Thursday Thought Provoker: Eastbound and Down

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Here’s your appetizer for this one:

Ah, the movie genre that is committed to the great American car chase. Aside from Smokey, Reynolds also did a couple Cannonball Runs, but they definitely don’t have what I consider to be the best car chase scenes. A few of my favorites:

Bullitt (1968)

It’s hard to say there’s one better than this. Between the sounds of the engines from the Mustang Fastback and the Charger, to the tension that builds throughout, this is a classic.

Baby Driver (2017)

Have to admit, I like the music and I like the car chase scenes. Campy, but has a good enough story to keep you engaged and it’s filmed in Atlanta. Guess I’m still a sucker for things like that.

To Live and Die in L.A. (1985)

Just a very tense one, as you can see, with William Peterson’s character contemplating life and trying to find any way out throughout the chase, only to do a wrong way on a busy highway to cause enough of a mess to bring the whole thing to an end.

How about you? What’s your favorite car chase scene from a movie that comes to mind?

Discuss.

29 thoughts on “Thursday Thought Provoker: Eastbound and Down”

  1. Bullitt. Man, after watching that as a young boy, all I ever wanted when I got older was a green fastback mustang. Never happened, but a boy can always dream.

    • Re-watched Bullitt a while back, paired with a couple Hop Bullets from Sierra Nevada. Held up. I was surprised, tbh. I’ve been really surprised how old school movies hold up in all genres. And YES! These movies couls get expensive if you start going down muscle car rabbit holes and moving some money around, lol

  2. Mudcat’s car in Athens & now, evidently, in Twiggs County.🤣

  3. Smokey and the bandit was filmed around Jonesboro when I was growing up there. Burt rented a house a mile from me. I vaguely remember them filming. It’s crazy to watch that movie and see how much has changed in Jonesboro.

    Nothing was cooler than the general lee jumping whatever to get away from Roscoe.

    • I graduated from Forest Park; Jonesboro was our biggest rival at the time. There were only 4 high schools in the county then.

      • 5 when I graduated. Riverdale was the biggest rival for us. Morrow was next.

    • From what I understand the old bridge they jumped in Point South is still there.

  4. The French Connection has a good one where Gene Hackman twists a lot of sheet metal.

    • Yes it is awesome! Friedkin directed the French Connection 10 to 15 years prior to To Live and Die in LA. He knew wanted a case in the latter movie (since the one in French Connection was so good) but he decided to reverse it. The hero does the chasing in The French Connection. In To Live & Die, its the heroes who are being chased. Brilliant.

  5. #1Smokey and the Bandit

    honorable mentions
    Blues Brothers
    Bourne identity
    Casino Royale

  7. Some not yet mentionefd, Ronnin, French Connection, Thunder Road, Italian Job (original), Gumball Rally, the Bourne Movies had some good ones

  8. Don’t forget Vanishing Point, Dirty Mary & Crazy Larry and Death Proof. Car chase movies is my favorite genre.

      • As a kid, I didn’t know the yellow Charger getting hit by a train during the intro of the ‘Fall Guy’ TV series was a scene from ‘Dirty Mary & Crazy Larry’. I didn’t the see the movie until the late 80s.

        I had one of those “DeCaprio pointing at the TV” meme moments after seeing the end of the movie.

  11. Besides Bullitt, the opening sequence of the original Mad Max where the MFP runs down Toecutter is a favorite of mine. Those red, yellow, blue patrol cars were wicked. The closing sequence of the Road Warrior with the tanker chase is a goodun too….

  12. Ronin, French Connection, Bullitt – not a car “chase”, but Gran Prix (another Frankenheimer) has great, realistic in-car racing scenes….

  13. Bullitt and Vanishing Point are the all time best. But like you, I did enjoy Baby Driver.

    • When Smokey was made, Burt Reynolds was the most bankable male actor on the planet. But Jackie Gleason steals the movie.

  14. The original Vanishing Point. The whole movie is a car chase. The first time I saw it was sitting in a drive-in movie with three other knuckleheads, passing around a bottle of Spañada.

  15. My young adult kids love Smokey and the Bandit. I’ve tried to show them Cannonball Run because it’s one of my favorites. But it seems to have disappeared. Can’t find it to stream or watch anywhere. I think I found a Chinese version on YouTube but gave up finding an English version after I looked extensively a few different times

  16. Nothing better as a young boy than watching the Duke Boys outfox Roscoe & jump a California creek to the horn tune of Dixie!!

  17. S&tB is a chase movie but the chase is the (excuse the pun) vehicle for the cast to act out their roles. Cannonball Run is similar but because of the overly large ensemble cast, is an unfocused mess. That’s not to say it doesn’t have some enjoyable moments,but give me S&tB any day of the week.

    Vanishing Point gets my vote for best of the classic muscle cars going real fast flicks, but like Bullitt and the French Connection, is pretty grim.

    This is the best cinematic car chase I’ve ever seen. I haven’t seen the entire movie, which has largely faded from memory.

  18. My entry is the car chase scenes in both “Gone in 60 seconds” movies.

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