Bet you didn’t know you could hold your breath for more than 7 minutes. Yet that’s what millions of movie watchers did in 1998 as they watched the Peugeot chase the BMW in Ronin.
As one reviewer reported to imdb.com, “This thriller from veteran John Frankenheimer is pure excellence, the script, acting and action are top draw. De Niro and Reno are brilliant in this as of course you would expect from two such excellent actors.
“The action scenes are pulse pounding and particularly excellent are the car chases, probably the best ever. Not only did the stunt guys risk their lives but the guys shooting the action captured some truly thrilling close up view from the cars as they speed along.
“The action also carries a certain degree of realism to it, the shootouts are sensible and the car chases and crashes seem very genuine no massive corkscrewing threw the air like most car chases or cars jumping 100 feet in the air like in Gone in 60 Seconds, which is all very good but not for this sort of thriller.”
Remember, Frankenheimer was responsible for Grand Prix, one of the best motorsports movies ever, and recruited the likes of F1 driver Jean-Pierre Jarier to drive in the Ronin chase scenes.
By the way, reportedly four BMW 535is sedans and five Peugeot 406s cars were used in filming the 7-minute chase that features against-traffic driving.
My favorite chase—The Bourne Identity (initial), and Yhe French Connection two other I hold in equal regard. (Yes, I stopped watching most movies years ago, the eroding character development and inorganic unfolding of story being undesirable traits in movies for all but a very few films of this epoch.