Vroom vroom, baby. It’s the 50th anniversary of Bullitt this month, and we can’t help but feel a little premium about the whole thing. What better way to celebrate decades of delicious vehicular madness than with a list of the 50 most moving, mashed-up car chases the movies have to offer?
We went up and down, left to right, and u-turn to axels with this. We have black-and-white chases, chase with multiple cars, motorcycle chases, even a car-versus-foot chase here and there. No horse cop chases, though…spacing, time, gas money, you know how it is.
Don’t like the list? Well then, hop in your car, hit the gas, and come complain about it. Yeah, that’s right, you got a problem, then ram your car into CoS’ offices at (at this point, the editor has decided to take to wheel and course correct straight to the list).
–Blake Goble
Senior Writer
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50. Two-Lane Blacktop (1971)
Taylor-Made Chase
Make/Model: 1955 Chevrolet One-Fifty
Blue Book: Monte Hellman’s story of cars, manhood, and the untamed freedom of the old American road is still one of the great existentialist car movies. The opening drag race is likewise a barnburner of a very particular sort, a film chase as much about theme as the roar of the engine. –Dominick Suzanne-Mayer
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49. The Other Guys (2010)
There Go Our Heroes
Make/Model: 1972 Chevrolet Chevelle
Blue Book: Adam McKay was drawing on decades of bad action movie trends, and his explosive car chase – with a very self-aware Sam Jackson and Dwayne Johnson – is pretty comparably exciting. Funny, too. But total popcorn, you guys. –Blake Goble
48. The Man With the Golden Gun (1974)
Car Flip
Make/Model: 1974 AMC Hornet
Blue Book: Like, okay, the slide whistle is awful. Or, or, it’s so damn funny and embarrassing that we can’t help but admire its preposterousness. You decide. –Blake Goble
47. Toy Story (1995)
To Andy!
Make/Model: 1995 Pixar RC
Blue Book: The first of our two animated chases to make the list, Toy Story‘s big finale checks every box on the great chases list. Close calls? Check. Emotional weight beneath the chase? Double check. A dog breaking itself in half to save the day? Well, only in animation. –Dominick Suzanne-Mayer
46. The Bank Dick (1940)
Getaway Chase
Make/Model: 1929 Cadillac Series 341-B
Blue Book: Often imitated, never replicated – the Bank Dick car chase is like the perfect companion to The General, Wages of Fear, and Looney Tunes. It’s zany, madcap, and all the other wacky hyperbole we can throw at Fields’ fast-paced flim flam man. –Blake Goble
45. Christine (1983)
Chased To Death
Make/Model: 1958 Plymouth Fury (modified)
Blue Book: Don’t smoke at gas stations? Leave your phone off at gas stations? How about, “don’t get chased down to death by haunted cars at gas stations”? Carpenter took the chase to cleverly cruel places with this King riff. –Blake Goble
44. Running Scared (1986)
On the Tracks
Make/Model: 1981 Chevrolet Impala
Blue Book: No, not the Paul Walker exploitation film. From O’Hare to the Loop, this has to be one of the most admirably dumb entries on this list. Billy Crystal and Gregory take the car chase down to the L tracks and you know what? Just go with it. –Blake Goble
43. Pineapple Express (2008)
Foot Through the Windshield
Make/Model: 1999 Ford Crown Victoria
Blue Book: Fun fact: Franco’s Slurpee all over the front windshield was darkened in trailers. Audiences and the MPAA seemed to think it was blood. The point being, this is a nice bit of silliness. –Blake Goble
42. Raising Arizona (1987)
Huggies
Make/Model: 1972 Chevrolet Impala
Blue Book: Only Nicolas Cage and the Coens could handle a car chase wherein Cage is on the run from the cops (with Huggies in hand). It’s the Rube Goldbergian comedy of escalating machinations and manic delirium. –Blake Goble
41. Rush (2013)
“Why would I drive fast?”
Make/Model: 1971 Lancia 2000 Berlina 820
Blue Book: Sometimes the great chases are great in their simplicity. Early in Rush, a film featuring several outstanding driving sequences, Niki Lauda (Daniel Bruhl) woos a young woman by illustrating, in a matter of thrilling seconds, just how fast he can drive when he has the proper incentive and reward. –Dominick Suzanne-Mayer
40. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
Desert Pursuit
Make/Model: Mercedes-Benz LG3000
Blue Book: Props to the stuntmen that looked like Harrison Ford getting pulled, or a Nazi getting run over. It’s like a cartoon, this chase. Sandy, silly, and sensational. –Blake Goble
39. Le Mans (1971)
Lap Duel
Make/Model: Porsche 917 K/Ferrari 512 S
Blue Book: It’s like watching a sword duel on wheels. No dialogue, just rumbling engines. Scary fast vehicles. And Steve McQueen in full-on machismo mode. [Editor’s note: machismode?] –Blake Goble
38. It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963)
Race to the Finish
Make/Model: A whole mess of them
Blue Book: Gosh, there’s so much vehicular mayhem in here, like Buddy Hackett gasping his way through a flight, or Jonathan Winters trashing a gas station in epic fashion. But the rollicking last act, as an army of nuts in cars ascends to a Big W, is the most fun you’ll have watching people get greedy. Yeah, we’re throwing shade at Rat Race. –Blake Goble
37. Robbery (1967)
Bullitt Before Bullitt
Make/Model: 1964 Jaguar MKII
Blue Book: Robbery is an uncommonly realistic crime drama, and in keeping with that ideal, its centerpiece chase has a visceral grit that drops the style of so many chase scenes in favor of something more desperate. That windshield getting caved in is one of the more deeply unnerving beats on this whole list. –Dominick Suzanne-Mayer
36. The Lineup (1958)
Golden Gate Chase
Make/Model: 1957 Plymouth Belvedere
Blue Book: When Eli Wallach purrs, “we got a cool car for a change!” he ain’t kidding. Don Siegel’s crime stunner rides along with pulpy swagger, and the Plymouth looks like a tank, ready for battle. Or crime, really. Crime we kinda have to condone, it just looks so good! –Blake Goble
35. Diva (1981)
Bike Chase
Make/Model: 1981 Malaguti Firebird
Blue Book: See, mopeds might get you laughed off the street in 2018. But watch Jean-Jacques Beineix’s Diva and you’ll see: it’s a hell of an escape vehicle. The Paris Metro getaway is just too clever, and a great ad for the versatility of bikes when you’re on the lam. –Blake Goble
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34. The Seven-Ups (1973)
Scheider’s Turn
Make/Model: 1973 Pontiac Ventura Custom Sprint
Blue Book: All the best clichés are in here. Cars hitting fruit carts. Cars swerving into oncoming traffic. The involvement of Roy Scheider in a chase film. Gotta love this! –Blake Goble
33. Driver (1978)
You’re Welcome, Refn
Make/Model: 1974 Ford Galaxie
Blue Book: Walter Hill’s 1974 feature definitely left a little bit of its DNA for one of the most recent chases later on in this list, especially in the opening to his Ryan O’Neal-starring thriller. As O’Neal’s wheelman speeds through Los Angeles, Hill keeps the photography tight and the engines loud, watching as an expert wheelman tears through a claustrophobic urban nightmare like it’s nothing. –Dominick Suzanne-Mayer
32. The Rock (1996)
“I’m Only Borrowing Your Humvee”
Make/Model: 1992 Hummer
Blue Book: The chase scene goes Michael Bay at long last in our list, and it’s every bit as ridiculous as you’d imagine it might be. In fact, a Hummer rampaging through San Francisco might just be the most Michael Bay thing he’s ever committed to film. –Dominick Suzanne-Mayer
31. Blow Out (1981)
Saving Nancy Allen
Make/Model: 1981 Jeep CJ-7
Blue Book: It’s gratuitous at best, and arguably a primer for the remainder of the gripping finale, but any excuse to show some low-jack love for De Palma is fine by us. The overhead shot is what got Blow Out on here. And Travolta’s young, sweaty performance is worth the ride. –Blake Goble
