# What's the best chase scene in a movie? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 15, 2002, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-chase-scene-in-a-movie/136953 "2002-11-15T23:53:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2002, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-chase-scene-in-a-movie/136953/21 "2002-11-18T01:20:07Z")
No, no, no! The first T-1000/John Connor chase from the begining of **Terminator 2**. The one that starts in the mall, ends in the LA flood control canals with the big rig and the bikes. [comicbookguy] Best - chase - ever. [/comicbookguy] ---
**Author:** ![samarm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4da419/32.png) [@samarm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samarm)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2002, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-chase-scene-in-a-movie/136953/22 "2002-11-18T01:32:40Z")
My (qualified) votes: Coolest chase: Bullit. I love the atmosphere leading up to the chase. The way the guy puts on his driving gloves and fastens his racing harness. The music really adds to the atmosphere, and the cars are the coolest as well (Mustang and Charger IIRC). Most exciting race: Ronin. More than one good chase scene in this movie. The only thing I never understood was how the BMW driver managed to constantly flash her lights at the same time as weaving through oncoming traffic at 70mph? Most fun chase: Blues Brothers. The chase through the mall is very funny, and the final chase scene sets a record for cars smashed up in making a film. ---
**Author:** ![ElwoodCuse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/edb3f5/32.png) [@ElwoodCuse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElwoodCuse)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2002, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-chase-scene-in-a-movie/136953/23 "2002-11-18T03:12:28Z")
I’d cast my vote for the Blues Brothers too. In the documentary on the DVD, they explain how real all the chases were. It’s unlikely they would ever be able to film a movie like this again. First, the mall chase was completely real. They filmed it at a mall in Wisconsin that was scheduled to be demolished. Second, the Chicago chase scenes were real. John Landis even ordered some scenes reshot with pedestrians on the sidewalks so people wouldn’t think he just sped up the film. The city of Chicago was more or less shut down in parts so they could film this (it was a Sunday morning). I doubt anyone would ever get that permission again. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2002, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-chase-scene-in-a-movie/136953/24 "2002-11-18T03:26:15Z")
The Italian Job with the Mini Cooper’s escaping through Turin. [The Hall of Fame](http://tcotrel.tripod.com/carchasetwo.html) will bring back memories. ---
**Author:** ![Kaitlyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/73ab20/32.png) [@Kaitlyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kaitlyn)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2002, 8:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-chase-scene-in-a-movie/136953/25 "2002-11-18T08:31:20Z")
_Point Blank_, a thoroughly mediocre movie, has a great foot chase with Keanu Reeves trying to chase down a bank robber on foot. _The Enforcer_: Dirty Harry chasing down a suspect on foot. _Run, Lola, Run_ is more of a race against time, but does the best job of any movie I’ve seen at capturing the sensation of a person running. The boat chase in _Live and Let Die_ is the greatest boat chase ever filmed. _Police Story 3: Supercop_ features one inventive chase scene after another, climaxing with a series of chases on foot, in cars, on motorcycle and finally a train. ---
**Author:** ![Mooch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7bcc69/32.png) [@Mooch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mooch)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2002, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-chase-scene-in-a-movie/136953/26 "2002-11-18T17:35:06Z")
What, nobody has seen **Duel**? Actually, it is not even close to the best chase scene, but it lasts for the whole movie! ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2002, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-chase-scene-in-a-movie/136953/27 "2002-11-18T18:20:21Z")
**Playing God**. " I went to considerable expense to set up this car chase!" It’s the only time I’ve ever seen three _car_ monty 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2002, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-chase-scene-in-a-movie/136953/28 "2002-11-18T18:43:45Z")
The stolen buses in **Red Heat**. The combine/Trans Am chase in **The Hunter**. The Chicago El sequence, also in **The Hunter**. The car/motorcycle chase in **The Principal**. The motorcycle/ski chase in **For Your Eyes Only**. If only someone would put the Saab vs. three giant Finnish snowplows (similar example [here](http://www.ctts.nrel.gov/heavy_vehicle/Nebraska.html)) from Icebreaker on the screen… ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2002, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-chase-scene-in-a-movie/136953/29 "2002-11-18T18:51:28Z")
I agree with **What’s up, Doc** – that’s the one I gave when we had this same thread just a few weeks ago (I thought someone had simply revived it). > [@](#): > > Mighty Joe Young, an old favorite. Jill, Greg, and Max O’Hara race against time and the local police to haul Joe out to the harbor. On the way they are interrupted by: > > 1. A bum looking for a free ride; he sees Joe and runs around screaming, until a cop hauls him in; he speaks some strange language to a desk sergeant who says, “Wait a minute! That’s my old man’s lingo!” I never did understand that… The “bum” is an immigrant worker. Nobody understands what’s he’s saying, because he doesn’t speak English, so the Police don’t realize that Joe has switched trucks until the sergeant fortuitiously happens to understand the guy, because his father is the same nationality. Just for the record, the language the hobo is babbling is Polish. I know that because that’s _my_ old man’s lingo. ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2002, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-chase-scene-in-a-movie/136953/30 "2002-11-18T19:18:57Z")
I know it’s fashionable for Bond fans to hate everything about _A View to a Kill_, but I loved the fire engine chase. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2002, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-chase-scene-in-a-movie/136953/31 "2002-11-18T19:48:12Z")
I want to demonstrate my super-sophisticated, uber-urbane humor, and nominate the chase scene in **The Pink Panther** , involving people dressed in gorilla suits and zebra costumes. haw haw haw! Daniel ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Carnage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/max_carnage/32/12775_2.png) [@Max\_Carnage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Carnage)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2002, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-chase-scene-in-a-movie/136953/32 "2002-11-18T20:14:36Z")
May I suggest [www.bmwfilms.com](http://www.bmwfilms.com) for some good car chases (and some commercials worth watching.) ---
**Author:** ![alex\_arg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ebca7d/32.png) [@alex\_arg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alex_arg)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2002, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-chase-scene-in-a-movie/136953/33 "2002-11-18T21:53:18Z")
Ronin, since I saw it I fell in love with the Audi S8. T-Rex vs. Jeep in Jurassic park was cool too. ---
**Author:** ![Canyon\_Surfer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Canyon\_Surfer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Canyon_Surfer)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2002, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-chase-scene-in-a-movie/136953/34 "2002-11-18T21:54:11Z")
A superb boat chase, IMHO better than the one in Live and Let Die was in the 1972 (I think) film, Puppet on a Chain. Based on the Alistair Maclean novel, the speed boat chase was through the canals of Amsterdam. Amazing to watch. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2002, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-chase-scene-in-a-movie/136953/35 "2002-11-18T22:36:56Z")
How about the mining cars in **Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom**? I actually like the scene in **Raiders of the Lost Ark** with Indy chasing the truck first on horseback, then the staff car, finally dragging behind/underneath slightly better. Does the rolling boulder vs Indy count as a chase? ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Tan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/charlie_tan/32/12582_2.png) [@Charlie\_Tan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Tan)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2002, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-chase-scene-in-a-movie/136953/36 "2002-11-18T22:37:08Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by alex\_arg \* > \*\*Ronin, since I saw it I fell in love with the Audi S8. T-Rex vs. Jeep in Jurassic park was cool too. \*\* [hijack] You gotta love a 2 ton sedan which will blow a Porsche off the road (0-60 in 4,8 secs). I’ve driven one. I want one. [/hijack] ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2002, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-chase-scene-in-a-movie/136953/37 "2002-11-19T00:11:48Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by The Gaspode \* > \*\*[hijack] > You gotta love a 2 ton sedan which will blow a Porsche off the road (0-60 in 4,8 secs). I’ve driven one. I want one. > [/hijack] \*\* Why Porsche built the Cayenne perhaps 😉 **Mad Max** was just mad basically. The way in which Max dusts the pyscho through sheer bloody mindedness is the best way to end a chase ever. **Bullit** was fantastic not just for the setting or the [drool]cars[/drool] but the fact that they were really thrown about the place with Steve McQueen actually doing the driving! **Robbery** While we’re talking about Steve McQueen, Robbery is the best British car chase ever, set in sixties London and based on the Great Train Robbery IIRC, its chase features two Jaguars being thrown around the narrow streets before ending with the criminals trying to mow down a school crossing. It impressed McQueen so much he got the films director to work on Bullit. **Blues Brothers** is tops for the sheer volume of law enforcement officials involved and the massice amounts of destruction caused 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![I\_am\_Sparticus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c68b51/32.png) [@I\_am\_Sparticus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_am_Sparticus)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2002, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-chase-scene-in-a-movie/136953/38 "2002-11-19T02:04:23Z")
To Live and Die in LA Bullit French Connection Ronin Not a great movie but a good chase: recent Gone in 60 Seconds ---
**Author:** ![syncrolecyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f08c70/32.png) [@syncrolecyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/syncrolecyne)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2002, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-chase-scene-in-a-movie/136953/39 "2002-11-19T05:42:31Z")
The Marx Brothers’ **Go West** (where they tear up the train). ---
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2002, 10:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-chase-scene-in-a-movie/136953/40 "2002-11-19T10:54:13Z")
The car chase in The Bank Dick was pretty damn funny. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-chase-scene-in-a-movie/136953.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-chase-scene-in-a-movie/136953.md?page=3)