The 10 Best Action Movies For Fans Of Car Chases

Action movies are wildly popular, but the definition of the genre is extremely broad. Some action films, like the works of John Woo, have fun with “gun fu” in the shootout sequences. Others, like The Raid and Enter the Dragon, draw thrills from martial arts fight scenes.

One of the most popular subgenres of action cinema is the car chase movie. From Ryan O’Neal’s unnamed getaway driver fleeing from Bruce Dern’s stone-cold detective in Walter Hill’s The Driver to “Mad” Max Rockatansky being pursued across a post-apocalyptic wasteland by gas-guzzling sadists in George Miller’s The Road Warrior, these vehicular actioners are must-sees for fans of car chases.

10 Baby Driver (2017)

After offering audiences his postmodern take on the zombie genre, the buddy cop genre, and the alien invasion genre in the Three Flavors Cornetto Trilogy, Edgar Wright paid homage to classic car chase movies with his 2017 action-comedy Baby Driver.

What separates Baby Driver from all the other getaway driver movies inspired by Walter Hill’s The Driver is that Baby drives to the tune of his iPod playlists. The vehicular carnage of Baby Driver’s action sequences is synchronized with such hits as “Bellbottoms” by the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion and “Brighton Rock” by Queen.

9 Death Proof (2007)

Quentin Tarantino is renowned for his ambitious cocktails of cinematic genres. In Death Proof, his half of the double feature Grindhouse, Tarantino combined the slasher with the car chase movie. Kurt Russell stars as Stuntman Mike, a stunt driver and quintessential exploitation villain who uses his “death-proof” stunt car to kill unsuspecting young women.

In the final act of the movie, he runs afoul of a group of women who are prepared to confront him. It culminates in a breathtaking car chase with such astounding practical stunts as Uma Thurman’s Kill Bill stunt double Zoë Bell (playing herself) hanging from the hood of one of the cars.

8 Ronin (1998)

Drawing from the minimalist realism of Jean-Pierre Melville’s crime films, John Frankenheimer’s Ronin uses a complicated plot about the search for a MacGuffin briefcase as a springboard for a series of astonishing car chases.

According to a 1998 issue of American Cinematographer, the cars used in Ronin’s chase scenes were fitted with the same camera mounts used in Frankenheimer’s previous movie Grand Prix and driven at 100mph by F1 driver Jean-Pierre Jarier.

7 Bullitt (1968)

The first car chase sequence that really grabbed audiences was in the Steve McQueen police thriller Bullitt. This is the benchmark against which all subsequent car chases have been judged. The sequence is riveting for its entire 10-minute duration, and McQueen is visible behind the wheel as he races through the streets of San Francisco.

Frank P. Keller won an Oscar for editing Bullitt, and it’s widely believed that the Academy voters were particularly impressed with Keller’s meticulous cutting of the car chase sequence.

6 Smokey And The Bandit (1977)

Stuntman Hal Needham’s directorial debut, Smokey and the Bandit, is primarily a comedy, but its car chase sequences are as impeccably staged as anything from a straightforward action movie. It follows a pair of bootleggers who illegally transport hundreds of cases of beer from Texarkana to Atlanta.

Burt Reynolds stars as the Bandit, one of his most iconic roles, who drives a Pontiac Trans Am to distract the cops while the Snowman, played by Jerry Reed (who contributed the movie’s theme song “East Bound and Down”), drives the truck full of beer.

5 The French Connection (1971)

William Friedkin’s neo-noir masterpiece The French Connection is a quintessential cat-and-mouse thriller. Gene Hackman stars as New York cop Popeye Doyle, who becomes increasingly narrow-minded and morally questionable in his relentless pursuit of a French heroin smuggler.

There’s just one notable car chase in the movie, but it’s hailed as one of the greatest ever put on film. When a suspect that Popeye is following escapes to an elevated train, he apprehends a car and chases after the train. Friedkin’s direction of the sequence is visceral and intense, but never at the expense of clarity.

4 Vanishing Point (1971)

Often described as the ultimate car chase movie, Vanishing Point stars Barry Newman as Kowalski, a drug-addled ex-cop who’s chased across the country by law enforcement on his way to deliver a car.

The whole movie is a feature-length car chase interspersed with flashbacks filling in the character’s backstory. Director Richard C. Sarafian manages to maintain gripping suspense that prevents Vanishing Point from feeling dull or repetitive.

3 The Driver (1978)

Everybody from Quentin Tarantino to Edgar Wright has acknowledged the influence of Walter Hill’s slick, action-packed neo-noir The Driver. It stars Ryan O’Neal as an unnamed getaway driver who’s so fast that no witnesses have ever been able to confidently identify him and Bruce Dern as the similarly unnamed detective who’s determined to bring him to justice.

Thanks to Hill’s stylish direction and the masterful work of the film’s stunt team, The Driver is a captivating action thriller filled with incredible chase sequences.

2 Gone In 60 Seconds (1974)

Written, directed, produced by, and starring H.B. Halicki, Gone in 60 Seconds tells the story of a moonlighting car thief who accepts an offer from a drug lord to steal 48 cars in five days.

According to The New York Times, this movie notoriously wrecked and destroyed 93 cars for a 40-minute car chase sequence involving a customized 1971 Ford Mustang Sportsroof named “Eleanor” and a swarm of cop cars.

1 The Road Warrior (1981)

There was plenty of breathtaking car action in the first Mad Max movie, courtesy of Max’s souped-up black Pursuit Special, but George Miller stepped it up to another level for the sequel, The Road Warrior.

Jumping forward from the dystopian near-future of the original to a gonzo vision of a post-apocalyptic wasteland, the Mad Max sequel sees Max taking on legions of gas-guzzling villains to protect a small, humble community and their natural resources. The Road Warrior is like a spaghetti western with cars.

About The Author

Ben Sherlock
(3465 Articles Published)

Ben Sherlock is a writer, comedian, independent filmmaker, and Burt Reynolds enthusiast. He writes lists for Screen Rant and features and reviews for Game Rant. He’s currently in pre-production on his first feature (and has been for a while, because filmmaking is expensive). You can catch him performing standup at odd pubs around the UK that will give him stage time. Previously, he wrote for Taste of Cinema, Comic Book Resources, and BabbleTop.

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