The Top Car Chases of All Time... According to CarStore.
15th May 2015
Last time, we brought you the most iconic movie cars of all time. So, this time, it's iconic movie car chases!
In no particular order, here are our favourites at CarStore:
- Gone in 60 seconds (1974) This original film, directed by star and stuntman HB Halicki, (AKA ‘The Car Crash King’) saw 93 cars destroyed. Considering the film lasts 97 minutes, that's almost one car destroyed a minute!
- The Rock (1996) We think Sean Connery's character made it his objective to clatter into everything in sight in this iconic chase...
- Mad Max 2 (1981) - The Road Warrior The stunts in this film were insane and a few went badly wrong - The tanker roll stunt at the end of the chase was deemed so dangerous that the stunt driver was not allowed to eat any food 12 hours before they shot in the likely event that he could be rushed into surgery.
- The Blues Brothers (1980) We think if you made this sort of appearance in Toys R Us in this day & age then proceeded to drive around a shopping centre, you'd most likely get arrested, forced to pay criminal damages and the car impounded! A total of 103 cars were destroyed during filming, a world record at that time!
- Ronin (1998) There are quite a few white-knuckle near misses driving through the streets of Paris! There's even handbrake turns and cars exploding to make the chase even more spectacular.
- Bullitt (1968) The director called for speeds of about 75-80 mph, but the cars (including the ones containing the cameras) reached speeds of over 110 mph! Filming of the chase scene took three weeks, resulting in 9 minutes and 42 seconds of footage and were denied permission to film on the Golden Gate Bridge.
- Batman - The Dark Knight (2008) While filming the chase scene with the Joker and the SWAT vans, one of only four IMAX cameras in the world at that time was destroyed! We'd hate to be the person who had to tell the director...
- Vanishing Point (1971) There are many car chases in this film but we picked the Dodge Challenger v Dodge Charger, what better soundtrack to accompany this chase scene? Eight white Challengers loaned from the Chrysler Corporation were used during filming and became so iconic Quentin Tarantino used one in Death Proof!
- The Matrix Reloaded (2003) General Motors donated 300 cars for use in the production of the movie and all 300 were wrecked by the end of production. Additionally, the film's highway chase sequence took almost three months to shoot in itself!
- The Bourne Identity (2002) Another chase through the streets of Paris! The highlight of this chase sequence is definitely the Mini Cooper Bourne is driving flying down a set of steep stairs and landing perfectly before moving off again! If you think we've missed any out, let us know in the comments section!