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The French Connection
- The climactic car chase in The French Connection is widely regarded as one of the most intense and gripping sequences in film history. This iconic scene features Gene Hackman as Detective Popeye Doyle, commandeering a 1971 Pontiac LeMans in desperate pursuit of an elevated train carrying a fugitive.
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Apr 7, 2022 · There have been many unbelievable car chase sequences in the history of movies, and we have ranked all of the best.
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- The French Connection (1971) Well ... it had to be this one, didn't it? After narrowly surviving an assassination attempt, "Popeye" Doyle (Gene Hackman) chases after the hitman Pierre (Marcel Bozzuffi) who escapes on an L train.
- What's Up Doc? (1972) The late, great Peter Bogdanovich threw everything he could into this brilliant and breezy homage to classic screwball comedies.
- To Live & Die In LA (1985) In a neat inversion of the standard set up, this traumatizing chase has detectives Chance (William Petersen) and Vukovich (John Pankow) pursued by gangsters working for a psychotic forger (Willem Defoe).
- Ronin (1998) John Frankenheimer's stylish spy thriller has aged incredibly well and is another film overdue for a reappraisal, especially for its immersive, suspenseful car chases.
- The Blues Brothers Final Chase Had To Be Reshot. There are two great car chases in 1980’s The Blues Brothers. The first is the one in the mall, but the second is one of the most legendary of all time.
- The Italian Job Minis Were All Electric. Electric vehicles are all the rage these days, but 20 years ago, when Mark Wahlberg and co. remade The Italian Job, they were almost unheard of.
- The Chase In Bullitt Wasn’t In The Script. Many film historians point to 1968’s Bullitt as the first modern car chase. You can argue about how true that is, but what is definitely true is that the chase wasn’t even in the original script.
- The French Connection Didn’t Have Permits. The famous chase scene in The French Connection has some people in common with Bullitt, including one of the stunt drivers, Bill Hickman.
Searches related to What is the most famous movie car chase scene of all time?
- Bullitt (1968) All car chases start and end with Steve McQueen's Bullitt. The muscular presence of action heroes, the sleek design of sports cars, and the brisk execution of car chases are paved by the charisma of Lt.
- The French Connection (1971) The legacy of The French Connection is solidified by its intense action scenes and outstanding car chases sequences. At the time, they set a precedent for car chase scenes: never just gimmicks, but tools for escalating the intensity of Popeye's pursuit of a hitman.
- Ronin (1998) Ronin may not be the flashiest movie on this list, but it's one of the defining movies of John Frankenheimer's career and Robert De Niro's stint in action movies.
- The Blues Brothers (1980) It's amazing how an SNL musical act eventually led to a motion picture that's part-musical, part-road show, and all chase. That's the story of John Belushi's Jake Blues and Dan Aykroyd's Elwood Blues.
- Electra Glide in Blue
- Armour of God
- The Italian Job
- The Lineup
- The Matrix Reloaded
- Violent Rome
- The Man from Hong Kong
- Manhunt in Milan
- Dirty Mary Crazy Larry
- Ronin
Maybe it’s cheating a little to start our countdown with a motorbike chase, but it didn’t feel right to leave out one of the great cult road movies. A diminutive copper (Robert Blake) is in pursuit of a bike gang, cuing a chase straight out of the Peckinpah playbook. While most chases remain about the need for speed, director James William Guercio ...
The stunt-jumps (into conveniently placed piles of cardboard boxes) are certainly impressive, but the central chase in this Jackie Chan vehicle remains pretty conventional. Until its final moments, that is. Pursued by cars and motorbikes in a concept Mitsubishi, Chan and his plus one find themselves trapped between two vehicles on a bridge. Cue an ...
The Busby Berkeley of iconic car chases sees a trio of Mini Coopers take to the streets of Turin for some synchronised manoeuvres over unexpected surfaces. The editing kills the buzz long before that bloody song does. A trio of cocksure drivers in red, white and blue, rampage through a European city with plans to steal its gold, before their hubris...
A decade before Steve McQueen burnt rubber through the streets of San Francisco, Don Siegel ended this cracking noir with a race towards the Golden Gate Bridge. Shots from inside the vehicle – where snarling dope-smuggler Eli Wallach holds a mother and daughter hostage – make surprisingly effective use of rear projection, but it’s the expansive loc...
It may be the worst entry in the series, but the Wachwoskis still show a dab hand when it comes to the set-piece. A specially-constructed freeway sets the stage for the film’s extended chase sequence, thrillingly structured as a series of escalating sub-scenes. Naturally, the practical stunt work proves more adept at quickening the pulse than inces...
This one certainly lives up to its name. A prime slice of Italian exploitation from the director of Zombie Holocaust, the chase scenes in Violent Rome have to be seen to be believed. Seemingly shot on the hoof, tearing through the streets of the Italian capital at breakneck speed, the tension is drawn less from the quality of the direction than a p...
“All the time I thought I’d get killed, that someone might get killed,” says one stunt man of The Man from Hong Kong in the 2008 documentary Not Quite Hollywood. An Australian-Hong Kong co-production, with fight scenes choreographed by Sammo Hung, the minimal regard for safety concerns is readily apparent in the chase sequences. The whole film is o...
One of the great low-budget Italian crime thrillers from the 1970s, this suitably grim exercise in economy from Fernando di Leo pulls few punches in its bonkers car chase. All sweaty close-ups and pedestrian casualties, it peaks with an in-flight punch-up through a van windshield as small-time pimp Mario Adorf clings to the front. Pulp fiction at i...
Lacking the existential pose of either Vanishing Point or the more woozily heady Two-Lane Blacktop, Dirty Mary Crazy Larry stumbles towards capturing some kind of meaning from its nihilistic wipeout of an ending. Roughly hewn – for better and worse – it may not be quite as deserving of its iconic position in the annals of the road movie, given its ...
Unable able to squeeze an original-beating chase into his sequel to The French Connection, John Frankenheimer attempted to go one better on the streets of Paris some two decades later. It’s a valiant effort (in an otherwise lacklustre film) that benefits from expansive access to the city streets. If the interior shots don’t entirely meld with the s...
Jun 16, 2024 · From the meticulous choreography of Baby Driver to the groundbreaking intensity of Bullitt, these unforgettable scenes have defined and redefined the action genre, showcasing the artistry and adrenaline that only the best car chases can deliver.
May 21, 2024 · The Greatest Car Chases in Movie History, Ranked. In honor of the imminent ‘Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga,’ we’re shifting into high gear to determine the best chase scene in cinema history
