Best Car Chase Ever.

I just watched this the other night (Bullitt). I saw in the special features part of the DVD that McQueen did his own driving and it was pretty dangerous stuff!

Best tour of San Francisco ever!

I love watching this scene. Not only is it amazing, it's also a great history lesson for those of us who live in San Francisco. It's interesting to see how much has changed and how much hasn't.

McQueen did most of the driving, except for the most dangerous parts, which was done by a stuntman Bud Ekin.

According to wiki:

# The Mustang's interior rearview mirror goes up and down depending on who is driving. When the mirror is up, visible, McQueen is behind the wheel, and when it is down, not visible, Ekin is in the car.
# The director called for speeds of about 75 to 80 mph (120 to 130 km/h), but the cars (including the ones containing the cameras) reached speeds of over 110 mph (175 km/h) on surface streets.

I don't think they'll ever do it again: it's much too dangerous to race around a real city like that. Most of the movies probably use bluescreen.

By its own day's standards, it was the best. However, I've seen SO MANY car chases in more recent movies that blow this entirely out of the water.

In fact, this is just plain boring compared to today's offerings. I know, I know, this is where it all really started, but still, to say this is the best EVER is really stretching it.

BC,

In my opinion, this is the best car chase ever. If you've got your own fav car chases, please share 'em here.

Alain,
I don't mean to be sour on your opinion. Sorry if I came off harsh, didn't mean to. Anyway, you can look at any Smokey and the Bandit movie, you can look at Ronin, you can look at Fast and the Furious, Borne Identity, or just about any James Bond movie, and find better car chases. I'm just sayin' you know?

One of the reasons the Bullitt car chase is widely acclaimed as the best car chase ever, even amongst today's stunt professionals is that they actually did it all without faking anything. They really were going at 75 to 100 mph and above. I was lucky to attend a special screening of Bullitt at the Egyptian Theater on Hollywood Blvd. back in 2002:
http://www.americancinematheque.com/archive1999/2002/stevemcqueen.htm

at which Steve's stuntman Bud Ekins, Cinematographer Bill Fraker and one of the actors gave a talk and a QandA. One thing I remember is that Fraker said he saw the speedo reach 95 while he was directing the camera mounted on a motorbike sidecar.

To me, the reason that it's the best ever is that it's told like a story and not done as an excuse for specific spills and thrills. As such, it doesn't take you out of the movie by being far fetched.
Those newer car chases that may "blow this out of the water" are almost invariably done with an eye for specific stunt scenarios, and are often unbelievable in terms of the superhuman feats of driving skills, or implausible survivals from crashes, for example.
Even the famous chase scene from "French Connection", just a few years after Bullitt was something that somehow didn't fit into the rest of the movie.
And the more recent famous scene from "Ronin", shot on the "busy" streets of Paris (nowhere near as busy as a realistic day) involved a lot of faking, and implausible escapes and close shaves. Thrilling, it may be, but they did it first and best in Bullitt.

Even if they WERE actually going those speeds, it doesn't look like they are to me. I don't get the feeling of speed that I get with other chase scenes that DO blow this out of the water.

I don't care about realism, I want to be thrilled, and that's what a car chase scene is SUPPOSED to do.

Otherwise, there are a LOT of less boring ways to have a chase scene than to show people calmly siting in their cars, driving around in the city. Why not have them chase after each other on foot? Why not on roller skates? Why not on skateboards or with jetpacks? Seriously, people sitting in their cars driving around town just does not a chase scene make! :)

OK, BC, I can understand how watching a 400x300 (approx.) pixel version that appears to be horizontally compressed and distorted might not thrill you. And you're obviously entitled to your own opinion.
But when all is said and done, if there was ever a encyclopedia entry for "Movie Car Chase" the definitive definition would be: "the one in Bullitt". And most people, unlike yourself with all due respect, would concur.

See also the definitive definition of Martial Arts Movie fighter: Bruce Lee.
Or Martial Arts Movie Stunts: Jackie Chan.

Great clip! I love the old Gone in Sixty Seconds car chase, a bit long but awesome nonetheless!

I watched this movie at my bachelor party.
Sweet.

I like the chases in Ronin and Matrix Reloaded better, but I still love this one. (Only took Hollywood 3 decades to top it.) And I love that groovy Lalo Schifrin soundtrack.

Unfortunately this particular clip posted on YouTube has a messed up aspect ratio, so the cars look odd.

Matrix Reloaded was exciting, but it was mostly CGI. Does that count as a real car chase?

In terms of getting it as real as it can, Bullit certainly wins - they *were* actually chasing each other!

Whereas the title "best car chase" can be subjective, there's no arguing that Bullitt really started the whole thing. :)

If I remember correctly, I heard on the radio that when they filmed the Bullitt car chase, the didn't really cordon off the roads or anything like that - they simply put on a siren and started driving like mad. It was lucky that no pedestrian got hurt!

I have to go with Blues Brothers as my personal favorite, if only for the sheer absurdity of it all. You can find it here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etMjjdxDyAw

The Charger wasn't "Tuxedo Black". That was a General Motors paint color name. The 1968 Dodge paint color name was just "Black".

Didn't Steve McQueen also do all his own motorcycle stunts in The Great Escape?
Oops, no I just checked - Steve McQueen did all his own stunt riding in The Great Escape except for one stunt done by Bud Elkins! That is apparently how Mr. Elkins got his start as a stunt driver.

I watched this movie recently. The most unique thing was seeing Steve McQueen parallel park, get out, and lock his car! Never duplicated in Hollywood again!

Would be better on the big screen, but it's no James Bond. And nothing beats Terminator 3 for its orgy of destruction car/truck/you name it, it was in there chase.

Great clip. I remember reading about the making of this and they said the guy in the Charger had to hold off a bit because the Mustang just couldn't keep up.

Other more spectacular car chase scenes may have come after it, but if it weren't for this one, they would've never existed. All hail the original!

This is the best over, no matter how many times I watch it, it still thrills me. Car chases have been SO overdone in movies it is no longer exciting or innovative. There is more to car chases than showing them going against traffic, in busy roads, and sometimes using CGI effects. Less is best.

If you notice for most of the chase there isn't even an annoying soundtrack in the background, just the sound of pure, unadulterated muscle grinding the pavement. Granted this is filmed in San Francisco but the filmmakers made a nice balance between putting enough vehicles on the streets and freeway to make it real and not overdone like so many other car chases. And back then, without annoying CGI and other lazy techniques, you know these guys were doing it for real.

This will always stand the test of time.

I would agree with geekazoid, car chases today have started to turn into CGI drift-fests, ripe with impossibility. This may make the occasional thrill, but a real one always tops it. That doesn't mean that there are no good car chases nowadays. The one in Bourne Identity was amazing, if only for the sense of desparation it conveyed. Bullitt was astounding in it's day for being a real car chase, with real cars, going real fast. And that is why it will always be the best.

"However, I’ve seen SO MANY car chases in more recent movies that blow this entirely out of the water."

it's sad when today's demographic of 18-24 year old males can't respect history. that car chase still holds today because it is real and not computer generated. i guess that means nothing to guys like you.