In the spectacular pre-title credits opening sequence, Agent 007 James Bond (Roger
Moore) was pursued by four machine gun-wielding Russian KGB agents in an exciting ski-chase down a steep slope in the Austrian Alps.

In the opening scene, the existential hero simply named the Driver (Ryan
O'Neal) stole a prospective client's 4-door Mercedes V-8 Sedan and then
auditioned his skills. He showed the three terrified bad guys how talented
he was as a freelance, ace getaway driver/wheelman for bank heists.

He
plowed through a cramped, underground parking garage and narrow alleyways
in LA to demonstrate his prowess and prove that he was worth every
penny of his high-priced fee.

The film had three spectacular car
chase sequences as well (including a night-time chase through LA).

Hooper (1978)

In a film filled with stunts and daredevil challenges, a car driven by
stuntman Sonny Hooper (Burt Reynolds) drove through a collapsing factory
(and barely missed its falling chimney) and made a rocket-propelled leap
over a 456' chasm over a river where a bridge used to be before it collapsed.

In the final hour of this 11th James Bond film, agent 007 (Roger Moore) ventured to the Amazonian jungle in Brazil, where he was pursued in his armored Glastron Hydrofoil Speedboat on the Tapirape River by henchman sent by villainous billionaire industrialist Hugo Drax (Michael Lonsdale). They launched an armed attack on his craft with explosive depth charges. From the rear of his boat, Bond deployed mines, blowing up one boat and killing three thugs.

As he raced forward, two other boats joined in the
pursuit - one held steel-toothed Jaws (Richard Kiel) who was wielding
a machine-gun. Bond then launched torpedoes from his speedboat,
and destroyed a second boat with three men onboard.

When Bond's
speedboat approached the massive Iguacu Falls, he escaped death
when he launched himself from his speedboat onto a hang glider
that was deployed from the craft's roof - and he soared away to
safety. Jaws (with two other thugs) in the last boat crashed over
the falls.

The Blues Brothers (1980)

Cool
ex-con, renegade musicians named the Blues Brothers - who were "on
a mission from God" - were siblings, who both wore black
suits, hats, and shades:

Joliet "Jake" Blues
(John Belushi)

Elwood Blues (Dan Aykroyd)

In one of the comedy film's earlier scenes,
there was an incredible jump over an open drawbridge [the 95th
Street bridge] ("This car's got some
pickup"), then a spectacular chase through an entire indoor shopping
mall in the Chicago area [the former Dixie Square Mall] - when they
were pursued by state police in their Bluesmobile (a converted 1974
Dodge Monaco police cruiser sedan), with dozens of crashes through
store windows (J. C. Penney's, Toys R Us, etc.) - that sent shoppers
fleeing.

In the last half
hour of the film, they sped 106 miles in their car toward downtown
Chicago while pursued by lots of squad cars, with a maniacal death-defying
chase that reportedly had the largest number of car crashes (demolition
derby style) in film history. One police car ended up crashing into
the side of a freight truck ("We're in a truck!").

At the conclusion, the two - driving at 120 mph at
times - plowed their vehicle through a flock of pigeons and a crowd
of pedestrians and into the lobby of the Richard J. Daley Center
municipal building at Daley Plaza. Once they had reached their final
destination, their car literally collapsed and completely fell apart
after they stepped out of it.

[Mack Sennett's The Keystone Kops short films were an inspiration
for this film.]

The Cannonball Run (1981)

Here was another chase film from Hal Needham (similar to his earlier The Gumball
Rally (1976)), featuring a cross-country, car-crashing road-race from
Connecticut to Southern California with the tagline: "You'll never
guess who wins."