SSG: Spy/Spec-Ops Group discussion

From some Spy/Spec-Ops novel you've read, there is probably a memorable 'track down' scene. One guy chasing another guy and determined to nail him at all costs.

I'm not talking about 'chases' like in a John Buchan novel where the protagonist runs across an entire country.

But things like, a train station--an airport--an empty circus grounds. Any really standout chase locations?

Try Ice Station

How about a constant chase for 500 pages through a secret base in the Antarctic? Only written as Matthew Reily can, way over the top and more bullets than a battalion could carry - in trucks!

What about the pursuit of Jason Bourne by a CIA killer through Marrakech in THE BOURNE SUPREMACY? Jumping from roofs to windows and using bikes, scooters and cars. To top it up, it ended in one hot unarmed fight to the death.

Michel wrote: "What about the pursuit of Jason Bourne by a CIA killer through Marrakech in THE BOURNE SUPREMACY? Jumping from roofs to windows and using bikes, scooters and cars. To top it up, it ended in one h..."

Love the Bourne films. I believe the scene you're talking about was in "Ultimatum."

Speaking of the Bourne films, Supremacy features my favorite action film car chase. Set in rush hour Moscow traffic. Featuring a hideous Mercedes G-Wagen driven by a FSB officer and a crappy Zil taxi driven by our man Bourne. Brutal, exhilarating and it increasingly turns into a game of strategy with Jason trying to outwit the FSB officer long enough to execute a final solution with a P.I.T maneuver.

Outlandish...okay.
In this book, the main character is heading through Lisbon international airport. at the taxi stand, he's rumbled by a large hit squad. After a gunfight, he car jacks a Mercedes Benz E63AMG and zooms off towards a highway. Chasing after him is a shooter in a Porsche 911 who manages to USE AUTOMATIC WEAPONS while driving. The main character also uses his handgun while driving. In pursuit of the hostiles trying to kill the main character are two operators on motorcycles. All down a freeway into downtown Lisbon. Hundreds of miles per hour. Lots of shots fired. And it ends in a godawful mess of a pile up.

Samuel wrote: "

Outlandish...okay.
In this book, the main character is heading through Lisbon international airport. at the taxi stand, he's rumbled by a large hit squad. Aft..."

There must have been tons of collateral casualties, with all those bullets flying around.

Michel wrote: "Samuel wrote: "

Outlandish...okay.
In this book, the main character is heading through Lisbon international airport. at the taxi stand, he's rumbled by a larg..."

Amazingly less than there should have been, especially at the airport taxi stand where it started. The shooters there attempted to do a quick drive by and were packing assault rifles. Civilians magically ran to the side and the hero shot the gunmen with his Glock 19.

Another one. In this book, the two main characters are attempting to apprehend a gun for hire on the Sydney Harbor Bridge. Somehow, they all manage to get access to the service ladders and begin running up the top. I've been up there myself and while they're former government assassins with training, they manage to run up that thing like it's nothing. Without slipping or stumbling which due to the design of the walkway is very likely.

Michel wrote: "Samuel wrote: "

Outlandish...okay.
In this book, the main character is heading through Lisbon international airport. at the taxi stand, he's rumbled by a larg..."

The author of that book has done worse however in his first novel. There was a chase scene across the state of New Jersey beginning in New York. The main character tried to kill the antagonist as the latter was getting into his Mercedes S600 trying to cut things short. He used a freakin grenade launcher (which in a twisted sense is understandable due to the body armor, run flat tires and V12 under the hood) to try do the job.

He misses.

And hits a taxicab, turning it into a flaming wreck. Now he didn't say whether there was anyone in the car at the time, but I strongly suspect there was.

Roy Scheider in 'The Seven Ups'. 73 Pontiac Grand Ville pursued by a 73 Pontiac Ventura Sprint coupe. GW bridge, Palisades Pkwy.

That's all.

Feliks wrote: "Roy Scheider in 'The Seven Ups'. 73 Pontiac Grand Ville pursued by a 73 Pontiac Ventura Sprint coupe. GW bridge, Palisades Pkwy.

That's all."

This one? Well I have to say the ending was something I did not see coming.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vACW...

Feliks wrote: "Roy Scheider in 'The Seven Ups'. 73 Pontiac Grand Ville pursued by a 73 Pontiac Ventura Sprint coupe. GW bridge, Palisades Pkwy.

That's all."

The doubled barreled shotgun was a nice touch. A nod to the "Bullitt" film perhaps?

You're not familiar with the film? Its not as famous as 'French Connection' so I don't blame you.

I'm kinda keen on the history of stunt driving, and I'm a fan of Roy Scheider so I love it. Under-rated actor and film, both. I'm a mild acquaintance of Tony LoBianco, but I've never asked him about it.

yeah Bullitt--all sorts of nods, naturally enough. Same stunt coordinator, Bill Hickman. Same producer. Same engine sounds. Wiki will tell you the basics.

Feliks wrote: "You're not familiar with the film? Its not as famous as 'French Connection' so I don't blame you.

I'm kinda keen on the history of stunt driving, and I'm a fan of Roy Scheider so I love it. Under..."

I see.

I admire good driving skills, yea

Feliks wrote: "I admire good driving skills, yea"

Car chases. Most recent one I've seen was with a Land Rover Defender carrying a atom bomb in the trunk and driven by a Italian Facist, some kind of All Terrain Vehicle which had been stolen by a CIA officer and what appeared to be the Triumph TR6 "Great Escape Model" driven by a KGB man. Racing across the Italian countryside through a lot of mud, and forests. At one point, the company man manages to Aquaplan his ATV and drive across a massive pond without getting bogged down or have to cross it the old fashioned way.

tomorrow morning I'm gonna watch a USAF flyover of a B-29, an F-15, an F-16, and an F-22 in formation(???) as they come up the Hudson River (for who knows what stupid reason?) and head up river to some hick backwater in NY state. Some marketing or promo shenanigan. But NYC definitely does have antique aircraft enthusiasts so I know that's where the B-29 is coming from. You can see amazing flyovers usually on summer weekends in the tri-state area around here. The motors are what catches your ear. They sound like nothing else; and you leap to the window to look.

Ever seen that Donald Sutherland, Jane Fonda, Peter Boyle movie about a refurbished WWII bomber? Fun

How about the crazy car chase in 'Ronin', or the one in Leningrad where James Bond (Pierce Brosnan) drove a T-55 tank through the city, smashing his way through?

not classic enough to suit me

Michel wrote: "How about the crazy car chase in 'Ronin', or the one in Leningrad where James Bond (Pierce Brosnan) drove a T-55 tank through the city, smashing his way through?"

Both were great.

Worst car chase? The most recent one I saw was in the TAKEN 2 action film. Beat up second hand Mercedes Taxi successfully breaching the perimeter of the American Consulate in Istanbul was merely the icing on the cake, especially with all the bullet holes from the Browning M2 heavy machine guns the Marine Security Guards had hosed the car down with. In real life, the people driving it would have looked like swiss cheese....

The climax of this book is an extended car chase/gunfight through the south of Switzerland. We have a group of IRGC soldiers running a black operation, attempting to extract an American traitor and another uncooperative asset from a Geneva hotel.

After them is the main character who has got himself a motorcycle and a team of FBI agents attempting to execute an extradition order on the traitor.

Once out of Geneva, speeding along the snowy Swiss motorways, they're joined by a group of specially flown in shooters from Hezbollah, who wrangle themselves a helicopter and attempt to provide air support for the IRGC team.

Complications bring the helicopter down and then it's a race against time with the IRGC team leader trying to find a quiet place to torture the American Traitor for every last bit of intel he has, and the main character trying to get there and kill said traitor before he gives up the crown jewels.

Sounds like I wouldn't want to be that said American traitor!

Michel wrote: "Sounds like I wouldn't want to be that said American traitor!"

Agreed. Due to the slightly mad main character bearing down on them, the IRGC team leader decided to resort to a broken beer bottle to get the intel he wanted, and was seconds away from ramming it into the traitor's gentleman's area before the protagonist set up a firing position.

Small one which is the opening segment of this book. After the main character kills a man, he's attacked by a hit-squad. He picks them off and tries to rappel down the Paris hotel he's been ambushed in. The surviving shooter spots him making a break for the river and opens fire, sending him into the Seine.

Not really a car chase but one extra-bloody convoy ambush if you ever saw one: the American ground evacuation convoy rolling through Mogadishu and getting peppered from every side in the movie 'BLACKHAWK DOWN'. Another good one is the ambush of Jack Ryan's small diplomatic convoy in the streets of Bogota, in the movie 'CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER'.

Michel wrote: "Not really a car chase but one extra-bloody convoy ambush if you ever saw one: the American ground evacuation convoy rolling through Mogadishu and getting peppered from every side in the movie 'BLA..."

Loved the Clear And Present Danger movie. That scene was so well corordinated.

Ice Station

How about a 400 page book that is just one long chase through a secret base in the Antarctic - Killer whales and all!

Killer whales? I've heard of jumping a shark but this is ridiculous. ahaha

There's this book I recently got. Car Chase through the center of London. Involved Metropolitan police firing guns from their BMW's. Destroyed the fountain at the end of the mall leading to Buckingham Palace. Destroyed the grandstand around regents park. Main characters miraculously escaped despite being stuck in the middle of Winston Smith's worst nightmare.

On the other side, there was another novel I read recently which begins in one of my favorite haunts, Macao.
Three people participating in a law enforcement sting operation are on one of the many gambling pleasure boats that go dime a dozen in South China. They're trying to arrest a man. Who in the middle of Typhoon season and heavy rain, makes a break for the boats. One of the three man team is taken out by a trick lighter packed with something similar to napalm. The surviving hunters pursue in another speed boat and once back on dry land, begin racing up the hilly roads of Macao. All comes to a close in a shower of bullets near a Casino construction site.

Roger wrote: "Ice Station

How about a 400 page book that is just one long chase through a secret base in the Antarctic - Killer whales and all!"

Good call Roger. I was going to name Ice Station if it wasn't already here. Another from Matthew Reilly would be --an outrageous chase scene for sure.

I actually saw no boats anywhere when I was in Macao. I saw slums and horrible little fashion boutiques and yea massive casino construction sites..it would have been a treat to see boats..were they around on the other side of the landform?

Macao is a strange, strange place. Not just the mania for gambling. It was super-quiet though, I grant that. Like a ghost town.

unusual chases: 'Bear Island'. MacLean.

Feliks wrote: "I actually saw no boats anywhere when I was in Macao. I saw slums and horrible little fashion boutiques and yea massive casino construction sites..it would have been a treat to see boats..were they..."

Down in Hong Kong, certain companies get around the Jockey Club's gambling monopoly by purchasing small cruise ships and re-purposing them as floating casino boats. Said boats go out to sea, far from the reach of the HKPF and allow their patrons the freedom to lose it all.

But the boat from the book I admit, is a little different. It's a location which Roger Moore visited in "The Man With The Golden Gun", where Maude Adam's character is playing courier and picking up a box of Scaramanga's bullets. The Macau Palace I think it was called. Some kind of re-purposed ferry similar to Hong Kong's legendary jumbo boat restaurant, only instead of overcharging the dim sum, they milk you for every cent in a more direct fashion.