Top 10 movie car chases of all time
Author: Jon Holmes
Published: 18 May 2007
Sensing you´re being followed, you decide to try and lose the menacing vehicle hovering in your rear-view mirror. So you put the pedal to the metal and launch into breakneck speeds along the back streets, careering between other cars and pedestrians, and hurtling through red lights. But you can´t shake the tail. With increasing bravado, you attempt ludicrous manoeuvres and insane jumps - but still the pursuit continues. Eventually you lose control and slam your Corsa into a supermarket wall, and the police car pulls up behind you. You do five years for dangerous driving, but your friends agree it made for the best-ever instalment of ´Police, Camera, Action!´ It’s a scenario with some obvious downsides, so here´s 10 of the best celluloid car chases which will provide all the thrills of the above, without the threat of imminent death, lifetime driving ban, jail term and general disgrace.
1. Bullitt (1968)
Are you going to San Francisco? Probably best avoided if Lieutenant Frank Bullitt (Steve McQueen) is on a case. At the wheel of his dark green GT Ford Mustang, the maverick cop turns the tables on two hitmen in a black Dodge Charger, and the ‘City by the Bay’ plays host to a tyre-squealing duel down urban hills and round coastal bends, ending in a fuel-injected inferno. Lalo Schifrin’s superb score is jettisoned when the chase begins, with the roaring engines providing the only soundtrack necessary. • View the clip2. The Italian Job (1969)
It’s Italian cops versus British robbers in the much-loved heist movie that helped the Mini achieve cult status. Our brave bullion snatchers lead the polizia (in Alfa Romeos) on a traverse of Turin - taking in museums, arcades, rooftops, churches and sewers (the latter section actually filmed in Coventry). The whole sequence was orchestrated by one of the stunt industry’s true geniuses, Remy Julienne. The chase in the 2003 remake was relocated to Los Angeles, and is also thrilling to watch (unlike Mark Wahlberg’s acting). • View the clip3. The French Connection (1971)
A woman is pushing a pram across a Brooklyn street as an elevated train rattles overhead. Suddenly a brown Pontiac LeMans driven by overzealous New York detective Popeye Doyle (Gene Hackman) comes out of nowhere, heading straight for mother and child. She screams, he yells and yanks the wheel, narrowly avoiding the innocent civilians but not a pile of cardboard boxes (what else?) on the side of the road. Director Billy Friedkin broke a lot of rules - much of Hackman’s insane driving and the honking horns were authentic. • View the clip4. Smokey And The Bandit (1977)
Bo ‘Bandit’ Darville (Burt Reynolds) shows a total disregard for traffic regulations in the deep South as his TransAm - a decoy to draw attention from his friend Snowman’s truck, with its cargo of illegal liquor - successfully eludes the inept Sheriff Buford T. Justice (Jackie Gleason) and his deteriorating Pontiac. Several more Texarkana state troopers are forced off the freeway as the Bandit’s black beauty tames all types of terrain, aided by a truckin’ awesome convoy. 10-4 good buddy! (Jumping the Mulberry Bridge) • View the clip5. The Blues Brothers (1980)
“Use of unnecessary violence in the apprehension of the Blues Brothers has been approved.” But it was the Illinois law enforcement community’s transport budget that took the biggest battering the day Jake and Elwood Blues attempted to deliver orphanage funds to the Cook County Assessor. The Bluesmobile (a 1974 Dodge Monaco) leaves a trail of police cars in its wake; over 60 were bought and trashed by the producers, who also dropped the neo-Nazis’ Ford Pinto from a helicopter a mile up for no real reason. • View the clip6. Terminator 2: Judgement Day (1991)
Alright, it’s not a car chase - it’s Arnie on a Harley Davidson, chasing Robert Patrick’s ’mimetic polyalloy’ T-1000 in a semi truck, chasing a teenage John Connor (Edward Furlong) on a puny dirt bike. But that can’t stop this chase through the storm drains of Los Angeles making the list. Equally impressive is the sequence in T3: Rise of the Machines, with Arnie back on a bike and Kristianna Loken’s T-X in a truck with a giant crane, which is put to good use in destruction rather than construction. • View the clip7. Ronin (1998)
The plot is difficult to follow - just what is in that metal case? - but the crazy chase sequences filmed on the streets of Paris make the ride worthwhile. John Frankenheimer directed all the action himself (instead of getting a second unit in) and the likes of Robert De Niro and Jean Reno were at the wheel as much as possible - although as many as 150 stunt drivers were used in total. The cars involved include a BMW 5 Series and Peugeot 306s, so this is one you might be able to afford to recreate yourselves. • View the clip8. Bad Boys II (2003)
A big silly Michael Bay movie that is something of a guilty pleasure, particularly after being heavily referenced in Hot Fuzz. The MacArthur Causeway in Miami witnesses a classic cavalcade of car carnage, with Detective Mike Lowrey (Will Smith) winding his way through the traffic at insane speeds in a silver Ferrari. Throw in some lunatic bad guys pushing flash motors out of a stolen transporter, whilst brandishing assault rifles, and not even Martin Lawrence’s dodgy wisecracks can ruin the fun.Contains strong language • View the clip
9. The Matrix Reloaded (2003)
Whilst the first Matrix film was almost universally admired, the sequels were almost universally abhorred. Over-reliance on CGI was one of many criticisms, but the freeway chase in Reloaded is a genuinely jaw-dropping example of the kind of thrills it can deliver. The highlight of a lengthy sequence comes when Trinity (Carrie Anne Moss) decides to ride a Ducati 996 against the traffic, in a bid to elude the never-ending hordes of Agents in trucks and police cars. • View the clip10. The Bourne Supremacy (2004)
Constant collisions and Paul Greengrass’ gritty cinematography make this more realistic than most other movie car chases.
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