The car chase is fast becoming an antiquated concept in movies, since it's a lot easier (and cheaper) just to use computers, resulting in the obviously fake (The Fast and the Furious), the ridiculous (Wanted), or a combination of the two (Speed Racer).
I'm not sure why I've never done a chase entry on APCB. It's probably because my list would look like every other top 10 out there. Without even thinking too hard (and in no particular order), I can come up with:
To Live and Die in L.A.
Ronin
Rendezvous
The Italian Job (original)
The French Connection
The Blues Brothers
The Bourne Supremacy (couldn't find the vid)
And of course, there's the one that prompted this entry in the first place: Bullitt:
I still love how the first three minutes are pure foreplay, with Steve McQueen and Bill Hickman playing cat and mouse before finally going balls out. It ain't pretty. There are sideswiped cars (and trucks) and scraped walls aplenty, but it's still the grandaddy of them all.
I've brought the movie up before, but the reason I'm revisiting it is this site, which tracks the chase in real-time on a map of San Francisco. It's interesting, for those of us not from the Bay Area, to see how the chase jumps around. And also to see how this, the first car chase shot on location (not in a studio backlot) and "at speed" may still never be topped.
Don’t forget the amazing scene from Death Proof, Tarantino’s entry in the Grindhouse double feature. One of the great stunt driving scenes I’ve ever seen.
Duel.
Meh. It was no secret Dennis Weaver’s moustache would triumph.
Don’t forget the amazing scene from Death Proof
Yeah, that’s a good one. Had Mitt Romney become President, I would’ve made Zoe Bell one of my wives.
Live and Die changed car chases for me. I never saw a reverse-flow getaway before that. The sound on that scene is pretty rocking. They sure capture the carbed V8. Don’t tell it was ripped off, please.
The Blues Brothers, simply for the carnage of perfectly fine hoopties being sacrificed for an SNL spin-off. USA! USA!
No, really - go ahead and imagine it with SmartCars or Deux Chevveeeeuuexblahblah. The Good Old Boys would be in a micro-van, all jammed up in the frame, and unhappier, with irony.
It’d be fun to map the Blues Brothers car chase……..especially since the last two minutes of the chase were filmed in Milwaukee.
What, no love for The Transporter? I love the opening scene.
Although the movie is utterly horrendous, there’s a car chase scene in WE OWN THE NIGHT that had me floored. It’s all shot from the inside of a car including sound and it’s amazing. Then again, I haven’t seen it since the ill fated day I forked over hard earned cash, but if I loved it then, it’s probably better now for free on HBO.
Duel.