History Main / FollowThatCar

->''"Taxi! Follow that car!"'' (cab drives off without him) ''"Keeps 'em on their toes!"''

* Comedian Creator/GeorgeCarlin once suggested this scheme for having fun on a day in the city; "Hail a cab. Give the driver $50 and tell him to drive to the airport and wait for you there. As soon as he pulls away, hail the very next cab. Jump in and tell the driver, 'Follow that cab, and no matter what, make sure it DOESN'T get to the airport!'"

** In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E3TheUnquietDead "The Unquiet Dead"]], after Rose is abducted in a hearse, the Doctor leaps into a nearby carriage and instructs the driver to follow that hearse. However, the carriage turns out to be a privately-owned vehicle, and the driver refuses to go anywhere without the say-so of his employer. (Creator/CharlesDickens, if you were wondering.)

** And, at the beginning of the Eleventh Doctor episode [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E4TheTimeOfAngels "The Time of Angels"]], River Song orders the Doctor to "Follow that ship!"

* In the ''Series/MidnightCaller'' episode "City of Lost Souls," Jack tries this with two police officers. Unfortunately, he's dressed as a homeless man at the time, so he only succeeds in getting himself arrested.

* ''Series/{{Shoestring}}'': Eddie does this in "The Partnership." The driver says, "Where do you think you are, Series/TheStreetsOfSanFrancisco?" He goes along with it, although he complains the whole time.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

This did not satisfy Darbishire. He pointed out that [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments the bus service was limited to one bus every hour, and they all went to the same place anyway.]]

* Pictured above is Goofy in the WesternAnimation/ClassicDisneyShort "How to Be a Detective" hailing a cab to chase a crime suspect. Two more characters follow suit, leading to a four-car chase.

** Daffy as Boston Quackie says this in another short where he was chasing The Man in the Green Hat. After the cab drove without him, Daffy screamed at him to come back.

This is a DiscreditedTrope, or even a DeadHorseTrope. Sometimes it's a case of IAlwaysWantedToSayThat. "Car" may be replaced with another vehicle: "Follow that space ship!"

* A European ad from the nineties had a movielike "Follow That Car" scene, subverted when the driver gets off the taxi and chases the getaway car on foot.

* Subverted in ''Anime/DarkerThanBlack''. April spots Amber, who [[AluminumChristmasTrees the SIS]] has been looking for, getting into a car with a little boy. April runs over to where they were, flags down a cab, and tells the driver to follow the car -- [[spoiler:[[StuffBlowingUp then the cab explodes]]. Said little boy was Maki, a Contractor with the power to blow up anything he's marked with hand prints, which in this case meant the street where the cab pulled in.]]

* In ''The Gallimaufry'' there is no other cab, but when ComicBook/{{Buck Godot|Zap Gun for Hire}} tells Spug to go to the spaceport, Spug zooms off without him. Fortunately Buck has the presence of mind to grab his hat, forcing him to come back for it.

* In the ''Franchise/SpiderMan'' newspaper strip, Mary Jane jumps into a cab and tells the driver to follow Spider-Man, who is web-swinging across the city with Black Widow. The cabbie says that he has been waiting for someone to tell him to do this. It turns out he has experience with superheroes and starts talking about some the heroes he has had in his cab.

* In ''Film/DeadMenDontWearPlaid'', Steve Martin thinks he's being followed, and decides to dash away in a taxi. There are two cabs in line. He gives a wad of cash to the first driver and tells him a destination; the driver speeds off without him. Momentarily nonplussed, he then hops into the second taxi and tells the driver to "Follow that cab!" He settles back into the seat with a smirk on his face, congratulating himself on taking ''both'' cabs so the man following him would be stranded.

* In ''Film/TheNakedGun'', Frank Drebin does this, but discovers that the car he has flagged down is part of a driving lesson.

** Subverted in ''Film/LiveAndLetDie'' when Bond gets a taxi driver to follow the BigBad into Harlem. As they drive along however, [[WeAreEverywhere various people on their route]] warn the BigBad via radio that he's being followed. When they finally arrive and Bond enters the building, the ''taxi driver'' then uses his radio to tip off the BigBad that Bond has arrived.

* In ''Film/{{Taxi}}'', a CowboyCop says this to the cabdriver... who happens to be an aspiring stock car racer with a CoolCar, and has, of course, been waiting for someone to say that.

* ''Literature/{{Wasp}}'' has a variant. Mowry doesn't outright tell the taxi driver to "follow that car" to avoid drawing suspicion to himself. Instead he claims that he's unable to exactly name where he's heading, but he remembers how to get there, so if the driver would just please follow the directions that Mowry will give during the journey...

* In the Norwegian ''Series/BrodreneDal og Legenden om Atlant-is'', the not-too-bright protagonists tries to follow the villain's car... By jumping into a trolley and telling its driver to follow that car. The trolley driver actually tries his best but predictably loses the villains rather quickly.

* ''TabletopGame/OverTheEdge'': On Al Amarja, an expensive cab service called Total Taxi caters specifically to spies. For the right price they'll foil pursuit by pulling into a garage and changing cabs, their cabs are completely bulletproof, they can go anywhere — there's only one thing they won't ever do. A Total Taxi will ''never'' follow another Total Taxi.

* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/ExtremeGhostbusters'', Janine hops into a cab and shouts, "Follow that car!" The cabdriver responds "Lady, I've always wanted someone to say that!" before doing so.

-->'''Grand Duke:''' Stop that coach! Close the gates! \\
''(Cinderella's coach gets through before the doors close)'' \\

-->'''Grand Duke:''' Stop that coach! Close the gates!\\
''[Cinderella's coach gets through before the doors close]''\\

''(Cinderella's coach gets through before the doors close)''\\

* ''Disney/{{Cinderella}} combines this with AttackAttackRetreatRetreat when Cinderella was fleeing from the ball:

* [[https://notalwaysright.com/back-to-the-uber/47012 One]] ''Website/NotAlwaysRight'' story starts off with a large group of (drunken) friends calling two Uber vehicles. One takes off ahead of the other, prompting the guys in the second vehicle to quote this trope and the driver to claim he's [[AlwaysWantedToSayThat always wanted to hear someone say that]].

* Peter Sellers in ''Film/CasinoRoyale1967'' uses the same joke as ''Series/GetSmart'' below, with race car driver Stirling Moss in a cameo as the running chauffeur.
-->"I'll use [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_Manuel_Fangio Fangio]] next time, idiot!"

** Daffy says this in another short where he was chasing The Man in the Green Hat. After the cab drove without him, Daffy screamed at him to come back.

* In ''Film/ShakespeareInLove'', Will Shakespeare gets to say, "Follow that boat!" while climbing into another Thames ferry boat. The guy rowing that boat then starts [[DriverOfABlackCab acting like a stereotypical cab driver]].

* In ''Film/ShakespeareInLove'', Will Shakespeare gets to say, "Follow that boat!" The guy rowing the boat then starts [[DriverOfABlackCab acting like a stereotypical cab driver]].

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* Likewise in ''The Specialist'' by Gayle Rivers. He mentions that French cab drivers love to follow people, and gives the "standard line about the guy having it off with my wife" to explain why he's following a man who's actually a terrorist he's planning to assassinate.

* In ''Film/ShakespeareInLove'', Will gets to say, "Follow that boat!"

* In ''Film/{{Octopussy}}'', a Soviet military driver is rather disconcerted to be told to follow Bond's car ''along a railway line''.

** Happens a second time in ''[[Recap/TintinTheCrabWithTheGoldenClaws The Crab with the Golden Claws]]''. Tintin and another man both get into the cab, each insisting it's his. Tintin eventually gets the other man out by saying that he had to go to the hospital [[YouDontWantToCatchThis after being bitten by Snowy]] (who he called a 'mad dog' -- admittedly Snowy was a bit mad at the moment), but when he said "Follow that car!" to the driver, they found the car had long since disappeared.

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]

-->I'll use [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_Manuel_Fangio Fangio]] next time, idiot!

-->'''Doc Hopper:''' Follow that frog!
-->[Max drives off]
-->'''Doc Hopper:''' MAX!!!!!
-->[Max backs up]
-->'''Doc Hopper:''' Follow that frog ''with me in the car!''

* Parodied in ''Film/TheReturnOfThePinkPanther'': the cabbie responds to Inspector Clouseau's command by climbing out of the cab and chasing the car on foot. Another spoof occurs in ''A Shot in the Dark'': Clouseau instructs the police car that brought him here to go back to town. He should have remembered to get in the car first.

-->'''Mathilda:''' Follow the blue car.
-->'''Driver:''' You want me to blast the music and go through the lights?
-->'''Mathilda:''' No, drive slowly. * hands over large wad of cash* Take the hundred bucks, and shut the fuck up.

* In ''Film/ShakespeareInLove'', Will gets to say, "Follow that boat!"

* In ''Film/ShadowOfTheThinMan'', Nora, with Molly, says, "Follow that car, Quick!" The taxi driver drives off without them.
* This gag is played with and lampshaded in ''Film/SongOfTheThinMan'' when Nick stops the cab driver from taking himself and an exhausted Nora back to their hotel. The cabbie sees that Nick is looking very pointedly at a young lady getting into a car and turns to ask, "Follow that car?" [[DeadpanSnarker Nora]] replies with "Movie fan..."

* Literature/AfterTheQuake. ''All god's children can dance''. Yoshiyo tells a taxi driver to tail the car the man he believes his father is in. His excuse is that he's from a company that's scrambling after him.

* Likewise in ''The Specialist'' by Gayle Rivers. He mentions that French cab drivers love to follow people, and gives the "standard line about the guy having it off with my wife" to explain why he's following a man who's actually a terrorist he's planning to assassinate.

-->"Suppose he's got a car waiting for him at the end of the drive. What do we do then?"
-->"We stop the very next car that comes along and say to the driver: 'Quick, follow that car!' That's what secret agents do anyway, and it always works."
-->"Well, supposing he catches a bus?"
-->"Then we stop the next one, and tell the conductor to follow the one in front."
-->This did not satisfy Darbishire. He pointed out that [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments the bus service was limited to one bus every hour, and they all went to the same place anyway.]]

* Lampshaded in one of ThoseMeddlingKids novels (think it was ''The Case of the Silver Egg'' by Desmond Skirrow) when a kid muses that jumping into a cab and saying in his best Creator/BasilRathbone imitation, "Follow that car, and it's double the fare!" won't work.

* Inverted in the pilot of ''Series/AcapulcoHEAT''; the cab driver tells the good guys to get in so they can follow the bad guys. It develops that he's an undercover government agent.
* Comedian George Carlin once suggested this scheme for having fun on a day in the city; "Hail a cab. Give the driver $50 and tell him to drive to the airport and wait for you there. As soon as he pulls away, hail the very next cab. Jump in and tell the driver, 'Follow that cab, and no matter what, make sure it DOESN'T get to the airport!'"

* In the ''Series/CodeNameEternity'' episode "Making Love," when Laura pursues the mind-controlled Ethaniel, she gets in the cab and says "I can't believe I'm saying this, but ''follow that car''."

** In the episode [[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E3TheUnquietDead "The Unquiet Dead"]], after Rose is abducted in a hearse, the Doctor leaps into a nearby carriage and instructs the driver to follow that hearse. However, the carriage turns out to be a privately-owned vehicle, and the driver refuses to go anywhere without the say-so of his employer. (Charles Dickens, if you were wondering).
** Furthermore, the police officer in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E15PlanetOfTheDead "Planet of the Dead"]] tells his men to "Follow that bus!"... then the bus disappears into a NegativeSpaceWedgie.

--->'''Samantha:''' Follow that cab!
--->'''Cab Driver:''' You gotta be kidding, lady.
--->'''Samantha:''' Oh, just drive.

-->'''Driver''': ''(starting to sound excited)'' They're followin' us? D'you want me to lose 'em?
-->'''Jack''': ''(shakily)'' Uh-h-h, y-yes! Yes! Put the pedal to the metal!
-->'''Driver''': I've waited my entire life for someone to say that!

* On [[TabletopGame/OverTheEdge Al Amarja]], an expensive cab service called Total Taxi caters specifically to spies. For the right price they'll foil pursuit by pulling into a garage and changing cabs, their cabs are completely bulletproof, they can go anywhere -- there's only one thing they won't ever do. A Total Taxi will ''never'' follow another Total Taxi.

--> [[MakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext After that slow-moving street sweeper!]]

* A standard device on episodes of ''WesternAnimation/TheDickTracyShow'', but taken a step further in "The Venetian Bind" as Joe Jitsu and an Italian policeman chase Sketch Paree and the Mole through Venice's Grand Canal in gondolas.

-->This did not satisfy Darbishire. He pointed out that [[CrowningMomentOfFunny the bus service was limited to one bus every hour, and they all went to the same place anyway.]]

** Happens a second time in ''[[Recap/TintinTheCrabWithTheGoldenClaws The Crab with the Golden Claws]]''. Tintin and another man both get into the cab, each insisting it's his. Tintin eventually gets the other man out by saying that he had to go to the hospital after being bitten by Snowy (who he called a 'mad dog' -- admittedly Snowy was a bit mad at the moment), but when he said "Follow that car!" to the driver, they found the car had long since disappeared.

** In "The Calculus Affair": Fortunately, the car Tintin happened to pick was being driven by a HotBlooded Italian BadassDriver who easily catches up, though not before being stopped by the police and getting out of being having a ticket written by giving the policeman an OverlyLongName.
** Happens a second time as well. Tintin and another man both get into the cab, each insisting it's his. Tintin eventually gets the other man out by saying that he had to go to the hospital after being bitten by Snowy (who he called a 'mad dog' -- admittedly Snowy was a bit mad at the moment), but when he said "Follow that car!" to the driver, they found the car had long since disappeared.