Growing up watching action movies starring the likes of Jean-Claude Van Damme, Steven Seagal, Chuck Norris and Arnold Schwarzenegger will give you a refined taste for action stunts and car chases. But who has the best stunts? Wonder no more as The Current lists the top five stunts in and out of Hollywood.
1. “District 13” — “The escape chase”
When “District 13” introduced parkour in 2004 not everyone was on board with stylishly running away, but those with an eye for extreme saw this French new wave of free-running as one of the most dangerous action sequences since the likes of Jackie Chan. David Belle, star of the film and an originator of parkour, blows the audience out of the water in the first foot chase. Diving through narrow openings and dodging the baddies with flare, Belle is definitely a crowd pleaser. For a grand finale, he saves the best for last — a massive leap from a rooftop to another that is sure to leave your jaw on the floor.
2. “Man with the Golden Gun” — “The barrel roll”
James bond is no stranger to car chases, and by the ninth film, “over the top” was considered normal. Once called, “the greatest stunt ever ruined by a sound effect,” stunt driver “Bumps” Willard only needed one try to get his AMC Hornet to spin the 270 degrees to effectively originate what Rob Dydrek has recently recreated and dubbed a “Kick flip.”
3. “Raiders of the Lost Ark” — “Boulder dash”
Everything was going right for Indiana Jones. He dodged the spears, avoided the poisonous darts and cleared the bottomless pit. Then he removes the prize at the end of the tunnel, a golden idol, and sets off the last trap, a giant boulder. For the next scene, Harrison Ford awkwardly runs out of the cave and dodges the boulder in a fashion that no one else could ever replicate. Good thing the boulder was actually made of fiberglass.
4. “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” — “The deadly fall”
One of the all-time best western films features a jump that the movie characters Butch and Sundance deemed “would probably kill [them].” Mickey Gilbert and Howard Curtis, stunt doubles for Robert Redford and Paul Newman respectably, jumped 100 feet off a ravine into a river to escape a posse in what can only be described as a leap of faith. The stunt was actually filmed in a studio from a crane, but it was just as high and just as scary.
5. “The fast and the Furious” — “Dominic’s crash”
Of all the high-octane-fueled action and one liners in Rob Cohen’s edgy, street-racing movie, the final race is the best part. Dominic (Vin Diesel) and Brian (Paul Walker) line up for one last drag race, which results in Diesel crashing his car over Walkers’s. This stunt, to any keen-eyed car enthusiast, is full of Hollywood movie “magic” and some technical discontinuity issues. However; there is no denying the awesome feat of a pristine Dodge Charger flipping over a bright orange Toyota Supra.
