Cult road trip movie beloved of car and music fans for featuring an impressive hot-rodded 1955 Chevy, and for starring James Taylor and Dennis Wilson (Beach Boys) in the two lead roles. Two car boys, secure in the knowledge that nobody has a ride like their '55 Chev, cruise around America looking for gullible marks to race. The Driver (Taylor) and The Mechanic (Wilson) are so into their ride that it's become a sort of auto-nihilism and they barely even care to talk to one another. They pick up a winsome hitchhiker (Laurie Bird) who's soon enamored of their dedication. One day they meet their future likeness in GTO (Warren Oates) - an ageing pump jockey at a remote gas stand. His tales of hotrods past and his younger years spent under the hood and behind the wheel of some classic yankee iron, captivate the Chev boys. Unbeknownst to them, he's a liar and soon they're locked in a race to The Capitol with him - the keys to the Chev and those to the elderly liar's mint '70 Pontiac GTO hanging on the outcome.

Alex Cox's story of William Walker (Ed Harris), an American soldier of fortune, whose Latin American escapades in the mid 1800s continue to have ripple effects in US policy today. When his wife dies, Walker decides to leave a promising career in politics behind and, backed by banking magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, travels to Nicaragua to make it safe for Vanderbilt's steamships. However, once there, Walker sets himself up as Nicaragua's president; until the nation decides they no longer want to be ruled by a mad 'gringo'.