The 10 Best Car Chases In Movie History

The 10 Best Car Chases In Movie History

A truly great movie car chase needs to offer edge-of-your-seat thrills to the audience, as seen in films like Bullitt and The French Connection.

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The car chase is one of the staples of action cinema. To make one car chasing another car really exciting, the film’s director, the stunt team, and the editor have to fire on all cylinders. Impressive driving stunts are worthless if they’re ruined in the edit by clunky, incoherent cutting. Similarly, well-paced editing and clarity of movement are meaningless when the on-screen driving doesn’t have a tangible sense of danger.

From the groundbreaking, rubber-burning antics of Steve McQueen in Bullitt to Gene Hackman’s relentless pursuit of an elevated train in The French Connection, there have been a ton of iconic car chases throughout film history.

10 The Paris Chase In Ronin

Heavily influenced by the gritty, minimalist crime films of Jean-Pierre Melville, John Frankenheimer’s Ronin uses its simplistic plot of a handful of rivaling intelligence officials fighting over a briefcase to deliver edge-of-your-seat thrills. Frankenheimer utilized hundreds of stunt drivers to get the car action in this movie just right.

The movie’s greatest car chase sequence sees Robert De Niro pursuing the bad guys’ BMW across the crowded streets of Paris in a humble Peugeot 406.

9 The Opening Getaway In Baby Driver

Set to the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion’s “Bellbottoms,” the opening car chase sequence in Baby Driver perfectly establishes the tone of Edgar Wright’s unique jukebox musical carsploitation action-comedy.

It tells the audience everything they need to know about the Baby character visually, the action is choreographed beautifully to the rhythm of the music, and there’s plenty of humor and impressive driving stunts along the way.

8 The Storm Drain Chase In Terminator 2: Judgment Day

This is technically not a car chase, because it has a truck chasing a dirt bike (and later Arnie’s Harley-Davidson), but it’s more broadly a vehicular pursuit and it does have some impeccable driving stunts. As the T-1000 relentlessly chases John Connor down L.A.’s storm drain system, he’s rescued by a T-800 who proceeds to blow up the truck to allow them enough time to escape the fellow Terminator’s wrath.

In the most spectacular fashion possible, this sequence establishes both how the sequel is different than its predecessor (the T-800 is a protector in this one) and how it raises the stakes from the first movie (the T-1000 is much more advanced and powerful than the T-800).

7 The Whole Of Vanishing Point

Often described as the ultimate car chase movie, Richard C. Sarafian’s Vanishing Point stars Barry Newman as a cynical ex-cop and racecar driver who tears across America in a muscle car, pursued by law enforcement.

This movie has some of the most awesome driving stunts ever captured on film and its doomed protagonist’s cross-country death-wish road trip culminates in a staggering finale.

6 The Police Pile-Up In The Blues Brothers

There aren’t a lot of movies based on SNL sketches that are even passable comedies, let alone great ones, but The Blues Brothers is a straight-up masterpiece.

It culminates in one of the most insane car chases ever filmed, with Jake and Elwood Blues fleeing from a ridiculous number of police cars on the way back to Chicago. More than 100 cars were destroyed in the making of this set piece.

5 The Aston Martin Chase In Goldfinger

The third James Bond movie, Goldfinger, introduced the character’s now-iconic car, the Aston Martin DB5. The 007 producers had to beg skeptical Aston Martin executives to let them use the DB5 prototype. Of course, Goldfinger ended up putting Aston Martin on the map and now, automotive product placement is common in Hollywood blockbusters — just look at the relentless barrage of Audis in Marvel’s movies.

The Aston Martin chase in Goldfinger — in which Bond uses gadgets ranging from oil slicks to puffs of smoke to throw off the Mercedes-driving henchmen on his tail — is arguably the franchise’s most iconic car chase.

4 Max Takes On The Raiders In Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior

Following in the footsteps of Akira Kurosawa’s reluctant heroes, Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior sees the titular post-apocalyptic drifter accepting the task of protecting a small village from an attack by a bunch of raiders.

In the movie’s climactic car chase, Max goes after the raiders’ armored convoy in his tricked-out ex-police Interceptor, with a big supercharger sticking out of the hood.

3 The Elevated Train Chase In The French Connection

As a hitman tries to escape from renegade cop Popeye Doyle in The French Connection, he flees from the street and takes a ride on an elevated train. But Doyle isn’t giving up that easily. He commandeers a civilian’s car and chases the train through the bustling streets of New York.

The climax of the sequence, with Doyle shooting the hitman in the back on the subway stairs, was controversial among some of the film’s police consultants, who felt that shooting a suspect in the back was just plain murder. But William Friedkin has defended his decision, believing that it’s what Doyle’s inspiration Eddie Egan would’ve done.

2 The Mini Cooper Chase In The Italian Job

There are a bunch of incredible stunts in The Italian Job’s climactic chase sequence, which sees Charlie and the rest of the team fleeing from the Italian police and the mob in little Mini Coopers.

The robbers drive their Minis down flights of stairs and through the middle of buildings and into sewage pipes. One of them even jumps from one building to another off of the Fiat factory’s rooftop test track.

1 The Game-Changer In Bullitt

Peter Yates’ Bullitt set the standard for all car chases to come. It was easily the most exciting to date and remains a high benchmark for this particular kind of cinematic action. The fact that the driver is visibly Steve McQueen in almost every shot was revolutionary at the time.

The visceral editing of this car chase is believed to be the main contributing factor toward Frank P. Keller’s 1968 Oscar win. Keller’s precision with the timing of the cuts is what makes this sequence really pop — and still hold up after all this time.

Link Source : https://screenrant.com/best-movie-car-chases-ever-hollywood-history/

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