The 25 best car chases in movie history

We kick off our list with what is widely considered the gold standard for car chases. The legendary showdown between Steve McQueen's Ford Mustang and the bad guy's Dodge Charger is 10-minutes of pure, unadulterated action. It starts on the hilly streets of San Francisco and ends on the open roads of Santa Cruz. Everything in between is sheer greatness. 

The car chase in F5 is pretty insane. They kind of wrote themselves into a corner by not ending with it, because how the hell is anything supposed to top it? After watching Vin Diesel and Paul Walker drive a bank vault through Rio de Janeiro, everything else feels like it's on cruise control. 

Speaking of cruise control, nobody does a chase better than Tom Cruise. He does all the stunt work himself, and in Mission Impossible-Fallout, he zips through Paris on a motorcycle while being hounded by dozens of cops. While there are plenty of Cruise chases to choose from, you really can't go wrong with this one.  

Of all the actors to play James Bond, only one can say they kick-flipped a car. Roger Moore's stunt was shot on eight cameras and somehow pulled off in one take. Now if they could only take out the whistle-sound effect. 

Many films incorporate pop music into their action sequences, but few have done it as effectively as Baby Driver. Edgar Wright's action film about a getaway driver opens with a car chase set to Jon Spencer's Bellbottoms, a Subaru gliding in and out of traffic as effortlessly as a dancer moves to a beat. 

When you think of car chases, Smokey and the Bandit is one of the first ones you think of, right? It's fun, breezy, filled with great music and even better characters. One of the best moments sees Smokey hiding behind a "convoy" of truckers while the cops drive by, unaware that he is just a few yards away. Not only is it brilliant; it's a hoot. 

For some time in the late '60s and early '70s, it was cool to make depressing road movies. It started with Michelangelo Antonioni's L'Aventura, then became a thing in America with Easy Rider, Two Lane Blacktop, and The Last Detail. The concept being: A country tries to find itself on the road, only to be turned back by those in power. Vanishing Point is the ultimate example of this kind of movie--a two-hour car chase in which a man searches for freedom, only to find sublimation and subjection.

Look, Christopher Nolan's latest movie is a mess. Also, what the heck does Tenet even mean? That being said, the freeway scenes are somehow coherent, even when cars are going backward and chases are happening in different timelines. 

After the incredible success of Terminator, James Cameron and Arnold Schwarzenegger went back to the Terminator well. With a bigger budget and better effects, they gave the material a serious upgrade, embellishing it with all the bells and whistles and explosions and car chases anyone could ever dream of. The main chase, involving a truck, a motorcycle, a couple of shotguns, and the L.A. channel, is proof that sometimes bigger really does mean better. 

Comedies and car chases don't usually mesh. But this chase on the streets of San Francisco, between a gang of crooks and Barbara Streisand on a bike, actually works. Peter Bogdonavich said he wanted to "combine Buster Keaton and Bullit...to make something thrilling and funny." Somehow, he pulls it off. 

What's better than one car chase? Three car chases! Ronin boasts three of the greatest car chases of all time, but if we had to pick one--and we do--it would be the final one, which features 300 stunt drivers, a Paris backdrop, and cars going up to 125mph. 

Matt Damon completely demolishes Moscow in this much-imitated, much-maligned wrecking ball of a sequence. It delivers on everything we want from a car chase: high stakes, snappy editing, put-you-there camerawork, and a movie star behind the wheel. All that's missing? A sense of fun. 

A slice of Italian exploitation from the director of Zombie Holocaust, the chase scene in Violent Rome is seriously shocking. The fact that they were allowed to shoot such carnage and put Rome's name on it makes me question who was running the city's PR and how they got their job?

George Miller will always be remembered for Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior, but his best work is in Mad Max: Fury Road. As a dust storm looms in the distance, throwing shadows on the cars below, the only natural response is to drop your jaw in awe, open your eyes in fear and kick your legs up in anticipation. There's never been anything quite like it. 

The oldest release on our list is also the most impressive. Because it was made in 1924, Buster Keaton had to do all the stunts himself without any special effects, and the effect is closer to watching a circus act than watching a movie. Just when you think he can't jump to a higher wire, he jumps a 20-foot gap on his motorcycle. 

A decade before Steve McQueen burnt rubber on the streets of San Francisco, Don Siegel ended this noir with a race to the Golden Gate Bridge. It's not really a chase, but there's enough tension and action to earn its place on our list. 

Though the movie isn't as critically acclaimed as The Matrix, it does have a great car chase, filled with agents, bullets, and slow-motion. Plus, Morpheus! 

Only one director has the honor of being on this list twice: William Friedkin, who mastered the car chase in The French Connection, somehow came back for more than two decades later. We'll get to Connection in a little, but for now let's just appreciate the gritty, put-you-there realism of To Live and Die in LA.

Peter Collinson sold the rights to The Italian Job and many years later they decided to make a new one. Unfortunately, they couldn't keep up with the original chase, which includes three Mini Coopers, a mall, and a flight of stairs. If you look closely, you'll see one of the drivers steal a pedestrian's lunch. 

Just when you think John Wick is running out of moves, he whips out "car-fu." Yes, car-fu. Wick chases down the head of a Russian crime syndicate and takes out his henchman by swerving into them at max speeds, knocking them out with the fist of his Ford. 

Since this is a list about car chases, we've got to include Death Proof. The film is directed by Quentin Tarantino and is inspired by exploitation movies of yore, so you know there's going to be a whole lot of road rage. Tarantino's road rage is au naturel--it runs on the fumes of engines and the screams of girls. 

Before Steven Spielberg made us scared of the ocean, he made us scared of the road. He took a Jaws-like approach to his original monster, an 18-wheeler that stalks Dennis Weaver up and down the desert. For a while, we only see its shadow. Then come the fangs. 

We're not talking about the dreary, middling remake also starring Jackie Chan. That one didn't have a car chase. The original Police Story has one of the great car chases, a full-steam-ahead rampage through a shantytown that sends buildings flying, extras soaring, and Mitsubishi's launching into space. How they pulled it off remains one of life's great mysteries. 

"It's 106 miles to Chicago. We got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it's dark and we're wearing sunglasses." With that line from Dan Aykroyd, we are given one of the most improbable car chases in movie history: cops, rival bands, Illinois Nazis and the US Army try to catch the Blues Brothers, but it's no use. They're on a mission from God. 

If Bullit gave birth to the car chase, The French Connection gave it life. Friedkin's dashboard camera and handheld camerawork, not to mention Gene Hackman's sweaty-palmed performance, put audiences behind the wheel for the very first time. Before Connection, car chases were a joyride with our favorite stars. After Connection, they were a leering invitation to ride shotgun. Both are great, but Connection is undeniable.