Best realistic cop-criminal chases and shootouts?
March 4, 2010 9:24 PM Subscribe
What are some of the best "realistic" cop-and-criminal chases and shootouts in cinema?
The heist and escape scene from Heat is a good example of what I'm looking for. Realistic in that there's no bullet time, no firing shotguns one-handed, and there are realistic consequences to shooting, running, etc. There's just too much information to mine out there, and too many decades of movies to sift through for hidden wonders. Noir, Hong Kong, exploitation, gangster, cop-and-robber, any genre, any period. Doesn't really have to be cops and criminals exactly, but you get the drift.
The heist and escape scene from Heat is a good example of what I'm looking for. Realistic in that there's no bullet time, no firing shotguns one-handed, and there are realistic consequences to shooting, running, etc. There's just too much information to mine out there, and too many decades of movies to sift through for hidden wonders. Noir, Hong Kong, exploitation, gangster, cop-and-robber, any genre, any period. Doesn't really have to be cops and criminals exactly, but you get the drift.
The car chase scene in Bullitt was exciting when it came out, but by today's movie standards, it's almost dull.
posted by puritycontrol at 10:03 PM on March 4, 2010
posted by puritycontrol at 10:03 PM on March 4, 2010
I hate unrealistic gunplay, swordplay, fist-fighting, etc. Movies that standout in my memory with thrilling yet thoroughly realistic depictions of fighting:
- The Hunted - knife and hand-to-hand
- The Way of the Gun - guns, guns, guns and more guns
- Zatoichi (the K) - samurai sword-fighting
- Proof of Life - in/out guerilla warfare
posted by randomstriker at 10:12 PM on March 4, 2010
- The Hunted - knife and hand-to-hand
- The Way of the Gun - guns, guns, guns and more guns
- Zatoichi (the K) - samurai sword-fighting
- Proof of Life - in/out guerilla warfare
posted by randomstriker at 10:12 PM on March 4, 2010
From the imdb trivia page for The French Connection...
"The principal car chase scene was widely considered to be the best ever put on film at the time, overtaking Bullitt (1968) for that honor. William Friedkin later attempted to outdo himself with a chase sequence in To Live and Die in L.A. (1985)."
Considering what puritycontrol says about Bullitt, I don't know if the chase still holds up.
posted by cali59 at 10:12 PM on March 4, 2010 [1 favorite]
"The principal car chase scene was widely considered to be the best ever put on film at the time, overtaking Bullitt (1968) for that honor. William Friedkin later attempted to outdo himself with a chase sequence in To Live and Die in L.A. (1985)."
Considering what puritycontrol says about Bullitt, I don't know if the chase still holds up.
posted by cali59 at 10:12 PM on March 4, 2010 [1 favorite]
I believe the chase scene in The French Connection is often cited in this regard, though it does indulge in the ol' lady-with-a-baby-carriage cliche.
I love this bit: The car crash during the chase sequence, at the intersection of Stillwell Ave. and 86th St., was unplanned and was included because of its realism. The man whose car was hit had just left his house a few blocks from the intersection to go to work and was unaware that a car chase was being filmed. The producers later paid the bill for the repairs to his car.
posted by zoinks at 10:22 PM on March 4, 2010 [2 favorites]
I love this bit: The car crash during the chase sequence, at the intersection of Stillwell Ave. and 86th St., was unplanned and was included because of its realism. The man whose car was hit had just left his house a few blocks from the intersection to go to work and was unaware that a car chase was being filmed. The producers later paid the bill for the repairs to his car.
posted by zoinks at 10:22 PM on March 4, 2010 [2 favorites]
Following up on cali59's comment:
I forgot about To Live and Die in LA -- again, another realistic chase scene that doesn't quite stand the test of time, excitement-wise (you can watch it here). The fatal flaw, in my opinion, comes when they enter the freeway and Friedkin filmed it so that the direction of traffic on screen was the opposite of what it is in real life in America. Very distracting and it took me out of the movie. Friedkin discusses the reason for this in the director's commentary on the DVD, but I don't remember what it was.
posted by puritycontrol at 10:27 PM on March 4, 2010
I forgot about To Live and Die in LA -- again, another realistic chase scene that doesn't quite stand the test of time, excitement-wise (you can watch it here). The fatal flaw, in my opinion, comes when they enter the freeway and Friedkin filmed it so that the direction of traffic on screen was the opposite of what it is in real life in America. Very distracting and it took me out of the movie. Friedkin discusses the reason for this in the director's commentary on the DVD, but I don't remember what it was.
posted by puritycontrol at 10:27 PM on March 4, 2010
The climax of the movie version of Miami Vice is also very realistic. All of the actors received tactical training (as they did in Heat) and not to sound like a broken record in his director's commentary, Mann discusses how the characters follow police/miltary/etc. procedure as far as engaging the enemy in combat. I don't believe there is any music during the scene, much like the scene in Heat mentioned in the question above.
posted by puritycontrol at 10:33 PM on March 4, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by puritycontrol at 10:33 PM on March 4, 2010 [1 favorite]
There's an extremely tense car chase in Ringo Lam's Full Alert (Hong Kong, 1997). Hey, it's on YouTube!
Ronin (1998) has a number of car chases and shootouts.
posted by russilwvong at 10:40 PM on March 4, 2010
Ronin (1998) has a number of car chases and shootouts.
posted by russilwvong at 10:40 PM on March 4, 2010
Check out the opening scene in Narc. It's the cops perspective as he runs after a criminal. It's very tiring to watch.
posted by Gorgik at 10:52 PM on March 4, 2010
posted by Gorgik at 10:52 PM on March 4, 2010
Enemy at the Gates isn't exactly cops-material but man, that one gets pulled out a lot in discussions of shootouts, and it always makes everybody pause to agree :-)
posted by circular at 11:21 PM on March 4, 2010
posted by circular at 11:21 PM on March 4, 2010
Also a friend of a friend is a Thai NARC. Bear with me here, but there was an '80s or '90s film set in the modern day, with a bar-room shootout that he said was about as spot on as any he had ever been in. Maybe somebody here will know which one it was. I just thought it was an impressive recommendation...
posted by circular at 11:24 PM on March 4, 2010
posted by circular at 11:24 PM on March 4, 2010
I came in here to mention Way of the Gun, and I see I've been beaten to it. I can't tell you what's realistic or not, as I've never been in a gunfight before. But the first few scenes *feel* much more real than ones I've seen in other movies, while still being amazingly awesome.
posted by kingjoeshmoe at 1:17 AM on March 5, 2010
posted by kingjoeshmoe at 1:17 AM on March 5, 2010
It so happens that I was looking for similar information the other day and found this MeFi thread which is.. chase scene, chase scene, chase scene, chase scene. Most of them are car chases, though if you want to see a real one of those you should probably watch cable news..
posted by citron at 2:06 AM on March 5, 2010
posted by citron at 2:06 AM on March 5, 2010
I'm pretty sure the gunfight / chase scene in Heat is based on a real bank robbery and the post-robbery gun battle that played out in the streets of Los Angeles sometime in the early 90's. The perps had gotten hyped up on some such drugs, were in full body armor, and were using fully automatic military-grade machine guns, and the LAPD was completely unprepared for an assault of that nature (but of course responded heroically).
posted by allkindsoftime at 4:54 AM on March 5, 2010
posted by allkindsoftime at 4:54 AM on March 5, 2010
I came here to mention Open Range. The climax is realistic in that almost every shot misses, and there's lots of reloading and running out of ammo. Still an awesome sequence, nonetheless.
posted by reverend cuttle at 6:12 AM on March 5, 2010
posted by reverend cuttle at 6:12 AM on March 5, 2010
One of my favorite realistic chase scenes was between some Mujahedeen freedom fighters and a Russian tank at the end of The Beast (of war)
http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0094716/plotsummary
great war movie, and no americans! well, actors,yes. Great movie for many reasons, but that chase had me breathless
posted by Redhush at 7:12 AM on March 5, 2010
http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0094716/plotsummary
great war movie, and no americans! well, actors,yes. Great movie for many reasons, but that chase had me breathless
posted by Redhush at 7:12 AM on March 5, 2010
I'm pretty sure the gunfight / chase scene in Heat is based on a real bank robbery and the post-robbery gun battle that played out in the streets of Los Angeles sometime in the early 90's. The perps had gotten hyped up on some such drugs, were in full body armor, and were using fully automatic military-grade machine guns, and the LAPD was completely unprepared for an assault of that nature (but of course responded heroically).
You're probably thinking of the North Hollywood Shootout, which occurred a couple of years after the release of Heat.
posted by puritycontrol at 8:14 AM on March 5, 2010
You're probably thinking of the North Hollywood Shootout, which occurred a couple of years after the release of Heat.
posted by puritycontrol at 8:14 AM on March 5, 2010
Response by poster: Thanks to all of you, I'm marking these down! I'll put this down as resolved.
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 11:05 AM on March 5, 2010
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 11:05 AM on March 5, 2010
People have already mentioned Way of the Gun, but I'll reiterate, they had consultants to make the gun fighting as realistic as possible, but it's also famous for the "slow car chase" which is fantastic.
posted by haveanicesummer at 11:46 AM on March 5, 2010
posted by haveanicesummer at 11:46 AM on March 5, 2010
The DeNiro Pacino film HEAT has a very realistic shoot out scene as a bank job falls apart. Funnily enough if you watch District 9 the soldiers/cops that are doing house clearances and so on are the real deal, not actors.
Also see if you can dig up a film called 'the odd angry shot' based on the experiences of the Australian SAS in Vietnam. It's a real war film (i.e. they sit around bored out of their faces, Drinking, wanking and trying to wind up the Americans).
Hope that helps
posted by fingerbang at 12:52 PM on March 5, 2010
Also see if you can dig up a film called 'the odd angry shot' based on the experiences of the Australian SAS in Vietnam. It's a real war film (i.e. they sit around bored out of their faces, Drinking, wanking and trying to wind up the Americans).
Hope that helps
posted by fingerbang at 12:52 PM on March 5, 2010
Surprised nobody mentioned "The Hurt Locker."
In the commentary, Boal and Bigelow go out of their way in parts to discuss the tactical nature of certain scenes and the changing dynamic of firefights -- the main example being the long-distance sniper duel at the midpoint of the movie. They stressed things like the contractors laying down completely blind cover fire in a direction because they have no idea of the exact nature of the shooter.
posted by the NATURAL at 2:13 PM on March 5, 2010
In the commentary, Boal and Bigelow go out of their way in parts to discuss the tactical nature of certain scenes and the changing dynamic of firefights -- the main example being the long-distance sniper duel at the midpoint of the movie. They stressed things like the contractors laying down completely blind cover fire in a direction because they have no idea of the exact nature of the shooter.
posted by the NATURAL at 2:13 PM on March 5, 2010
The Hurt Locker is actually catching a lot flak from military circles for glaring inaccuracies and excessive artistic license.
posted by randomstriker at 4:26 PM on March 5, 2010
posted by randomstriker at 4:26 PM on March 5, 2010
Ronin has the most amazing car chase scenes ever. You can learn a lot about how they were made by watching it with director's commentary. This movie is the complete opposite of CGI car chases a la Fast and the Furious.
posted by Monte_Cristo at 11:51 PM on March 5, 2010
posted by Monte_Cristo at 11:51 PM on March 5, 2010
Yes, was just talking to an Army friend (civilian, but works with soldiers a lot) and he said there were lots of issues with Hurt Locker.. especially plot devices used to put the lead character in certain situations, that would never happen in the military for real.
posted by citron at 7:28 PM on March 6, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by citron at 7:28 PM on March 6, 2010 [1 favorite]
The director of Way of the Gun mentioned in the commentary that his brother is a Navy Seal and that he helped out with the gun play. Specifically, I remember one point of having the Del Toro character place the side of pistol against the neck of the body guard (instead of just pressing it directly to back of his head/neck) during the hostage taking scene.
posted by sideshow at 5:22 PM on March 18, 2010
posted by sideshow at 5:22 PM on March 18, 2010
This thread is closed to new comments.
Open Range has an excellent Western shootout climax.
The Hidden has several shootouts that I don't think are too over the top. (
posted by zardoz at 9:41 PM on March 4, 2010