Frankenheimer’s Fast Film ‘RONIN’ (1998)

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Respected director John Frankenheimer gained fame in 1962 for his phycological thriller ‘The Manchurian Candidate‘ but gearheads know him for two action thrillers that book-end his career. ‘Grand Prix‘ revolutionized racing movies in 1966 with car-mounted cameras that immersed the audience in the action. Then in 1998 Frankenheimer directed the greatest car-chase scenes of all time in ‘Ronin‘ which has stood the test of time for 25 years later.

The plot of ‘Ronin‘ is straightforward for a heist movie. A group of excommunicated mercenaries are hired by the IRA to steal a briefcase (like in Pulp Fiction, we never find out what’s in the briefcase) but it’s serious enough that they’ve hired an ex-CIA operative (Robert De Niro) plus former French special forces soldier.(Jean Reno from ‘Leon: The Professional‘) and a crew of others tough guys. The plot is thin, and characters never develop, but who cares?! The car chase scenes are incredible.

The crew meticulously plans to steal the briefcase by ambushing a convoy of cool French cars the bad guys are driving. Bad Guy #1 and the briefcase try to escape the ambush in a 1995 Citroën XM but they’re no match for the good guys’ chocolate brown 1976 Mercedes-Benz 450SEL with it’s 6.9L V8 engine. The good guys battle down the highway in the French Riviera and tight laneways of Nice is a wicked 1998 Audi S8 Quattro customized Fast & Furious style with nitrous oxide. Cool!

The good guys briefly get the briefcase, then get double crossed, which sets up the truly epic eight-minute car chase through the streets of Paris. This time the bad guys (former good guys) are in a 1991 BMW M5 whose DOHC 3.5L V6 engine cranked out an impressive 310 horses of getaway driving power. Pursued by De Niro and Reno in a 1996 Peugeot 406 whose 204 HP 2.9L V6 would normally get trounced by the M5. But the chase happens in a tunnel driving against the direction of traffic. The big sedans dodge oncoming cars, causing carnage on the carriageway, The car chase scenes were filmed live (no CGI) using approximately 150 stunt drivers. The Peugeot is actually a right-hand drive model with a fake steering wheel added to the left side making it look like De Niro is actually driving

Shot on location in France, the movie is visually stunning. Stylish-looking European cars speeding through narrow cobblestone streets with movie cameras on their bumpers (Frankenheimer used the same camera rigs from ‘Grand Prix’) plus gunfights, double-crosses, and a love story make ‘Ronin’ one of the best car movies of all time.

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