10 Most Influential Action Movies Ever Made

Redefining the very notion of what a cinematic car chase could be, Bullitt's most iconic scene is still lauded as one of the greatest ever put to film almost 50 years later. Ten unrelenting minutes of screeching tires and burning rubber, the urgency and impact of the stunts and camerawork is in total sync with the pitch-perfect editing, giving the chase a sense of realism that had never been captured on film before.

While that may be its defining moment, Bullitt is much more than a movie built around a car chase. Capturing the essence of 'cool' that was found in much of late '60s cinema, Peter Yates' direction makes great use of San Francisco to make the city feel like a character in itself by favoring location shooting over using sets, and the attention to detail incorporated into the story's procedural elements only heightens that sense of realism.

Steve McQueen's 'cop against the system' is almost archetypal, but overcomes this thanks to the actor's undeniable star power. Bullitt would set the tone for the action-tinged, star-powered antihero movies of the '70s such as Dirty Harry, The French Connection and Death Wish, inspire the vehicular carnage seen in Gone In 60 Seconds and To Live and Die in L.A., and the movie's influence on the action genre is still keenly felt today through the likes of the Bourne series and Baby Driver.