Best Car Chase Ever?

Dauntless

Dauntless

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Seems to be a lot of people in a mood to fight. Might as well fight about something IMPORTANT! What IS the greatest car chase scene ever?

Some people say it's the one that started it all. Before 'Bullit' (1968) a car chase was sped up footage of a car driving past, cut to Bogie or whoever is driving, cut to another sped up footage car. . . . Great moments here like the taxi cutting the cop off deliberately and taunting him with finger pointing.

Note the bad guy car wrecking at 2:00 just as they cut away but leave the sound effect.

[youtube]z-0QTZcM150[/youtube]

I think my 6 cylinder Mustang could take that one and still get better gas mileage. Technology marches on. Gotta get me some of those wheels, though.

Or you gotta have time to watch this one. Literally half the movie 'Gone in 60 Seconds' (1974) was the climatic moment. Unlike 'The SevenUps' with great moments separated by good old fashioned pad for time shots of the occupants, 'Gone. . . .' was even interesting during the lull points, if you pay attention. Even some subplot. Wrecked 93 cars. . .And a trashtruck. Plus inspired the kidnapping of an entire busload of kids with their driver, who were buried in a trailerhome or something while the wouldbe filmmaker went to collect the ransom and make a movie chase to top this one.



http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL0D6DE80387F9F4C4

I almost want to include another original, 'The Italian Job,' (1969) but that was more humor than excitement. I don't want to include things like 'The Road Warrior' because that's not really a car chase. Dale Earnhardt's commercial driving his racecar through the desert with the mutants chasing him because it says "Budweiser" on the outside, that's a car chase.

Maybe you can top all that.

[youtube]q6A7jfcF6y4[/youtube]
 
There's a lot of great chase scenes, but tops has to be Bullet. No annoying soundtrack, no CG effects, no annoying cliche' dialog. Just 2 cars fighting it out on the streets.

Also of note:
The Transporter (1, not the Audi commercials that came after)
James Bond For your Eyes Only CV2 chase.
Borne Identity Mini cooper chase
 
Not one of the above is a police chase.
They are paid actors and stuntmen on a setup course performing step by step carefully choreographed little 1/8mile sections, often a number of times a row before they get all the angles they want to see, then maybe 10hrs of footage taken over days or sometimes weeks filmed in various different sets.

Its all a bunch of bullshit that I have trouble keeping my eyes open for.

Real police chases are dangerous, intense, and the successful ones are over in the first few minutes or youre going to get busted. Footage of the sucessful ones is rare, not because many folks arent sucessful, but because cops often keep that dash cam footage to themselves.
 
I nominate the O J Simpson chase through LA as the best ever. Until that time, chases weren't even covered in the news; the thought of a chase being entertaining enough to capture viewer's attention hadn't been explored.
The best movie chase scenes have to be of the Keystone Cops, very funny even today. :lol:
 
Bullit had a great chase, as the cars took the scene. Hubcaps falling off, wheel hopping, missed shifts, it felt like the real deal. The original gone in 60'seconds was fun 'cause they had a whole wrecking yard full of cars to build and tear up. The longest chase scene was in Vanishing Point, but I found the ending disturbing. I have all three.
 
I used to think it was Bullit, until I saw Ronin. Much more realistic.
 
Bullit is the "standard" to judge others by...partly because of Steve " Mr Cool" McQueen.
Another notable "Rev head" classic movie would be..
"Two Lane Blacktop" with a uber cool 55 chev "sleeper" (& James Taylor ? :roll: ):
 
The fingers said:
I nominate the O J Simpson chase through LA as the best ever. Until that time, chases weren't even covered in the news; the thought of a chase being entertaining enough to capture viewer's attention hadn't been explored.
Click to expand...

Actually, yes they were, at least in SoCal. The most famous at the time had been a few years earlier when a guy's car broke down, then someone stopped to help him and he shot the guy and took his car. Then that one broke down and he took another, so the family of the guy killed at the beginning had no idea they were watching the chase of his killer. He got caught in offramp traffic and waved his gun in the direction of the mall right there, so the highway patrol shot him. My feeling was it was QUITE justified, as the guy had already proved he'd kill people and was pointing at his next victims, but the patrolman took heat for the shooting. By the time Al Cowan refused to stop, there were already laws in place about news trucks getting between the cops and the pursued, as well as policies by the news agencies abouto how these events would be covered.

Did a show on LAPD pursuit, ACTUALLY a real police pursuit is intended to be far safer than a movie shoot, where stunt drivers do die. (Didn't Dar Robinson die on the set without the cameras even rolling?) First of all, they don't say "Chase," they say "Follow."

I try to make the point about what makes a good chase scene is what's going on. In 'Gone in 60 Seconds' the woman starts hitting the cars with her umbrella because they're on the sidewalk. People do things like that. This is what makes it real. 'Vanishing Point' they're holding up signs if I recall, just like they eventually did for OJ. The reason I don't think it turned out so well in 'The SevenUps' is because they didn't add any of that.

If you know the famous SoCal motorcycle chase where the guy ran the red light and didn't live to the other side of the intersection, I found out years later I had known that guy. Two brothers in state prison and always saying he'd rather die than join them. I assume that's why he ran the red light.

Grey beard said:
The longest chase scene was in Vanishing Point, but I found the ending disturbing. I have all three.
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Even more than 'Gone in 60 Seconds,' 'Vanishing Point' WAS the chase scene. The WHOLE THING was disturbing.

itchynackers said:
. . . . until I saw Ronin. Much more realistic.
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I had almost called 'Ronin' unrealistic, but most people don't know that movie.

Oh, wait, in a way, is there a chase in 'Duel?'

[youtube]qJHP7u5f7mY[/youtube]
 
I mean some of these are awesome, but something about 'Bullit' makes me want to go run around in my 'Stang. ESPECIALLY if that guy from Craigslist comes through with those Bullit wheels. But I'm hearing sirens out there as I type this. . . .

So who remembers that it's 14 year year old Nikki Cox telling Robert Patrict that John Connor is at the Galleria?

[youtube]msdCQoZhiEY[/youtube]
 
This was on the screen at the end of your video. I remember this, she started in Long Beach after some big incident at home, Anaheim Hills I think is 40 miles away and she's heading AWAY from the freeway she'll be on later if she's passing Green River, she's almost in Corona, then Lake Forest is maybe 25 miles down once she gets back to that 241. I love when she gets out and taunts the cops but the van takes off with a mind of its' own. I just don't think she had any sort of plan, it wasn't a trick at all.

But this is only interesting because it's real and unpredictable. When Dabney Coleman has his suicide chase in 'Short Time' it's still just a movie, so far more reckless things aren't as exciting.

[youtube]JoKZbOSvVa0[/youtube]
 
Perhaps not qualifying as a "car chase": One of the most memorable ones for me was the lightcycle chase in the original Tron, although it might not be the best executed.


Also not strictly a chase, I kinda liked the part from about 17 minutes in here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KB6h7snP8O8
(and I wish I had one of those machines, in an electric version)
There are better scenes elsewhere in the show, but I don't have time to find them right now.
 
well anyway, this one doesn't have the endless upshifts for those movie cars with a 45 speed manual tranny....

fast forward to 1:00 in.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITS5GkkqgEQ
 
Bullit blew our socks off when it came out. We'd never seen anything close to that yet.

Kinda sad nobody remembers Dirty Larry and Crazy Mary. Loved the ending where they get away and start celebrating and then wham, oops the train.

Love watching 2 lane blacktop just for all the New Mexico locations, back before a McDonalds in every town. Warren Oats is so good at what he does in that one, play some asshole.

Another honorable mention was Ron Howards first movie, as director that is. Forget the name of it, but he set the new record for cars wrecked in one movie, inspiring the blues brothers segment. Funny as hell, remenicent of another good chase in It's a mad mad mad mad world.

But for pure fantasy film chases it's hard to beat bond films. Fun one in Diamonds are forever with the wrong way out of the alley, but the one I always liked the best was boat chase in the swamps, plus the peckerwood sherrif. Yeah, not a car chase, but still a good one.
 
Dauntless said:
Grey beard said:
The longest chase scene was in Vanishing Point, but I found the ending disturbing. I have all three.
Click to expand...

Even more than 'Gone in 60 Seconds,' 'Vanishing Point' WAS the chase scene. The WHOLE THING was disturbing.
Click to expand...

Except maybe the girl on the dirt bike
 
Grey beard said:
Dauntless said:
Even more than 'Gone in 60 Seconds,' 'Vanishing Point' WAS the chase scene. The WHOLE THING was disturbing.
Click to expand...

Except maybe the girl on the dirt bike
Click to expand...

Care to take a guess at how Gilda Texter REALLY made a living in Hollywood?

Too bad Peta Wilson didn't play the role so BOLDLY in the remake.
 
dogman said:
But for pure fantasy film chases it's hard to beat bond films. .
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Have you seen the Top Gear feature "50 years of Bond Cars" ?

In amongst the usual TG drivel, is some fascinating info & background to the cars & chase scenes.
for instance in the first ever Bond movie..Dr No.. they had to rent a car for the movie ..a Sunbeam Alpine ,.. because no one would "lend" them one for an unknown movie. The rental cost them 12 shillings and 6 pence a day !!
( thats something less than $1 day ! :lol: )
..Lots of other similar trivia,..good stuff.
 
Did see that one last night, I haven't watched anything Topgear in years, but the hamster is probably my favorite of that obnoxious trio and pulled it off nicely,
the AMC Hornet chase had a good stunt jump and the first to planed by computer, had to cross the broken bridge at speed to send the car spiraling to the otherside, the original stunt driver backed out and another said I'll do it, and what a jump!

[youtube]trJocyjCBzo[/youtube]
 
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