngest competitive Oscar winner ever for playing Addie.
Q 23The Motorcycle Diaries recounts the 1952 South American journey of which future revolutionary?
Che Guevara
Gael García Bernal played him, alongside Rodrigo de la Serna as travelling companion Alberto Granado.
Q 14Green Book takes its title from what?
A guide for African-American travelers
Victor Hugo Green founded the guide in 1936 and it was published until 1966.
Q 15Mahershala Ali won an Oscar in Green Book playing which real-life pianist?
Don Shirley
His driver and bodyguard was Frank 'Tony Lip' Vallelonga, whose son co-wrote the film.
Q 16In which black-and-white 2013 film does Bruce Dern set out to collect a sweepstakes prize he has not won?
Nebraska
Dern won Best Actor at Cannes and Will Forte plays the son who drives him.
Q 17Jack Nicholson plays a retired Omaha actuary touring the Midwest in a motor home in which 2002 film?
About Schmidt
His wife dies just after they buy the motor home, and he narrates his trip in letters to a sponsored child named Ndugu.
Q 18In Sideways, which wine does Miles famously refuse to drink?
Merlot
He praises Pinot noir instead, and Pinot sales rose after the film while sales of the maligned grape dipped.
Q 19In Zombieland, Woody Harrelson's character spends much of the film hunting for what snack?
A Twinkie
The four survivors are all named after their home cities rather than by their real names.
Q 20Zombieland's survivors go by city names. What is Woody Harrelson's character called?
Tallahassee
Jesse Eisenberg is Columbus, Emma Stone is Wichita and Abigail Breslin is Little Rock.
Q 24Y tu mamá también was directed by which Mexican filmmaker, who co-wrote it with his brother Carlos?
Alfonso Cuarón
It is set in 1999, as seven decades of PRI presidents were coming to an end.
Q 25Which 1994 Australian film follows two drag queens and a trans woman across the Outback in a tour bus?
Priscilla, Queen of the Desert
The bus itself is named Priscilla; the three leads were Hugo Weaving, Guy Pearce and Terence Stamp.
Q 26How many Academy Awards did Mad Max: Fury Road win?
6
It was nominated for ten and swept the craft categories, from editing to costume design.
Q 27Who played Imperator Furiosa in Mad Max: Fury Road?
Charlize Theron
Anya Taylor-Joy took over the role for the 2024 prequel.
Q 28Which David Lynch film, the only one of his rated G, follows an old man crossing Iowa on a lawn mower?
The Straight Story
It is based on Alvin Straight's real 1994 journey to visit his estranged brother after a stroke.
Q 29In Lynch's 1999 lawn-mower road film, the used 1966 tractor the old man buys is what brand?
John Deere
His first mower breaks down almost immediately, so he buys the used one and keeps going.
Q 30The teenage journalist in Almost Famous tours with which fictional rock band?
Stillwater
Cameron Crowe based it on his own teenage years writing for Rolling Stone.