The Big Chase (1954)
An LA cop delivers his expectant wife to hospital and gets caught up in a heist involving a payroll robbery.
Story wise that's pretty much it. The Big Chase is a slender affair clocking in at a mere 61 minutes. The first forty minutes involve the set up and the cop's home life but the final third is where all the action is as the big chase kicks into gear. Cars, trains, motor boats and helicopters are all on show in a majestic bullet strewn finale which comprises a full third of this film.
It's all quite exciting stuff and features one scene that appears strong for the time. During the car chase the cop (Glenn Langan) shoots the wife of the robbery mastermind (Jim Davis from Dallas), still alive, she's dragged from the car and rather nastily thrown down the side of what might possibly be Mulholland Drive by her accomplice's.
Genre fans might like to know Lon Chaney jr co-stars in this film as one of the crooks and is involved in a well staged foot race and shoot out in an LA rail yard.
The Big Chase is definitely a minor noir and most likely played as an opener to a bigger film in cinemas but it's still well worth checking out.
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