Car chase - Definition and Overview

In movies and television a car chase is a scene involving one or more automobiles being pursued by other vehicles. Car chases are ubiquitous to the action movie genre, and some movies are almost entirely built around car chases. They are so popular because they are fast moving scenes with a great deal of excitement, but are not hugely expensive. Due to cars crashing and banging they can contain violence without any harm to individuals and thus secure lower ratings. Car chases often "star" high powered vehicles.

Perhaps the most typical car chase is one in which a car is being pursued by police cars. In part because car chases are so common many movie makers try to introduce a new twists to them. One of the most famous variations is from the French Connection and involves a car chasing an elevated train. Chases involving buses, trucks, snowmobiles, tanks, and virtually every other type vehicle on wheels have appeared in one film or another.

Another method of escalating a car chase scene is to have a characters move from one vehicle to another and to fight in or on top of a moving vehicle.

Several television shows have been built around the popularity of car chases, such as the Dukes of Hazzard.

Reality television has combined with the car chase genre in a number of television shows and specials featuring real footage, mostly taken from police or media helicopters of actual criminals fleeing from police.

Noted car chase films

• Bullitt
• French Connection
• To Live and Die In L.A.
• Both The Italian Jobs
• Blues Brothers
• Gone in 60 Seconds
• Ronin
• All the James Bond films
• The Fast and the Furious
• Mad Max and sequels
• The Hire series (2001)
• The Bourne Identity (2002)
• Grand Prix (1966)