Sunday, April 16, 2023

The Very Essence of Cool

 


17 comments:

  1. My wife watched "Bullitt" for the first time with me and I told her that what makes the chase scene in the movie the best ever, was the dialogue. She didn't get the joke when it was over.
    Steve McQueen has at least 3 of the top ten chase scenes for movies:
    Bullitt
    The Hunter
    Nevada Smith
    Great Escape

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  2. Nevada Smith is a great movie. Particularly satisfying is when Martin Landau lets out the agonizing moan as he gets knifed to death.

    Also great in the movie was Brian Keith. That had to have been the best performance of his career. It was like he was made for the part, or vice-versa.

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  3. Best chase scene ever is the original "Gone in 60 Seconds" not the Nicky Gage travesty. 45 minutes of non-stop Car-nage. Also some dialog in the chase scene would have been better than all the over dubbed gear changes. And the worlds fastest green 1300cc VW Bug.

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  4. Watching it now on TCM. Started 15 min ago.

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  5. Did they put aluminium foil on the headliner to fill light his face?
    I love Bullitt, Vanishing Point and The Gumball Rally (have the last two on DVD) but can't be bothered to watch any of the Fast & Furious crapola. Added bonus, Jacqueline Bisset plays the girlfriend in Bullitt, driving an arse-engined Nazi sled (Porsche 356C convertible).
    Al_in_Ottawa

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  6. Some car chase scenes-
    "To Live and Die in LA"
    "The Transporter"
    "John Wick"
    "Baby Driver"
    https://youtu.be/6XMuUVw7TOM?t=140

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    1. "To Live and Die in LA" is a terrific film by any measure.

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    2. To Live and Die in LA is certainly a classic, from start to finish. Who else here remembers The Seven-Ups with Roy Scheider? The chase scenes in Ronin were pretty intense, but nobody thinks that lout de Niro could really drive like that, whereas Steve McQueen could really do it. All of the truly great chase scenes that came after Bullitt drove on the roads paved for them by Steve McQueen.

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    3. "The Seven-Ups" is a fun film. And even if Scheider wasn't behind the wheel in all of those scenes, he made you think he was.
      De Niro couldn't even do that.

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  7. Just watched this today ! Yes, I think the tinfoil is to reflect the light to his face, they did the same thing with Bill Hickman in the Charger.

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  8. He's holding a coffee cup, but there's no cup holder.

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  9. They don't come much cooler than McQueen. Total he-man.

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  10. Matthew W mostly agree but one can't forget Barry Newnan in Vanishing Point

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  11. There is of course the classic car-chasing an elevated train scene in The French Connection. But the all-time classic car chase scenes have to be from The Blues Brothers (even though it was a comedy).

    --Rusty

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    1. I was thinking that myself. The Blues Brothers certainly holds the record for most cop cars smashed.

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  12. Blues Brothers 2000 upped the smashed cop car count to the absurd level. Mostly for the sake of absurdity.

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