The hottest women in car-chase / action movies revisited.....

After reviewing the best movie chases, of course the next subject was the hottest women in car chase / action flicks. In order to make this list, the character had to be an integral part of the story, and really make the viewer like her and be sympathetic to her character; not just look good and make guys from 16 to 60 drool-that's why Gal Gadot and Eva Mendes-both smokin' hot aren't on this list-their 30 second bikini scenes in different "F&F" movies aren't enough to make the cut. Anyhow here's my picks. # 1. Jennifer Billingsley "White Lightning".  Her dark brown roots showing in her bleach-blond hair, barefoot in that skimpy sundress practically the whole movie, "Shake-a-Puddin'" just oozed sex,while still having that southern belle like charm. When she runs her bare foot up Burt Reynold's bicep and coos-"If you want it, Gator just say so." "If you don't it's ok" ( Definitely a "Wayne's World" "Schwing!" moment ) Ditto for the Tarantino-ish scene where, while her gangster boyfriend sleeps in a house maybe 100 yards up the road, she kneels on the dock by the river to feed a skinny-dipping Gator his breakfast she cooked for him and we get an extreme close-up of her very dirty soles, before Burt convinces her to join him. She doesn't even get mad when Gator sets her up for attempted rape to escape "Big Bear" and his henchmen. She saves the wounded Gator and drives the car and takes him to a home for unwed mothers for medical attention. She personified the Southern Slut that men die and kill for. Others have tried it-Kim Basinger in "No Mercy", Teri Hatcher in "Heaven's Prisoner's" and most recently Reese Witherspoon in "Mud", but no one has been able to top "Shake-a-Puddin".  # 2. "Ruth" "To Live and Die in L.A."  Classically trained stage actress Darlanne Fluegel was awesome as "Chance's" hooker / informant / girlfriend. She brazenly walked around naked, or topless and barefoot, in just pantyhose and when she griped at William Peterson- "Some guy I set up for you is going to kill me someday." "What would you do If I stopped giving you information?" and he replies "I'd violate your parole and send you back to jail". You know she's going to set him up. And she does. At the end when "Chance" and everybody else is dead, and Chance's partner ( John Pankow) asks her where the rest of the money he and Chance took from the dead FBI agent is, she lies and says she got ripped off. The look on her face when he says "Let's not get off to a bad start Ruth".  "Your workin' for me now."  is priceless.  # 3. " Carol McCoy" "The Getaway" ( 1972 version ). The master of action-Sam Peckinpah-( The Wild Bunch, the Osterman Weekend ) directed, and shot the film in sequence.  No one was hotter than a then 24-year old Ali McGraw. Apparently Steve McQueen thought so, because they started a torrid affair and he left his wife for her, and she left her husband who was a producer on the movie. That must have been awkward. Their chemistry was obvious and their passion ignited the screen. Anyhow "Carol" sleeps with gangster Jack Benyon to get her husband out of prison, and then they have to do a robbery for Benyon as well. It goes bad, and when they go to split the money with Benyon, "Doc" ( Steve McQueen ) realizes he's been set up and Benyon plans to kill him. However Carol shoots Benyon first. Figuring out how his freedom was bought an angry Doc slaps the shit out of Carol. "Why did you do it?' he asks. "Because Benyon wanted it." "Because the deal wasn't good enough." "He wouldn't get you out if I didn't"  "Then you should have walked away."  "And left you in prison?"  "I figured you'd do the same for me." "Right, Doc?" "You would humiliate yourself if that was the only way to help me?"  It's said during filming this scene that McQueen and McGraw miscalculated their movements, and he accidentally hit her full force, bloodying her nose and almost knocking her out. He went to her trailer later in the day to check on her well-being and apologize, and this is when their affair started.  Anyhow, they go on the run together from the law and Benyon's gangster henchmen. "Carol" kicks a lot of ass of her own, driving the car during a chase and shooting several bad guys. She's no shrinking violet. Per the title they do get away in the end. It's a badass action flick with great performances all around. Roger Donaldsen tried a remake in 1994, and he shouldn't have. Like the MC Hammer song-"Can't Touch This."  The '94 version starred Alec Baldwin and Kim Basinger who were married at the time, but they couldn't re-create the white-heat that McQueen and McGraw had. No one was cooler than Steve McQueen, not even Clint Eastwood. Baldwin tried valiantly to put his own spin on the character-but the critics couldn't help it they said he couldn't shine McQueen's shoes. Ditto for the then 41 year old Kim Basinger. While 3 years from her Oscar win for L.A. Confidential, and still smokin' hot in a MILF / Cougar way-she still couldn't top Ali McGraw for sheer hotness, and either she or the director decided to put a '90's "I am woman, hear me roar" spin on the scene where Doc slaps the crap out of Carol. Except he doesn't. She slaps him back, they have a little slap fight and she tells him to fuck off and walks away. It really took away from the scene, and the movie as a whole, and put a whole different spin on the relationship between Doc and Carol. Don't get me wrong, I'm not condoning violence against women. But the original scene was so powerful because Carol wasn't really physically hurt; she was emotionally hurt. As a career criminal's wife, she'd obviously been hit before-if not by him by other gangsters, their women, and maybe even cops. She was aghast because she'd slept with a man that sickened her, not once but several times to help her husband, and instead of showing gratitude, he responds with anger, accusations and violence. She didn't fight back not because she was hurt or afraid, she was shocked that he was such an ungrateful bastard. The Baldwin / Basinger "fuck you, fuck you back" slap fight wasn't near as powerful. And conversely, I thought higher of McGraw's Carol for "Standing by her man".  Basinger's portrayal made out like she was just sticking around for her share of the money, that she was willing to walk at any time, and didn't much care if "Doc" lived or died. Maybe Basinger or the director were trying to send some social message to young girls. That's altruistic, but a badass gangster flick with the kill ratio of an arcade game is not the place to do that.  Michael Madsen tried, but no one could play the sexually deviant gunfighter "Rudy" better than Al Letteiri  ( The Godfather, Mr. Majestyk ), and I like James Woods, but as always he over-acts, which paled in comparison to Ben Johnson's quietly sadistic Benyon. Sorry to get off on a rant there, but I thought my position needed to be explained.  # 4. Jacqueline Bisset "Bullitt". I can't remember her character's name, and all Steve McQueen callsher in the movie is "Baby".  If you thought she was hot a 33 when she made "The Deep" ( Her wet-t-shirt poster outsold everything but Farrah Fawcett in the red bathing suit that year ) you need to see her at 24 in "Bullitt".  Her puking after seeing a corpse and rebuking McQueen for his callousness kept her from ranking higher.  # 5. "Mary" "Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry". Susan George was hot in the mid-70's. She played Dustin Hoffman's slut wife in "Straw Dogs", and her inter-racial love scenes with boxer Ken Norton in "Mandingo" brought her some "Basic Instinct" type noteriety for a few years.  She's probably best known for this role however-spending the whole movie in a straining halter top ( and I mean straining, it barely contains her large, tanned breasts ) and hip-hugger jeans that barely cover her ass-crack. The action is good and her and Peter Fonda trade wisecracks well. She basically does the same thing ( wear a straining halter top and scream a lot ) in "A Small Town in Texas".  # 6. Lynda Carter "Bobbi Jo and the Outlaw". This was a B-movie action flick that starred a pre-Wonder Woman Lynda Carter and Evangelist-turned-action star Marjoe Gortner. Lynda plays an aspiring country singer who takes up with a charismatic car theif who fancies himself a modern-day Jesse James or Billy the Kid. Lynda gets naked a lot, and theirs some chases in cars that Gortner steals. Did I mention that Lynda get's naked a lot? The movie pretty much sucks, but if you want to see "Wonder Woman" in her prime totally nude and barefoot, here's your chance.  As for also rans-I've said it before nothing against Sally Field-but "Frog" just doesn't do anything for me. I know Jessica Simpson trained hard for the big-screen version of the "Dukes of Hazzard" ( which was awful ) but her phony southern accent was like fingernails on a blackboard, and the gratuitous bikini scene seemed contrived even for a mindless action-comedy.  Finally-I also left Jordana Brewster ( The Fast&Furious movies ) out. She's a hottie, but refereeing the bromance fights between Vin Diesel and Paul Walker ( "Don't fight,guys I love you both" ) through 4 movies doesn't get her on the list. Sorry. Mastermind