6. Ben-Hur - Chariot Race
Let's do a brief run-through of what was involved in the making of this chariot race sequence. Thousands of extras in stands as spectators, with many many stuntmen and chariots to perform the actual race. Dynamite was used to add to the effect whenever a chariot was destroyed, and telephone poles were half-buried in the ground to make the chariots bounce and jump more. The camera crew drove ahead of the horses to video everything, but the car was actually
slower than the horses, and they had to buy a more powerful car. Even then, they could barely stay ahead of the horses, and several times nearly crashed into them. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxcMwRdNuTk Also at one point, when the stunt double for Judah Ben-Hur was going over the telephone pole jump, he was flung into the air and out of the chariot, then nearly trampled by the horses behind him (however, he avoided that and merely sustained a bruise to the chin). Of course, none of this comes close to the havoc caused by the filming of the original Ben-Hur film, but that one violates our one rule at the beginning, so look elsewhere for details on that one, if you like.
5. The Living Daylights - Cargo Plane
In Timothy Dalton's first outing as Bond, we were treated to an interesting conclusion. This scene features Bond and his companion attempting to escape on a stolen cargo plane, when they learn one of the baddies has become a stowaway. The back hatch gets opened, and out they tumble along with the cargo, leading to a long fight as they dangle out the back of the plane, as it's flying full speed. And of course, they got two stuntmen to actually do this so they could film it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17SP5sAM5do Actually, the two men doing this were ace parachutists, so that's something at least.