On 21 April, vehicle enthusiasts around the country celebrate Drive It Day, honouring the UK’s classic car movement.
The event was first organised by the Federation of British Historic Vehicle Clubs back in 2005, to raise awareness of the historic vehicle movement and to keep Britain’s transport heritage on the roads.
To mark 2024’s Drive It Day, here’s a rundown of some of the most iconic car chases in cinema history, sure to get you in the motoring mood.
1. Bullitt (1968)
Widely regarded as one of the best cinematic car chases of all time, Steve McQueen’s Bullitt takes some beating.
In Peter Yates’ 1968 thriller, McQueen stars as Lieutenant Frank Bullitt, who gets behind the wheel of a Ford Mustang GT and promptly becomes involved in a chase with two hitmen around the streets of San Francisco.
The chase revolutionised cinema, with in-car shots adding to the tension as tyres screeched and cars took to the air, with McQueen himself at the wheel for much of the action.
Filming took around three weeks, culminating in less than 10 minutes of footage but it’s a scene that has gone down in film history.
2. The Italian Job (1969)
Another unforgettable movie chase involves Michael Caine and three Mini Coopers racing through the streets (and shopping malls and rooftops) of Turin.
When Charlie Croker is released from jail, he assembles a team to pull off a daring gold bullion heist. Having secured the armoured car containing their prize, the team shares the gold between the three Mini Coopers and sets off. While the majority of the following scenes were filmed on location in Turin, Coventry filled in for the Italian city’s sewer system.
Eventually, the Mini’s reconvene and the gold is transported aboard a coach for a final trip through the Alps and cinema’s ultimate cliffhanger ending.
3. The French Connection (1971)
Gene Hackman stars as detective Jimmy “Popeye” Doyle in William Friedkin’s 1971 thriller The French Connection.
Often cited as one of the greatest films of all time, it also includes one of the most lauded car chase sequences ever. Popeye commandeers a car to chase a hitman as the latter tries to escape on an elevated train through Brooklyn.
The dashboard camera puts the audience in the car with a frantic Popeye, while handheld work adds to the drama and realism.
The film won five Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Editing.
4. Wallace and Gromit: A Close Shave (1995)
The classic cinema car chase is recreated in beautiful stop-motion animation in Nick Park’s Wallace and Gromit: A Close Shave.
In the pair’s third feature-length outing, Wendolene Ramsbottom’s sinister dog Preston turns against his owner when she looks to stop his sheep-rustling racket. With Wendolene (and the sheep) captured in Preston’s lorry, Wallace and Gromit give chase.
The action-packed sequence that follows features death-defying leaps, incredible circus stunts, and a motorcycle sidecar worthy of a James Bond film.
Shaun the Sheep also makes his first appearance. The character would go on to enjoy spin-off success on the small and big screen.
5. Ronin (1998)
John Frankenheimer (The Manchurian Candidate, French Connection II) directs an all-star cast in a film co-written by David Mamet.
Alongside incredible performances from Robert De Niro, Jean Reno, Natascha McElhone, Sean Bean, and Jonathan Pryce, the film features not one but three thrilling car chases.
Former special operatives are hired to steal a heavily guarded briefcase. Cue mounting tensions, questionable loyalties, and double-crosses in Nice and Paris.
The climactic chase occurs in the French capital, using 300 stunt performers and no special effects.
6. Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)
George Miller appeared to perfect his brand of post-apocalyptic car chase in 1981’s Mad Max 2: Road Warrior, but he went on to better it more than three decades later.
Tom Hardy takes up the mantel from Mel Gibson as the titular Max in Mad Max: Fury Road. Things don’t look good for our hero when he finds himself chained to the outside of a car as it tears across the desert as a colossal sandstorm looms.
As the sepia landscape turns into an orange fog, Miller directs a car chase through Hell. Lightning strikes, sand tornadoes, and flying fireballs create a special-effects-filled car chase like no other.
The film won six Academy Awards, including for makeup, production design, and sound editing.
7. Tenet (2020)
Christopher Nolan may have won his first Oscars for 2023’s Oppenheimer, but it is 2020’s Tenet that features our final car chase, a mind-bending trip along an American freeway.
And, thanks to the film’s central, high-concept conceit, viewers get to witness the same nerve-shredding chase twice.
The film stars John David Washington, as “The Protagonist”, who is recruited into a secret organisation waging a clandestine war. But with who? And to what end?
The ensemble cast also features Robert Pattinson, Elizabeth Debicki, Michael Caine, and Kenneth Branagh.
