Best 70s movie car chase?

H

harmonica44

I am researching car chases to see which ones are the best for future movies to be inspired by. It seems the best ones are from the 70s, for a pure serious action movie. Not to over the top, but not under at all either. French Connection, The Seven-Ups, Blazing Magnum, and The Master Tough, all have good ones. The movies Short Time and To Live and Die in LA., and Bullitt have awesome ones of the same style, too.

So which ones am I missing? Are there any 70s car chases that are better, or ones from other decades that are in the same style of a 70s one? Thanks.
 
how about smoky and the bandit..the whole movie is based upon a car chase......its early 80's ish but still...

the gum ball rally

and the cannon ball ya another 80's movie but still early enough
 
"Smokey and the Bandit" was 1977. You missed "Gone in Sixty Seconds".

My all time favorite car chase scene was in "The Dead Pool". The one where Dirty Harry is chased by the remote controlled car.
 
Best car chase scene ever is the one at the beginning of the new Quantum of Solace James Bond flick. It's hot. That might just be the Aston Martins and Daniel Craig though. But I remember seeing it in the theater and it being absolutely gripping to watch.
 
Duel.

Not really a car chase, per se, but a brilliant exercise in using associational montage to generate tension.

Edit: Oh, wait, you may be talking about Sugarland Express. Haven't seen that one in a while; have to refresh memory...
 
easy.. Steve mcQueen in Bullit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-7IEPTAoTg

(sorry, just noticed you mentioned it already in your post.. well, here it is for reference anyway..)

Note at 4:07 above where the charger HITS the parked car by the camera, an editing mistake?
 
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cameronchapman said:
Best car chase scene ever is the one at the beginning of the new Quantum of Solace James Bond flick. It's hot. That might just be the Aston Martins and Daniel Craig though. But I remember seeing it in the theater and it being absolutely gripping to watch.
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This is one I'll have to hugely disagree with, respectively of course. The camera was so shaky, and the takes were so quick cut, that it ruined the chase for me. Also there wasn't a lot of continuity between shots. Gunshots in one take, then all of a sudden the car goes flying to the side, then all of a sudden more bullets hit, but without much continuity. That last James Bond had some of the worst action scenes, but that's just me.
 
harmonica44 said:
This is one I'll have to hugely disagree with, respectively of course. The camera was so shaky, and the takes were so quick cut, that it ruined the chase for me. Also there wasn't a lot of continuity between shots. Gunshots in one take, then all of a sudden the car goes flying to the side, then all of a sudden more bullets hit, but without much continuity. That last James Bond had some of the worst action scenes, but that's just me.
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See, most of what you've detailed above are the things I love about the scene. The quick cuts, slight shakiness, etc. give it a sense of chaos and energy that are appropriate to the scene. And lack of continuity? What? I'd say it's one of the better action/chase scenes out there as far as continuity goes. Way above the majority of things shot in the 70s...

I'm a big fan of most of the action scenes in the Quantum of Solace, but it seems like a lot of people don't really get the style...
 
@cameronchapman

I get both points of view..

it depends on what the purpose of the car chase is I think..

If some movies the car chase is a prelude to more fighting and action where we get a more personal view of the characters.. in some though, it IS the main action, this is where we get to see the actors emoting.. think Rosco P Coltrane pounding on the steering wheel thats says a lot about that character, or in the Bullit chase scene the hero's meets and conquers his foe during the chase there is no follow up action.

thats my $0.02
 
Any car chase not done with extreme closeups and CGI.

The French Connection
 
wheatgrinder said:
@cameronchapman

I get both points of view..

it depends on what the purpose of the car chase is I think..

If some movies the car chase is a prelude to more fighting and action where we get a more personal view of the characters.. in some though, it IS the main action, this is where we get to see the actors emoting.. think Rosco P Coltrane pounding on the steering wheel thats says a lot about that character, or in the Bullit chase scene the hero's meets and conquers his foe during the chase there is no follow up action.

thats my $0.02
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I definitely agree. It's really dependent on the purpose of the scene. In QoS, the way it was done makes sense to me. It's a high-energy, high-action scene that opens the movie and sucks you in. It wouldn't be appropriate for every car chase to be shot like that. But I thought it worked beautifully for what it was.
 
The opening scene of "Mad Max" is still one of my favorite car chases.

George Miller really knows how to build and maintain tension. His intercutting is gripping!
 
ohhh! mad max..excellent movie! as well blues brothers...wow 2 good ones there!

how about death race 2000 roger corman's low budget race movie..it does have stallone and caradine in it...lol

The duel is a great movie but also look at road games and the car
 
cameronchapman said:
See, most of what you've detailed above are the things I love about the scene. The quick cuts, slight shakiness, etc. give it a sense of chaos and energy that are appropriate to the scene. And lack of continuity? What? I'd say it's one of the better action/chase scenes out there as far as continuity goes. Way above the majority of things shot in the 70s...

I'm a big fan of most of the action scenes in the Quantum of Solace, but it seems like a lot of people don't really get the style...
Click to expand...

It's not so much the shakiness and quick cuts I mind, it's the way it was done. I think if the car chase, had more creative things happen in it, then it would be better. Like in other movies, the chases have more specific things happen such as the drivers having to think of doing unique things to get out of the situation. Like the car chase in Die Another Day for example Bond had to think of quick things during the chases, and him doing those things, created cause and effect.

This chase there was not thinking and it was just a bunch of random shots, and random maneuvers. There is action with plot, and action that's more on autopilot. If that makes sense. So I wouldn't mind the shaky quick cam if there was more thought and strategy put into the chase. The style works better in The Bourne movies cause of the action, had more thought put into what was happening, I thought. After writing a few chases myself I've learned what makes a good action sequence for me, is one where the characters have to outthink each other during, and they do all these specific things that lead to other specific things.

Quantum of Solace, just felt like a bunch takes of nothing but shoots, swerves, and hits, and that made it feel as if it just wrote it as they went along on the page, which is how I use to write action back when I first started, before I learned.
 
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