The best five car chase movies of all time

The quality of a car chase can make or break an action movie, as car chase scenes inject a wild element that people can relate to more than a shootout or fist-fight. The best car chases elevate movies to a different realm, though. 

The best car chase movies aren’t necessarily good car movies, which is why racing films or The Fast & Furious flicks don’t get a look-in here. So read on, as we set out the best five movie car chases of all time.

Bullitt

Most people can’t remember the plot of Bullitt, simply because the car chase scene is so iconic. The Bullitt car chase forever changed how Hollywood filmed cars with a realism never seen before. 

It starts with Detective Frank Bullitt, played by an ice-cool Steve McQueen, tailed by two hitmen in a menacing black 1968 Dodge Charger R/T. Bullitt, driving a Highland Green ’68 Mustang GTA 390 Fastback, soon evades them, then gives chase through the hills of San Francisco when they flee. 

McQueen, an accomplished racer, did much of his own driving chasing legendary stuntman Bill Hickman who drove the Charger. Such was the impact of this chase it actually drives the value of similar cars up even today!

The team behind the Bullitt chase filmed two other legendary chases for The French Connection and then the Seven Ups, both featuring Pontiac muscle tearing through New York in even wilder situations. 

To Live And Die in LA

This 1985 crime drama focuses on two US Secret Service agents trying to catch a murderous counterfeiter at any cost, and the car chase through the industrial area near Los Angeles’ CBD is a ripper. Agents Richard Chance (William Petersen) and John Vukovich (John Pankow) need $30,000 of front money to catch Rick Masters (Willem Dafoe) in the act of counterfeiting $1,000,000 for them, and to avenge the death of Chance’s former partner who Masters killed.

They rob a man who came to LA to buy $50,000 worth of stolen diamonds, but it all goes pear-shaped almost immediately. The diamond-buyer’s contacts accidentally kill him, and then chase Chance and Vukovich to recover the $50,000. 

While the cars are slow, boring 1980s American barges the fear and panic from Vukovich and Chance makes this chase a real beauty, with the tension rising as the two agents desperately try to flee only to be pursued by ever-increasing numbers of gun-toting bad guys. 

Vanishing Point

This 1971 road movie was designed by 20th Century Fox as 'Easy Rider with cars', pitching Barry Newman as Kowalski, a burned-out delivery driver who makes an insane bet to deliver a car from Denver Colorado to San Francisco in under three days. 

When it comes to car chase movies, this whole 98-minute 150 mile-per-hour blast through the American south-west is one long chase as Kowalski attempts to run from the cops. Forget Smokey and the Bandit; this is the real deal and far less cheesy. 

Vanishing Point’s legacy was helped with Kowalksi driving a just-launched Dodge Challenger 440 R/T, featuring an sub-zero-cool pistol-grip shifter. The sexy E-body shape looks perfectly framed against the deserts landscape and Vanishing Point was even referenced in Audioslave’s video clip for their song Show Me How To Live.

Ultimately this movie is meant to represent more about authority and knowing yourself. However, it’s on my list because it’s a flat-knackers blast down American highways in a big-block V8 muscle car. 

Ronin

This 1998 John Frankenheimer thriller has it all. Guns, spies, Robert De Niro eating a baguette, French people, and two epic car chases that make The Transporter look like a run through a McDonalds drive-thru.

Normally a movie only needs one car chase to be cool but this crime/spy thriller actually had two amazing chases, featuring some cool Euro metal belting through the French cities of Nice and Paris. 

The sight of Jean Reno frying the hide off the back wheels of a W116 450SEL 6.9-litre V8 Mercedes as he gives chase to a bunch of French gangsters in Citroens is as amazing as De Niro mercilessly flogging a V6 406 Peugeot through packed Paris roads, while trying to chase an E34 M5 BMW. 

The action feels real, and leaves you gripping the edge of your seat, as you know the stakes couldn’t be higher for the characters. Which pretty much makes them perfect chases!

Gone in 60 Seconds (1974)

Long before the Nic Cage effort from 2000 was the original tale of a car thief trying to steal a 48 famous, exotic cars in just five days… and as a movie it sucked pretty bad. H.B Halicki’s effort to write, produce, direct and star in this film was good, but the end result wasn’t even B-grade quality.

That said, while he’s no Steve Spielberg Gone in 60 Seconds is on this list thanks to the absolutely epic 40-minute chase through Los Angeles, which sees 93 cars wrecked! While the later The Blues Brothers wrecked more cars, I reckon this chase was even better as it features some properly wild driving at high speed. 

Right from the outset Halicki’s character bashes Eleanor, a yellow ’73 fastback Mustang, and ultimately almost completely destroys the car while trying to evade police. Halicki actually did crash the Mustang into a pole during a high-speed section of the chase on a freeway, badly injuring himself.

​What do you make of our list? Tell us about your favourites in the comments section below.