You know the feeling: Your pulse rises as you lean forward, the hairs on your arms are lifting, and suddenly, you’re holding your breath. A good chase scene will leave you pinned to your seat, unable to look away no matter how many times you’ve seen the movie.
The art of the chase has changed drastically over the course of Hollywood history, shifting as new technologies and styles allowed filmmakers to push the boundaries of what it means for a character to narrowly escape. We’ve highlighted a dozen of the best examples spanning seven decades below, from the steep hills of San Francisco to remote treasure hunts in Egypt, lost cornfields in the middle of the country and high-rise buildings across Europe.
The best chase scenes choreograph high-stakes acting with deft camera work, graceful editing and a score that underlines the sequence perfectly. Watch for the nimble turns of Ansel Elgort’s Baby Driver in Baby Driver, the delightful music from Julian Nott in Wallace and Gromit’s The Wrong Trousers or the beloved fearlessness of Tom Cruise as he performs his own stunts in Mission: Impossible – Fallout.
Of course, a well-executed chase can be an indicator of a film destined for greatness, as many of the films on this list seemed to be. Among the 12 entries, there are a cumulative 24 Academy Awards, and many are single installments in fan-favorite franchises that continue to live on today.
Here are 13 of the best chase scenes in movie history.
‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’
Harrison Ford’s archaeologist Indiana Jones has run from all sorts of dangers across the franchise’s five movies, but the opening scene in Steven Spielberg’s Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), during which Indy, wearing his signature fedora and jacket, flees a Peruvian temple (and a giant boulder) after taking a valuable idol remains its most iconic.
‘The French Connection’
In William Friedkin’s 1971 thriller The French Connection, Gene Hackman’s detective Jimmy “Popeye” Doyle chases an elevated train by car, in hot pursuit of a hit man aboard the train. Brilliantly lensed by Oscar-nominated cinematographer Owen Roizman on location in Bensonhurt, Brooklyn, the scene is widely considered one of the greatest car chase sequences ever filmed. The French Connection won five Oscars including best picture, director and editing for Gerald Greenberg.
‘Bullitt’
Another sequence widely considered among the greatest car chases is the famous scene in Peter Yates’ 1968 thriller Bullitt. Steve McQueen’s Lt. Frank Bullitt is at the wheel of a Ford Mustang GT for this iconic sequence that was filmed and set in and around San Francisco. Multiple Oscar-nominated cinematographer William A. Fraker lensed the chase, and editor Frank P. Keller won an Academy Award for his work.
‘The Bourne Ultimatum’
Paul Greengrass’ The Bourne Ultimatum features Jason Bourne (Matt Damon) chasing a hitman through Tangier, including on a dirt bike and rooftops and after Damon jumps through a window, with hand-to-hand combat. (David Leitch is the stuntman who jumped through the window in the movie, which was lensed by Oliver Wood.) The brilliantly edited sequence and film delivered an Oscar to Christopher Rouse, as well as to the film’s sound editing and mixing teams.
‘Terminator 2: Judgment Day’
In 1991, James Cameron released Terminator 2: Judgment Day, the classic sequel to his breakout The Terminator that featured a high-octane scene: A groundbreaking digital T1000 chases a young John Connor (Edward Furlong) who is on a motorcycle with the Terminator (Arnold Schwarzenegger) sent to protect him. The scene ends with the T-1000’s truck engulfed in a fiery explosion. Lensed by Oscar-nominated DP Adam Greenberg at Los Angeles’ Bull Creek, and edited by nominees Conrad Buff IV, Mark Goldblatt and Richard A. Harris, the movie earned four Oscars, for sound, sound effects editing, makeup and VFX.
‘North by Northwest’
Cary Grant was at the center of the famous crop duster chase scene in Alfred Hitchcock’s North by Northwest (1959). As Grant’s character Roger Thornhill seeks cover from an unidentified crop duster plane in a cornfield, he runs into the road, halts an oil truck and hides underneath the vehicle. The plane crashes into the truck and promptly explodes as Thornhill and the drivers escape. North by Northwest was nominated for three Oscars at the 32nd Academy awards, and the movie was later selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the U.S. Library of Congress.
‘Mission: Impossible – Fallout’
2018’s Mission: Impossible – Fallout was Tom Cruise’s sixth installment in his beloved action franchise, for which he is infamous in doing his own stunts. In one scene, Cruise’s Ethan Hunt jumps from one high-rise building to another while chasing Henry Cavill’s August Walker. Famously, Cruise actually injured himself while filming the leap, breaking his foot when he slipped during the fall and shutting down production for six weeks.
‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2’
Harry, Ron and Hermione endured their fair share of epic chase scenes across the eight Harry Potter films, but the dragon’s escape from Gringott’s bank in the final movie (released 2011) might be the most fun to watch. After sneaking into the goblin-secured dungeon in pursuit of a horcrux, the trio busts out of the underground chamber by freeing one of the dragons kept captive by the goblins. The creature bursts through the bank’s lobby, which fans first saw way back in the first film, before flying high above London and carrying the students to safety.
‘The Wrong Trousers’
The stop-motion antics of Wallace and Gromit are beloved across their many film and TV iterations, but the train chase climax of 1993’s The Wrong Trousers is particularly impressive. In the film, Wallace and Gromit pursue a criminal penguin on a moving toy train in a sequence that employs a delightful mix of swish-pan and POV shots with a flouncy score from Julian Nott.
‘What’s Up Doc’
Barbra Streisand and Ryan O’Neal kick off the memorable chase scene in 1972’s What’s Up Doc by hopping aboard a delivery bike in San Francisco, a move that subsequently sets off a chain reaction of events that grow more ridiculous with each cut of the camera. Eventually, Streisand and O’Neal’s Judy and Howard carjack a Volkswagen Beetle in a sequence that actually damaged San Francisco’s Alta Plaza Park staircase (fans can still see chips in the steps’ cement where the car fell). The film was directed by Peter Bogdanovich.
‘Baby Driver’
There are few better examples on how to open a movie with a bang than the first scene of 2017’s Baby Driver, directed by Edgar Wright. Set to the the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion’s 1995 single “Bellbottoms,” Ansel Elgort’s titular getaway driver facilitates the escape of three criminal associates (Jon Hamm, Jon Bernthal and Eiza González) after they rob a bank. The car chase that ensues could be considered a short film in its own right.
‘Mad Max: Fury Road’
The sandstorm chase scene of George Miller’s Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) is the film’s most involved VFX sequence, with flurries of sand that whisk vehicles into the sky. As Charlize Theron’s Furiosa drives into the storm, Nicholas Hoult’s Nux continues his pursuit of her with Tom Hardy’s Max tied to the car. The scene climaxes when Nux attempts to sacrifice himself and Furiosa destroys the vehicle. The film won six Academy Awards in 2016, including for costumes, editing, makeup, production design, sound editing and sound mixing.
‘The Blues Brothers’
Though this list notes chase scenes, 1980’s The Blues Brothers is more of a chase movie. Protagonists Jake (John Belushi) and Elwood (Dan Aykroyd) speed their cars across most all of Chicago. Director John Landis had several cars built specially for the film, including three with one-gallon gas tanks used for jumps and another made with a lever to pull it apart for the scene when the characters arrive at the Cook Country Building.
