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Were there any good car chase flicks previous to Bullitt?

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Prisoner_Number_Six Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Dec-30-07 08:14 PM
Original message
Were there any good car chase flicks previous to Bullitt?
The car chase in Bullitt is generally considered the penultimate chase, and the one all that followed tried to emulate in some way.

There are a LOT of excellent chase scenes POST Steve McQueen, but I know of none BEFORE him. ARE there any? (And I'm not referring to Keystone Cop stuff.)

I'm just curious, and hope that if a great flick unknown to me really exists, someone here will know about it.
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CaliforniaPeggy Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Dec-30-07 08:39 PM
Response to Original message
1. My dear Prisoner_Number_Six...
As far as I know, the famous Bullitt car chase was the first...

And I remember thinking this was going to be a good one, since they all put on their seatbelts!

:woohoo:
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Faygo Kid Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Dec-30-07 08:52 PM
Response to Original message
2. Gotta remember Goldfinger, with the Aston Martin being chased
That was a pretty cool scene. I would have liked to have had one of those ejector seats for bad dates in the '70s.
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speedoo Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Dec-30-07 08:56 PM
Response to Original message
3. The French Connection?
Great car chase scene, in my home town. But I am not sure it preceded Bullitt.
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Prisoner_Number_Six Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Dec-30-07 10:42 PM
Response to Reply #3
4. The French Connection was in '71
Bullit came out in '68

But you're right- it was a GREAT chase. Gene Hackman did all his own driving, too!
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Doc_Technical Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Dec-30-07 10:44 PM
Response to Original message
5. W.C. Fields in "The Bank Dick"

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0032234/
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Lydia Leftcoast Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Dec-30-07 10:47 PM
Response to Reply #5
6. "The resale value of this car is going to be nil"
:7
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Oeditpus Rex Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Dec-30-07 10:58 PM
Response to Original message
7. 'Thunder Road,' maybe?
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0052293/trailers-screenplay-E14465-310



Btw — if the "Bullitt" chase is the penultimate, what's the ultimate? :shrug:
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Lethe Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Dec-30-07 11:03 PM
Response to Reply #7
8. Ronin was pretty good
i'm not a car chase aficionado tho
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Drum Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Dec-31-07 01:06 AM
Response to Reply #8
10. kick for Ronin.
one of my favorites. :D Also agree with the mention of French Connection.

I've never seen Bullitt, but I will now.

Thanks all, for the tip.
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Prisoner_Number_Six Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Dec-30-07 11:58 PM
Response to Reply #7
9. I should have remembered Thunder Road.
I just watched it about a month ago.
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mitchum Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Dec-31-07 09:27 PM
Response to Reply #7
21. That's the one
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texas1928 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Dec-31-07 09:46 AM
Response to Original message
11. Blues Brothers.
Hands Down.

It's 106 miles to Chicago, we got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it's dark, and we're wearing sunglasses.



Hit it.
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CGowen Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Dec-31-07 10:15 AM
Response to Original message
12. According to this book there is "Robbery (1967)" (same Director as Bullitt)
Edited on Mon Dec-31-07 10:59 AM by CGowen
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0062207/

You can read a bit of the first chapter by clicking on the book
http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0760324107/ref=sib_dp_pt/102-0945395-1677736#reader-link



edited to add:


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robbery_(film)

The film is notable for its car chase sequences, and lead to its director, Peter Yates, being hired to direct the Hollywood crime film Bullitt, the following year.

The opening scene shows an aerial shot of a car-lined Hatton Garden. A 'traffic warden' places a time-delay device inside a parked car. A chauffeur appears from a jewellers with his master who is ushered into the car and then wafted away at speed. The car, a Vanden Plas 4 litre is followed at a distance by an ambulance containing two villains dressed as ambulancemen. The car eventually crashes into a skip after its occupants are gased driving along Nothumberland Avenue. The ambulance promptly arrives at the scene taking away the passenger with a briefcase chained to his hand. News of the abduction reaches the police and a car chase breaks out after the villains abandon the ambulance for a Jaguar MK II in a North West London housing estate. The chase begins and after many miles the diamond robbers eventually get away - the diamonds raising a chunk of money for what is later dubbed 'The Crime of the Century'. All of the exterior locations for Robbery were filmed in and around Central London and include great period shots of Marble Arch, Trafalgar Square, Little Venice & Kensal Green.
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MrScorpio Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Dec-31-07 10:36 AM
Response to Original message
13. Peter Yates vs. John Frankenheimer
Chase scenes abound
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Bombero1956 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Dec-31-07 12:07 PM
Response to Original message
14. another great chase
The Seven-Ups with Roy Scheider produced and directed by Philip D'Antoni who also did Bullitt. The chase takes place in NYC and ends with Scheider's car rear ending a tractor trailer.
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SteppingRazor Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Dec-31-07 12:13 PM
Response to Original message
15. Grammar nazis, unite!
"Penultimate" does not mean "super duper ultimate." :grr:

Sorry. I've got a huge pet peeve about that one.

Anyway, as for your question, I can't think of any that are now considered "greats" (Ronin, Blues Brothers, every Bourne movie, French Connection all spring immediately to mind) that came before Bullitt.
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Rabrrrrrr Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Dec-31-07 12:28 PM
Response to Reply #15
17. Good catch! I didn't even notice it - hilarious!
If Bullitt was the penultimate car chase, then what were the following 4,000 car chases?

:rofl:
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Prisoner_Number_Six Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Dec-31-07 08:15 PM
Response to Reply #15
19. Mea culpa
That's what's known in the trade as a "brain fart". :evilgrin:
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Rabrrrrrr Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Dec-31-07 12:13 PM
Response to Original message
16. Sorry, Wrong Number.
Oh, wait, that had a phone. Not a car chase. Nevermind.
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NightWatcher Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Dec-31-07 12:32 PM
Response to Original message
18. not a "car chase" but a good chase nonetheless. Ten Commandments
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ThoughtCriminal Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Dec-31-07 10:52 PM
Response to Reply #18
24. Actually, I think that is "Ben-Hur"
There was going to be a chase scene in the Ten Commandments, but Pharaoh's Army drowned.
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WinkyDink Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Dec-31-07 08:20 PM
Response to Original message
20. After, but I'm saying it anyway: "To Live and Die in L.A."
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Prisoner_Number_Six Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Dec-31-07 09:48 PM
Response to Reply #20
23. It set a new standard.
It's flawed, though- take a look at the direction the traffic flows. It's backwards.
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ThoughtCriminal Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Dec-31-07 09:41 PM
Response to Original message
22. It started with the Keystone Cops
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keystone_Kops
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