About This Quiz
Movies like "Smokey and the Bandit," "Bullitt" and the "Fast and the Furious" series are remembered for their awesome auto action, with cars soaring high above roads, bridges and anything else in the way of our favorite movie heroes. Yet even if you have these unforgettable jump scenes committed to memory, there's one detail you may have overlooked in the midst of all that excitement -- exactly what type of cars were they, anyway?Â
Car chase scenes ramp up the action on the big screen, so it's no surprise that these sequences are what people remember about films long after they've left the theater. Yet while plenty of movies feature car chases, with spectacular stunt driving and unbelievable speeds, drifting and skids, there's nothing like big air to really get viewer's hearts pumping.Â
Despite the fact that many of these great scenes are etched in our brains -- think Thelma and Louise launching over that canyon, or that infamous skyscraper scene in "Fast 7" -- many viewers are so focused on whether or not the heroes will land the car safely back on four wheels that they forget to pay attention to the make and model of the actual vehicles on the screen.
Think you can name identify the vehicles from your favorite movie car jump scenes? Prove it with this quiz!
Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon left their troubles behind and hit the road in the 1991 classic "Thelma and Louise." Though viewers never learned their ultimate fate, one thing is for sure -- that convertible Louise steers over the canyon in the final scenes is a 1966 Ford Thunderbird.
The 1968 film "Bullitt" is still celebrated for its raucous car chase scenes more half a century after it first hit theaters. While there's no huge jump scene, star Steve McQueen gets plenty of air time as he pilots his 1968 Ford Mustang over the hilly streets of San Francisco.
The 1971 film "White Lightning" starred Burt Reynolds, so you know there has to be at one insane car jump scene. In the movie, Reynolds play a moonshiner who drives his 1971 Ford Custom 500 straight off a riverbank and onto a boat in order to evade the cops.
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The 1974 version of "Gone in 60 Seconds" is famous for its extended car chase scene, which showcased the destruction of more than 100 vehicles. The highlight was an impressive jump scene, in which the sporty yellow 1971 Ford Mustang named Eleanor flies 30 feet into the air, lands on her nose, then manages to keep on driving.
The 1974 James Bond flick "The Man with the Golden Gun" features a car jump mic drop moment. Roger Moore as Bond, accompanied by the comical Sheriff Pepper, perform a 360-degree corkscrew jump over a broken bridge in a 1974 AMC Hornet -- and nail the landing.
In the 1977 action flick "Smokey and the Bandit," Burt Reynolds puts the pedal to the medal in his 1977 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am with Sally Field in the passenger seat. When he leaps off a broken bridge to escape the law, the cop cars behind him end up in the water.
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Burt Reynolds plays an aging stuntman in the 1978 movie "Hooper," but for once, he wasn't in the driver's seat during the iconic jump scene. Instead, he is the passenger in a cherry red 1978 Pontiac Trans Am as a younger stuntman named Ski relies on rocket power to jump the car an impossible distance.
Based on the 1975 country music classic, the '78 flick "Convoy" stars Kris Kristofferson as a trucker who accidentally forces a sheriff off the road. That sheriff, played by Ernest Borgnine, ends up flying through a billboard then into the roof of a barn in his 1973 AMC Matador.
The 1979 film "Mad Max" showcases a young Mel Gibson in one of his earliest starring roles. While trying to keep up with Gibson's character, the Australian highway patrol goes flying into the air and crashing through a caravan in their yellow 1973 Ford Falcon.
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John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd play a pair of brothers in the 1980 classic "Blues Brothers." In one memorable scene, the pair drive over the raised 95th Street Bridge in Chicago in their 1974 Dodge Monaco, landing safely on the other side.
When actor Gerrit Graham rides a tow truck ramp over a slow-moving train in the 1980 flick "Used Cars," he does so in a deep blue 1974 Mercury Montego. While he lands safely on the other side of the tracks, his dog hides in the backseat with his paws covering his eyes.
The 1980 classic "Smokey and the Bandit II" set a record for one of the longest movie car jumps of all time to that point. Stunt driver Buddy Hooper compressed his vertebrae to get the shot -- soaring 163 feet in a 1974 Dodge Monaco.
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Cameron's father's 1961 Ferrari 250 GT Spyder was a star in its own right in "Ferris Bueller's Day Off." The car went airborne after Ferris, Cameron and Sloane left it with some valets at a parking garage -- who promptly took it on a joy ride.
The 1989 movie "Speed Zone!" was essentially a third flick in the Cannonball Run series, showing a wacky cross-country race. That blue car that jumped across the start line early in the film is a 1976 Jaguar XJS.
It's hard to think of a more unlikely pair than Clint Eastwood and Charlie Sheen, but the pair were a natural fit in the 1990 film "The Rookie." With Sheen in the passenger seat, Eastwood steered a Mercedes-Benz 500 SL out of a fourth-floor window, eventually falling through a skylight below.
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The third film in the "Die Hard" series featured many of the same thrills as its predecessors. In the 1995 film "Die Hard with a Vengeance," viewers get to watch a Mercedes-Benx 560 SEL make a spectacular bridge jump -- not to mention some thrilling air time with some taxis in Central Park.
The 1998 film "Lethal Weapon 4" finds stars Mel Gibson and Danny Glover steering a 1999 Pontiac Grand Am at top speeds down a busy freeway -- only to launch the car off the road and straight into a busy office building.
The 1998 Luc Besson flick "Taxi" featured some impressive car action. After an extended chase through the streets, a Mercedes-Benz 500 E makes an insane leap off of an unfinished freeway, only to end up trapped high above the ground on another unfinished section of road.
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The 2000 film "Gone in 60 Seconds" was a remake of a 1974 film renowned for its car chase scenes. The 2000 version featured Nicolas Cage behind the wheel of a 1967 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 as he soared across the Vincent Thomas Bridge.
In the action-packed 2003 flick "2 Fast 2 Furious," Paul Walker steers a blue 1969 Chevy Camaro off a pier and flies over the water, coming to rest on what was once a nice yacht. Both the car and the boat are left a lot worse for the wear after the crash.
In the 2005 "Dukes of Hazzard" film, Bo and Luke take the General Lee -- a 1969 Dodge Charger -- up a concrete ramp and onto a freeway. The end of the film features a blooper reel showing what some of the cars in the movie really looked like after all those crazy stunts.
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In "Batman Begins," Christian Bale steers the Wayne Industries Tumbler up and over a police car in an extended chase scene. The futuristic vehicle eventually soars from one rooftop to the next to avoid the long arm of the law.
Jason Statham tries to race a train in "Transporter 3." When he can't outrun the diesel, he decides to instead launch his black Audi A8 off an overpass, landing nearly on top of the train, then fighting his way into the car via a window.
One of the most talked-about car scenes in the 2008 film "Wanted" features an assassin who can't reach his target thanks to bullet-proof windows. Instead, he flips his Ford Mustang into the air -- using a Corvette as a ramp -- and flips the vehicle over the limo, shooting his target through the sunroof.
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Vin Diesel uses a 1966 Ford GT40 to rescue buddy Paul Walker from a train in "Fast Five." Once reunited, the pair steer the classic car over a cliff and fall into the water below.
It might not be the first film that comes to mind when you pictures cars getting airtime, but "Ace Ventura 2: When Nature Calls," actually features some serious jump scenes. As he pilots his Land Rover 88 Series IIA through the jungle, the vehicle flies over the uneven terrain -- to the tune of "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang."
The Lykan Hypersport has a price tag of $3.4 million, and as of 2018, has had a total production run of seven. In the 2015 film "Furious 7," Dom pilots the priceless vehicles through the sky, leaping between three different skyscrapers.
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The Fast and the Furious series has featured some seriously impressive car chases, crashes and jumps, but one scene from "Furious 6" just might top them all. It features Dom steering his 1969 Dodge Charger Daytona off a bridge so he can fling himself through the air like Superman and save Letty, who has just been flung from a tank.
Yup, that's a classic Ford Shelby Mustang soaring over four lanes of heavy traffic in the 2014 thriller "Need for Speed."
In the 2002 action flick "Triple X," Vin Diesel steals a shiny red 1967 Pontiac GTO. Trailed by a long line of police cars, he drives the car off an impossibly high bridge, then bails, using a parachute to land safely as the car is totally destroyed.
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The 2014 animated film "Big Hero 6" features a pretty impressive car chase scene. GoGo takes the wheel of Wasabi's Suzuki Every van, piloting it through the streets of San Fransokyo and making some daring jumps along the way.
If you've seen the 2011 film "In Time," you may have noticed that it includes one of the worst car jump scenes ever seen on film. When a Jaguar E-Type rolls across a spike strip, it soars off the road and rolls into an embankment. Seen in slow motion, it's clear the effect was achieved using a lookalike toy car.
"Terminator 2: Judgement Day" has a big chase scene that manages not to include a single car. Instead, it features Arnold on the back of a Harley racing to save John Connor as a huge tanker truck barrels along behind him.
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OK, so it's not exactly a car, but that doesn't make the jump scene in "Speed" any less impressive. Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock launch a city bus over an unfinished section of L.A. freeway in the 2004 film.
In the 2007 action flick "Live Free or Die Hard," Bruce Willis is back as John McClane. To take down a helicopter, McClane steers a 2000 Ford Crown Victoria police car straight into a toll booth, where it ricochets off and crashes into the chopper, resulting in a fiery explosion.
The 2007 film "Death Proof" features one of the most gruesome car jump scenes ever caught on film. Kurt Russell's character steers his Chevy Nova straight into the nose of a 1970 Dodge Charger, sending it airborne and severely injuring the Charger's occupants.
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Fans of the '80s series "Knight RIder" might remember KITT as a Pontiac Trans Am. In the 2008 TV movie, KITT was represented by a Ford Shelby Mustang GT500, which flipped, spun and soared throughout the flick.
The 1989 comedy "Speed Zone!" included one of the most ridiculous car jump scenes ever captured on film -- and that's saying something. In this comedy, a red Lamborghini Countach skips like a flat pebble all the way across a lake. It was so memorable that "Mythbusters" tested out the concept in 2009. Needless to say, the stunt wouldn't have gone quite as well in the real world.
The opening scenes of "John Wick: Chapter 2" show Keanu Reeves stealing his own beloved 1969 Ford Mustang out of a chop shop. As the thieves launch a pursuit, all vehicles involved in the chase end up with plenty of damage -- and plenty of airtime.
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Steve McQueen gets all the credit for the impressive driving in the 1968 classic "Bullitt," but his Ford Mustang isn't the only one flying through the streets of San Francisco. The other car in the scene is a 1968 Dodge Charger R/T, and it gets about as much impressive airtime as McQueen's.