It all started with 1968's Bullitt. Director Peter Yates and Steve McQueen amped up the cinematic car chase and raised the bar to astronomical heights. The scene where McQueen's green Mustang tears through the streets of San Francisco became an all-time classic car chase. But there have been many more that have thrilled audiences.
Directors, from William Friedkin to John Landis, and films as varied as Smokey and the Bandit and Ronin have given cinema some of the most amazing car chases and stunts in cinema history. Here are 10 great car chases from the 70s and 80s that have carried the torch lit by Bullitt.
The 80s: Against All Odds (1984)
Taylor Hackford's 1984 remake of the Noir classic Out of the Past was a big hit at the box office and turned Jeff Bridges into a full-blown Hollywood star. Against All Odds was the story of a football player (Bridges) who is hired to find the missing daughter of the team's owner. James Woods plays Bridges' old friend who also pays him to find her, as they were in a relationship.
Woods' character was always trying to assert his dominance over Bridges and it culminated in a high-speed chase/race between their two cars down Sunset Boulevard. It was Porsche versus Ferrari in a dangerous chase that kept the audience on the edge of their seats.
The 70s: Vanishing Point (1971)
The whole film is a car chase, as the lead character crosses the American Southwest on an existential car journey while eluding authorities out to stop his reckless driving.
Lead character Kowalski drives his white Dodge Charger at high speed through burning sun-scorched blacktops while cop cars and helicopters close in to try and stop him.
The 80s: License To Kill (1989)
James Bond films have always been full of exciting stunts and 1989's License To Kill was no exception. Bond was on the trail of a murderous drug kingpin and the finale is a high-speed chase on a highway with an oil tanker.
007 drops in from a plane to take over the tanker, Indiana Jones style. While steering the mammoth truck, Bond is chased by a helicopter and other cars, all shooting at his truck filled with gasoline and oil. Wheelies and hairpin turns make this an ultra-exciting chase sequence.
The 70s: Duel (1971)
"Bruce" the great white shark wasn't Steven Spielberg's first monster. 1971's Duel had Dennis Weaver being chased by a seemingly demon-driven truck on the Highways of California.
Weaver's small red Plymouth Valiant is terrorized by the menacing rust-covered Peterbilt 281 truck in many near-death encounters. Spielberg uses the truck as an unstoppable force, creating a palpable fear for his audience, as the terror seems unstoppable. In the unknown "trucker," the filmmaker created one of his most frightening on-screen villains.
The 80s: The Blues Brothers (1980)
John Landis is known mostly for his comedies. Within one of his most popular is one of the greatest car chases in film history. The Blues Brothers was Landis' comedy smash that brought John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd's beloved Saturday Night Live characters to the big screen.
Landis filled his film with hilarious comedy and exciting musical numbers, as well as some of the great car chases and stunts in film history. The best was the wildly entertaining car chase in which cop cars chase Jake and Elwood's "Bluesmobile" through the suburbs of Chicago, then straight into and through a local mall, smashing and crashing into almost every store and kiosk, completely destroying the place.
The 70s: The Driver (1978)
Walter Hill took a chance with his second film as director. 1978's The Driver was the abstract tale of a getaway driver who is betrayed and goes after the men who tried to kill him. Hill filmed it in a European style with little dialogue and no character names beyond their occupations (The Driver, The Cop, The Woman, etc.), leading the film to be considered one of the finest L.A. -set crime films of its decade.
Hill's film also featured some outstanding car chases, the best being when the cops close in on Ryan O'Neal's title character. It is a high speed, balls-out, chase through the nighttime streets of L.A. that uses no music, just the sound of screeching tires, smashing fenders, and revving engines.
The 80s: To Live And Die In L.A. (1985)
William Friedkin had already solidified his name with great film car chases in his 1971 triumph, The French Connection. That film's car chase shares the mantle with Bullitt for being influential to many modern action films, including the John Wick series. In 1985, the filmmaker upped the ante.
In To Live and Die in L.A., two treasury agents are trying to stop a murderous counterfeiter. They rob a drug dealer because their bosses won't give them the required amount of cash to entrap the bad guy. All of the sudden, they are chased, as car after car comes out of nowhere in a high-speed pursuit. Twenty-plus cars chase them through the streets until the driver gets the idea to go up the L.A. freeway, against traffic, during rush hour. What follows is one of the most jaw-dropping car chases ever filmed, as the pursuers and the pursued become engulfed in traffic, swerving and crashing their way through.
THE 70s: The French Connection (1971)
After Steve McQueen's groundbreaker in Bullitt, William Friedkin's car chase in The French Connection made more history with its stunning depiction of a man obsessed.
Gene Hackman's "Popeye" Doyle is after a shooter and chases him through the New York streets. After the killer hops on the subway, Hackman chases underneath the raised platform in his car, tearing through the streets and almost killing a woman and her baby. Crashes and squealing tires are edited together to complete this absolutely breathtaking classic car chase.
The 80s: Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (1981)
Take any moment of action in this film and it could win the "best car chase" trophy. The sequel to 1979's cult hit Mad Max, Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior, was a bigger and gutsier film from director George Miller. This chapter found Max on the highways, protecting a band of survivors from a marauding and violent gang.
The final set-piece is a massive chase between cars, motorcycles, and a tanker driven by Max. As the bad guys swarm, the audience sees eye-popping stunts as the stunt drivers weave in and out of the other cars. Metal, rubber, and people go flying in what is considered the finest car chases in 80s action films.
The 70s: The Seven-Ups (1973)
The producer of The French Connection, Phillip D'Antoni, wanted to keep up with the gritty action of his Oscar-winning film, so he took that film's co-star Roy Scheider and gave him a starring role in the producer's one and only directing credit, a sort of "spiritual sequel" to William Friedkin's Oscar winner. The Seven-Ups finds Scheider as a cop who leads a tough NYC police squad who goes against the mob.
In the film's set-piece, Scheider chases the bad guys in and around the streets of New York. The two cars speed along at dangerous levels going from the city to the highway, through neighborhoods and back again. It is a long (almost 1o minutes) chase that is brilliantly edited and doesn't let up. It is rightfully considered one of the best, with many claiming it could be the best car chase of them all.