Best Movie Car Chase(s) Ever.

[jayfish]

This poll was inspired by the "Most disturbing ending to a film" thread. The movie I picked there is also one of the poll choices below. This is my first poll so go easy. I would have to pick Mad Max. Although most of the scenes are done using trick photography to fake high speeds, I loved that supercharger.

Jay


-EDITED FOR SPELLING AND MY CHOICE.

[wtmusic]

1. Bullitt! Bullitt!

[BurtWorm]

2. I voted for Bullit, too.

It's a masterful scene. So is the car chasing the train scene in The French Connection. It's a close call, actually. What I like about the French Connection scene is that it isn't gratuitous. You really feel like something really dangerous is going on. Bullit's has a nice sense of humor that makes it more like a thrill ride, which is how all car chase scenes play these days.

Maybe I should have voted for FC, now that I think of it. Damn!

[wtmusic]

5. Nah

Bullitt was the best by virtue of the location. Virtual reality 30 years before its time...just sit in the front row!

[BurtWorm]

9. But do you know what I mean about the reality of The French Connection?

Bullit established the convention of car chase as expensive thrill ride--and it is thrilling. But the French Connection's chase is all about not knowing what's going to come at you. That's not just thrilling, it's terrifying. Which is what real car chases are all about.

[wtmusic]

17. Yeah, I gotta see FC again

It's been a long time and now some of those moments are coming back...ouch!

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

15. Something dangerous WAS going on!

When the car crashed aganst the wall during the chase, it was a real accident-- Gene Hackman was really driving! It wasn't the only unscripted moment in the chase, either-- the whole sequence was filmed over the course of a month, only on days with weather conditions that matched, for visual continuity. The whole sequence was done without securing permits. Lucky noone was seriously hurt.

The chase in Bullit has some interesting moments, too-- notice at one point the car runs smack into the camera, cutting the moment off. Side-mounted cameras can be spotted on the cars at a couple other points, too. And count how many times they pass the same green Volkswagen while going through the city!

[BurtWorm]

27. What always amazes me about that scene

is the reflection of Brooklyn whizzing by on the windshield.

[okieinpain]

3. bullit, I get pumped every time it comes on. one in 7-ups was

pretty good too. there was a movie with jeff briges and james woods that was pretty sweet also.

[jayfish]

10. That Would Be "Against All Odds"...

and altough it was more of a race than a chase, it was really good.

Jay

[Rhiannon12866]

34. The car chase in ``The Seven-Ups'' was the best ever

It was incredible and also the choice of my late father, an aficionado of the genre! He taught to me to appreciate car chases:D

[CanuckAmok]

4. I voted for Road Warrior (II), but...

... for sheer excitement, I'd say the highly under-rated Kurt Russell movie "Breakdown".

...for sheer suspense and over the top, right hand drive muscle: "Mad Max" and/or "Mad Max II: The Road Warrior"

...for sheer excess, can't beat "The Blues Brothers"

...for camp value, "Death Race 2000"

...for nihilism, "Vanishing Point"

...for production cost, "The Rock" (Humvee vs. Ferrari vs. antique streetcar)

...but for basically balls-out, teaching countless Second Unit Directors since how it should be done, and for seat of the pants perfection, gotta be "Bullitt"


on edit=

...for Dolby 5.1/THX envelope pushing and sheer tonnage, "T3: Rise of the Machines" (mobile crane vs. LaFarge ladder truck)

[xJlM]

6. Kinda questionable...

Whether or not the guys on the run in To Live And Die In LA were good guys is open to debate. After all, they were crooked cops who had just robbed and killed a businessman (an undercover cop) in order to get the money to put up for a counterfeit buy that wasn't sanctioned by the department. Then they tried to escape the cops chasing them by driving down the wrong side of the freeway causing massive chaos on the freeway.

[jayfish]

13. I Debated Wether To Put A...

question mark on that one. But in the context of the move they are the protagonists and a bit anti-heroish.

Jay

[lazarus]

7. haven't seen 'em all

But I loved the highway scene from Matrix Reloaded.

[electricmonk]

8. Ronin

Going through the tunnels in the wrong lane.

[LightTheMatch]

16. I second that.

Ronin -- very intense. And for chase scenes in general HEAT was also amazing.

[Az]

39. Put me down for Ronin as well

[Emboldened Chimp]

11. Bullit HANDS DOWN

Nothing in cinema history beats this chase. McQueen really did fly through San Fran at 80+mph! The only thing that comes close is the French Connection, and though great, it still doesn't come close.

[Nomad559]

12. Best B Movie Classic

Gone in 60 Seconds - The Original Classic

http://www.gonein60seconds.com/

Over 93 cars wrecked in the 40 minute Chase-Scene!

Trailers ... http://www.gonein60seconds.com/gone_trailers.htm

[uberotto]

21. Yes...

Definately, it should have at least been included on the list. Hell, the whole movie was basically one kick ass chase scene.

The remake was ok, but the original really kicked ass...

As my second choice I would have to say the Blues Brothers movie...

[uberotto]

22. Yes...

Definately, it should have at least been included on the list. Hell, the whole movie was basically one kick ass chase scene.

The remake was ok, but the original really kicked ass...

As my second choice I would have to say the Blues Brothers movie...

Third choice is Bullitt, only because I didn't like the movie as much as the other two.

[PsN2Wind]

14. Gotta be Bullit

It was all Keystone Cops and Harold Lloyd type stuff until Steve McQueen showed how it should be done in Bullit.

[ronzo]

33. Bullit

Old school, baby!

[shanti]

18. whaaaa?`

no "fast and the furious", etc?????

[sugarcookie]

19. That movie "Jade"

had a good car chase in it. I'm not too crazy about car chase movies but for some reason that movie came to mind.

[TheZoo]

20. The French Connection!

And I have "driven" it - I used to live near 86th Ave in Brooklyn. My dad used to drive it several times trying to match the scene. When we visited it, we (Marie O8)and I) always tried to match the drive. She was MUCH better than me going down 86th than me :-(

My personal favorite chase starts with: "It's 106 miles to Chicago..." B-)

[frylock]

23. i cast my vote for vanishing point..

but only because I really dig those old Mopars!! Bullitt rocks!! My dad had a 69 Charger R/T when I was about 8. That was one bad ass ride!

[cam75219]

24. Blues Brothers

it may be comedy, but it has great car chases....

[CanuckAmok]

26. "Pier 1 Imports...this place has everything...!" n/t

[Dookus]

30. thanks Cam..

I scrolled down to see if *I'D* have to post Blues Brothers.

It's car chase scenes are so over-the-top and funny it HAS to be included.

[Samuraimad]

25. Ronin anyone????????

What the hell!
Frankenhiemer outdid his French COnnection sequence through the streets of Paris and Nice.
If you haven't seen this masterpiece, then what the hell are you waiting for?!?!

[FlashHarry]

37. Yep. Ronin.

Nobody could film cars in action like J.F. His 1966 movie "Grand Prix" is still unequalled in its depiction of racing--no rear projection or travelling mats here, just real actors in real cars going real fast... **affecting Darell Hammond's Trebek voice** "Suck on it, Stallone!"

[xray s]

28. Duel

Dennis Weaver sweating it out for 90 minutes with a psycho truck driver on his ass across the desert. Spielberg's directing debut.

[FloridaJudy]

29. The Matrix Reloaded

Confusing mess of a film, but I *loved* that free-way chase scene.

[Ediacara]

31. totally

that was an absolutely fantastic piece of film.

[DoctorBombay]

32. This conversation begins and ends with Bullit.

Absolutely the best. I was on a tour of San Francisco once, and when we got to Divisadero Street (where the meat of the chase occurs), we were told that if you slow the speed on the movie in the part where the hubcaps come off the one car, you will notice that FIVE hubcaps go rolling down the street. I have yet to confirm this with my own eyes.


Oh. French Connection gets second place on the car chase.

[sujan]

35. no blues brothers?

[VOX]

36. Bullitt. Can't be topped. Ever.

McQueen driving a Mustang -- how *cool* is that? The best.

[Nailzberg]

38. Blues Brothers

"It's 106 miles to Chicago.

We've got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarrettes, it's dark and we're wearing sunglasses."


Runner-up: The original "Gone in 60 Seconds." They got it right on the nose. There is no point in creating a story in such a film. Just go out, steal some cars, and finish the movie with a 45 minute car chase. Right on.

[MaineDem]

40. The original "Italian Job"

I love those minis!

"Bullit" is my second choice.

[mitchum]

41. Bullitt Honorable mention for "Thunder Road" (the proto-car chase movie)

[HEyHEY]

42. I voted Bullit

BUt let's not forget about ROnin, that had good scenes