Car chase This article or section does not cite its references or sources . You can help Wikipedia by introducing appropriate citations . Car chase often describes the pursuit of a criminal by police , and is increasingly captured on film from media and police helicopters . 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 . Real life car chases Los Angeles has especially many car chases that are captured on film , with news helicopters ready to film the incidents . Many are broadcast live . Some news websites have footage of car chases . In 2002 , there were 700 pursuits reported in the city . There was a famous slow speed car chase of O. J. Simpson in 1994 . Police have tactics to use in car chases such as the PIT maneuver , and stopping cars with Spike strips . Princess Diana was killed in 1997 in Paris in a high speed car chase , being followed by French photographers . The 2005 Macquarie Fields riots occurred in Sydney , Australia after a local driver crashed a stolen vehicle into a tree , killing his two passengers following a high-speed police pursuit . The death of university student Clea Rose following a police chase in Canberra sparked major recriminations over police pursuit policies . Ole Christian Bach was found shot and killed in Sweden after he had been followed in a car chase by Swedish undercover police . 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 . In film Although car chases on film were staged as early as the motor vehicle itself , the first modern car chase is generally seen as that in 1968 's Bullitt . The chase in this film was far longer and far faster than what had gone before , and placed cameras so that the audience felt as though they were inside the car . Even during the most calamitous scenes , the star - Steve McQueen - could be clearly seen at the wheel of the vehicle . The French Connection further increased the realism . While previous chases had been filmed on closed roads and isolated highways , The French Connection placed the chase in the midst of busy traffic and pedestrians . Further after this was The Seven-Ups , which featured Bill Hickman as one of the drivers who previously featured in Bullitt , which contained a frantic chase again through New York , and was regarded as having many qualities similar to that of Bullitt . The movie chase that started them all - Bullitt As time went on , so did the expectations of the movie car chase . Since Bullitt , car chases featured in movies have continually become more advanced and therefore more entertaining . Car crashes have also formed an increasingly important role , with the destruction of any vehicle often coming as a delight to the viewer . An early example of a staged but startling accident in a movie chase can be found in the 1974 movie MCQ , which featured an incredible rollover , the first cannon rollover in fact , across a beach . The spectacle came at a cost for the stuntdriver Hal Needham however , who sustained multiple injuries after setting the explosives too high . The spectacular and first ever cannon rollover from MCQ 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 of vehicle ( with or without wheels ) have appeared in one film or another . Probably the most complex type of car chase involves going the wrong way in moderately congested freeway traffic ( e . g . Ronin , To Live and Die in LA ) . 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 , Knight Rider & Airwolf . In more modern times , the use of computer generated imagery is becoming increasingly popular , and , although costly , eliminates any danger level . While impressive at times , it is often argued that it eliminates the realism of the chase scene , which can then in turn damage the established thrill factor . Recent examples of this computer generated imagery can be found in the Michael Bay films Bad Boys 2 and The Island . Notable car chase films All the James Bond films ( 1962 onwards ) It 's a Mad , Mad , Mad , Mad World ( 1963 ) Grand Prix ( 1966 ) Bullitt ( 1968 ) The Italian Job ( 1969 ) Duel ( 1971 ) The French Connection ( 1971 ) Two Lane Blacktop ( 1971 ) Vanishing Point ( 1971 ) Le Casse ( 1971 ) Un Uomo da rispettare ( The Master Touch ) ( 1972 ) What 's Up , Doc ? ( 1972 ) The Seven-ups ( 1973 ) Dirty Mary , Crazy Larry ( 1974 ) Gone in 60 Seconds ( 1974 ) McQ ( 1974 ) The Sugarland Express ( 1974 ) Una Magnum Special per Tony Saitta ( Blazing Magnum ) ( 1976 ) Smokey and the Bandit ( 1977 ) The Driver ( 1978 ) Mad Max ( 1979 ) Smokey and the Bandit II ( 1980 ) The Blues Brothers ( 1980 ) Used Cars ( 1980 ) Mad Max 2 : The Road Warrior ( 1981 ) Smokey and the Bandit Part 3 ( 1983 ) Fletch ( 1985 ) Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome ( 1985 ) To Live and Die In L.A. ( 1985 ) Lethal Weapon 2 ( 1989 ) Speed Zone ! ( 1989 ) Short Time ( 1990 ) Terminator 2 : Judgment Day ( 1991 ) Lethal Weapon 3 ( 1992 ) Joshua Tree ( 1993 ) Striking Distance ( 1993 ) The Chase ( 1994 ) Bad Boys ( 1995 ) Die Hard : With a Vengeance ( 1995 ) Carpool ( 1996 ) The Rock ( 1996 ) Breakdown ( 1997 ) Black Dog ( 1998 ) Blues Brothers 2000 ( 1998 ) Lethal Weapon 4 ( 1998 ) Ronin ( 1998 ) Gone in Sixty Seconds ( 2000 - Remake ) The Fast and the Furious ( 2001 ) The Hire series ( 2001 ) The Bourne Identity ( 2002 ) The Transporter ( 2002 ) 2 Fast 2 Furious ( 2003 ) Bad Boys 2 ( 2003 ) Terminator 3 : Rise of the Machines ( 2003 ) The Italian Job ( 2003 - Remake ) The Matrix Reloaded ( 2003 ) Starsky & Hutch ( 2004 ) The Bourne Supremacy ( 2004 ) The Dukes Of Hazzard ( 2005 ) The Island ( 2005 ) Transporter 2 ( 2005 ) The Fast and the Furious : Tokyo Drift ( 2006 ) Computer and video games Certain racing computer and video games with police cars have car chase ( pursuit ) racing/evasion modes . Notable examples of such games include the following : Certain installments of the Need for Speed series , most notably Need for Speed III : Hot Pursuit ( 1998 ) and Need for Speed : Most Wanted ( 2005 ) . The Grand Theft Auto series ( 1997 to present ) . The Driver series ( 1999 to present ) is described as a direct tribute to car chases , and all but the most recent in the series have featured a `` Film Director '' mode which allows players to take any driving they have just done and create their own car chases by setting up cameras and the like in a post-production style movie suite . Starsky and Hutch is a video game based on the popular classic TV series , and the majority of the game revolves around a car chase of some sort through the various missions on offer . See also Commandeering External links VaRaces - The Movie Car Chase Database CBS2 - Police Chase Video Categories : Articles lacking sources | Film | Crime In other languages : Français | Deutsch 