The French Connection (1971)

Gene Hackman bumping and weaving his way around the intersection of Stillwell Ave. and 86th St of Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, while pursuing a bandit on a subway train offers to this day a fantastic driver's eye perspective of driving through New York at rush hour. We're just kidding. But the chase featuring a 1971 Pontiac LeMans remains a classic as a result of its impromptu crashes that weren't supposed to be part of the action but were left in the sequence after several stunt drivers mistimed their entrance into the car chase, striking Hackman's car instead of narrowly avoiding it as he chases a train-bound drug dealer. The sequence took several days to shoot even though the chase's screen time is barely two-and-a-half minutes. Director William Friedkin also put together a similarly fantastic car chase in 1985's To Live and Die in L.A.

Gone in 60 Seconds (1974)

We're not talking about the remake starring Nicolas Cage and Angelina Jolie, which boasts some pretty spectacular car-chase sequences itself, but the 1974 original that features a 34-minute chase sequence over the Long Beach, California ports complex that some consider the best ever captured on celluloid. A mediocre cast and stilted dialog may put off many, but the film that centers around a group of car thieves and their bid to steal 48 cars over a couple of days accomplishes what it set out to do: Exhilarate viewers in movie theaters and destroy as many cars as possible (in this case, 93). An amazing collection of Mustangs, Rolls-Royces and Cadillac limos make up the list that car thief H.B. "Toby" Halicki -- who did all his own stunts -- is given to steal for a South American drug lord. Few, though, compare to the films's famous 1967 Ford Mach 1 Mustang, christened "Eleanor" and driven by Halicki, that even makes it into the 2000 remake.

Vanishing Point (1971)

A Dodge Challenger R/T gives you some serious leverage when you're involved in a bump-and-run two-car contest on a one-track road in the middle of the American west -- and it's the only road out of the desert heat. Stanley Kowalski, a renegade Barry Newman, used five separate first-generation Challengers, including the 375-horsepower 440 Magnum, to full effect in forcing numerous hapless drivers off the road on the hazard-ridden 15-hour sprint from Denver to San Francisco as he's pursued by cops, racers and bandits alike. Dodge released its highly anticipated and heavily retrofitted Challenger update in 2008, with the film's cult following no doubt waiting patiently for any word on a commemorative Vanishing Point model.

Mad Max II: The Road Warrior (1981) |

You'd be hard pressed to name any of Mel Gibson's cobbled-together vehicles in his 1981 sequel to Mad Max -- which may boast the highest number of chopped and recharged V8s outside of Havana, Cuba -- but that doesn't stop The Road Warrior being considered a car-chase classic and one of the best action movies out there. Motley collections of cut-throat bandits, nomads and braggarts populate Australia's barren, dystopian landscape and blow-up any number of heavy machines, including police cars, motorbikes and a big-rig fuel tanker. It's all in their quest for that all-important and -- in a post-apocalyptic world -- rare substance: fuel. The explosive 20-minute chase scene to end the movie still exhilarates nearly 30 years after the movie's release. And don't we all want an engine intake like Max's infamous "blower?"

Death Proof (2007)

Quentin Tarantino continues to push the limits of speed and taste in Death Proof, a stock car- and violence-infused tale that features for a quarter of its run-time a fantastic chase sequence involving a stripped down bad-ass 1969 Dodge Charger and a heavily modified 1970 Dodge Challenger with a girl -- actress and former stuntwoman Zoe Bell -- splayed on its hood. Apparently, Tarantino came upon the idea for a "death proof" car after filming the car-crash scene in Pulp Fiction and telling a friend he wanted to buy a Volvo for safety reasons. The friend informed him that a decent movie stunt team could easily "death proof" any car for him. Hence was born the Death Proof movie concept. And Stuntman Mike. Doesn't that name still give you chills?

Cannonball Run (1981)

Almost everyone knows that Hollywood's cheesy celebration of America's intercoastal car culture is one big car chase involving spectacular cars, including a Ferrari 308 GTS, an Aston Martin DB5 and a gorgeous opening sequence where a Lamborghini Countach makes short work of a Pontiac Firebird police cruiser. But perhaps less well known is the original coast-to-coast sprint run undertaken by speed racer Erwin George Baker in 1914. The 11-day drive made his name in the New York press, who forever associated him with the Chicago Express steam train christened "The Cannon Ball." Trivia: The ambulance driven in the movie by Burt Reynolds and sidekick Dom DeLuise was a modified Dodge Tradesman used by Car and Driver editor Brock Yates when he tried to resurrect the famous race in the 1970s, as part of a protest against the onset of 55 mph speeding limits nationwide.

Rebel Without a Cause (1955)

Perhaps no other car-chase movie has matched the emotional impact of Nicholas Ray’s teen drama about alienated California kids flirting with death. The key scene involves a “chickie run” between the star (James Dean) and Natalie Wood’s boyfriend (Corey Allen). It all ends badly, with a car bursting into flames as it crashes over a cliff; the single fatality haunts the survivors and the audience for the rest of the film. Don't we all love a bit of James Dean.