What Are The Most Spectacular Car Chase Scenes Of All Time?

Since car was invented and movies were brought into existence, they have lived happily together till today. A lot of action movies have intense car chases, and in some special instances, car chase is the only thing that makes a movie like Mad Max: Fury Road. Let’s be honest here. What do you remember about that film but a bunch of grungy, badass, skull-decorated and studded cars chasing one another for literally the entire length of the movie?

There is just something about a car chase scene that invigorates and excites us so much. The sheer sound of supercars revving and speeding on the streets, together with the amazing camerawork, doubled with the incredible work of stuntmen and a sprinkle of visual effects, accompanied by upbeat music, are all the things that drive our heart rate up and feel like we are in actual danger when we watch a scene. In most cases, the characters that we root for will get out of that car chase in victory, smelling like a rose, but we just can’t get enough of it.

1. Mad Max: Fury Road

When the movie was released 3 years ago, people were more than impressed with the graphics and the raw and fierce sensations of the car chase. To be frank, there is no need to ransack through the movie and choose a particular scene then call it the best car chase in the movie, because the entire film is basically one long car chase moment. Mad Max is tied to the front of the car and his blood is being sucked out, while the white-painted War Boys pursue the bionic-armed Imperator Furiosa though endless miles of desert. The vehicles are iconic at least and religious at best. In the movie, each car is a weapon and a god. Behind the scene, each of the 150 Frankenbeast vehicles has its own story and team of mechanics. The War Boys with their fire-spewing, spike-covered vehicles and their own hard rock band performing live during the car chase intensify even more the diabolical sensation of dystopia in the movie. Mad Max: Fury Road is one of the most explosive (literally!) and adrenaline-fueled car chases ever existed in film history, and it rightfully won 6 Oscars for the incredible performance.

One long car chase of Mad Max: Fury Road won 6 Oscars. That is how you know it is GREAT

2. The Blues Brothers

There are two car chases in this movie. While the first one is funny, the second one is extremely iconic and no less explosive. The legendary Blue Brothers starring John Belushi and Dan Akroyd go head to head with the Chicago PD in this classic action movie. "There's 106 miles to Chicago. We've got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it's dark out, and we're wearing sunglasses." After that memorable line from Elwood Blues (starring Dan Aykroyd), one of the most hilarious car chase scenes ever created for movies commences. The two brothers race through the streets of Chicago, accumulate a mountain of police cars beneath an overpass and get out of the mess with no injuries whatsoever. To make the car chases, 60 police cars and 40 stunt drivers were used, and 70 vehicles were destroyed in the process. Despite exceeding the USD 3 million in budget, the movie proved that it was worth the huge investment as it remains to have one of the best car chases in movie history.

"There's 106 miles to Chicago. We've got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it's dark out, and we're wearing sunglasses."

3. The Italian Job

The original “The Italian Job” was released in 1969 and its remake came out in 2003. The car chases in both can be described in a few words: A storm of Minis. The original 1969 version has a fantastic car chase scene with a load of Mini cars, and the 2003 remake is much more than that. The film crew had the permission to film a stunt track roller coaster ride at King’s Dominion Park in Virginia and King’s Island in Ohio. The colourful Minis in the 2003 version were also customised to be heavy-duty enough to handle the intense chasing as well as to be allowed in the subway tunnels. The director decided that nothing was more impressive than a race in the narrow space of the underground subway, so he had all the cars built with electric motors because the subway tunnels in which they filmed did not allow combustion engines for safety reasons.

Fun fact: all actors did their own stunts for “The Italian Job”.

Nothing could be more impressive than a race in the narrow space of the underground subway full of people

4. Bullitt

“Bullitt” is considered the first modern car chase movie in the history and there is no way the film does not make it to our list of the most epic car chases. The highlight of the movie is an 11-minute car chase between cop Frank Bullitt (starring Steve McQueen) and a hitman and the scene forever changed how car chases work in movies ever since 1968. The scene features a speedy tour of San Francisco, from the Fisherman’s Wharf to Guadalupe Canyon Parkway in the Brisbane area. As the chase was shot from the point of view behind and close to the driver, the audience is offered an almost perfect outlook and excitement of being behind the wheel, driving the car at 110 mph (177 km/h), and then flying over the hills of San Francisco in the chasing scene. Steve McQueen loves fast cars and has a talent for driving, and it is no doubt that the adrenaline-rushed scene greatly benefitted from that fact. Exactly 5 decades later, today, the car chase in “Bullitt” is still considered the best car chase ever made in movie history.

The audience is offered an almost perfect outlook and excitement of being behind the wheel thanks to the point of view