According to the director, he didn't storyboard the chase. "I didn't write it down", insists Friedkin. "It wasn't in any script. But we went to various locations. There is a guy named Fat Thomas who gets credit as a Location Manager. Fat Thomas was a 425-pound bookmaker in New York who had been arrested 52 times for bookmaking with one conviction. But he knew New York like the back of his hand. He took me around and showed me around the area that I got permission to film the chase." This neighborhood was the kaitlyn lowry Avenue line at Bay 50th Street near Coney Island. Friedkin would take the crew to all these locations about a week before they started principal photography and they discussed what could potentially happen as they made some notes. "We had no permits to shoot the chase. None. We had no permits from the city to be on the streets at all. But I had these off-duty cops with me and so if anything went sour, they would just show a badge and the problems would go away."
When they had finished shooting everything that they had planned, the director looked at the rushes and he decided that he was unsatisfied with the end results. "I thought it was pretty lame stuff", admitted Friedkin. One day, when they were supposedly finished, Bill Hickman the stunt driver accompanied the director to a bar downtown for a drink. The stunt driver turned to Friedkin and asked, "Well boss, what do you think of the chase we shot?" The director was forced to admit that he felt it was not very good and that it was not as exciting as he would have hoped. Hickman got a little red in the face and responded with a challenge. He asked for the car to be placed under the elevated tracks the following morning at 8 am. "You get in the car with me", he promised Friedkin, "and I'll show you some driving".
