Ben Hur Chariot Race
This is the king daddy of all stunt scenes. I am still amazed that nobody died making this with all the horses flying around like crazy.
Raiders of the Lost Ark Truck Chase
This scene is all kinds of amazing, but nothing really tops the stuntman being dragged beneath the truck.
Smokey and the Bandit Bridge Jump
Back in the late 70s and early 80s our popular culture had an obsession with cars jumping stuff, which perfectly coincided with my childhood. I reenacted this scene many times with my Matchbox cars and some plywood in the driveway.
The French Connection Car Chase
Only the chase scene in Bullitt rivals this one, but there is something about the elevated train supports whizzing by that gives it that extra feeling of danger. I've heard that some of this footage was shot on streets that were not blocked off, and that some of the pedestrians were real people. Both shocking and amazing.
Compilation of Hong Kong Action Stunts
Ok, this is cheating a bit, but this video is pretty freakin' amazing. It doesn't take a lot of money to make an action movie worth watching, just people willing to do some insane stuff. This video is so crazy I think I felt pain while watching it. Most of the stunts come from Jackie Chan movies, which usually overcome their deficiencies with some inspiring feats of physical recklessness.
2 comments:
In high school Latin class my teacher pointed out what she said was the death of a stuntman in the Ben Hur chariot race scene. It looked like she was right, but Snopes says that the story is not true.
Jackie Chan pointed to Buster Keaton as an inspiration. Watch Buster's silent films. He was a fearless motherfucker. The house frame falling on him was a one-take deal. Two inches to the right or left would have killed him. The crew actually averted their eyes during the shot.
He broke almost every bone in his body in his pursuit of some of the most smooth and graceful comedy ever captured on film.
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