Famous Car Chases in Movies
Movie↕ | Year↕ | Cars Featured↕ | Location↕ | Known For↕ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Bullitt | 1968 | Ford Mustang GT vs Dodge Charger | San Francisco hills | The car chase that invented car chases — Steve McQueen did many of his own stunts, the Mustang flying over San Francisco's steep hills is the most iconic image in car cinema, 10 minutes of pure automotive cinema with minimal music, set the template for every chase that followed, the actual Bullitt Mustang sold for $3.74 million at auction |
The French Connection | 1971 | 1971 Pontiac LeMans vs elevated train | Brooklyn, New York | The most dangerous chase ever filmed — Gene Hackman chasing an elevated train through Brooklyn traffic was filmed without proper permits, real pedestrians were nearly hit, cameraman was strapped to a car doing 90 mph through intersections, raw and chaotic in a way that could never be replicated today, arguably more visceral than Bullitt |
Mad Max: Fury Road | 2015 | War Rig, Interceptor, dozens of custom vehicles | Namibian desert | The entire movie is a car chase — George Miller made a 2-hour chase scene and won 6 Oscars for it, 80% practical effects with real vehicles and real stunts, the Doof Warrior playing flaming guitar on a moving truck is cinema's greatest excess, the War Rig is the greatest movie vehicle ever built, Charlize Theron's Furiosa outshines Mad Max in his own movie |
Ronin | 1998 | BMW M5 E34, Peugeot 406, Audi S8, Citroën XM | Paris and Nice, France | The thinking person's car chase — director John Frankenheimer was an actual amateur racer, the wrong-way Paris tunnel chase is heart-stopping, no CGI just skilled driving and camera work, Robert De Niro and Jean Reno look genuinely terrified, the best driving in any car chase filmed in actual European traffic, multiple chases each better than the last |
The Italian Job (1969) | 1969 | Three Mini Coopers (red, white, blue) | Turin, Italy | The Mini Cooper's finest hour — three Minis evading police through Turin's arcades, down staircases, across rooftops, and through sewers, 'You were only supposed to blow the bloody doors off!' is one of cinema's best lines, the original heist-chase template, the cliffhanger ending is literally a cliffhanger, Michael Caine at his coolest |
The Bourne Identity | 2002 | 1973 Mini Cooper vs police cars | Paris streets | The Mini against the world — Matt Damon driving a battered old Mini down Parisian staircases and through alleys while being chased by police, tight claustrophobic camerawork puts you in the car, the Mini's small size is the weapon, filmed with real stunt driving on real Paris streets, made shaky-cam chase cinematography the standard for a decade |
Baby Driver | 2017 | Subaru WRX (red), various getaway cars | Atlanta, Georgia | The musical car chase — every tire squeal, gear shift, and police siren is synchronized to the soundtrack, Edgar Wright choreographed driving to music, the opening Subaru WRX chase set to 'Bellbottoms' is an instant classic, Ansel Elgort lip-syncs while drifting, practical stunt driving with minimal CGI, the most rewatchable chase scenes ever |
The Dark Knight | 2008 | Batmobile (Tumbler), Batpod, semi truck | Chicago (as Gotham) | The semi-truck flip heard around the world — Christopher Nolan actually flipped a real 18-wheeler on a Chicago street, the Batpod emerging from the Tumbler is cinema magic, the tunnel chase with the Joker standing in the road daring Batman to hit him, practical effects over CGI makes it feel real and dangerous, Heath Ledger hanging out the window is terrifying |
Fast Five | 2011 | Dodge Chargers dragging a bank vault | Rio de Janeiro, Brazil | The vault chase that saved the franchise — two Chargers dragging a 10-ton bank vault through Rio's streets destroying everything, so absurd it loops back to brilliant, the moment Fast and Furious embraced being ridiculous and became a billion-dollar franchise, the Rock joined the cast, physics was officially uninvited from future installments |
To Live and Die in L.A. | 1985 | Chevrolet Impala vs various | Los Angeles freeways | The wrong-way freeway chase — William Friedkin (who also directed The French Connection) topped himself with a terrifying wrong-way chase on a real LA freeway, the stunt drivers were genuinely driving against traffic, raw 1980s filmmaking danger, overshadowed by bigger movies but respected by car chase aficionados as one of the most intense ever filmed |
Casino Royale | 2006 | Aston Martin DBS | Lake Garda road, Montenegro (Italy) | The most expensive crash in movie history — the Aston Martin DBS rolls 7 times in the most spectacular crash ever filmed, set a Guinness World Record for most cannon rolls (the car needed a ramp hidden in the road), Daniel Craig's introduction as Bond, the DBS was so new they had to modify a DB9, the crash totaled $1.5 million in Aston Martins |
Vanishing Point | 1971 | 1970 Dodge Challenger R/T 440 | Colorado to California (desert highways) | The existential car chase — a man drives a white Challenger from Denver to San Francisco in 15 hours being chased by every cop in the Southwest, counterculture road movie that influenced Tarantino's Death Proof, the white Challenger became an icon of American freedom, no CGI no tricks just a man and a muscle car vs the establishment, the ending is devastating |
The Matrix Reloaded | 2003 | Cadillac CTS, Ducati 996, various | Purpose-built freeway set | The freeway chase that cost $40 million — the Wachowskis built a 1.5-mile freeway set just for this sequence, Morpheus fighting on top of a moving semi, Trinity on a Ducati against traffic, agents jumping between cars, the most expensive chase scene ever filmed, combined practical stunts with groundbreaking CGI, 14 minutes of non-stop escalation |
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