Top Ten Tuesdays

[Paul@TheOverlook]

Here goes, off the top of my head:

1. Rendezvous (1976, Claude Lelouch)
2. The Burglars (1971, Henri Verneuil)
3. Death Proof (2007, Quentin Tarantino)
4. French Connection (1971, William Friedkin)
5. Mad Max 2 (1981, George Miller)
6. Bullitt (1968, Peter Yates)
7. Ronin (1998, John Frankenheimer)
8. Subway (1985, Luc Besson)
9. The Driver (1978, Walter Hill)
10. Against All Odds (1984, Taylor Hackford)

[Paul Zombie]

These are some that come to mind.

1) Terminator 2 ( Truck chasing scene)
2) Mad Max 2 (Tanker chasing scene)
3) Dirty Mary crazy Larry ( Cop chasing and train crash)
4) Man with Golden gun ( Car corkscrew jump)
5) Race with the devil ( Motorhome persuit)
6) Dead Pool ( toy car with bomb chase)
7) Cobra ( Stallone and brigitte neilson getting chased by psycho chaps before crashing)
8) Magnum force ( motor bike chase)
9) The Italian job ( mini coopers in shopping arcades)
10) Bullitt ( Steve mcqueen chase in San francisco)

[Nosferatu@Cult Labs]

CAR CHASES

1. The French Connection – the notorious sequence where Popeye's obsession with his case overrides his concern for his own safety and that of others. The making of this sequence is fascinating and the sense of danger and tension is so palpable because it was real. It is filmmaking like this which makes the Oscars for Best Editing and Direction no surprise because they both, especially the former, are outstanding examples of how to construct a film by building characters, plot, and involving the audience in something of very dubious morality.



2. Ronin – the sequence through Paris in which the characters have splintered and it's not just one car chasing another, but the occupants shooting at one another and ramming other vehicles out of the way (some exploding) which makes this astonishing and engrossing viewing. As a former race driver, John Frankenheimer's passion for car racing is evident in every frame of this astonishing sequence.



3. Bullitt – Steve McQueen, like John Frankenheimer, was someone who loved fast cars and the 10 minute chase sequence around the hills of San Francisco where Frank Bullitt is pursuing a hitman in his 1968 Ford Mustang GT (after initially being the subject of their attentions) is probably the highlight of a film which isn't short of memorable moments.



4. Terminator 2: Judgement Day – in a film which is chock-full with great action sequences, the sequence where Arnie's T-800 is protecting John Connor from the T-1000 is notable because it's one of the few chase sequences to fit into this category which doesn't really involve a car. With the protagonists on a Harley Davidson motorcycle and the antagonist in a lorry as Arnie stylishly reloads his shotgun and the lorry cab bounces off walls after jumping off a bridge, it's impossible to watch this without smiling at how audacious everything is.



5. To Live and Die in L.A. – the second William Friedkin-directed film on my list is probably the only one inspired by a real event (Friedkin apparently fell asleep at the wheel and found himself driving on the wrong side of the road and wanted to put that dangerous situation in a film). As he did with Gene Hackman in New York, the sequence involving William Petersen and John Pankow on the run from gangsters and trying to find safety by driving through the flood channels, car parks, and highways of Los Angeles (including going the wrong way) doesn't feel as dangerous as The French Connection, but it is astonishing filmmaking and utterly gripping.



6. The Matrix Reloaded – if I wanted to watch any sequence from this film it would be the highway chase sequence which shows there is room for CGI in a car chase sequence. With the ghost twins moving from vehicle to vehicle, time slowing down to show Morpheus sticking a Samurai Sword into the side of a lorry, regular drivers being replaced by agents, and thousands of gunshots! This would be prohibitively expensive if you are paying for every single vehicle on the road, so if anyone complains about product placement, this sequence was only possible because approximately all 300 vehicles were provided by GM, and approximately 300 were completely destroyed.



7. Mad Max: Fury Road – this is no comment on where the film stands compared to the original trilogy, but it seems George Miller has improved his visual storytelling with age, and perhaps with a greater budget than he was allowed for the first films, plus having CGI to change the background and adjust the colours and saturation makes the beauty and violence of this opening chase sequence the vehicular equivalent of Cirque du Soleil, only with drummers and a fire spewing guitar! It's one of the few sequences on this list I've seen in 4K and with 360° sound, both of which really amplify an already stunningly impressive sequence. As much as I love the climactic chase scene in The Road Warrior with Max (apparently) driving a tanker full of petrol, I don't think it's is visually impressive or is awe-inspiring as this sequence.



8. The Bourne Supremacy – I liked The Bourne Identity, but the second and third instalments in the trilogy were definitely more intense because of Paul Greengrass's hyper- kinetic vérité filmmaking style, something brilliantly showcased in the final car chase here. With Jason Bourne being chased down by Kirill, a Russian assassin, in Moscow, he steals a taxi (probably the sturdiest vehicle in the whole of Russia) and in this astonishingly violent sequence, which combines the style of Bullitt with the vehicular equivalent of a game of pinball. The abrupt ending doesn't have the explosiveness of T2 or Bullitt, but it does have quite a visceral impact and you can see how much the whole ordeal has taken out of all involved.



9. The Blues Brothers – armed with "a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes" and wearing sunglasses at night, these two musicians embark on a chaotic and hilarious money raising scheme, culminating in a quite ridiculous car chase including Nazis, police, and other musicians, and leaving utter devastation in their wake. Whilst other films on this list were engrossing because of their seriousness, this is riotously entertaining because it is so funny and ridiculous. Part of that is because Dan Ackroyd and John Belushi are such great antagonists and the rest is down to the technical brilliance of John Landis and the sheer number of cars and stunt drivers involved as the 1974 Dodge Monaco sedan finds itself destroying nearly police car in Chicago. There are the car chases I could have picked from this film, but the utter devastation in the sequence sets it apart.



10. Baby Driver – setting the tone of what is to come in Edgar Wright's 2017 action-packed heist movie, this opening section shows the skills of Baby, the eponymous getaway driver whose skills are heightened with music, a crucial element of the film. Everything about this is entertaining and dangerous, serious and flippant, real and cinematic, with those extremes and contradictions making it all the more involving and jawdroppingly fun.



Just missing out: John Wick – similar to the brute force displayed in The Bourne Supremacy, this isn't so much a car chase as a fight with vehicles, with the titular assassin, the most dangerous man on the planet, building on his already impressive resume of dispensing with those responsible – directly or indirectly – for killing his dog by showing that even without guns, knives, or even fists, knees and other body parts, he can kill some very nasty bodyguards by using his precious Dodge Charger.

The vehicle-based violence brilliantly queues up the final showdown between John Wick and Michael Nyqvist's Russian gangland boss when both on foot and largely devoid of weaponry.

If I want to show someone a film scene which will showcase my 4K TV and Dolby Atmos/DTS X setup, this is one of the first I would select because of the detail in the dark is great for the visuals, the and other atmospherics, the thumping bass, squealing tyres, bullets and broken glass flying across the room to showcase the benefits of 360° object based sound.



I would have included C'etait un Rendezvous, the astonishingly dangerous drive through Paris by an unknown driver under the supervision of Claude Lelouch but it didn't really fit my own criteria of a 'car chase'.

[keirarts]

Probably repeating what others have put on here....









(stunt squad)

[keirarts]

Driver posted twice in error...

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Top 10 Car Chases

Bullitt (1968)
Ronin (1998)
The Italian Job (1969)
Vanishing Point (1971)
Robbery (1967)
The Transporter (2002)
Fear is the Key (1972)
The Rock (1996)
Quantum of Solace (2008)
Violent City (1970)

There are so many good car chases in movies. I can't separate the Fast and the Furious movies so they are out as are things like The Blues Brothers, Driver, Cannonball Run, The French Connection, The Chase, Grand Theft Auto and Gone in Thirty Seconds as it's years since i watched my dvd's of them so can't say which chases are better than the others, only that they are all superb.

[Demoncrat]

GI Joe: Rise Of The Cobra
Dobermann
Drive
The Driver
Vanishing Point
The French Connection
The Italian Job
The Transporter
Duel
Mad Max 2

[MrBarlow]

Armour of God 1986.
Jackie and Alan being chased by the gang that is run by the cult in jeeps and bikes.

Bad Boys 2 2003.
Mike and Marcus chasing after Drug cartel and pursued by DEA in a porche that teaches us to never use your own car in a police chase due to your partner shooting the dashboard.

Brannigan 1975.
John Wayne driving around London in small back streets with a few sharp turns and corners with some near misses with other cars.

Bullitt. 1968.
Steve McQueen, angry cop ripping up the roads of San Fransisco,

Duel 1971.
One man vs a Tanker, this was suspenseful as Mann thinks he has managed to escape the truck then all of a sudden the chase starts over.

Smokey and The Bandit 1977.
In memory of Burt Reynolds who was giving a dare of transporting a truck full of alcohol and trying to outrun a sheriff who is hot on his heels and picks up Sally Field..who wouldn't though.

The French Connection 1971.
Think this is one of the most tense car chases while trying to keep an eye out for a overhead tram and avoid padestrians and other users of the roads.

The Italian Job 1969.
A bunch of guys trying to plan a robbery and create a standstill in traffic with the old mini coopers, you gotta see it to believe it.

The Transporter 2003.
When your told the rules in a getaway and then instructed to wear your seatbelts its best listeining to Jason, even at the start of the film you know it could be a high adrenaline rush movie.

The Raid 2 2014
Rama is in the middle of a jeep being chased by Eka while beating up the passengers and avoiding gun fire from the other triad members, with some face scrapping from the road.

Not sure whether to add this or not

Project A 1983.
Ok it doesn't have a car chase or motorbike chase but does have one of the funniest cycle chases from Jackie Chan to using a bike s a weapon, enclosed spaces and if you are going to throw a bike around, remember to see if the seat is still on before you jump back on it.

some mentions
Robocop 1987.
Murphy and Lewis chasing Clarence and his gang after the bank robbery.

Skyfall.
Bond and Moneypenny chasing the bad guy at the start in a jeep loosing their wing mirrors.

For Your Eyes Only.
Bond being chased by the guy on a bike on a bobsled track

[Demoncrat]

Likes all round!!

[Nosferatu@Cult Labs]

It was good to revisit some of my favourite car chases last week, and also to see what others consider their favourites, some of which never crossed my mind. I hope it was similarly interesting for you!

As tomorrow is Virus Appreciation Day and there have been many films over at least six decades about a virus causing widespread chaos, or causing change which has impacted a group of people, could you have a think and list (in order if possible) your favourite films about a viral outbreak, or where one plays a significant role in the narrative?

VIRUS FILMS