A-List: Top Five Car Chase Scenes
By J. Don Birnam
April 6, 2015
3. Ronin (1998)
Robert De Niro’s 1998 thriller is the second-newest film to make the list. I selected it for its car chase scene that was reportedly one of the most difficult to shoot ever. The scene features De Niro in a Peugeot chasing a BMW through the streets of Paris. At some point, a line of pedestrians have to literally jump out of the way of the wayward vehicles. This thrilling scene involves the tires of the BMW being shot at, and the vehicle rolling and crashing as it bursts into flames while the (female) driver maneuvers it.
But director John Frankenheimer, who first directed a car action thriller in 1966 with “Grand Prix,” was not content to have one climatic chase scene, opting instead for three. In all of them, other muscle cars such as a Mercedes-Benz 6.9 and an Audi S8 are expertly driven by stuntmen and professional race car drivers, whose driving was expertly captured by Frankenheimer’s steady and focused lens. In all, the chase scenes reportedly took nearly 100 hours to complete, making them some of the most complex such endeavors in film history. The film itself is quite good too, as the ruthless mercenaries chase each other across Europe in a battle of ruthlessness and callousness.
2. Bullitt (1968)
Bullitt is considered by many to be the definitive car chase sequence of all time. It is indeed impressive. Steve McQueen’s Bullitt, driving a gorgeous Mustang, is chased by two truants who are driving a Dodge Charger. Some of the most impressive scenes in this chase through the narrow, curvy streets of San Francisco occur when the cars bounce over the hills and continue.
The sequence was clearly meticulously shot and, since Bullitt is a movie from the 1960s, there isn’t an ever-present soundtrack. This is all for the better, however, as you can listen to the revving of the powerful engines in all their glory. It is also clear that these sequences were performed by stunt drivers or the actors themselves, rather than the more ubiquitous computer-animated chases today. You can see McQueen shifting the Mustang’s gears at precisely the accurate and necessary moments, maneuvering difficult turns and constant changes in speed.
Moreover, because the movie is older, it does not feature the excessive scene cuts that are common in movies (certainly action movies) today. Thus, the viewer is treated to a much more realistic chase scene - one that seems to be playing out before you (as it was) rather than being the productive of camera tricks by moving quickly and dizzyingly from car to car.
Bullitt eventually turns the tables on his pursuers and becomes the chaser, running the bad guys out of town and finally muscling their car into missing a turn, which leads them to crash into a gas station and blow up.
1. The French Connection (1971)
I am, however, partial to the 1971 Best Picture winner, the French Connection, and its impressive car chase scene. The movie deals with a drug smuggling ring in New York and, in the pivotal scene, Gene Hackman’s lead detective, Doyle, chases a killer as he attempts to flee in an elevated subway train in the city. The impressive sequences feature Hackman driving a Pontiac Lemans through narrow alleys and underneath the moving train.
It’s also noteworthy that William Friedkin also directed this movie, giving him two spots on the list. For The French Connection, however, Friedkin arguably did the best work of his career, having Hackman actually drive in Brooklyn at high speeds and for long distances. The stunt would probably have to be computerized in the uber-safe world of today, making the scene a timeless classic of a bygone era, and assuredly one of the movies that made a car chase scene a “thing” that has continued all the way through the Fast and the Furious franchise and beyond.
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