We’re all well aware of the films that have exciting, action-packed car chases between their reels. Ronin, The Italian Job (original and remake), The French Connection, King of the Mountain, To Live And Die In LA, The Seven-Ups, Bullitt; there’s a decent amount. But one film that you might not be as familiar with is The Hidden, and it’s worth checking out for its opening car chase alone.
The film is a cult sci-fi thriller of sorts. But more importantly it has great car content!
What could be a better start to a film? Begin with a brutal bank heist (which exits where Heat’s big shootout scene starts, by the way), and then turns into a short-yet-action-filled chase through Los Angeles streets. The villain car is possibly the best villain chase car, ever, too: a Ferrari 308 GTS.
Because this film is nearly 34 years old, it’s honest-to-goodness real action, like King of the Mountain. Some lucky stunt driver got to powerslide a 308 through downtown Los Angeles. How awesome is that?
The camera work is top-notch, as is the soundtrack. The 308 sounds like a 308, which is a concept that’s often lost in a lot of car films, or films with significant car content in them. The best example is the FD RX-7 in The Fast And The Furious sounding like a BMW. The actual, music-end of the scene, On Your Feet by Shok Paris is a decent choice, too. But someone made a version with some melodic synthwave that in my opinion works really well.
But, wait, there are more reasons why this film rules. In addition to this thrilling chase early on, there’s also a bunch of excellent car spotting to keep an eye out for throughout the film. Especially if you fancy yourself a weird car tweeter. So much great 80s fair shows up: a Porsche 928, Ferrari Mondial, Nissan 280Z, VW Scirocco, Lamborghini Countach, and more.
Plus, fun car content aside, there’s plenty of film nerd content to boot. Kyle “King of the nerds (including his role in Sex And The City)” MacLachlan stars in it, as well as Michael Nouri, who was in, well, all I can think of off the top of my head is Flashdance. Ed O’Ross is in it as well: he played the bad guy in Red Heat and was in Full Metal Jacket.
Check out the font of those opening titles, too—they scream late-’80s/early-’90s action film. Also, as a Los Angeles film buff, I must say that the shots of this fine city throughout the film are excellent, especially during the opening chase.
Check out the scene here. If it’s a concern, viewer discretion is advised:
The movie’s not on Netflix as of this writing, but it looks like you can rent it on Amazon Prime for $2.99 if you’re inclined to check the rest out.
