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Top Ten Best Movie Police Car Chases, With A Twist

Ben Wojdyla — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 12:30:00 EDT

Police car chases are as much a part of American cinema as the sappy love story and the life-like animated robot movie. With so many directors having tackled the police chase it has become a bountiful field from which to pluck perfectly formed flowers of destruction and tire smoke. As we continue our Jalopnik Automotive Amerigasm this week with the second part of our review of the 2008 Dodge Charger Police Edition, we figured we should see what the celluloid forefathers of this blacked out beast have been able to do on film. Except, the "top ten car chases" thing's been done so many times it's not funny. Since we know there's more out there than the usual Bullitt-to-Bandit list we've shaken things up a little — with five of the obvious best and five of the not-so-obvious best — silver screen police car chases. So grab your popcorn and hit the jump.

Top Five Famous Police Chases:

#5: The French Connection
This one makes the cut for nothing else if not innovation. Hack Man wasn't even chasing a car in the French connection's most famous scene, indeed he was after an elevated train carrying the sniper who tried to gun him down. The brilliant use of hand held second person camera work and bumper cams while driving through thick traffic make this one a brass balls special.

#4: Smokey And the Bandit
How can you not credit a movie at least in-part responsible for the CB Radio renaissance? Of all the flicks on the list, this one is practically a shoo-in, considering it's an entire movie dedicated to evading the fuzz — with five major chase scenes as a result. If you don't want to grow a mustache after watching this movie, you might be a communist.

#3: Blues Brothers
This icon of American college cinema is both brilliant in it's scope and magical in its wanton destruction.

#2: Bullitt
Bullitt is a much-lauded car chase wrapped in a gritty, 60's era cop drama. The epic battle between Mustang and Charger has been committed to memory for a great many car dorks. Hell, it even got us all together for a night out in Highland Park. The only thing holding this one back is the well documented, and well loved, inconsistencies in it's production. Some love it for those post production snafu's while other call it shoddy attention to detail. we just love all that tire squealing goodness topped with a dollop of burning bad guy.

#1: Gone In Sixty Seconds
There's something to be said about a flick which is basically a flimsy plot used to frame the scene for a forty minute police chase. Our hero dons the miter of the original Eleanor, a 1973 Ford Mustang Mach 1, which is used to evade, confound, embarrass and destroy an entire squad's worth of patrol cars. We've selected our favorite clip of the movie, the dirty, dusty construction chase. Today it would be a brilliant product placement opportunity for Fram air filters. In our opinion, this is both brilliantly executed and fiendishly simple, a hallmark of excellent chase-making.

Five Great Chases That Aren't As Obvious

#5: Beverly Hills Cop
The level of destructive power in a twin-trailer semi truck is hard to imagine until you see this cab-over ploughing through the streets of Detroit circa 1984. Huge props for actually filming on those streets (it was a dangerous place at the time) and even today we recognize some of the old mansions they drive past, though now they're rebuilt and occupied, instead of hollowed out drug dens. (Sorry about the long, foreign dubbed clip, it's amazingly hard piece of hosted film to find)

#4: The Bourne Identity
Take a Mini, some French Police in cars and on motorcycles, shake vigorously with a marked spy, and serve with a rousing soundtrack. The Bourne Identity is a good ride start to finish, but the chase sequence here made everyone's eyes pop when it first flitted cross the silver screen. Tight European streets, death defying dances through traffic and damn impressive driving make this one for the ages.

#3: Short Time
What's more dangerous than a cop with nothing to lose? One that gets rewarded if he dies on the job. Dabney Coleman plays a cop in this little known flick as a cop who thinks he's got a terminal illness, so he goes about attempting to kill himself off on the job, so his family gets a big fat pension and life insurance bonus. The ensuing suicidal police chase is both amusing and brilliantly filmed.

#2: The Seven-Ups
All right, fess up. In every police chase ever committed to film, a little (or even big) piece of you wanted to see the bad guys get away, to see the cop take the fall, and to see justice not served. Nothing quite says car chase like a giant Pontiac flying down the cramped streets of New York and actually getting air at times. Roy Scheider saddles up for a hair raising chase which end in an unexpected bone crushing finale.

#1: Dirty Mary Crazy Larry
This is the quintessential anti-hero police chase. Our robber heroes are chased over hill and dale by an angry back-country cop who can't quite chase down their bright green Dodge Charger, heck, even a helicopter can't stop em. Just as we think it's all over, random chance and poor driving habits snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

The 50 Most Memorable Movie Cars, According To Rotten Tomatoes

Mark Arnold — Fri, 09 May 2008 16:40:00 EDT

The film critics over at the site all about Tomatoes that are Rotten, have proclaimed a list of the 50 "Most Memorable" movie cars. We won't give it all away here, but we were actually fairly satisfied with their choice for the numero uno slot. Obviously, they're not total hoons like us, but we were still interested to see where a few of our favorites ended up.

Somehow, despite all the recent Dodge Challenger hype, Eleanor from the original Gone In 60 Seconds came in at #41, beating out the Kowalski's white Challenger from Vanishing Point at #43. An apparently more famous Mustang, the '68 390 GT from Bullitt listed at #25, though its co-star Charger was nowhere in sight. The pond-skipping Lambo from Speed Zone failed to secure a spot, but its predecessor from Cannonball Run earned #17, barely being beat by Bond's Lotus at #16. The righteous Bluesmobile earned the #11 spot. Sadly, it came as no surprise that Michael Delaney's Porsche 911 S, and our very own March Madness Champion, the Miura, were forgotten.
[RottenTomatoes]

Star Car Shootout: Championship Today

Mark Arnold — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 13:00:00 EDT

This is it. The final round of the Gone In 60 Seconds Star Car Shootout tournament. Where's Eleanor? She didn't make the cut. The remaining contenders? In one corner, we have the gorgeous and yet completely motionless Lamborghini Miura. In the other corner, a powerful combination of Italian style and American muscle, the Intermeccanica Italia. Now it's your job to figure out which car is the coolest star of H.B. Halicki's Gone In 60 Seconds. Place your bets, and hit the polls.

Star Car Shootout: The Final Four

Mark Arnold — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 13:00:00 EDT

This is it. The final four cars left in our Star Car Shootout tournament. It's been madness trying to get to here from our original selection of 32 cars, and maddening for you to deal with the brilliantly brutish poll system, but we've made it together seemingly none the worse for wear. Certainly, the cars left are all winner-worthy. Eleanor is no surprise, as she's the star of the show. The Intermeccanica and the DeTomaso are both robust Italian-American blends. The Miura is just dripping with style. But who will make the final round? That, friends, is up to you. UPDATE: Polls for this round are closed. Check out the finals here.

March Madness Down To Elite Eight, Voting To Final Four Today

Mark Arnold — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 13:00:00 EDT

And then there were eight. On Wednesday, we'll have the final round to decide which is the coolest car from the original Gone In 60 Seconds, but let's not get ahead of ourselves. Today, we have to pare these eight contenders down to a final four. Who's gonna make the cut? Which is the coolest? Eleanor or the Roller? The crushed Challenger or the Intermeccanica? DeTomaso or Manta? Miura or Vega? Your votes will decide.

March Madness Narrowed To Sweet 16, Round 2 Of Voting Today

Mark Arnold — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 13:00:00 EDT

Well here we are, Round 2 of Jalopnik-style madness. After the first round of voting, we've eliminated half of the 32-car field. And there sure were some upsets; Parnelli Jones' Big Oly Bronco losing to some white Italian car being perhaps the most shocking. We even had a last minute buzzer-beater, with "Billy" beating out the Rolls Limo by only 2 votes! But, now it's time to vote our sweet 16 down to an elite 8. We'll be one step closer to figuring out which car you think is the coolest on-screen in the 1974 film Gone In 60 Seconds. Update: Polls have closed, voting for Round Three here.

March Madness Begins, First Round Of Voting

Mark Arnold — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 13:00:00 EDT

Yesterday, we gave you the brackets. Today, the voting begins and Jalopnik-style March Madness ensues. If you haven't finalized your own bracket for the office pool just yet, hurry up! The field of 32 cars from the original 1974 film Gone In 60 Seconds is about to get narrowed down by your votes. At the end this round, we'll be down to 16 sweet rides. Ultimately, we want to find out what you think the coolest car in the movie is. Now some cars are cool all by themselves, but you also have to consider what role they played on screen. So who knows what the results will look like? Update: Polls for Round 1 are closed. Vote in Round 2 here.

March Madness, Jalopnik Style

Mark Arnold — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 13:30:00 EDT

Interested in all the March madness tournament bracketry, but not really into college hoops? Maybe you're looking for a way to redeem yourself after penciling-in Duke to go all the way? Whatever the case, we've decided to throw our own Jalopnik-style bracket-madness party! Instead of basketball, we've got cars! And don't think this isn't some randomly-selected field of Consumer Reports top choices. What we have is a 32-car selection from one of the coolest car movies ever made: the original Gone In 60 Seconds from 1974. Through the rest of this week and part of next, your votes will be tallied to decide the winners of each face-off. Polls will open tomorrow, so that gives you today to print out your own bracket, fill in your predictions, tell your buddies, and make up your own office pool. It also gives you time to go watch the movie, but if you want just a quick refresher, we've provided that too.

This is the star of the show; the top seed. A seemingly indestructible 1973 Ford Mustang Mach 1 that runs from the law in a glorious 40-minute chase scene.
The local country radio reporter's ride, a Ford that might as well have "dorky" painted all over it.

A drop-top Ford with questionable structural rigidity that gets hit in the side so hard it splits neatly in half. Ridiculous, but funny.
The Belvedere rent-a-cop with a German Shepard. Attempts to chase down a tow-truck stealing a Challenger, and fails.

A burgundy Roller stolen in broad daylight from the airport drop-off curb; chauffeur left the key in it.
A Fleetwood serving as personal transportation for the ring-leader of the operation. An arranged assortment of sunglasses on the dash, and enough room for the whole crew to cruise around.

Stole a Challenger right off a dealership lot, then outran security even with the Challenger still attached. The star of the second best chase in the movie.
A poor little Type 3 that got flipped on its roof by Eleanor, starting a huge pileup. Cute car, humiliating role.

The Dodge carries the flag for all the cop cars in the movie. They're cool rides burdened by somewhat inept drivers.
One of the "girls" on the hit list, though it only appears on film for a moment. Not a hearse, but a custom station wagon.

License plate reads "OOO GAL." The Dodge was a stolen car wearing VIN tags from a wrecked donor; An identity thief before it was popular. Sadly, it had to go to the crusher once people started getting wise.
A new Plymouth out on a test drive gets smashed by a cop in pursuit of Eleanor.

Lyle Waggoner's Intermeccanica Italia swiped from spaced-out stoner cleaning it.
A stolen Corvette in a sizzling color. Not on film very long, but it leaves an impression.

The undercover cop that started the epic chase with Eleanor. It Went toe-to-toe with the Mustang, but couldn't quite keep up.
A nice bright green Dodge that suffered the fate of being crushed by a garbage truck rolling onto it.

An old sedan DeVille ridin' low. Occupants seemed to enjoy smokin' the herb so much that they drove the Caddy to self-destruction.
A Rolls limo big enough to carry a fully-assembled bicycle in the back seat with room to spare. Just wait for the chauffeur to leave the car unattended, insert the bike you rode up on, and drive away. Petty theft made high-class.

Don't get distracted by the girl, this DeTomaso is what you really want. She's just askin' for it, leaving the keys in the car like that.
This Jensen Interceptor is practically good enough for JFG, and it's apparently good enough to make the South American client's, list as well.

Fantastically obscure Manta Mirage stolen during a test drive. Salesman gets out to switch seats, thief slides behind the wheel and takes off.
The Maserati is another car on the list only appearing for a moment, but it's pure style.

A Cadillac filled with drugs, one of the few things to survive in the remake movie from 2000. How do you get rid of all that white powder? Burn it. Who cares if it's worth a million bucks on the street; these are responsible criminals.
The hopped-up Plymouth was on the screen for only a quick flash, but we're sure it's even quicker down the strip.

Parnelli Jones' Baja Bronco is the icon of off-road racing. But that didn't stop anyone from stealing it in the movie.
The Lamborghini is elegantly beautiful, but forgettable in this context.

Epic cool car and JFG resident, but it's too bad we can't see it's wacky suspension in action.
Who needs a high-tech anti-theft system? Just keep a tiger in your Cadillac.

Another limo left unattended and vulnerable. All the coolness factor of death with none of the emotional struggle.
Hard to say what exactly has been done to this Chevy Vega, but it sure ain't stock. Another one we'd like to see actually driving.

It looks plain on the outside because it's supposed to. There were two identical Fords used for scouting out all the cars on the to-be-stolen list before the day of the big hit. Equipped with walkie-talkies too!
Nothing says "Malaise Era" more than a Stutz. And this one was stolen right in front of a confused old lady. Classy.

[Screenshots are property of the movie's copyright holders; not Jalopnik]

Unique Performance Mustangs Allegedly Built By Prisoners, Used 13 Gallons Of Bondo

Matt Hardigree — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 11:40:00 EST

Just when we thought there would be a break from the Unique Performance Saga, we get word that things were even more rotten in the city of Farmers Branch. First, an investigation by CBS11-TV has turned up solid evidence that unskilled Texas prisoners were used to do the bodywork on the replica "Eleanor" Mustangs, including removing the VIN plates (which is illegal). Second, the poorly built cars cost upwards of $200,000 yet were built using approximately 13 gallons of Bondo each. Third, the U.S. Secret Service and Texas Department of Public Safety (state police) have launched investigations. Fourth, this may impact the way the prison system work program is implemented. Finally, according to authorities charges are imminent (probably fraud and title-washing to start). More pictures from the evidence locker (everything comes from Taiwan), a statement from Unique Performance owner Doug Hasty's lawyer and a quick primer for those that haven't been following the case below the jump.

History

After the success of Gone In 60 Seconds, Unique Performance with the blessing of Carroll Shelby started building "Eleanor" replicas. Turns out that most of those replicas may have been built with salvage or otherwise questionably titled Mustangs and, despite taking huge deposits, weren't being delivered. After being raided by police and shut down, the company filed for bankruptcy and refused to pay Unique Performance employees. That's where we stood before these latest revelations.

Statement From Doug Hasty's Lawyer

Every customer that has received a car has ultimately been satisfied with the quality of the car they received. Farmers Branch Police are continuing their witch hunt. They continue to leak false accusations to the press knowing that we have not had an opportunity to have access to the cars to rebut their claims. There were no title issues or criminal problems with the titles and no one has been defrauded. We are eager to address these cases in a court of law, on the record, where people will have to be responsible for their conduct. And I'm referring specifically to the Farmers Branch Police Department.

That's the information we have to date.

Special thanks to 67Mustangblog for following the story so closely. [All information via CBS-11 TV]

What Th'... It's the Smartleanor!

Mike Spinelli — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 12:33:56 EDT

What happens when you take a Smart Fortwo and cross it with Eleanor the Mustang from "Gone in 60 Seconds"? A question that needn't been asked, to be sure. But there's an answer. Whatever it is, it looks like something that emerge about six months after Eleanor's egg has been fertilized. Oh, gross. – Mike Spinelli

[More at Autoblog]

Hot Rod's Final Four Best Car Movie Candidates

Davey G. Johnson — Tue, 26 Dec 2006 17:30:00 EST

Polls are open until the first of the year in Hot Rod's "Top Car Movie Ever" contest and while the contenders aren't exactly surprising in the earlier categories, it's rather shocking that the Gone in 60 Seconds remake beat out Ronin for the late-period nomination. We suppose Hot Rod's readership don't cotton much to them furrin cars. Unshockingly, American Graffiti and Bullitt are out front in the voting, but if Smokey and the Bandit doesn't win this thing, we're gonna go around smashing any and every Highland Green Mustang and piss-yellow/puke-green Deuce we can find. Save the Fords, friends. Alan Mulally will thank you. Vote Smokey, the film that Alfred Hitchcock once called his favorite guilty pleasure. Hal Needham for President! – Davey G. Johnson

Final Four Voting for the Top Car Movie Ever [Hot Rod]

Mass Destructo: The Original 'Gone in 60 Seconds'

Davey G. Johnson — Thu, 14 Sep 2006 16:00:00 EDT

Because we are untrue to the Gearhead Code, which requires viewing the original Gone in 60 Seconds at least once a year, (we hadn't seen it since were about eight), we'd forgotten that the infamous chase sequence runs from Long Beach, briefly through Pedro, into Torrance and Carson and up to Redondo. Needless to say, the Harbor Area and South Bay have changed a lot in 32 years. And to appease the deities we have sinned against, we now offer up the trailer and a clip of the mayhem. More can be found via YouTube.

Gone in 60 Seconds

Related:
Oh Screw It, We Give: 'BJ and the Bear' [Internal]