Cut to the chase
Hal Roach Sr, and many other directors who wanted to get to the dramatic part of silent films
A plot, or part of one, centered around characters pursuing one another.
A drawn out chase which forms an underlying theme for a series is a
Stern Chase.
They Have the Scent is common in short chases.
See also the subtrope
Hunting the Most Dangerous Game.
Not to be confused with
the game show of the same name or
the film of the same name.
Examples
Anime & Manga
Film
Literature
- Honored Enemy of The Riftwar Cycle in which soldiers on the opposing sides of a war band together to escape the dark elves chasing after them to kill them for a variety of reasons.
- In Robert E. Howard's Conan the Barbarian story "Black Colossus", after his defeat, Natohk abducts Yasmela. Conan chases after them.
- In "The Gods Of The North", an obviously magical woman lures Conan into a chase that brings him to her giant brothers. When he kills them, he chases her again — this time, she is seriously frightened.
- In Poul Anderson's A Midsummer Tempest, chasing the escaped Rupert is half the book.
- The Time Scout series is full of these, starting with the second book. Mostly they involve Skeeter Jackson.
Live-Action TV
Newspaper Comics
- Dick Tracy had this as a major element in his stories as the police detective relentlessly chases a particular villain who gets more and more desperate as he realizes to his terror that this cop will not stop.
Web Comics
Western Animation