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The Top Ten Coolest Car Stunts

A good race/chase sequence is always welcome, but sometimes one good stunt is all you need. Something beyond the regular screeching around corners, jumping curbs, and high speeds. Something that makes you reconsider what's possible with four wheels, and wish - just for a moment - that your daily driver had a bit more kick so you could try it out.

#10: Hiding in Plain Sight (Who Am I?, 1998)
Who Am I? DVD at Amazon.com
Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IV

Who Am I? was unusual for a Jackie Chan film in that there was quite a bit of automotive action to go with his usual one-on-one approach. Like the human stunts shown throughout the movie, the driving was a mix of comedy and "they make that look easy" action thanks to car stunt coordinator Willem de Beukelaer. During the big chase scene, Suki temporarily escapes the pursuers by spinning her Lancer Evolution around and backing it into a parking space, making it look like the car had been parked there all along. It was a blink-and-you'll-miss-it maneuver, but was likely responsible for dozens of fender benders as people tried to prove how easily they could do it.





#9: Everything Blows Up (Batman, 1989)
1/25 scale 1989 Batmobile
Click here to view this model

The Batmobile

The Batmobile's a bit too large to do any traditional car stunts, but what it loses in maneuverability it makes up for in sheer toughness. So when it's time to close Axis Chemicals permanently, the Batmobile is shown first machine-gunning its way in, then raising its shields, and finally dropping off a few bombs to get the job done. It then rolls out at it's leisure, flames reflecting off the black armor plating in one of the coolest looking shots ever recorded. The best part? Batman didn't even show up for work that day: he just sent the car in to care of things all by itself.





#8: Reverse Spins (Cobra, 1986)
Cobra DVD at Amazon.com
1950 Mercury Monterey Custom

Cobra is fondly remembered by many as the epitome of bad '80s action movies. It was loud, dumb, implausible, and we loved it for all of that. Since no bad action movie would be complete without a car chase, Cobra made sure to deliver by pitting Stallone's nitrous-injected '50 Merc against the army of Psychos. At one point in the chase, Stallone whips the car around and puts it into reverse so that he can fire at the bad guys (their truck blows up, of course). With the baddies dispatched, the Merc is spun another 180° and continues on without losing a single mile per hour.





#7: Drifting with a Hemi (The Dukes of Hazzard, 2005)
1/25 scale General Lee
Click here to view this model

1969 Dodge Charger

Whether you love the movie or hate it, you have to give credit to the producers of The Dukes of Hazzard for knowing enough to hire Tanner Foust as lead stunt driver. Most recently noted as a 2007 X Games Rally Champion and the winner of the 2007 Formula Drift Pro Drift Championship, Foust is no slouch behind the wheel. For DoH, he was given a bright orange monster with a roaring V8 and told to do what he does best. The result is a demonstration that although drifting may have originated in Japan, a classic American muscle car has no problem keeping up.





#6: Rolling Brawl (Raiders of the Lost Ark, 1981)
Raiders of the Lost Ark DVD at Amazon.com
GMC CCKW 353 (Made to look like a Mercedes-Benz LG63/LG3000)

Indiana Jones is awesome. Indiana Jones fighting Nazis is doubly awesome. So what do you get when you have Indiana Jones fighting Nazis on a moving cargo truck for the possession of the Ark of the Covenant and the future of the world? Sure, the hero vs. villain atop a moving vehicle is an old Hollywood staple, but Raiders made the truck more than just a moving set piece. Every component of the truck from the suspension mounts to the grille slats became and integral part of the scene.





#5: Trailer Jump (My Lucky Stars, 1985)
My Lucky Stars DVD at Amazon.com
1984 Mitsubishi Minica

Another staple of any car chase is a conveniently-placed ramp enabling our hero to make a spectacular jump and gain the upper hand. Everything from dirt piles to loading docks have been used, although the most popular makeshift ramp is probably the tilting flatbed truck. My Lucky Stars gets the spot for best "on the road" ramp over movies like Gone in 60 Seconds or Smokey and the Bandit for two reasons. First, the setup was actually somewhat believable: there's no headache rack to ignore, and they simply smashed the trailer lock with the front of the car rather than use expert marksmanship and/or magic to hit the right button/lever. And second, they had the stones to do the stunt in a 3-cylinder Mitsubishi Minica instead of...well, anything else.





#4: Spiral Jump (The Man with the Golden Gun, 1974)
1/25 scale AMC Hornet
Click here to view this model

1974 AMC Hornet X

The best part about the spiral jump in The Man with the Golden Gun was that it was a real stunt performed by an actual 1:1 car. The Hornet X had been modified with a lighter 6-cylinder engine, centered driver, and special suspension and fuel system components to keep the car balanced and running throughout the jump. These modifications plus some careful planning allowed stuntman 'Bumps' Williard to make the jump on the first attempt. And unlike some other stunt cars, the Hornet was still drivable after it landed.





#3: Drive-Thru (The Blues Brothers, 1980)
The Blues Brothers DVD at Amazon.com
1974 Dodge Monaco

The Blues Brothers was full of stunts that could've made this list: the bridge jump, the cut across the median, even racing against the Good Ole Boys. But the most memorable scene had to be the Brothers' drive through the Dixie Square Mall. It's a stunt that has been repeated in everything from Twister to Lethal Weapon 4, but none were as memorable or as cool as the beat up Dodge making a mockery of the Chicago Police Department. "New Oldsmobiles are in early this year!"





#2: A Defect of Some Kind, Most Likely (Goldfinger, 1964)
Goldfinger DVD at Amazon.com
1964 Aston Martin DB5

James Bond's DB5 set a precedent for all of movie car history, not just for 007 himself. Since then, we've come to expect that spy cars may look normal on the outside, but underneath the skin lie the gadgets that every commuter wishes he or she had on a daily basis. The first one to show up in Goldfinger is also a longtime favorite: a tire slasher mounted in the rear axle, perfect for disabling irritating motorists without drawing attention the way machine guns or lasers would. The move was the perfect mix of discretion and ruthlessness, just the way Bond should be.





#1: Gravity-Defying Viper (Wanted, 2008)

Wanted
Dodge Viper SRT-10

Wanted stands out as a no-holds-barred action piece that defies any attempts at civility. The result is some amazing stuntwork both on- and off-road. So although there are several to choose from, the "best stunt" award has to go to the end of the first chase sequence. Confronted with a police roadblock and pursued by an angry gunman in a delivery truck, Angelina Jolie's character Fox slides the Viper into a curb where it flips over the heads of the police and lands wheels-first against the side of a bus, knocking it over. Now right side up and on the opposite side of the roadblock from the gunman, the Viper is free to drive off to the tune of Escape (The Piña Colada Song). It was totally unbelievable and yet perfect at the same time.


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Rick Rothermel (Reply)
One left out of your car stunts Top Rated is the cannon-roll done for the first time in McQ, one of the last movies John Wayne made. The editing and continuity oriblems are countless, and the Duke even used a stuntman to enter and exit the Trans Am hero car, but that first-ever flyin' Impala was a sight to behold.

It was bettered a few years later of course with the double-launch seen in the first 'Hitcher', though the cringe-worthy performance of Rutger Hauer makes me wish the cars had landed on him...

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