Probably my most enjoyable movie chase scenes were ones I saw in 1930s early talkie comedies. There was always at least one hilarius chase scene in Three Stooges, Laurel and Hardy or Abbott and Costello movies. Before that, the most fun silent film chase scenes were in Buster Keaton movies, particularly one about a Civil War train hijacking, "The General". I believe my top choice for more contemporary movies is based on the fact that each had chase scenes that would have made all those early comedians proud. Here are my selections:
1. Its a Mad Mad Mad Mad World (1963) was a fantastic movie in many respects. It opened with a hilarious hair-raising chase scene through winding mountain passes, then throughout the film, was followed by various other insane car and airplane races, and a film-ending chase that peaked at the top of a city high rise.
Another feature that made this the best chase film ever is that the cast was loaded with some of the great comedians of the day: Jimmy Durante, Sid Caesar, Mickey Rooney, Don Knotts, Milton Berle, Buddy Hackett, Phil Silvers, Jim Backus, Eddie "Rochester" Anderson and Peter Falk. Even Jack Benny, Buster Keaton and The Three Stooges made cameo appearances.
The story, as if it mattered, is of a bunch of strangers who witness a mountainside car crash, and hear the dying robber (Durante) tell of a million-dollar robbery stash buried secretly. The rest of the film features those frantic characters racing to claim the prize. Then, when they finally get it in a scenic Santa Monica park, there's a tough old cop there to arrest them.
The actor portraying the cop, who turns out to be as crooked as the rest of them, is Spencer Tracy. Hey, what the hell was the distinguished serious actor doing in this crazy movie? I guess the answer is ... having a lot of fun working with those classic comedians. Did I mention that Broadway singing superstar Ethel Merman is in the movie, too, and doesn't belt out one note?
2. Bullitt (1968) featured tough guy Steve McQueen as a San Francisco detective. The classic hair-raising chase scene was up and down the steep city hills of that beautiful City by the Bay. And it was all done live on the streets, long before digital imaging could have animated and hyped up the entire sequence and saved considerable stunt man minds and bodies.
The story is the usual maverick good guy cop vs the evil bad guy killers, but the film is remembered fondly today because of the vision of those muscle cars sailing and thumping over San Francisco streets, to became the model for scores of chase films that followed. It is also rumored that McQueen's scowling, wise-guy, loner San Francisco detective Frank Bullitt was the model for Clint Eastwood's later Dirty Harry character.
3. The French Connection (1971) had another of movie history's most thrilling chase scenes. Detective "Popeye" Doyle and the story are based on real events involving the New York City and Marsielles police departments. Doyle (Gene Hackman), after being drugged and disgraced by French drug dealers, accidentally spots the French gang leader about to board a New York elevated train.
Determined by a sense of rage and revenge to capture or kill the villain, Doyle drives insanely through the crowded New York streets under the elevated tracks, barely missing other cars, pedestrians and in one heart-stopping scene, a mother with a baby carriage.
4. Jurassic Park (1993) has chase scenes that involve cars, but in one of the most thrilling, the car is being pursued by an enormous dinosaur. It becomes heart-stopping when the car overturns with two children inside, and the big beast almost gets them. A later chase scene is of the same two kids who must escape two raptors, smaller prehistoric beasts, but far more man-eating dangerous. The scene ends somewhat happily when a giant T-Rex eats the nasty raptors.
5. Casino Royale (2006) is a recent James Bond movie that contains the required movie chase, complete with all the scientific doodads that shoot out from the back of the Bond car. This one can't wait until we settle into our seats to see some Bond bonding with sexy women, but starts with Bond (Daniel Craig) dashing after a rubber-limbed villain who hops around like a kangaroo on steroids. Does Bond eventually get his man? Are you kidding?
6. Of course, if it is necessary to have a Bond movie on the list, it would be something like treason not to include an Indiana Jones thriller. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) started the franchise and gave Harrison Ford a fortune. Professor Jones (Ford) must leave his college classroom on a government expedition to find the Ark of the Covenant, the holy Hebrew relic from Biblical days. The year is 1936, and a gang of Nazis, complete with spiffy uniforms and evil ideas, are after the same prize. Considering Hitler's murderous hatred of Jews, one may wonder why his guys are ordered to find this old Jewish box.
The big chase scene happens when Indy must overtake and attack a speeding Nazi military convoy all by himself. Of course, he does it through hairpin turns and mountain walls with superhuman effort, flying Nazi bodies and impossible luck.
7. Thelma and Louise (1991) is a movie I loved to hate, because the strong feminist theme often has the intelligence and charm of barnyard brawl. The two women make jokes about their kidnapping of a clueless cop while escaping cross country from a murder charge. Louise (Susan Sarandon) has killed the guy who raped her, while Thelma (Geena Davis) merely needed to get away from beatings by her brual husband.
The chase scene is rather routine through the Arizona desert until the women, pursued by police cars, enter the beautiful roadways of the Grand Canyon. Instead of stopping to admire the view or surrender, they look at each other with wild agreement and drive their Thunderbird convertible, in mind-bending slow motion, over the rim and into oblivion.
8. Ronin (1998) is another Robert De Niro thriller in his great film career. With France as the setting for most of the film, the first chase happens in beautiful, waterfront Nice, when cops pursue a bad-guy car that crashes into an outdoor cafe full of startled diners. In the other chase, there's an eerie similarity to the real life Paris speeding car disaster that killed England's Princess Diana. In the cops vs robbers chase through the French capital city, Sam (De Niro) pursues runaway thief Deirdre (Natasha McElhone). It is especially hair-raising when they do it going at 90 MPH the wrong way on the busy streets. The thrilling end of the chase happens when her car tires are hit by bullets and a fiery crash lights up the screen.
9. Stagecoach (1939) is a must for the top ten chase list because it contains the required bloodthirsty Indians racing through the Western desert after a fleeing stagecoach, with disaster avoided at the last breathless minute when the U.S. Cavalry arrives and saves the day. This was not only a great classic film for many reasons, but it also marked the debut of John Wayne into major pictures, and the beginning of his superstar career.
10. Silent Movie (1976) is on my list because just about every hilariously idotic Mel Brooks movie has at least one insane chase scene. In this one, it is Paul Newman portraying movie star Paul Newman with a cast on his leg. There's a wild chase while he's riding in his wheelchair as he tries to avoid Mel and his pals, Dom Deluise and Marty Feldman in swiped wheelchairs, all as silent film style. In "Blazing Saddles", there's an Indian chase and attack on a wagon train, ending when befeathered and face-painted chief Mel, in a Yiddish accent, spares the lives of an African-American pioneer family. In "Young Frankenstein", there's the traditional torchlit march of angry villagers chasing the monster (Peter Boyle) through the streets of the quaint Transylvanian town.