These bold films confront viewers and dare to offend
The movie that set the standard for all car chases to come, 'Bullitt,' directed by Peter Yates and starring Steve McQueen, includes a 10-minute scene where McQueen's character Frank Bullitt gets behind the wheel of his 1968 Ford Mustang GT for a cat and mouse chase with a hitman through the streets of San Francisco. Classic stuff!
Jason Bourne (Matt Damon) is recognized by Paris cops sitting behind the wheel of a stationary mini. Shifting the vehicle into first gear, Bourne speeds off and is pursued by the gendarmerie across the French capital in an insane attempt to escape the law. Passenger Marie Kreutz (Franka Potente) can only hang on for dear life.
'Ronin' moves into top gear toward the end of the movie when Sam Regazolli (Robert De Niro) and French gunman Vincent (Jean Reno) pursue a car through Paris containing a briefcase they've been trying to get their hands on throughout the entire picture. It doesn't end well for those being chased!
Known in the United States as 'No Way Out,' this Italian film noir stars Alain Delon as the titular character, a mob hitman who wants out. Trouble is, his Mafia bosses have other ideas. Their pursuit of the errant assassin includes a knee-jerking car chase that ends head-on at full speed.
Steven Spielberg was just 25 years old when he directed 'Duel.' Originally aired as a television film, reviews were so good that the picture received an international theatrical release. Dennis Weaver portrays David Mann, a salesman driving on a business trip. While on the road, he is pursued relentlessly by a dilapidated and sinister-looking tanker truck. A terrifying duel of sorts is soon being played out between Mann and the mostly unseen driver of the multi-wheeled monster.
Take three Mini Coopers pursued by Italian police across Turin and you have one of the most celebrated car chase sequences in cinema history.
The producers took a risk rebooting the classic 1969 original, but the remake of 'The Italian Job' includes a breathtaking chase scene where the custom-made Mini Coopers disappear underground to race through the Los Angeles subway system.
More Bourne. This time the man with no identity takes to a motorbike to chase an assassin on a scooter in Morocco. Later, he's dodging bullets in New York while pursued by traffic cops.
The James Bond movie franchise has long shaken and stirred audiences with some truly outstanding car chase sequences. A standout scene, however, (and one the most celebrated vehicle stunts ever captured on celluloid) is the moment Bond (Roger More) does a corkscrew jump over a river at the wheel of an AMC Hornet X. Amazingly, it was pulled off in one take.
The first installment in the Fast & Furious franchise, this is the one that started it all, with Paul Walker and Vin Diesel in their respective driving seats. The scene where Brian (Walker) and Dom (Diesel) jump a train track, a crazy maneuver that leads to Dom flipping his car over a truck, is the stuff of movie car chase legend.
Racing away from a pursuing submarine! Are you kidding? No, this is exactly what takes place in the eighth installment in the Fast & Furious franchise. On this occasion, Vin Diesel is joined by Luke Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) in an improbable chase that covers land and sea.
This Australian dystopian action-thriller introduced cinema audiences to Max (Mel Gibson) and set the wheels in motion for a series of films where encounters with crazed drivers in killer cars are a walk in the park.
Ryan Gosling offers up an ice-cold performance as the unnamed Hollywood stunt driver who moonlights as a getaway driver. The opening car chase sequence sets the scene for numerous other displays of virtuoso wheelmanship in this visually slick action crime drama.
Wannabe NASCAR competitor Larry Ryder (Peter Fonda) is reduced to holding up a supermarket in order to raise funds to fuel his ambition. His partners in crime are a mechanic buddy, played by Adam Rourke, and his love interest Mary (Susan George). Obsessively pursued by a vengeful sheriff, the trio evades capture until one day fate catches up with them.
Sources: (Motor Trend) (Road & Track) (Empire)
See also: The most iconic cars in cinematic and television history
Ryan O'Neal is simply known as The Driver in this crime thriller. The unnamed wheelman is a skilled getaway driver for robberies, and has a knack for steering himself out of tight spots. But there's a detective on his tail who's obsessed with pulling him over and throwing away the keys.
Plenty of rubber is burned in this crime thriller that centers on criminal getaway driver Miles "Baby" (Ansel Elgort). Baby likes to listen to music while ferrying crews of robbers to and from their scenes of crime. But as the net closes in, so the pedal hits the floor.
Bourne again, so to speak. With still no idea of who he is, our man takes to the wheel on several occasions in pursuit of his identity, and to escape bad guys. In one scene, he nabs a taxi and proceeds to wreck it while evading Moscow police. The film's finale features a superbly choreographed car chase, played out with supreme nerve and precision.
The nerve-racking highway chase sequence in this, the sequel to 'The Matrix' (1999), is absolutely insane, with agents replacing drivers and the advancing machines threatening to run humanity off the road.
Fox (Angelina Jolie) is an expert in knife-fighting, hand-to-hand combat, and engaging in shoot-outs while driving fast cars. In one scene from this action thriller, she's even seen hanging out of a shattered windshield and using a shotgun while steering the vehicle with her foot.
Filming locations used in 'Fast Five' include Atlanta, Puerto Rico, and Rio de Janeiro. It's in the Brazilian city that one of the best car chases of the entire Fast & Furious franchise takes place, the thrilling vault heist sequence.
Directed by Quentin Tarantino, 'Death Proof' refers to the cars modified by stuntman Mike McKay (Kurt Russell), who then declares them be "death-proof." But McKay has murder in mind, and his vehicles become deadly weapons.
This spin-off of the Fast & Furious franchise puts Luke Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) and Deckard Shaw (Jason Stratham) firmly in the driving seat. These guys take the movie car chase to new heights by chasing down a helicopter, believe it or not.
Tom Hardy is Max while Charlize Theron is Imperator Furiosa in this fourth installment of the Mad Max franchise. Audiences are given more devilish cars and electrifying chases across parched wilderness with no guarantee that anyone will survive.
A cult classic, 'Vanishing Point' is one long and exhilarating car chase, a story about a racing driver who is out to deliver a souped-up Dodge Charger from Denver to San Francisco in double quick time while high on uppers. But there's a snag: the entire California Highway Patrol is determined to bring him down and leave him flat.
The engine was still running when Mel Gibson decided to reprise his role as road warrior Max in this follow-up. The fast-paced and tightly edited chase sequences are truly impressive, especially the tanker collision scene towards the end of the movie.
Bo "Bandit" Darville (Burt Reynolds) loves moonshine, Carrie (Sally Field), and his turbo-charged Pontiac Trans Am. In one legendary scene, Bandit outwits pursuing law enforcement vehicles by jumping the Pontiac over an obsolete bridge.
A manic Jimmy "Popeye" Doyle (Gene Hackman) takes to the wheel in one of the most ambitious car chase sequences ever devised, as he pursues a suspect who's riding an elevated train. It's thrilling and exhausting in equal measure, but apparently was shot without proper road clearance authorization. Fortunately the scene was completed with no mishaps, and is up there with 'Bullitt' as one of cinema's craziest car chase moments.
Jean-Paul Belmondo is at his athletic best as jewel thief Azad in this crime caper that includes a spectacular car chase through the streets of Athens, where the burglar is pursued in his cheap Fiat 124 Special T by police detective Abel Zacharia (Omar Sharif), who is behind the wheel of a an equally lowly Opel Rekord.
A thrilling car chase shifts any movie into top gear. In fact, a snarling engine, burning rubber, and plenty of fender bending can accelerate a film's performance at the box office. Furthermore, a memorable chase sequence can makes stars out of cars, and put heroes in the driving seat.
Click through and take a drive through cinema's craziest car chases.
Cinema's craziest car chases
Take a look at the craziest high-speed scenes in movies
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A thrilling car chase shifts any movie into top gear. In fact, a snarling engine, burning rubber, and plenty of fender bending can accelerate a film's performance at the box office. Furthermore, a memorable chase sequence can makes stars out of cars, and put heroes in the driving seat.
Click through and take a drive through cinema's craziest car chases.