Car chases on films

[GavinPearson]

I just bought Ronin, which I have to say has some impressive car chase action.

So I was wondering what films people have seen that have good motoring action.

My faves of the moment are:-

1) Ronin
2) The Bourne Identity
3) The Bourne Supremacy
4) The Blues Brothers
5) Vanishing point
6) Bullitt
7) Rendezvous
and as full length fils Le Mans and Grand Prix (the one with James Garner and all the F1 drivers making cameo appearances) are pretty good too.

[GavinPearson]

Thanks. Forgot the French Connection, daft of me as I have it on video.

[shirley temple]

The Blues Brothers!

Particularly the shopping center chase;

"the new oldsmobiles are in early this year"

"loads of space in this mall"

[v8thunder]

I'd agree with your list, and the fact that no-one has done a decent chase since the Bourne films. For some reason, classic car chases involved two cars and a lot of slick moves. Nowadays they seem to involve, by requirement, everything within 100 yards of the chase being involved in a big fiery pile-up, both cars involved getting shot to pieces, and the villain's car erupting in an apocalyptic explosion that rockets it through the windows of a nearby restaurant.

The art of the car chase has lost its subtlety IMO.

[DJFish]

These are pretty good efforts http://intl.bmwfilms.com/clap.asp?template=season1&country=eurorussia&film= Especially 'Star'.

[Corin Denton]

Anyone here seen Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry?

Dirty Mary Crazy Larry
Year: 1974
Director: John Hough
Stars: Peter Fonda, Susan George, Adam Roarke, Vic Morrow, Kenneth Tobey, Roddy McDowall
Genre: Action
Rating: 7 (from 2 votes)
Review: Larry (Peter Fonda) and Deke (Adam Roarke) rob a supermarket and make their getaway accompanied by the not entirely welcome Mary (Susan George), with the police in hot pursuit...

Ah, the seventies car movie. There's a certain je ne sais quoi about them, isn't there? You could watch a serious one, like Vanishing Point or Two Lane Blacktop, or you could go for a light-hearted one, like The Gumball Rally or Smokey and the Bandit.

This, written by Leigh Chapman and Antonio Santean, is one of the more serious ones. So what if the "naturalistic" dialogue sounds pretty phoney now? The car chase sequences are excellent, with all the right elements: flash manoeuvres, the open road, loud engines, lots of dust, property being destroyed and police cars frequently run off the road.

Roarke is great as the mechanic (Fonda treats the chase as a race), as is Vic Morrow as the sheriff, although he spends too much time in a helicopter. And then there's that famous ending, which comes across as less like Vanishing Point type of existential meaninglessness, and more a giant slap in the face for the characters. Well, how would you have ended it? Watch for: Roddy McDowall, unbilled as the supermarket manager. Listen for: the lack of incidental music.
Reviewer: Graeme Clark

[Corin Denton]

los angeles said:

I'm impressed, Corin. Are you quoting from your research card index?

Yes luckily they are in alphabetacal order (J to M) in the east wing!

[2 Smokin Barrels]

Nobody mentioned Driver, with Ryan O'Neill?

[FourWheelDrift]

Or any of the Bond films in which you must always have a chase of some sort, it's in Ian Fleming's will

[milfordkong]

Stick my neck out here and recommend my old childhood favourite Back to the Future, the short but sweet chase between the VW Bay window camper carrying the libyan terrorists and Marty Mcfly in Doc's Dolorean was classic stuff: “let’s see if you bastards can do 90” Fantastic!

Love the blues brothers too, when watched now it’s car chases seem to effectively parody films made a decade or so after it. An all time favourite of mine for sure.

I also love the Harley/Lorry chase in Terminator 2, fantastic action sequence and quality directing! T3 even has a pretty exciting one.

Got to agree with Los Angeles though, the Matrix Reloaded’s freeway scene was very poor, not even remotely exciting in my opinion and unbelievable to the point that it just looked ridiculous. I loved the first matrix but the sequels are both diabolical in equal measure.

Andy

[SlidingSideways]

Did I imagine it, or was there a small car chase in the Italian Job?
The original of course, not seen the hollywood version yet.

[lanciachris]

Cops chasing robbers.. sounds like a car chase to me. Good thing they left out the ice rink scene, beautifully done though it was

[v8thunder]

FourWheelDrift said:

Or any of the Bond films in which you must always have a chase of some sort, it's in Ian Fleming's will

Yeah, good point. There have been a lot of good Bond ones, especially the ones in The Spy Who Loved Me, all the Dalton ones, and Tomorrow Never Dies.

Problem was the one in Die Another Day. Car chase maybe, but on ice? in cars armed heavily enough to class as tanks? Through an ice palace? Is this Bond or Star Trek? Just served to show how poor Die Another Day was. I hope they learn their lesson and go back to understated class on the next one.

[rude-boy]

TAXI!