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Gone in 60 Seconds

Gone in 60 Seconds -1974
HIS BUSINESS IS STEALING CARS…when he goes to work, the excitement starts—and GOES—and GOES—and GOES!

Director
H.B.Halicki

Writer
H.B.Halicki

Starring – H.B.Halicki, Marion Busia, Jerry Daugirda, James McIntyre, George Cole, Ronald Halicki, Markos Kotsikos, Butch Stockton, Phil Woods,

Review by Noel Baily

As the tag-line said: “If he wants it, its gone in 60 seconds!”,
Hey guys, if you want to REALLY enjoy this flick, watch the horrific remake first. You had to be young in the mid 70’s to remember the hype that went with this flick. A total B-Grader that had audiences (including me and my 19 year old wife) queued up around the block.

Considering its microscopic budget, H B Halicki delivered precisely what audiences wanted to see – truck loads of cars smashed up! No more no less! No-one handed over their (then) $5 expecting to see Sir Laurence Olivier do Hamlet, they just wanted some serious fender-bending and this they got!

Admittedly I suspect most people who own the video or DVD these days fast-forward to the actual 40 minute chase each time they load it up. I am actually watching it as I compose this critique! (Right at the sequence at the end where Harley pulls off the big swapperoo at the car wash!) Absolute stand-outs are the incredible smash on the freeway when Halicki takes out the power pole at 80 mph plus and the unimproved-upon final scene as the Mach-1 leaps several cars at the intersection. That shot, lovingly photographed from multiple slow-motion camera angles was worth the ticket price alone. The climactic scene in the 2000 version is just plain wimpy!

The plotline for the film is remarkably simple. Man steals cars for a living! For trivia fans who may NOT know. H. B. Halicki died during a stunt filming the sequel GONE IN 60 SECONDS : THE JUNKMAN which features arguably the greatest car stunt of all time. (Sorry, not telling!!)

Review by Zetes

Gone in 60 Seconds (1974)

Give me an L! Give me an A! Give me an M! And give me and E! What does that spell?,

LAME! This movie is incredibly lame! Before the car chase begins, the story makes no sense whatsoever. I was sitting there waiting for the famed car chase, yawning a bit. And then it came. And then, forty grueling minutes later, it was over. If I were not watching it with a friend, I would have turned it off about ten minutes through the chase. If I just could have fallen asleep!

Really, I’m not against car chases. But there was no reason to care about anything that happened in this movie. Did the characters even have names in this movie? I don’t remember. If you’re the kind of person who likes car chases a lot, all three Mad Max movies have chases that are a thousand times more exciting than the ones in Gone in 60 Seconds. There are characters we care about, and the stunts are innovative. The ones in this movie are repetitive and uninventive and unrealistic.

So really the only reason to watch this movie is to see muscle cars from the 60s and 70s, and if you’re that type of person, you should just be slapped back and forth in the face for eternity. Absolutely one of the biggest wastes of time ever made, devoid of anything remotely worthwhile. 1/10

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70s Films

A tour through the great and not so great films of the seventies The seventies saw a huge change in styles and genres from the advent of the slasher horror movies like Halloween and the blockbuster summers films started by Jaws. More...

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