Introduction: Although there are many different kinds of chase (or rescue) film scenes, the most frequent type of film chase is the car chase. It is almost always between a protagonist/hero (or criminal) and the police (or authority figures), with more than a few vehicles involved in the most spectacular examples. The fast-moving scenes of the car chase, typically found in action films, very often feature high-speed maneuvering, crashes, and point-of-view perspectives to enhance the action. For variety, tanks, semi-trailer-trucks, snowmobiles, buses, and other unusually large vehicles have been employed. Having the characters move from one vehicle to another or fight atop the accelerating vehicles adds to the excitement.

The films with car chases are marked by this icon:

Note: The films that are marked with a yellow star are the films that
"The Greatest Films" site has selected as the 100 Greatest Films

Thelma & Louise (1991)

The car chase in this girl-buddy road film was not fast and furious, but still memorable. Two feminist-empowered fugitive outlaws, Thelma (Geena Davis) - an Arkansas housewife married to a cheating, abusive husband, and Louise (Susan Sarandon) - an overworked coffee-shop waitress, were pursued after killing a rapist, as they drove a 1966 Ford Thunderbird convertible around in the southwestern US desert (on their way to Mexico) and then into oblivion in the film's final image, as they grasped hands and went sailing into the Grand Canyon.

Army of Darkness (1993)

With the film's exciting finale and rescue - after Ash Williams (Bruce Campbell) finished relating his incredulous tale about his adventures in Medieval England to a bored co-worker (Ted Raimi) and to a sexy S-Mart worker (Angela Featherstone), suddenly a She-Demon (Patricia Tallman) attacked him in the Housewares Department - he threatened with his shotgun ("Name's Ash. Housewares....Come get some!") as she countered ("I'll swallow your soul!") before he killed her; the impressed girl embraced Ash, as he mused in voiceover: "Sure, I could have stayed in the past. I could have even been king. But in my own way, I am king." He then told the girl before he passionately kissed her: "Hail to the king, baby!"

The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)

Jack Skellington's (voice of Chris Sarandon) rescue of Santa Claus (voice of Ed Ivory) and Sally (voice of Catherine O'Hara) from Oogie Boogie (voice of Ken Page), by navigating through Oogie Boogie's gauntlet of casino-themed deathtraps (knife-twirling playing cards, gun-toting slot machines (literally one-armed bandits), and a circular saw Wheel of Fortune.)

Antz (1998)

With a thrilling "sneaker" scene in which Z (voice of Woody Allen) tried to rescue Princess Bala (voice of Sharon Stone), when she was stuck in a wad of chewing gum under a kid's sneaker that was comparatively the size of a battleship.

Ronin (1998)

This heist thriller contained two of the best white-knuckle, hair-raising, most realistic car chase sequences ever filmed, including a thrilling high-speed one with a blue Peugeot 406 driven by Sam (Robert De Niro) chasing a black BMW M5, driven by Deirdre (Natascha McElhone) in a high-speed, wrong-way race through Parisian streets and a metro tunnel under the Seine River and continuing into heavy freeway traffic. The car chase ended when the tires on Deirdre's car were shot at, causing it to roll and crash, careen off the end of an uncompleted highway, and burst into flames.

The second earlier sequence involved an Audi S8 and a Citroen on twisting and steep streets in Nice in which a car plowed through the waterfront where diners were eating on the street.

Charlie's Angels (2000)

In this chase, ditzy blonde Angel Natalie Cook (Cameron Diaz), in a white Formula One-styled racecar, chased the Creepy Thin Man (Crispin Glover) in his black racecar around the banked California Speedway (with high-speed 180 degree spins and some racing that went the wrong way). Angel Alex (Lucy Liu) reassured Natalie: "Nat, it's a round track — he's not going anywhere". But then they left the track in the stadium and proceeded out onto the streets of Los Angeles (where people and cars scattered - including an airborne surfboard) - leading to a spectacular wreck of a red car and a game of chicken between the race cars on a suspension bridge.

Chicken Run (2000)

With its exciting escape scene by Rocky (voice of Mel Gibson) and Ginger (voice of Julie Sawalha) from a pie machine, highlighted by the scene inside the lit gas oven - this paid homage to the Indiana Jones films; also, the repeated unsuccessful escape attempt sequence by Ginger and the chickens in the opening montage.

The Fast and the Furious (2001)

A young, blonde and blue-eyed LA undercover FBI agent, rookie Brian (Paul Walker), investigated a series of diesel hijackings (and a gang's fencing of stolen goods) within a street gang, led by Dominic ("Dom") Toretto (Vin Diesel) with a '69 Charger. Street racers used souped up, nitrous oxide-injected vehicles. The film, directed by Rob Cohen, opened with a violent, high-speed, western-style robbery on an interstate highway of a semi-truck by smaller, black supercharged vehicles. And the finale featured three classic car chases.

[The original film, The Fast and the Furious (1955), was made in the mid-50s. A sequel made in 2003 by director John Singleton, 2 Fast 2 Furious, had Walker as the only returning cast member from the original, in a new setting - Southern Florida, with more high-speed street-racing sequences.]

The Bourne Identity (2002)

In this exciting action-thriller set in Paris, amnesiac CIA assassin Jason Bourne (Matt Damon) maneuvered away from the CIA and Parisian gendarmes in a red, battered-old vintage Austin Mini Cooper as they closed in on him; before the chase began, he cautioned his vagabond girlfriend Marie Kreutz (Franka Potente) passenger, the car's owner, next to him that she should leave: "Last chance, Marie," but she remained with him; he negotiated the tiny vehicle through heavy traffic in Paris, through narrow alleyways, down stone steps (before which he warned: "So, we got a bump comin' up"), along sidewalk pavements, and up one-way thoroughfares, causing multiple pile-ups around their car; the extended chase sequence ended when one of the last pursuing police motorcyclists crashed into a Peugeot 405, and they pulled into an underground parking garage.

2 Fast 2 Furious (2003)

Buddies Brian and Roman (Paul Walker and Tyrese Gibson) were pursued by cops in a race across Miami, resulting in damage to 16 police cars, 2 Jeeps, two classic cars, and one yacht.

[The second sequel was titled The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (2006) and was set in Japan; it featured the most complex race/chase scenes of the series, incorporating the perilous practice of "drifting" (sliding sideways on all four car tires as a way of negotiating turns).]

The Italian Job (2003)

This remake of the 1969 original starredEdward Norton (as the mastermind criminal), Charlize Theron (as a "vault and safe technician"), Donald Sutherland (as a veteran safecracker) and Mark Wahlberg (as the young leader), included a heist of $35 million (in gold bars) and featured an escape of three Mini Coopers (red, white, and blue) through an orchestrated Los Angeles traffic jam - they evaded a helicopter as they careened down Hollywood's Walk of Fame on the sidewalk and entered an LA subway station via the stairs.

The Matrix Reloaded (2003)

An incredible 12-minute, 100 mph, with- and against-traffic freeway chase sequence between the evil, white-suited albino Twins (Neil and Adrian Rayment) (driving a black Cadillac Escalade EXT), firing at driver Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss) in a silver coupe carrying freedom-fighting Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne) and The Key Maker (Randall Duk Kim), resulting in numerous overturned and damaged cars; one of the Agents jumped and then leapfrogged from one moving car to the next, smashing them down in this spectacular sequence, to get to the hood of their silver vehicle; when their tires were shot flat, Trinity stole a black Ducati 996 motorbike from a transport truck and grabbed the Key Maker as her passenger, ending up traveling toward the traffic on the busy freeway; soon after, Morpheus found himself atop a freight truck fighting in mid-air against one of the Agents after grabbing the Key Maker from the accelerating bike; the sequence ended with the surprise appearance of Niobe (Jada Pinkett-Smith) in a dark blue '67 Firebird, who caught Morpheus ("Gotcha") as he somersaulted backwards off the top of the truck and landed on her hood; Morpheus then leaped back onto the top of the truck from there to try and save the Key Maker; the sequence ended with a head-on collision of two 18-wheelers, resulting in severe damage as the two freight trucks crushed into each other like an accordian, exploded and produced black smoke and flames - while Neo (Keanu Reeves) miraculously flew like a superman to snatch both Morpheus and the Key Maker who were sailing through the air from the impact, saving them from certain death.

The Bourne Supremacy (2004)

As in the first film of the series, this sequel also featured an extended high-speed car chase through the crowded streets of Moscow between injured CIA agent Jason Bourne (Matt Damon) who was driving a hijacked yellow taxi, hired Russian assassin Kirill (Karl Urban) in a stolen black Mercedes SUV, and multiple police cars. There were multiple collisions and spin-outs, and the chase (including an exchange of gunshots while driving) ended in a spectacular tunnel crash when Kirill's vehicle hit a concrete exit abutment. Bourne satisfied that Kirill was about to die from his injuries, walked away from the scene.

I, Robot (2004)

1. A highway tunnel attack by dozens of robots on Det. Spooner's (Will Smith) moving car
2. A robot attack that demolished a house with Spooner inside
3. Thousands of robots chasing Spooner and Sonny (voice of Alan Tudyk) under a malicious AI's control

Happy Feet (2006)

The two exciting chase sequences by lethal predators who are in pursuit of young dancing Emperor Penguin Mumble (voice of Elijah Wood): first by a hungry leopard seal, who is thwarted when both end up on the surface of the ice, and the breathtaking attack by two killer whales who fling Mumble and penguin holy man-charlatan Lovelace (voice of Robin Williams) into the air several times.