Car chases
 

I haven't seen Matrix 2, but the discussion got me thinking of movies with great car chases. I guess the obvious one is Bullitt, but two recent ones that havereally stuck out are Ronin and The Bourne Identity.

Others?

The Seven-Ups, a 70s cop film with Roy Scheider.

All of the BMW films "The Hire" shorts. Obviously if BMW is footing the bill all of the car and driving scenes are going to be good.

And I second Ronin. Excellent.

Blah, the french connection of course!!!
zac

Blues Brothers

Bourne Identity

The third act of The Blues Brothers is unsurpassed after 23 years.

The original "Italian Job" had a tremendous chase scene. I hope the remake's as good...

The Transporter, and The Great Escape

THE ROAD WARRIOR - the entire movie
THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS - the last chase where they try and take over the truck
THE FRENCH CONNECTION

I have to say, the car chase at the beginning of THE TRANSPORTER looked like it was difficult to pull off, but the way it was filmed was completely ASS.

What about Gone in 60 Seconds?

And Keith... What did you mean by ASS?

By 'ASS' I mean the way that it was filmed was completely crappy. All quick cuts, seemingly with no rhyme or reason except to show disorientation. I couldn't even tell what was going on most of the time.

I suppose we can chalk that up to the MTV style of editing that's all the rage these days. I still enjoyed the movie. I thought it kicked ASS :)

On the other side of the coin, and slightly off topic, I just recently watched Risky Business again for the first time in many years. I was absolutly awed by some of the shots in that film, particularly the scene where Rebeca DeMornay and Tom Cruise first meet.

1974 or 2000 version?

I'm a bit of a Nicolas Cage fan, so it would be the 2000 version. I usually avoid modern remakes, but having never seen the original, I wasn't worried about it not measuring up...

//I suppose we can chalk that up to the MTV style of editing that's all the rage these days.//

MTV is how old now?

The style is getting old.

OK, people, you are all wrong so far. Here's the low down on the best car chase movie of all time.

It is the 1971 muscle car classic Vanishing Point
(There was a crap 1997 mfTV remake.)

Why is this the best car chase movie of all time? Because it was one chase, from start to finish, had a shocking end (no spoilers from me), and gratuitous nudity. Plus the star car of the movie was an excellent 1970 Dodge Challenger R/T.

Although all the entries people suggested already have been good runner's up to Vanishing Point, I'd also add Death Race 2000 to the mix.
Why? Again, its all car chase, interrupted only by gratuitous nudity, and uber-fromage dialogue delivered by Carradine and Stallone. Plus they race in futuristic death cars designed to maim and kill pedestrians for points. Hollywood has never been more original than this.

I forgot about Deathrace... :)

The chase in Bourne Identity was amazing.

We're forgetting about James Bond!

The Lotus Esprit scenes in The Spy Who Loved Me are maybe a bit different than the rest of the car chases cited here, but nothing tops the submarine-car!

And the scene on the ice in Die Another Day was pretty good, too.

"RW" was mentioned; "Mad Max" has some superb moments as well.

There's a great chase scene up the wrong way of the interstate in Friedkin's "To Live and Die in L.A."

"The Gettaway" (original -- not crappy remake) and "Freebie and the Bean" and "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World." I guess you can see what period I like. I second the vote for the "Vanishing Point" by the way. How about "Two Lane Blacktop?" That's another one that's one long car chase, or race. I think the chase scenes in old movies are generally better because they didn't have all those special effects.

Gone in 60 seconds (2000)
The fast and the furious
Ronin
Taxi 1 & 2 (french)

<<<-- Originally posted by Rob Lohman : Gone in 60 seconds (2000)
The fast and the furious
-->>>

Ack!! Pfft!!!

GoneIn60Seconds-2k got the thuumbs down from me. The original was so much better, and did everything for real, without computer effects to make the GT500 fly over a bridge.

Fast and the Furious was just as unrealistic, but it had a whole new style of car racing. I really liked it, but I'll never admit it to my car guy friends.
Favorite line:
"I don't drive it."
"Why not?"
"It scares the shit out of me."

Classic racing is in Ronin. They used British car for French scene, so as you saw DeNiro driving on left side, it was really stunt driver on rightside driving and De Niro pretending, he was said to have been really frightened and if you see the film his facial expressions really show it and give more realism to the film.

Fast and Furious was good, but car chases seemed too unrealistic at times.

Nice little bit of racing is a French film called TAXI, its by Luc Besson who's very well known . It has a cool little bit of racing through roads on a scooter at the beginning....fun to watch!

And of course the British Institution - Italian Job, the film that made everyone want to go out and buy a mini! If rumours are true then theres an import ban on the old (italian job) style minis for the USA.....you poor people over there! So you cannot get an Old Mini Cooper....just the new germanised ones!