The 10 best movie manhunts compiled by The Guardian

The Great Train Robbery
Edwin S Porter, 1903

Set in the wild west, filmed across the Hudson river from New York, this landmark in narrative cinema begins in a railroad station with robbers overpowering the wireless operator, followed by the violent and bloody hijacking of a train. The assaulted radio operator is discovered and revived and a posse sworn in to track down the outlaws. This archetypal story of offence, pursuit and retribution has obsessed the cinema for 110 years and lies behind the famous admonition, attributed to movie pioneer Hal Roach (1892-1992): “Cut to the chase.” Photograph: Ronald Grant Archive

M
Fritz Lang, 1931

The Most Dangerous Game
Ernest B Schoedsack, Irving Pichel, 1932

Les Misérables
Richard Boleslawski, 1935

The Stranger
Orson Welles, 1946

Odd Man Out
Carol Reed, 1947

North by Northwest
Alfred Hitchcock, 1959

Spartacus
Stanley Kubrick, 1960

Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid
Sam Peckinpah, 1973

The Fugitive
Andrew Davis, 1993