History Main / FollowThatCar

* 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 handprints, which in this case meant the street where the cab pulled in.]]

* ''Film/ManIntheAttic'': When Slade escapes from the theatre and steals a cab, Inspector Warwick commandeers another carriage and orders the driver to chase him.

* The joke version is in an episode of ''Series/{{Benson}}''. The governor gives the order to a taxi, and as you might expect, it takes off without him. Then he quickly flags down another taxi and tells the driver to "Follow ''that'' car!" point to the first taxi. (He manages to get in this one first. To make the joke even funnier, when both taxis follow the original car to its destination, he pays ''both'' drivers.

[[folder:Animated Films]]

* ''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...

* The joke version is taken UpToEleven in an episode of ''Series/{{Benson}}''. The governor gives the order to a taxi, and as you might expect, it takes off without him. Then he quickly flags down another taxi and tells the driver to "Follow ''that'' car!" point to the first taxi. (He manages to get in this one first. To make the joke even funnier, when both taxis follow the original car to its destination, he pays ''both'' drivers.

The villain speeds off in a car. The hero, close behind, flags down the nearest taxi, gets in, and, pointing at the car, says "Follow that car!". And thus, the ChaseScene begins. This is an alternative to FlashedBadgeHijack, available to civilians as well as the police.

If the villain [[OutGambitted anticipates the hero trying this]], expect the cabbie to be NotMyDriver.

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

See TheTaxi.

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!"

The villain speeds off in a car. The hero, close behind, flags down the nearest taxi, gets in and, pointing at the car, says "Follow that car!". And thus, the ChaseScene begins. This is an alternative to FlashedBadgeHijack, available to civilians as well as the police.

* ''ComicBook/GastonLagaffe'': Fantasio's coat is thrown by Gaston out of a top floor window, and a gust of wind sends it flying away. Fantasio gets in a cab and says "Follow that coat!" The cab driver replies, "You should get yourself a helicopter."

* This was played for laughs in a ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'' story from 1985, where Spidey was trying to nab the Commuter, a theef named Ron who commuted to crimes from Scarsdale. Unable to use his favored mode of transportation to follow Ron, given the lack of web-accessible buildings, the hero flagged a cab down, but the cabbie barely spoke English, making the chase difficult. (He eventually did manage to nab Ron, and resolved to stay in the city from then on.)

* In ''Film/{{Mustang}}'', the five girls asks a truck to follow a coach bringing the fans to a football match.

* Subverted in ''Film/ThePelicanBrief'' where Creator/DenzelWashington's character as he is unable to get a taxi to stop for him as he is dressed for surveillance he was doing on a potential source. It's also flipped around later in the film as he gets into a cab, only to realize ''he's'' the one being followed.

** 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.

* In ''Anime/MyHime'', Mai hails a taxi and requests for it to follow an Orphan-possessed bus.

* 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 film ''Lifechanger'', the protagonist gets in a cab and asks the driver to follow the woman he's attracted to, hoping to figure out her address. The cabbie, also a woman, rightly assumes him to be a stalker and refuses his demand, calling it creepy.

* Franchise/JamesBond
** 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/{{Octopussy}}'', a Soviet military driver is rather disconcerted to be told to follow Bond's car ''along a railway line''.
** Creator/PeterSellers 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!

* ''Film/{{Commando}}''. Sully is one of the mercenaries holding his daughter hostage, so Matrix is willing to go to great lengths to follow him, including abducting Cindy because he needs her car. They end up being stuck together for the rest of the movie (minus the final battle).
-->'''Matrix:''' Follow him.\\
'''Cindy:''' Oh, I ''knew'' you were going to say that...

* 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.

* Mai tells the taxi driver to "follow that bus" in ''Anime/MyHime''.

* ''Film/{{Brannigan}}''. Brannigan gives the line straight but ends up [[FlashedBadgeHijack driving the car himself]] to the alarm of the poor man who owns it, who's dragged along for a CarChase through London ending with a RampJump over the Tower Bridge.

* Used in the VerySpecialEpisode of ''Anime/DigimonSavers''. There was, however, no chase scene.
* Mai tells the taxi driver to "follow that bus" in ''Anime/MaiHime''.

* Used sans chase scene in ''Anime/{{Monster}}''.

* In ''Comicbook/LukeCageHeroForHire'', sleazy journalist Phil Fox says this when trying to talk to Rackham, the former prison captain who had attacked Cage. The driver has been wanting to hear the line for years.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Cinderella}}'' combines this with AttackAttackRetreatRetreat when Cinderella was fleeing from the ball:
-->'''Grand Duke:''' Stop that coach! Close the gates!
-->''(Cinderella's coach gets through before the doors close)''\\
'''Grand Duke:''' ''(To the guards)'' FOLLOW THAT COACH! Open the gates!

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

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

[[quoteright:320:[[WesternAnimation/ClassicDisneyShorts https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/goofy_car.jpg]]]]

* Pictured above is WesternAnimation/{{Goofy}} in his [[WesternAnimation/ClassicDisneyShorts cartoon]] "How to Be a Detective" hailing a cab to chase a crime suspect. Two more characters follow suit, leading to a four-car chase.