Nothing says summer like “road trip,” and nothing beats a road-trip-gone-wrong movie for summertime viewing.

For a comedy, you can’t beat a hilarious classic like THE LONG, LONG TRAILER, following Lucy and Desi on a cross-country misadventure in their oversized motorhome.

On the other side of the spectrum are the summer thrillers.  One of my favorites is JEOPARDY (1953).  It’s suspenseful, it’s sexy, and it stars the stellar Barbara Stanwyck.  Stanwyck plays a perfectly lovely wife and mother … who exposes quite a sultry edge when she happens upon an escaped convict.

Stanwyck and with her husband (Barry Sullivan) and their young son set off in the family convertible, exit the highway, and end up on a deserted dusty road on their way down the Baja Peninsula in search of a beautiful beach that her husband fondly recollects from his childhood. Unfortunately, when they arrive at the beach, the area is abandoned and foreboding, no longer the paradise that Sullivan recalls from his youth.  The twists and turns begin.

Sullivan spends most of his time in the film trapped by timber under a fallen piece of pier.  The tide is rising and Stanwyck heads for help, leaving her son behind to comfort his father.  As the tide rises, so does the tension, including the sexual tension that happens when Stanwyck meets up with the very dangerous (and very hot) Ralph Meeker.  And there’s slapping involved!!!

This film is custom-made for a Home Projectionist event.  It’s not only seriously riveting but it also provides lots of opportunities for your viewing companions to participate  with “Don’t go in the shed!” kinds of comments.  The Mexican beach setting makes for an easy theme approach to food and drink.  And, this film is seriously short.  Clocking in at only 69 minutes, you can start it after the summer sunset and watch outside.

Other people’s disastrous road trips can be great fun. Pour the margaritas and let the armchair adventures begin. 

Gloria Bowman is a writer, storyteller, blogger, movie lover, freelance editor,
and author of the novel, Human Slices.
Access her blog at www.gloriabowman.com; on Twitter @GloriaBow