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2026 Chevrolet Tahoe ReviewSix Overlooked Car Chases from the ’70s
A look at some of the most exciting and inventive car chases from 1970s cinema.
We Start with a Disclaimer
Before you head to the comments section, keep this in mind: we’re not going to mention some of the most famous chases here — no Vanishing Point highway run, epic races from Two-Lane Blacktop, or Bandit in his gold-and-black Firebird. That’s because we’ve covered those cars and chases several times already (you can check out the linked and related content below). Instead, we’re going deeper, highlighting 1970s car chases that either flew under the radar, or we haven’t discussed yet — all packed with clever driving, inventive stunts, and classic cars!
The Seven-Ups (1973)
This chase, filmed in New York City, is gritty and relentless. Two Pontiacs weave through traffic, jump curbs, and dodge pedestrians with great, realistic cinematography. The drivers encounter everything you’d expect in New York – moving trucks, taxi cabs, teenagers playing in the street, and the NYPD. Tires are squealing, and horns are honking throughout this 10-minute scene.
Bill Hickman, the stunt coordinator behind Bullitt, was also in charge of this chase. Every close call makes a big impact thanks to the mix of carefully-plotted sequences and quick editing. It leaves viewers with a raw, realistic chase that still stands out decades after the movie was released.
Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry (1974)
Ok, here’s the setup: Larry, Deke, and Mary Brown tear through California backroads in a blue ’66 Chevy Impala and a yellow ’69 Dodge Charger. What starts as a quick getaway turns into a tense, unpredictable chase. The stunts pile up fast with quick U-turns, side-by-side showdowns, and a jump over a canal on a rising drawbridge!
The writers also managed to get a train, a helicopter, and a pair of semis involved, too. As the story and chase progress through a series of small towns, the action feels intense and immediate – even if you’re rewatching it (or seeing it for the first time) in 2025.
Thunderbolt and Lightfoot (1974)
The main characters, a couple of scoundrels, swap out a series of cars, including a 1973 Pontiac Trans Am, a 1973 Plymouth Fury, and a 1973 Cadillac Eldorado. But the two cars we’re focusing on today are a striking Autumn gold 1973 Buick Riviera and a 1951 Mercury Sport coupe. During this chase, they end up doing a little off-roading. Well, until the Mercury is outmatched and literally left in a cloud of dust.
Filmed in scenic areas of Montana, this chase has a completely different vibe than the others mentioned so far. It’s not filled with close calls, there’s no edge-of-your-seat moments, and it doesn’t last for more than a couple of minutes. But the action is still impressive, despite being more comedy, and there are plenty of other action-packed scenes in this movie featuring classic ’70s cars.
Fear Is the Key (1972)
Barry Newman — who fans know as Kowalski from Vanishing Point — is a convicted felon on the run, and for a solid 13 minutes, he turns his escape into a spectacle. Behind the wheel of a red 1972 Ford Gran Torino, he kicks up clouds of dust, barrels through debris, and races over a partially built stretch of interstate. He eventually soars through the air, landing on a car-carrying ferry. But the chase doesn’t end there.
On the other side of the river, it picks up again with a new set of police on his tail. The Torino shows off its ruggedness, going over grassy riverbanks, along a sloped retaining wall like a NASCAR race, and straight through a nearby beach. Oh yeah — it even tears onto an unfinished railroad track along the way. Basically, the Torino turns every kind of surface into a high-speed playground.
White Lightning (1973)
Before he was the Bandit, Burt Reynolds made a brown 1971 Ford Custom 500 look fast and fun to drive in White Lightning. Backroads and small-town streets are the perfect setting for fun visuals, dirt and dust flying up all over. The through-the-windshield point of view puts you in the driver’s seat, literally.
The Ford Custom was the main car in the movie, but it was actually a 1973 Pontiac LeMans that was used for the chases. Reynolds turns that car on a dime more than once, fluidly maneuvering around anything in his way. The chases may be the highlight, but other moments steal the spotlight too — like a cop car soaring over a drop-off into a lake and the scenes at the county fair, showing off some 70s dirt track racing.
The Driver (1978)
In this thriller, an unnamed getaway driver helps the bad guys escape, tearing through the streets of Los Angeles in a series of late-night, high-speed chases. Flashing police strobes light up the night. The driver, as he’s known in the movie, hops curbs, takes sharp corners, races down hills, dodges cars, scoots through alleyways. Shaky camerawork, close-ups, and wide angles give viewers a front-row seat for all of it.
As other cars flip over, collide, and drop off one by one, the driver weaves through the chaos almost effortlessly. Whether he’s in the 1970 Mercedes-Benz 280 S, a 1974 Ford Galaxie 500, or a 1973 Chevrolet C-10 pickup, the driver is calm and confident. With little-to-no dialogue in most of these action scenes, the skillful driving really is the star here. It may even have the best scenes of all the movies listed here.
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