Yore Movie Swells: Best Race-Chases
Not many movie scenes can hold you in your seat like a riveting race-chase. A staple since the Keystone Cops were on the case, road-rage is the usual format today, but trains, planes (Women-In-The-Wind), boats, chariots (Ben-Hur), horse-buggies (Friendly-Persuasion), even foot pursuit can fuel the fleet. Autos to me are like classical music, I don’t know the details but I know what I like. So on that note (♫), here then are listed the 21 best race-chase scenes in yore movie history (<2000), the Felix Mendelssohns, Antonio Vivaldis, Frédéric Chopins, Claude Debusseys, Erik Saties, Beethoven & Bachs of cinematic speed. Va-room!
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21 titles
- DirectorPeter YatesStarsSteve McQueenJacqueline BissetRobert VaughnA nonconformist San Francisco cop is determined to find the underworld kingpin who killed the witness under his protection.Think you need city hustle & bustle to sauté cinema speed (Friedkin CHI / D‘Antoni & Frankenheimer NYC / Hickman LA)? Think again. McQueen was born in Beech-Grove, IN (1930-80) and grew up in Slater, MO. Rated by some as moviedom’s best race-chase, it’s hard to dispute. The story can confuse but the event, including its build-up (seat-belts, etc.), bad-boy shots (Hickman at wheel, Genge shot-gun), cool cars (Mustang GT (SM-Ekins) / Charger (BH)), film (Fraker), frame (Keller), sound and music-lite (Schifrin), all make it a work of art that even a car novice and gun-control advocate can appreciate.
- DirectorJohn FrankenheimerStarsRobert De NiroJean RenoNatascha McElhoneA freelancing former U.S. Intelligence Agent tries to track down a mysterious package that is wanted by the Irish and the Russians.Having cut his racing teeth 30 years prior on Grand-Prix and again in FC2, it’s no wonder John’s behind what is arguably the most daring car chase scene in all film history. Any wonder a lady (McElhone as “Deirdre!”) with an enchanting “Irish lilt” is at the wheel of the lead car (+ De Niro & Jean Reno) in this action-packed-thriller? Nope.
- DirectorWilliam FriedkinStarsGene HackmanRoy ScheiderFernando ReyA pair of NYPD detectives in the Narcotics Bureau stumble onto a heroin smuggling ring based in Marseilles, but stopping them and capturing their leaders proves an elusive goal.Another top contender for that #1 spot in film race-chase, it may be the best known, not just on its near misses (eek!), but the satisfaction in closure it affords viewers. Gene Hackman (Jim ’Popeye’ Doyle) and Frenchman Marcel Bozzuffi (Pierre) are the principals, making use of a myriad of means in car, L-train and finally on foot in FC tradition.
- DirectorJohn FrankenheimerStarsGene HackmanFernando ReyBernard Fresson"Popeye" Doyle travels to Marseille to find Alain Charnier, the drug smuggler who eluded him in New York.In Marseilles with no driver’s license, passed-off policeman-on-probation Popeye Doyle foots it in movie’s finale in attempt to apprehend his nemesis, heroine wholesaler Charnier (Fern Rey). My personal favorite after the horse flick (See; Below). Feel the wheeze, then the breeze. Does he get his man? It’s why all that shooting-range time can pay off.
- DirectorPhilip D'AntoniStarsRoy ScheiderTony Lo BiancoVictor ArnoldA tough detective who is part of an elite New York City unit is trying to find out who killed his partner, but uncovers a plot to kidnap mobsters for money.If Frankenheimer is the Don of movie car chase (b.NYC 2.19.30), Phil has to be its Mayor La-Guardia (b.NYC 2.19.29), directing or producing three of the best R/C scenes in the genre (Bullitt & TFC). Something about coming into the world via NYC on February 19th that calibrates the DNA? In the 7-Ups it’s Scheider’s turn behind the wheel with resident bad-asses Bill Hickman (Bullitt & Patton) and Dick Lynch in his sights, for awhile.
- DirectorJohn FrankenheimerStarsJames GarnerEva Marie SaintYves MontandAmerican Grand Prix driver Pete Aron is fired by his Jordan-BRM racing team after a crash at Monaco that injures his British teammate, Scott Stoddard.Too much grease-opera (prurience) for this fan but the track scenes in cinematography (Lionel Lindon & Saul Bass), sound (Frank Milton) and actors-actually-driving are superbly done and now even more appreciated. In reflection on TCM, John was amazed at the audacity and courage of the actors, and permissibility of the makers. Different days.
- DirectorLee H. KatzinJohn SturgesStarsSteve McQueenSiegfried RauchElga AndersenTwo car racing champions, an American and a German, face off on the world's hardest endurance course: Le Mans in France.No grease-opera, LeMans is a race film first and foremost. That's McQueen (focus). There are warm moments and sexual suggestions but the female friends are in-waiting, not surprising given the drivers nearness to death's door, and the attractions compliment rather than compete with the task at hand. Gets the edge over Grand-Prix (66) on script (Kleiner), but like its predecessor, the driving scenes (lens: Guissart-Hauser) are a testament to the racing gestalt. Rivalry between circuit stars in Delaney (Steve) and Stahler (Rauch) is credible and pleasing in its respectful closing gestures.
- DirectorVictor FlemingStarsSpencer TracyFreddie BartholomewLionel BarrymoreA spoiled brat who falls overboard from a steamship in the 1920s gets picked up by a New England fishing boat, where he's made to earn his keep by joining the crew in their work.After testy tadpole Fred Bartholomew (Little Fish) is rescued at sea, read the Cape Cod riot-act and finally earns his keep by the patient and lyrical auspices of his Portuguese charge in Manuel (Spencer Tracy), the fishing vessel “We’re Here” races to be first in port. You’ll feel the sea-mist, then the heartache, then begin to understand the life.
- DirectorStanley KramerStarsGregory PeckAva GardnerFred AstaireAfter a global nuclear war, the residents of Australia must come to terms with the fact that all life will be destroyed in a matter of months.Nuclear aftermath is the back-drop where pointed passion is a fleeting tonic, while Hall-of-Fame hoofer Fred Astaire presses the pedal and drives through a minefield of mangled wrecks in the truest, if most dangerous spirit of sport. Fred's grittiest performance.
- DirectorWilliam WylerStarsCharlton HestonJack HawkinsStephen BoydAfter a Jewish prince is betrayed and sent into slavery by a Roman friend in 1st-century Jerusalem, he regains his freedom and comes back for revenge.Other versions exist (1907 1925 2016), but none can match the pageantry and thrill of 1959’s chariot race between Charlton Heston and Steve Boyd, nor its gripping aftermath when ground-round Messala, one foot in the grave, gut-punches his former-friend-turned-foe in dying declaration: “It goes on, Judah, the race.” And don’t we know it.
- DirectorGeorge SidneyStarsElvis PresleyAnn-MargretCesare DanovaA race-car driver preparing for the Grand Prix wiles his time in Las Vegas working as a waiter to pay for his new engine and soon strikes up a romance with a beautiful young woman.Starring Elvis Presley, Ann-Margret and Cesare Danova. The music & melodrama pull-over late, for one of the most frightening road races on film. Yes, that's right, an Elvis flick, go figure. I just hope the real drivers came out okay (gulp). Holy hound dog, Batman!
- DirectorJohn IrelandEdward SampsonStarsJohn IrelandDorothy MaloneBruce CarlisleA trucker framed for murder breaks out of jail, takes a young woman hostage, and enters her sports car in cross-border road race hoping to get to Mexico before the police catch him.A kidnapping was never so kooky. Criminality, romance and racing all in the same vehicle. But Dorothy Malone revs with radiance, even under stress, the cars are classic cool and the pros behind the wheels, including John, all take their curves like an ace.
- DirectorEdward F. ClineStarsW.C. FieldsCora WitherspoonUna MerkelHenpecked Egbert Sousé has comic adventures as a substitute film director and unlikely bank guard.Unlike the shortened pursuits in Bonnie and Clyde (67) (“I‘m not driving into Oklahoma!”), in The-Bank-Dick, the California coppers stay in the hunt when bumbling bank guard Egbert Sousé (WC Fields) gets heisted along with the loot, calmly currying laughs n’ gasps that you’d come to expect from one of the royals of classic comedy.
- DirectorGeorge LucasStarsRichard DreyfussRon HowardPaul Le MatA group of teenagers in California's central valley spend one final night after their 1962 high school graduation cruising the strip with their buddies before they pursue their varying goals.This most famous drag-race in moviedom pits John Milner (Paul Le Mat) against Bob ‘Nobody’ Falfa (Harrison Ford) to close out a perfect film packed with stars, songs and so much fun (Joe: “Rome wudn‘t burnt in a day”). Lucas never made a better film, and then made a pretty penny doing so ($777,000 budget > $140M Box!). “Zow-ee!”
- DirectorGeorge MillerStarsMel GibsonJoanne SamuelHugh Keays-ByrneIn a self-destructing world, a vengeful Australian policeman sets out to stop a violent motorcycle gang.The only good flick in the Max series, Mel Gibson, with help from an inventive mechanic (Cameron), runs the Night-Rider (Gil), his leggy lady (Pinkus) and the Toe-cutter (Keays-Byrne) into .. how do I put it without giving away the ending, into a different dimension. Glad they all missed the creeping kid Constantine crossing the road. Phew!
- DirectorJames CameronStarsArnold SchwarzeneggerLinda HamiltonMichael BiehnA human soldier is sent from 2029 to 1984 to stop an almost indestructible cyborg killing machine, sent from the same year, which has been programmed to execute a young woman whose unborn son is the key to humanity's future salvation.The concept was unique, Sarah (Hamilton) and her time-travel bodyguard Kyle (Biehn) must out-race their steel & circuit cyborg pursuer (Schwarzenegger) intent on their demise but which can't be stopped, not by conventional means. The bookend chase scenes are gripping with music scores (Fiedel) that raise and then retain the tension.
- DirectorJames CameronStarsArnold SchwarzeneggerLinda HamiltonEdward FurlongA cyborg, identical to the one who failed to kill Sarah Connor, must now protect her ten year old son John from an even more advanced and powerful cyborg.In this sequel, Sarah has a son (Furlong) (Guess who‘s Daddy?) and TWO robots on her tail who have some savoir faire, one defensive (Arnold), the other (Patrick) destructive yet advanced (“liquid metal”). The tanker spill late, temporarily freezing the bad-bot is F/X gold, but the prior Mall chase that puts a tractor in LA’s aqueduct in early CGI struck a perfect balance no longer sought in today’s deluge of digitalized dull.
- DirectorWilliam FriedkinStarsWilliam PetersenWillem DafoeJane LeevesA fearless Secret Service agent will stop at nothing to bring down the counterfeiter who killed his partner.It’s not just New Yorkers with a keen sense of cinema speed, City of Big Shoulders births its share, too. Bill may’ve topped his TFC chase with this West Coast hair-raiser, starring fellow Chicagoan Wm Petersen who drives to the wild side. Box office boom ($6 > $17M), To-Live is a rare air, but if you see it, you won' forget the crazy California cruise.
- DirectorClarence BrownStarsMickey RooneyElizabeth TaylorDonald CrispA jaded former jockey helps a young girl prepare a wild but gifted horse for England's Grand National Sweepstakes.This spirited tale about a "bit of a girl" named Velvet Brown (Taylor) and her dream to win the Grand National doesn’t have the cool cachet of a Bullitt, but what it DOES have is the most inspirational race on film, thanks in part to Velvet's tough-guy-turned-soft-touch trainer Mike (Rooney) and her saucy steed, The Pie, short for “murderous pirate.”
- DirectorPreston SturgesStarsJoel McCreaVeronica LakeRobert WarwickHollywood director John L. Sullivan sets out to experience life as a homeless person in order to gain relevant life experience for his next movie.Early in his journey of discovery, movie-man John Sullivan (McCrea) hitches a harrowing ride with a young lad (P.B.Johnson?) in his custom-made jalopy, through haystack and assortments, pursued by a bumpy busload of entourage that includes Wm Demarest, Margaret Hayes and Chicagoan Charles Moore in an unforgettable kitchen catastrophe. Safety-first was never so snubbed but you’ve gotta admire the kid’s pluck.
- DirectorRobert MandelStarsBryan BrownBrian DennehyDiane VenoraA movie special effects man is hired to fake a real-life mob killing for a witness protection plan, but finds his own life in danger.Hi-jinx is a common commuter on the car chase caravan and F/X, though not without poignancy (Ellen / Venora), does its part to keep the line running. Creative minds Bryon Brown and Martha Gehman lead police pursuer and PVC sufferer Joe Grifasi on the heart-stopping hunt. Money-chase and a Swiss bank bonanza make this a top treasure film too with a nice tune to top it all off (Illusion by Imagination).
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This is not a ranking but a listing. Numbering is the sole responsibility of IMDb