Bob's flat-six

Hello Everybody: I'm a Steve McQueen fan from way back. I was trying to come up with an actor since Steve that was into cars and motorcycles like he was and brings it to the screen? I couldn't really come up with one, Can you?
I need to watch a good car chase can you recommend any?
Cheers

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GrantG

Can't think of an actor, but the recently departed director, John Frankenheimer (French Connection) made a film with several killer car chases a year or two ago, "Ronin". Check it out if you haven't already. No Porsche action, but BMW M5 3.8L, Audi S8, MB 6.9L, etc. Beyond the fairly cool cars, the driving is unbelievable! Don't miss it!

Ted Drake

Was'nt James Garner in a movie called Grand Prix in the early 70s or late 60s? I know this guy was into off road racing back then too.

exc911ence

Tim Allen (of Home Improvement fame) is a real car guy. Of course, in the show, he hot-rods stupid stuff and ends up blowing eveything up but in real life (if you can call the life of a famous person "real") he has a stable of pretty interesting cars. I recently read about a Cadillac that he engineered with GM that will be for sale in small numbers. Nothing too radical, but a suspension tweek here and an engine chip there, it turned out to be much improved over the original land yacht. Also, he's buddies with Steve Saleen and races Saleen Mustangs for fun.

As for car chases, grab a VHS copy of 'No Man's Land' with Charlie Sheen. The whole movie is about a Porsche car theft ring and there's a fabulous chase between a silver 911 Turbo and a blue modifed Camaro.

Douglas_T

Yeah Tim Allen is way into racing with Steve Saleen & Mustangs. If your wanting to do the Steve McQueen route, you must get Bullitt. Perhaps some of the best chase footage ever made! I always loved to Watch Jim Garner in the Rockford Files...He did alot of his own driving stunts with that Firebird and was a part or whole owner way back when of his own race team. I saw a documentary on it one time...Very interesting stuff! Of course Jerry Sienfeld is a HUGE Porsche fan...But doesn't do any driving on screen...

Dave Thomas

Yeah, I was thinking about Seinfeld too, but of course he's a pretty boy, nothing like McQueen. Same for Nicholas Cage - he has quite a collection of exotic cars and has done some driving schools, but he's not the man McQueen was.

pig4bill

Leno is not really an actor but has a lot of hotrod type cars. Letterman isn't an actor at all but has a fairly intense Ferrari collection. There really aren't any actors as serious and talented as McQueen or Paul (P.L.) Newman these days. The closest might be Jason Priestly (I think?) who was in a bad crash a few months ago.

Bob's flat-six

Hey Guys:I have run across Leno a couple of times and he's a madman. Once he passed me on the fwy in an old I'm not sure what it was. It had spoke wheels and the body was made out of wood, somekind of open bodied race car. And he was movin like a ticket was no problem.
And the other time he sat next to me at the counter of a hamburger joint that he came to on a jet propelled motorcycle. Talk about a trip, We went out to see him take off to the sound of turbines spinning and the smell of jet fuel.
I guess were in some kind of a comedian car dude era right now??? <img src="graemlins/burnout.gif" border="0" alt="[burnout]" /> <img src="graemlins/burnout.gif" border="0" alt="[burnout]" />

88clbsport

I was just on a test drive and the salesman told me the story how he bought one of Steve's '57 356 speedsters. Just hearing him describe his Ojai Ranch and the garage full of cars(that were all driven btw) got me worked up.

Steve was also a very competitive motorcycle racer. He would often try to sneak into races as an unknown but it was hard for someone like him to hide. I don't think we will ever see a big star that could hold his own with the best in motorsports like Steve McQueen!!

Make sure to get the Ronin DVD and watch the directors commentary version. How they did the car scenes is almost as cool as the actual chases!

Bob's flat-six

I'm looking forward to "No Mans Land and Ronin". Thanks <img src="graemlins/wave.gif" border="0" alt="[byebye]" />

Martin S.

Bullit with Steve McQueen..awesome. Then pop in The Getaway with Steve McQueen and Ali McGraw..not too much car action but lots of gunfire, blood and guts, aqll in good taste, of course.

ked

I recommend Keyser's "A French Kiss w/ Death" to anyone interested in McQueen, LeMans (the movie), LeMans (the race), & Porsches.

Carrera51

The car chases in Ronin and Bullit are probably the two best ever as far as movies go because they were done at speed.

The movie Grand Prix with James Garner has some great racing sequences because they were done at speed as well. Garner did all his own driving. The race at Monza (in the old banking) was filmed by mounting the cameras to a Ford GT-40.