The Most-Watched Car Chase Scenes from Action Movies

For the thrill-seeking moviegoer, nothing quite matches a car chase. Filmmakers have known this from the industry’s beginnings – there’s a 1903 short in which a wealthy man in a limousine pursues his eloping daughter and her intended – and with the advent of the online services such as YouTube, fans of favorite car-chase scenes can view them as often as they want. (These are the greatest car chases in movies.) 

To compile a list of the most-watched car chases in movies, 24/7 Tempo reviewed a listing in Movie Car Report, published by Confused.com, an insurance comparison company that sometimes analyzes data around various lifestyle and entertainment topics. The list included chases in about 100 scenes from dozens of movies that have at least 10,000 views on YouTube. Our list of the top 20 starts with movies viewed more than 4 million times. 

The list is dominated by three film franchises – “Fast & Furious,” “Mad Max,” and “Mission: Impossible.” Action movies take the viewer on white-knuckle rides in locations such as the Moroccan desert, desolate Australian landscape, and the streets of the world’s greatest cities – Los Angeles, Rio de Janeiro, Rome, London, and Paris to name just a few. (Here are all the “Fast and Furious” movies ranked worst to best.)

Some of the motion pictures don’t keep their fans waiting for thrills, opening the film with a pulse-pounding chase scene. In fact, the movie “Driver” begins with a mostly low-key car chase in Los Angeles before the credits roll.

Viewers become passengers alongside stars such as Tom Cruise, Robert De Niro, Idris Elba, Vin Diesel, and Dwayne Johnson as they weave their way through oncoming traffic, motor through tunnels, avert disaster by trucks and buses blocking intersections, and duck bullets fired from weapons brandished by faceless, black-helmeted assassins.