The love for Car Chases Insane Stunts Crashing Metal and Burned Rubber (in Film)

[cthulhu]

The Subject should say it all. I just love to watch car chases and driving stunts. So here i want to share the best Pictures to enjoy the drama of crashing Metal...

Let's start with the brilliant

The original title was The Winner but it had to be retitled when Winning was released. It was retitled Pit Stop even though there is no pit stop in the film. Jack Hill saw figure 8 racing and he thought it was so "crazy and so loony" he wanted to document it. The film has come to be regarded as one of Hill's best, even though the fact it was shot in black and white hurt its commercial success. It has earned a cult following.[3]

Although the soundtrack is credited to Seattle psychedelic band The Daily Flash, the group had already disbanded before the film's production. It should actually be credited to the post-Daily Flash project Two Guitars, Piano, Drum & Darryl.

This one really surprised me of how good it was. This is more an Art film than an exploitation flic. Co-stars a young Sid Haig with a terrific performance and has incredible footage of racing. The soundtrack is marvellous, you have to check that out!

Before i discovered that movie i was playing, and still am, Wreckfest on the ps4 and i thought to myself: "Well, that's what videogames are for. You can do things and have games that never would work in real life."
But then i saw that these 8 tracks with crossing paths are for real and they're really doing it! Undflippingbelieveable!

Le Mans is a 1971 film depicting a fictional 24 Hours of Le Mans auto race starring Steve McQueen and directed by Lee H. Katzin. It features actual footage captured during the 1970 race held the previous June.

This one is a real masterpiece. McQueen wanted to do the best racing picture ever, and he did! This was a work of improvised guerilla filmmaking. You also have to see the documentary and the sory of that movie, it was a heartfelt project of McQueen and a true work of art. Feels like a documentary and they just went there with 20 cameras, no script ...that's the spirit. You can see the alibi story with the women, but that really is a background thing, th erest is just racing...

Grand Prix is a 1966 American sports drama film directed by John Frankenheimer, produced by Edward Lewis, and written by Robert Alan Aurthur with uncredited story contributions by Frankenheimer and rewrites by William Hanley. It stars an international ensemble cast, including James Garner, Eva Marie Saint, Yves Montand, Brian Bedford, Jessica Walter, Françoise Hardy and Antonio Sabàto. Toshiro Mifune has a supporting role as a race team owner, inspired by Soichiro Honda. The picture was photographed in Super Panavision 70 by Lionel Lindon, and presented in 70mm Cinerama in premiere engagements. Its unique racing cinematography is one of the main draws of the film.[citation needed]

The film includes real-life racing footage and cameo appearances by drivers including Formula One World Champions Phil Hill, Graham Hill, Juan Manuel Fangio, Jim Clark, Jochen Rindt and Jack Brabham. Other drivers who appeared in the film include Dan Gurney, Ludovico Scarfiotti, Richie Ginther, Joakim Bonnier, Bruce McLaren and Jo Siffert.

Also a cinematic masterpiece! Uneblieveable footage of racing cars. Such a great camerawork, sounddesign and editing. A tour de force..

Vanishing Point is a 1971 American action film directed by Richard C. Sarafian, starring Barry Newman, Cleavon Little, and Dean Jagger.[2] Essentially the story of a disaffected ex-cop and race driver who is delivering a souped-up car cross country to California while high on speed ('uppers'), being chased by police and meeting various characters along the way. The film has become a cult movie.[citation needed] Its rock score includes performances by Delaney and Bonnie and others.

Classic!  Just one great car chase..Dodge Challenger!!

Gone in 60 Seconds is a 1974 American action film written, directed, produced by, and starring H.B. "Toby" Halicki.[2] It centers on a group of car thieves and the 48 cars they must steal in a matter of days. The film is known for having wrecked and destroyed 93 cars in a 40-minute car chase scene. A total of 127 cars were either destroyed or damaged throughout the entirety of the film. [2] It is the basis for the 2000 remake starring Nicolas Cage and Angelina Jolie.

Haven't seen the remake, just doubt that it can be that great like this insane flic...

The Italian Job is a 1969 British comedy caper film, written by Troy Kennedy Martin, produced by Michael Deeley and directed by Peter Collinson. It tells the story of Charlie Croker (Michael Caine), the leader of a cockney criminal gang released from prison with the intention of doing a "big job" in Italy to steal gold bullion from an armoured security truck.

Its soundtrack was composed by Quincy Jones, and includes "On Days Like These" sung by Matt Monro over the opening credits, and "Getta Bloomin' Move On" (usually referred to as "The Self-Preservation Society", after its chorus) during the climactic car chase. Lead actor Michael Caine is among its singers.[2]

Very funny! And the car scenes are also quite impressive and huge.

[fiddlesticks]

Great post. I have never seen the original Vanishing Point, but the remake with Viggo Mortensen is free on YouTube.

Added to the list.

[cthulhu]

Yeah, this shall just be the start..
And please comment and contribute to this if you have some ideas. I didn't even know that there was a remake of vanishing point! and with viggo mortensen!? gonna have a look for it..

Here is a Trailer for Pit Stop

Pit Stop (1969) ORIGINAL TRAILER

And here a music example (think is a whole scene from the movie..)

Daily Flash Instrumental from Pit Stop

[Master Ray]

Well, Mad Max Fury Road surely set a new benchmark (as did the first two movies), I was just impressed by the way that MMFR has very little CGI, unlike these Fast And Furious movies that were practically made on a fooking computer...

But I too am a fan of vehicular mayhem (particularly if it's married with fine film-making and editing) so I'll be trawling me memory for old favourites, I'll be back to you shortly... 

[Guillaume]

Also a cinematic masterpiece! Uneblieveable footage of racing cars. Such a great camerawork, sounddesign and editing. A tour de force..

I agree that this one is fantastic film making! it's still stunning even in 2020.
What do you think of Frankenheimer overall Cthulhu?
I think that he directed lots of brillant films...BIRDMAN OF ALCATRAZ, THE GYPSY MOTHS, FRENCH CONNECTION 2, YEAR OF THE GUN, THE FOURTH WAY, 52 PICK UP, BLACK SUNDAY,  fantastic, underrated director. Even a more generic film like RONIN has really impressive car chases, action scenes!

[cthulhu]

I've just discovered Grand Prix and was so impressed and on the edge of my seat, that i looked out for more Frankenheimer movies. The ones i saw till then, French Connection and Ronin, are both wonderfully good Movies with the special Frankenheimer "feeling", which i find to be kind of direct and raw, almost documentary.

That brought me to The Train, with Burt Lancaster and Jeanne Moreau from 1964.
A b/w thriller drama about:
In 1944, a German colonel loads a train with French art treasures to send to Germany. The Resistance must stop it without damaging the cargo.

Very impressive movie, loved that one too and it has a huge Train Crash scene.
On my list now, looking for to find a good priced copy, are 52 Pick Up, Black Sunday and The Holcroft Covenant.

[cthulhu]

Of course we have to include Mad Max Fury Road in here, because of the old-school approach to have huge, choreographed stunt scenes, wide shots and use the cgi mostly to cover the wire, the stuntman are hanging from while attached to fast moving cars

But i have to contradict your opinion about the Fast and the Furious. I think this is a pre-judice, because i had the same once...;-)
I once bought, i think it was the fifth release of the franchise, all bad words when talking about films, but when we look at the carstunts there...man, there's some sht going on there...and after watching that part i went for all of them.

I would criticize them, as a little bit too fastly edited and because of the Star driven franchise, the actors all have to be shown driving, what they can't, so there have to be way too much intercuts, showing the driving.
But all the stunt scenes are damnn good choreographed and of course taken so much to the limit. They work with cgi, but still try do do real stunts. Like building a framework inthe size of a huge antonov or whatever big russian freighter airplane, so they can really drive trough it..and later fill in the shape of that  airplane in cgi.

There is a scene, where they have all the cars in a huge airplane, and they all have to fall from the sky, land and drive on. Of course there is also some cgi in there, flying through the air, falling and talking and so on, but what they did was build a wire above a road and woods and had the cars hung up there, gliding down and landing. This scene looks so unreal good.

And they really go for it, have huge scenes, they really pay for the promise of car chases. From that aspect i love those movies. You have to see to believe. And i must admit, all the cast was so unexpected sympathetic, like Vin Disel, The Rock and Walker and the rest, that i truely enjoyed that franchise and was a bit sad about the death of Paul Walker. After the Fast and Furious i was more open to movies with Vin Disel and The Rock.

Here is a cool short making of another fantastic, car crashing chase scene:
Fast & Furious 5 | Behind The Scenes | Burning The Rubber

[Guillaume]

I've just discovered Grand Prix and was so impressed and on the edge of my seat, that i looked out for more Frankenheimer movies. The ones i saw till then, French Connection and Ronin, are both wonderfully good Movies with the special Frankenheimer "feeling", which i find to be kind of direct and raw, almost documentary.

That brought me to The Train, with Burt Lancaster and Jeanne Moreau from 1964.
A b/w thriller drama about:
In 1944, a German colonel loads a train with French art treasures to send to Germany. The Resistance must stop it without damaging the cargo.

Very impressive movie, loved that one too and it has a huge Train Crash scene.
On my list now, looking for to find a good priced copy, are 52 Pick Up, Black Sunday and The Holcroft Covenant.

Also don't forget  YEAR OF THE GUN, THE FOURTH WAR, the excellent -even if they aren't action/thriller movies-  BIRDMAN OF ALCATRAZ and THE GYPSY MOTHS.
I've also read praise reviews about I WALK THE LINE, SECONDS, AGAINST THE WALL, ANDERSONVILLE, GEORGE WALLACE and his last movie PATH TO WAR.
His FRENCH CONNECTION 2 is maybe as good as the first one directed by Wiliam Friedkin...i like all the scenes with Gene Hackman addicted to drugs and the final chase.

[Tarsier]

I'm not that huge fan of action films, couple of exceptions though! Have you seen ''Crank'' with Jason Statham? Absolutely hilarious film! I mean, what would be better excuse to have a movie full of action: you get poisoned, only way to slow down the poison from killing you is to develop adrenaline to your system  Here's the trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rvYrVTnSWw

[Master Ray]

I'm not that huge fan of action films, couple of exceptions though! Have you seen ''Crank'' with Jason Statham? Absolutely hilarious film! I mean, what would be better excuse to have a movie full of action: you get poisoned, only way to slow down the poison from killing you is to develop adrenaline to your system  Here's the trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rvYrVTnSWw

Hey, Crank is great, but Crank 2 is even better if you're looking for utterly insane (and deeply un-politically correct) badassery... a film like that would probably not be made these days... 

[cthulhu]

I would criticize them, as a little bit too fastly edited and because of the Star driven franchise, the actors all have to be shown driving, what they can't, so there have to be way too much intercuts, showing the driving.

That was what i wrote about Fast & Furious, which brings me to:

This wonderful, kind of groundbraking, perfect genre feature combined the martal arts fighting with shootouts. The most astonishing thing about this are the suberb choreographed, very long takes of the fight scenes and most important: Keanu Reeves is doing them all by himself!
He also learned how to drive and grind, make 180s etc..and did all the driving stunts also by himself. At first i was wondering if they used cgi, when i saw that, but they didn't.
So you will have a very fast approaching car, turning and sliding with handbrake to stop just perfectly in the frame before the camera, to have a look at the star behind the wheel, and that was a real take!
John Wick as a master of its own kind also uses the car to fight against enemys..

Highly recommended, high octane thriller with some great humor!

In the second part, there is one stunt which freaked ne out. It maybe seems not so spectacular, and this time Reeves couldn't do that. The car is driving and jumping very fast, but it is doing it in a curve!! It jumps in a curve...
I cannot describe that better, you have to see to believe..

Looking for a real huge crash scene?

Remember them?

Enjoy this:
The Blues Brothers (1980) - Chased by the Cops Scene

[fiddlesticks]

Dragging up an oldish thread here, but just spent an enjoyable 90 minutes watching The Driver, a 1978 crime thriller starring Ryan O'Neal.
Well worth a watch if you like old car movies.

[Pol]

Terminator
James bond always good for a car chase

[cthulhu]

Dragging up an oldish thread here, but just spent an enjoyable 90 minutes watching The Driver, a 1978 crime thriller starring Ryan O'Neal.
Well worth a watch if you like old car movies.

Good suggestion, thanks for that. This was directed by Walter Hill and it seems very promising. I'll have a lookout for that.

Terminator
James bond always good for a car chase

Totally true! I just have to think about the one stunt, i don't know in which movie it was but with Roger Moore and maybe it was Live and Let Die, where the car jumps over a ramp and kind of makes a full side-tilt turn in the air.


My absolute favourite at the moment is

Every sequence in this movie is so carefully planned and thought through, every action in there is mindblowing, totally love it. You have to see to believe it.

For the car chases and also for the fighting scenes, you'll have things happening like driving and fighting BACKWARDS, filming it and running it backwards, combined with normal action, happening at the same time.

[Master Ray]

Tenet is, indeed, a mind blowing flick.

Did I ever mention the big car chase scene in 'To Live And Die In LA'?  One of my favourite thrillers ever and, damn, that scene is tense.  All done 'for real', no CGI back then!