New at BOP: Review: Matrix Resurrections Movie Review: Moonfall Movie Reviews: Scream The #1 Movie in America November Forecast The Many Saints of Newark October Forecast New Trivia Question All site updates Share & Save   Tweet Print this column

Finally, and just missing the cut, is the utterly ridiculous but deliciously campy Smokey and the Bandit, the 1977 comedy starring Burt Reynolds and Sally Field as a moonshine truck driver and a runaway bride (respectively!) who are engaged in a cross-country chase to transport a truck-full of beer. The entire movie is essentially a car chase scene, which makes it a worthy inclusion even if the premise and dialogue are somewhat outlandish.

Onward, then, to my favorite car chase movies.

5. The Bourne Identity (2002)

Although not yet considered a classic by many, I am partial to the chase sequence in Matt Damon’s thriller because it spawned a solid set of adaptations of the popular Bourne novels. This chase through the streets of Paris even has Damon going up and down pedestrian staircases. Although the other entries on this list will feature muscle and sport cars, the chase here involved a beat up Mini Cooper belonging to Damon’s on-screen girlfriend, as they are being chased by the French police. Also noteworthy is the vehicular carnage that Damon’s little car left in its wake. After going through all the one-way lanes and thoroughfares, down the cobblestones, and over many sidewalks, it was no surprise that the motorcycles and vehicles in pursuit of them crashed into dozens upon dozens of innocent bystanders. It seems as if the collateral damage crashes are a common theme in the modern day car chase scene, where they didn’t figure as a central part of the action in older sequences, as we shall see below.

Paul Greengrass’s subsequent effort, the Moscow chase scene in The Bourne Supremacy, was also impressive, but it was the opener that set the tone for the rest of the franchise.

4. To Live and Die in L.A. (1985)

William Friedkin’s 1985 thriller stands out for the sequence in which the lead character drives a Chevy Impala in the opposite direction on a Los Angeles freeway. The trick, apparently, was that Friedkin had the lead character (a troubled Secret Service agent played by William Petersen) drive in the right way on the street, and the traffic driving the wrong way.

As we shall see, it is clear that by the time he had made To Live and Die in L.A., Friedkin had been successful at directing thrilling car chase sequences. Nevertheless, the swerving maneuvers through the rapidly coming cars are impressive for many reasons, including the fact that it is clear that the director himself is riding in a car following Petersen’s car as it swerves through danger. Eventually, Petersen’s Secret Service agent successfully evades the gunmen who are pursuing him, but not before causing chaos to ensue on the freeway, and several cars to topple onto each other in a melee of stunt car crashes.

Continued:       1       2       3