Freebie and the Bean (1974)

Freebie and the Bean has since been voted as one of the most mindless, sloppy, wantonly-destructive car-chase films of all-time. The film's title referred to the names of two wise-cracking, bigoted, violent San Francisco buddy cops-detectives in this prototypical, un-PC action-comedy:

• amoral, unorthodox and crazed driver Freebie (James Caan)
• hot-tempered, by-the-book "Bean" (Alan Arkin), a Latino family man, who suspected his wife (Valerie Harper) was having an extra-marital affair

In their pursuit of mobster Red Meyers (Jack Kruschen) in a blue car, there were a number of damaging car wrecks, pedestrian injuries and/or casualties, destruction of public property, and harmed innocent bystanders - including members of a marching band in a parade. [It was a West Coast version of The Seven-Ups (1973) from a year earlier.] The many crashes foreshadowed those that would come later in The Blues Brothers (1980). The memorable chase concluded on the elevated Embarcadero Freeway. Their cop car lost control and crashed from the over-pass into the 3rd floor of an apartment building next to the freeway, and landed in a bedroom where there was an elderly couple watching television. After the two cops crawled out of the wreckage, Freebie phoned the precinct to send out a tow-truck to Apartment 304: "It's on the third floor." The elderly man reacted as the cops left his apartment: "Television is getting too violent."

In another insanely hectic chase scene that involved crashing cars, crumpled fenders, destroyed sidewalk stands, a motorbike, a van, and scores of pedestrians, Freebie became frustrated by snarled wreckage (including an overturned truck with chicken coops), so he hijacked a red motor-dirt bike from its rider and chased after the van. He drove down a sidewalk filled with people, steered over the tops of stalled cars, and then did 'wheelies' as he took a short-cut through a park, and careened through an art fair - toppling a giant-sized set of dominoes. The chase finally concluded with Freebie jumping off the motorbike just before it sailed off a second story building to the street below, where the van had crashed moments earlier.

Gone in 60 Seconds (1974)

This low-budget independent cult classic told about a gang of professional car thieves, including undercover insurance investigator Maindrian Pace (director/writer/star H.B. "Toby" Halicki) who made a bid to steal 48 cars (involving Mustangs, Cadillac limousines, and Rolls-Royces) for a South American drug lord. It included an almost 40-minute car-chasing finale (in a 98 minute film) that allegedly took seven months to film, involving a yellow (and black striped) 1973 Ford Mac 1 Mustang (nicknamed 'Eleanor'), and ending up with 93 car wrecks through five L.A.-basin towns (including Long Beach) in an exciting police pursuit sequence. There was also a spectacular 30-foot jump over a prior car-wreck that cleared 128 feet.

[Followed by two sequels, The Junkman (1982) and Deadline Auto Theft (1983). Remade by producer Jerry Bruckheimer in 2000 with Nicolas Cage and Angelina Jolie as Gone in 60 Seconds (2000), with its final car chase, a 1967 Shelby Mustang GT500 being pursued by black BMW 5 Series police cars.]

The Man With the Golden Gun (1974)

In one of the film's best sequences, James Bond (Roger Moore) robbed a jazzy red AMC Hornet Hatchback from a dealership in Bangkok, Thailand, drove it through the showroom's glass windows, and onto the streets of the bustling city, in order to rescue his inept, kidnapped fellow agent Mary Goodnight (Britt Ekland).

After missing a turn in his pursuit of villain Scaramanga's (Christopher Lee) bronze, black-roofed two-door AMC Matador, in a most impressive car stunt (accompanied by a laughable, cartoonish slide whistle sound), Bond's vehicle made a spectacular, Evel Knievel-like, 360-degree, mid-air, corkscrew-turning loop-jump or roll-over above a broken, half-fallen bridge and landed upright on its tires on the other side of the canal. His passenger, redneck Louisiana Sheriff J.W. Pepper (Clifton James), who was sitting in the car and demanding a demonstration test drive before being taken on the chase, was tossed into the back seat and exclaimed: "Wowee! I never done that before!" Bond replied: "Neither have I, actually."

[This scene would be semi-reprised in A View to a Kill (1985), when Bond (also Moore) would drive a car through the streets of Paris, until it was reduced to just the front half!]

Death Race 2000 (1975)

This futuristic, campy film featured one long, trans-continental road race chase sequence involving customized high-performance funny cars, led by a disfigured, dark and brooding, leather-jumpsuited Frankenstein (David Carradine) and rival Machine-Gun Joe Viturbo (Sylvester Stallone).

The cult classic's tagline illustrated the brutal sport of killing pedestrians for points: "In The Year 2000 Hit And Run Driving Is No Longer A Felony. It's The National Sport!" Women were worth 10 points more than men. Teens were worth 40. Toddlers under 12 were worth 70. Anyone over the age of 75 was worth 100. Even a retirement home wheeled out some of its elderly for "Euthanasia Day."

The Man From Hong Kong (1975, Australia)

This cult-classic martial arts, Bond-ripoff film featured a massive, destructive car chase that was a predecessor to the Mad Max films.

The Gumball Rally (1976)

The Gumball Rally was an illegal car-race comedy about a New York-to California competition with quick cars (featuring an ultimate duel between a Ferrari 365 GTB/4 Daytona and a Ford 427 Shelby Cobra). Also it featured wacky characters, i.e., Raul Julia as a narcissistic, Ferrari-loving Italian named Franco, and thick-headed cop Roscoe (Norman Burton).

The Car (1977)

One of the many Duel (1971) imitators, this film featured a demon-possessed Lincoln Mark III that terrorized all those who came into contact with it.

Smokey and the Bandit (1977)

Directed by career stuntman Hal Needham, this immensely profitable redneck-cop comedy chase film starred Burt Reynolds as a moonshine trucker (Bo, the "Bandit" Darville), Sally Field as runaway bride Carrie (nicknamed "Frog") - who was picked up by Bo, and Jackie Gleason as her prospective father-in-law and as Texas Sheriff Buford T. Justice ("Smokey").

The film's premise was about a $80,000 prize-bet - to drive an 18 wheel tractor-trailer rig full of bootleg Coors beer about halfway across the USA (from Georgia to Texas and back) in 28 hrs. flat. Bo would serve as "blocker" interference in a super-charged black Pontiac Firebird Trans-Am, while co-star Jerry Reed served as Bo's truck-driving buddy Cledus "Snowman" Snow - and he sang the popular theme song on the soundtrack: "Eastbound and Down" - ("East bound and down, loaded up and truckin', we're gonna do what they say can't be done..."). Cledus was also noted for the expression: "Boogity, Boogity, Boogity!" Bandit 1 and Bandit 2 were the CB-handle names for the two main vehicles, while the law was represented with the handle of "Smokey Bear."

[Followed by a lesser sequel, Smokey and the Bandit II (1980) and an even worse, Reynolds-less Smokey and the Bandit Part 3 (1983).]