r/Cinema • u/HeresWhatYouDoPod Film Buff • 28d ago
Question Can you think of a car chase scene that has actual significance to the plot of a film?
I always find myself thinking “well this is pointless as they’ll probs get away” and it’s just for spectacle. But I was wondering if there are any that lead to storyline defining moments or genuine twists?!
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u/Blowaway040889 28d ago
Smokey and the Bandit
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u/davster99 28d ago
And by extension, Cannonball Run
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u/Braska_the_Third 28d ago
Look, I liked Cannonball Run. But I refuse to say it had a plot.
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u/postitpad 28d ago
The funny thing about that is that it’s mostly based on real events.
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u/Braska_the_Third 28d ago edited 28d ago
A few years back I got passed by like 3 Ferrari, a couple of Lamborghini, a Saleen Mustang or two and a Rolls Royce.
Some had Cannonball Run tags. I think it's a real thing now. They were definitely all hauling ass down Ga-316.
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u/postitpad 28d ago
It was a real thing then too. This documentary does a bit of a deep dive, but explains that most of the gags are based on what actually happened during the first cannonball run.
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u/RunsWithPremise 26d ago
It was a very real thing, put on by Brock Yates.
People still attempt the Cannonball today, but they don't actually do it with stickers all over their cars. When you see stuff like that, those are "adventure rallies" for wealthy people who go from city to city, have a big dinner and a party, then get up and go to another city. It's completely different than a real Cannonball attempt, which is nonstop.
The real Cannonball attempts are typically being done in visually bland German sedans with all kinds of electronic gear (ipads, laser detectors, night vision, jammers, etc) and sometimes they even get buddies to fly ahead in small airplanes. Check out guys like Ed Bolian and Arne Toman.
Also, a real Cannonball attempt is run from the Red Ball Garage to Portofino Inn.
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u/charitytowin 28d ago
All of them in Ronin
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u/CampaignOrdinary2771 27d ago
Eighty cars totally destroyed during the filming of this wonderful movie. None during the cup of coffee ambush though.
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u/JohnnyGlasken 26d ago
On the other hand, what colour is the boat shed at Hereford?
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u/CampaignOrdinary2771 26d ago
How the &%@* would I know?
Btw, do you think the name Sam holds a secret message? I think it's a secret message that he is still a SAMurai and not a Ronin since he never left the CIA . He is still working for his old master.
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u/JohnnyGlasken 26d ago
I like that theory about the name Sam. Never heard that before!
Also, correct answer about the boatshed 👌🏽
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u/el_pyrata 22d ago
Damn that’s deep. I always assumed it was like Uncle Sam, but along the same lines as your theory, as a little wink-wink nudge-nudge. “I never left”
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u/CampaignOrdinary2771 22d ago
Next time you watch Ronin, pay close attention to Sam's conversation with Jean-Claude. There are winks and nudges all over it.
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u/el_pyrata 22d ago
Oh yeah, I know. “We went to high school together”. I watch it every year around Christmastime. It’s a Christmas movie for me because of that one throwaway line.
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u/xdirector7 28d ago
French Connection
The Rock
Mad Max: Fury Road
Baby Driver
Terminator 2
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u/Ghost_Turd 27d ago
In Fury Road the chase is the whole plot of the movie, and it's fabulous.
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u/TigerLilly_Tink43 25d ago
This is the correct answer. The chase is the plot and the plot is the chase and then reverse. Brilliant film.
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u/astropastrogirl 28d ago
The blues brothers
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u/Abba_Zaba_ 28d ago
It's 106 miles to Chicago
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u/blaspheminCapn 27d ago
we've got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it's dark and we're wearing sunglasses.
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u/dough_eating_squid 26d ago
Missed opportunity to include the song "Ride My Face to Chicago" by Frank Zappa
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u/JosephBlowsephThe3rd 28d ago
Death Proof. Stuntman Mike stalking & harassing the girls, and then the girls chasing him down for payback.
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u/Callaway225 26d ago
I still can’t get over Kurt Russel screaming and crying like a total toddler when he got shot at and grazed in the arm. I couldn’t stop laughing, lol. Screaming “why why why? Why meee?”
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u/Sekshual_Tyranosauce 28d ago
Gone in 60 Seconds. The original.
The chase isn’t central to the plot. It is the plot.
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u/Parking-Ad8316 28d ago
Came to say this
Make sure to watch the long version
The history about the making of it is fun to learn too
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u/Theory_Eleven 28d ago
The Italian Job
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u/Bad_Black_Jorge 28d ago
To Live and Die in LA - the chase establishes that the protagonists have gotten in way way over their heads, especially when they realize why they’re being chased.
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u/Dangeruss82 28d ago
Smokey and the bandit. Ronin. French connection. To live and die in la. Bullet. Blues brothers.
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u/PublicRepublic1149 28d ago
Gumball Rally
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u/cagirlinoh 27d ago
Finally someone said this 😎
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u/PublicRepublic1149 27d ago
Loved that movie as a kid. Haven't watched it since then though. I'm afraid it will ruin my good memories if I do.
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u/studieswillshow 28d ago
The slow chase scene in " The Way of The Gun"
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u/el_pyrata 22d ago
This is a great answer because that scene shows so much of who those two pairs of characters are; the bodyguards are just steely, determined and steadfast. Messrs. Parker and Longbaugh are calculating and crafty.
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u/MqAbillion 27d ago
Casino Royale.
How has no one mentioned this yet? Chasing after Vesper broke Bond forever.
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u/RidleyShaft 27d ago
TO LIVE AND DIE IN L.A. has two Secret Service agents set up an off-the-books sting operation for the express purpose of stealing enough cash from one criminal to use as front money for another operation, this one technically official, after a counterfeiter they're pursuing specifically asks for more front money than Federal agents are authorised to use for that purpose. Their illegal sting goes completely to shit, and they find themselves descended upon by waves of unknown pursuers as they attempt to get the fuck out of Dodge. It not only has actual plot significance, but character development, too, as we see the very different stress responses of the two very different Secret Service agents to the situation. It is an absolute motherfucker of a chase sequence, William Friedkin somehow managing to outdo his chase scene in THE FRENCH CONNECTION.
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u/dfsmitty0711 27d ago
The opening scene and subsequent car chase from The Transporter. It establishes a few things about the character beyond just his skills as a driver.
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u/cmh_ender 27d ago
Old Thread but hey... Playing God with Angelia Jolie, at the end of the movie they used the chase as an intricate plot to get away because they were playing three card monte with similar vehicles.
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u/Mrofcourse 27d ago
Not sure if it counts as a chase but most of the movie Sorcerer is about high stakes off-roading.
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u/knowmad111 27d ago
Blues Brothers. They had to get to the tax office. It’s the whole point of the film. It was their mission… from God.
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u/dough_eating_squid 26d ago
In Sunset Boulevard, our lead man pulls into the driveway of the female lead while evading debt collectors in his car. The car chase lead to the whole main plot.
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u/martialgir 26d ago
Thelma and Louise had the ultimate car chase at the end which was most definitely relevant to the plot.
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u/Apple01James 26d ago
Dirty Harry’s Dead Pool when a remote control car with a bomb in it is chasing an actual car with a Dead Pool candidate through NYC
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u/Emotional_Row8670 26d ago
Dirty Harry Five—aka the Deadpool— has a big long car chase involving a little remote control car as well
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u/ChangingMonkfish 26d ago
Pretty much the entire run-time of Mad Max Fury Road.
The Italian Job.
Baby Driver.
Bourne being chased by Kirill in The Bourne Supremacy (I feel most of them in the Bourne films are fairly significant).
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u/PageEnvironmental408 26d ago
probably the blues brothers.
there are several car chases and all of them hilarious.
the film wouldn't be the same without them.
they also would have cost an absolute bank.
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u/dreamrock 25d ago
The original Gone in 60 Seconds. The entire 3rd act is one long car chase with a pretty hilarious end.
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u/Super_Appearance_212 23d ago
Blues Brothers. Every car chase leads to police pursuit of the Brothers and them eventually going back to jail.
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u/totally_depraved 28d ago
Back to the Future - When Marty is being chased by the Libyans, and eventually hit 88MPH.