The 30 Most Memorable Running Scenes From Movies

It’s one thing to run for your life. It’s another to run for the lives of thousands. In this climactic scene from Sam Mendes’s World War I Best Picture nominee, Will (George MacKay) must sprint through a burgeoning battle in order to inform a commander that the entire army is walking into a trap.

Who doesn’t love a chase scene? And this one is all the more entertaining as it takes place in a Hollywood backlot. Watch Marty Wolf (Paul Giamatti) chase Jason Shepherd (Frankie Muniz) through sets, prop shops, and crowds of extras in a race to determine who gets screenwriting credit on a summer blockbuster.

Plenty of movies have marathon scenes, but only this one was actually filmed during the real New York City Marathon. Jillian Bell donned a bib for this titular role, and ran alongside actual racers (extras could never look this tired) for the film’s climax. New York City Marathon runners from 2017 might be able to spot themselves in the background.

There has not been enough cinematic attention given to the treadmill. Love it or hate it, it is a staple in the lives of many runners. In this caper from the Coen brothers, the dimwitted Chad (Brad Pitt) works at a gym and demonstrates to appropriate way to rock out on a treadmill.

While most runners aren’t doing parkour on their daily jogs (unless you consider dodging recycling bins), it sure is exciting to watch James Bond (Daniel Craig) incorporate some into this chase sequence. The scene launched the latest Bond era with incredible energy and instantly cemented its place on “best of” lists for years to come.

If this isn’t the running scene from a movie, then I don’t know what is. The slow motion. The team of runners on a beach. The score playing in the background. This scene has been recreated dozens of times in spoof, in homage, in desperate imitation. There is nothing quite like it.

It’s the classic race against the clock. Will Ferris (Matthew Broderick) make it home before his dad discovers he was playing hooky and wasn’t actually sick? He tramps through backyard barbecues and hopping over fences to do it.

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The final scene of Sean Baker’s indie was filmed in Disney World on an iPhone, guerilla style. The dream sequence has Moonee imagining the world as she wishes it could be rather than it is. A world in which she and her friend sprint across Orlando towards amusement park magic rather than getting carted off by child protective services. It’s perhaps the most heartbreaking scene on the list.

Forrest Gump is such an iconic film that it has two classic running scenes. The first is of course the “Run Forrest Run” scene, where as a child he breaks free from his leg braces. But the second comes when Gump (Tom Hanks) decides to start running as an adult and ends up crisscrossing the U.S. while growing an impressive beard.

Running is a staple of the horror genre. Running from a murderer. Running towards the police. And then there is this scene of a man running straight at you from out of the dark. I’m not sure why it is so unsettling to see a stranger in a dead sprint racing towards you, but it certainly left me shook.

You may have forgotten that Home Alone 2’s classic “get down on your knees and tell me you love me” scene is smack dab in the center of an extended foot chase. Kevin (Macaulay Culkin) first flees the Sticky/Wet Bandits in Central Park before he must then outrun and outsmart the Plaza Hotel staff as they seek to ambush him for using a “stolen credit card.” As a New York runner, I feel this scene deeply.

No list of cinematic runners is complete without a spotlight on Dashiell Parr. In this scene, where Dash is finally allowed to use his superpowers (in his supersuit) we get to see him outrace the baddies, punch at superspeed, and of course run on water.

Perhaps this is a style of workout that hasn’t been highlighted enough in Runner’s World, but you could build muscle by pushing a car while running. In this fun indie, the Hoover family must jumpstart their van with a family strength challenge before racing to hop in the sliding door before it picks up too much speed.

You never know when you might need to be able to outrun a bad guy for a very long time. After being tortured by an evil dentist, Babe (Dustin Hoffman) puts his endurance running skills to good use by tiring out his pursuer in a lengthy chase. Marathoning is key to survival.

The Matrix is a glut of incredible scenes, and one of the best is this extended chase sequence in which Neo (Keanu Reeves) must figure out how to escape the matrix via telephone while Agent Smiths keep popping up to take him down—more of a Spartan Run than a 5K though.

There is no one with more onscreen running experience than Tom Cruise. Hell, he’s got whole montages dedicated to him. In his latest film outing, we saw him sprinting over Paris rooftops at full speed, leaping from building to building. Extra impressive given that Cruise does his own stunts.

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We don’t give enough credit to hurdling, and neither do the movies. Where are the films about famous hurdlers? We don’t have them unfortunately, but what we do have is Mrs. Doubtfire (Robin Williams) shouting “Help is on the way!”, sprinting through a packed restaurant, vaulting over a table, and giving the Heimlich. Sort of an EMT pentathlon if you think about it.

There is not a scene on this list I relate to more than this one. Lord knows I love Popeye’s, and I will stop there after a marathon training long run for drumsticks, mashed potatoes, and a biscuit. Precious (Gabourey Sidibe) steals a bucket of chicken and hightails it for the hills. If you’re not willing to run for chicken, then what will you run for?

Really any scene from Rat Race could have made this list. The whole movie is, after all, a race. But this chase down the stairwell at the race’s beginning sees the stars falling over themselves to get the cash prize. Thank goodness there isn’t a stairwell component to road races.

If Chariots of Fire isn’t the cinematic running scene, then it would only lose to this running montage from Rocky II. Rocky (Sylvester Stalone) is training for his rematch with Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers) by running through the streets of Philadelphia in a gray track suit. The children of the neighborhood join him while that classic Rocky score plays in the background. He ends on the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art and created one of the city’s most iconic tourist sites (apologies to the Liberty Bell).