“It’s 110 miles to Chicago. We’ve got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it’s dark, and we’re wearing sunglasses.”
“Hit it.”
Another vote here for The Blues Brothers.
Another vote for Ronin. Great car chases in that film.
Wish I got here earlier.
I’m padding the vote stacks for Ronin, Blues Brothers, and Bullitt.
I recommend Jackie Chan’s Police Story, in which Jackie chases a car through a shantytown down a precipitous hill. When I say through, I mean through the lean-tos and shacks, leaving an enormous trail of flying debris. It’s one of the craziest things I’ve ever seen.
Police Story, by the way, introduces the same character Chan later used in two of his most successful films, Supercop and First Strike. These three are arguably Chan’s very best stunt films.
I’ve been trying to figure out whom to annoy for the DVD release of To Live And Die in L.A. So far, no luck.
Yet another vote for Ronin.
My second choice would be the Mini chase in The Italian Job.
Honorable mention to Vanishing Point. The movie is one long car chase. Actually, it was a one long crude, pre-MTV music video car chase. Nice slant on the buddy aspect, though, with Barry Newman in the car and Cleavon Little in the radio station clueing him in on the cops’ whereabouts.
Hah! If you hadn’t mentioned this I would have! That chase scene is 1/2 the reason I love that movie.
Yet more votes here for Ronin and The Blues Brothers
In the “unconventional” category, I have two nominations, both from Bond flicks. The motorcycle chase in “Tomorrow Never Dies,” where Pierce Brosnan and Michelle Yeoh are handcuffed together and pursued by a helicopter, and the boat chase in “Live And Let Die.” That boat chase was the only really good part of that movie.
I would definitely vote for “The Blues Brothers,” and while I’m at it, I’ll cast a vote for “Taxi,” the 1998 French film by Luc Besson.
I’d have to agree with previous posters that mentioned Bullitt and Gone in 60 Seconds, but the one that always comes to my mind is Beverly Hills Cop. The scene at the beginning when Axel Foley’s cigarette sting goes bad is classic. Seeing that city bus do a 180 will stick in my mind forever.
The Blues Brothers had some awesome chases. And the best part is they were very real. The mall scene? Filmed in a mall in Wisconsin that was about to be ripped down. The final chase in Chicago? Yes, they really did do 120 in downtown Chicago. In fact, John Landis had some of the scenes reshot with people in the background to prove that the footage was not sped up.
Honorable Mention for Gratuity: The car chase scene in The Rock.
I have to chime in with The Blues Brothers—both chase scenes. Those were brilliant.
I also have to second Bullitt. The best thing about that chase is that one of the cars lost no less than seven hubcaps during the action. Fantastic.
That was my first reaction to seeing the thread title, and it struck me as strange that it took so long for someone to mention The Blues Brothers and The Road Warrior.
Two other movies with nifty car chases are Riding Bean, which was inspired by The Blues Brothers, and Lupin III and the Castle of Cagliostro, in which Lupin and Jigen race around the side of a mountain in their Fiat while dodging stikkbombs lobbed at them by the Dusenberg they are pursuing.
Pete
Long time RGMWer and ardent AOLer
Hey, AMC just had Bullitt on the other day. Cooool movie.
I’d sort of forgotten the Mad Max movies. I’d given up trying to find the first film on video, is it still being distributed?
Immediately thought of Bullitt and French Coennection. Guess I should see Ronin. The Rock had a pretty good one, too.
I liked “The Rock”'s chase scene because it was a sort of tribute-within-a-movie to car chase scenes with all the standard cliches of chase scenes you could fit into a chase.
“Speed” has some really terrific stunts and scenes. Yeah, Keanu Reeves is wooden, and it’s not exactly a “chase,” but technically there are some jaw-dropping stunts and scenes there.
But my vote goes to “To Live and Die in L.A.” What a scene!
Thanks, LNM - I forgot all about The French Connection.
Also, another vote for Bullitt and Ronin.