Some audience members thrill at the sight and sound of speeding, crashing, or exploding vehicles. Other viewers find chase scenes a pointless bore fest. But a chase scene doesn’t typically tell the whole story unless it’s a film like Mad Max: Fury Road released in 2015 and billed as the greatest car chase ever. In Mad Max: Fury Road the movie is the chase and the chase is the movie. And there are films that really aren’t in the car chase category, per se, but sound like it such as Speed released in 1994 about a bus rigged to explode if its speed falls under 50 miles per hour. Even though there’s a fast-moving vehicle, it’s not exactly a chase.
Even with detractors, car chase movies never wane in popularity and their universal appeal. Diverging opinions and/or lists of the best ones run the gamut based on spectacle, precision, and audience appeal. And there’s no doubt that movie chase scenes go back as far as the advent of motorized vehicles and film. Movie critics point to the 1903 film Runaway Match directed by Alf Collins as one of the first filmed car chase scenes. I watched the Runaway Match about a woman eloping with her intended and a harried father in pursuit. The pursuer’s car malfunctions in a cloud of smoke as the couple happily motors along to the awaiting minister and ceremony. Strangely enough the sequence reminds me a tinge of the highest grossing film of 1967, The Graduate. Benjamin played by Dustin Hoffman elopes with Elaine, played by Katherine Ross, as they escape her imminent wedding ceremony. In hot pursuit by the wedding guests, Benjamin barricades the church doors with a large cross allowing the giddy couple to continue unhindered. They board a bus and look dazed by what the future now holds. No car chase here, but the quiet moment in the rear of the bus is a scene imprinted in my movie watching mind.
But back to car chases. The 1971 movie, French Connection opens with a sequence I’d nominate for “they just don’t make ‘em like they used to” category of filmmaking. And that might be a good thing in this instance. Gene Hackman portrays Detective Jimmy (a/k/a Popeye) Doyle. His brown Pontiac car races at top speed down crowded New York City streets in pursuit of a criminal that commandeers an elevated subway train. With due respect, permits were pulled to use five blocks for the film shoot and NYPD off-duty officers were involved as stated in an online article. But the filming continues down streets not included in the permits and in the path of drivers and pedestrians in real-life situations. Basically, these unsuspecting drivers and pedestrians were caught on camera with honest reactions to a high-speed chase and placed in harm’s way. A man was compensated for damage to his car. The only carefully rehearsed scene in the sequence involves a lady with a baby carriage that nearly gets hit.
Although not the classic car chase scene, the opening sequence in French Connection opened my eyes to a gritty, realistic thrill ride in a feature film. Did it look believable? Too much so! And was it? A resounding YES especially with New York City as the race track! The story behind the chase is fascinating and, most likely, never to be repeated with the preponderance of CGI and digitalized edits.
Most critics agree that Bullitt is the quintessential car chase movie. The 1968 Steve McQueen vehicle, uh, the movie not the Mustang, has a car chase extraordinaire through the streets of San Francisco that never gets old. In actuality, the car chase was not in the original script. But Steve McQueen, as producer with his partner Robert Relyea, decided on the chase scene due to McQueen, an accomplished race car driver. Steve McQueen is quoted as stating, “The thing we tried to achieve was not to do a theatrical film, but a film about reality.” Whether the film comes across as real or not, there is a raw, natural feel to it with actual doctors and nurses for the emergency room operation scene and one of the best car chases on film. In 2007, Bullitt was selected as “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant” for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress.
So what makes a good car chase scene? Is it realism? Well, if that’s the case, you might need to rule out the fantasy type films such as Mad Max which creates a dystopian world. The magic of Bullitt and French Connection is the lack of magic and the simple, urban context of the storylines.
An online list of what makes a successful car chase scene captures the most important aspects, as follows:
- Foreshadowing – No scene should be shoe-horned into a storyline. There needs to be some sort of buildup or anticipation of what’s to come, unless it’s starting with a chase scene such as the French Connection.
- Tightly scripted scene – Hmm, this could be challenging, but I think it’s noteworthy. Can a car chase scene look sloppy? My opinion is that if it comes off as a bore fest then something went wrong not only with the filming but how the scene fits into the movie.
- Professionals – Okay, this one is really important for several reasons: safety, believability, good action. The car chase scene is all about action and it needs to carry the story elements within it. In Bullitt, Steve McQueen shared some of the sequence with skilled stung driver Bud Ekins. If you watch Bullitt again, or for the first time, see if you an detect the switch from one driver to the other. Whether it’s Steve McQueen or Bud Ekins, the car’s in the hands of experts.
For those who forego movies with car chases, there’s probably one somewhere on your favorite film list. For me, the French Connection, although not a car chasing another car, is my all-time favorite. And let’s be honest—we all enjoy a good chase!!!