Bullitt

   Steve McQueen truly was the "King of Cool."  I mean, just look at him.  The best part about the 1968 movie Bullitt is the 10 minute car chase that features two American classic muscle cars, the '68 Ford Mustang and the '68 Dodge Charger, battling one another through the streets and freeways of San Francisco.  What strikes me as a very unique part about this chase is that once the bad guy stomps on the accelerator to begin the high-speed pursuit, the music stops completely and the sound of the enormous engines is the only thing you can hear for about nine minutes.  The cars sound awesome.  This chase is about the most muscular thing I've seen on screen since Stallone went over the top.  In fact, I even like the Bullitt chase better than the one in The French Connection where Popeye Doyle barrels through New York city streets under elevated tracks, chasing a man on the el train above.  These are commonly considered the two best car chases in cinema history (see the note below). 
  There isn't much else to say about this movie above and beyond the car chase.  The DVD special features include a fantastic mini-documentary about how McQueen insisted on striving for realism in his acting, which had him doing a lot of the actual driving in the famous chase.  Cool stuff.  Plot-wise, the movie is very average, but who cares when the leading man is as cool as Lieutenant Frank Bullitt.


question for my loyal fans: what are some other good car chases?