GONE IN 60 SECONDS (1974) - Review

Gone in 60 Seconds

Action/Crime/Drama
1 hour and 38 minutes
Rated: PG

Written by: H. B. Halicki
Directed by: H. B. Halicki
Produced by: H. B. Halicki

Cast:
H. B. Halicki
Eleanor
Marion Busia
Jerry Daugirda
James McIntyre
George Cole
Ronald Halicki
Markos Kotsikos

Let the wrecking begin.

With warmer weather on the way, several of us cinephiles are beginning to experience what I always refer to as: drive-in nostalgia. Tis the season to want to spend your summer nights under the stars, behind the wheel of your, with a big bucket of buttery popcorn, enjoying some of the more obscure selections that the art of cinema has to offer. Nothing cures these moments of drive-in nostalgia like a good low-budget exploitation flick from the 1970s.

Gone in 60 Seconds may just be the most perfect car-chase film to come out of the carsploitation craze of this era in cinema. The film boasts its exploitation formula to its own benefit - keep the plot simple, the dialogue minimal but entertaining, and add in as much car chases and car crashes as humanly possible. Where else in the history of cinema are you going to find a motion-picture that gives top billing to one of its vehicles?

Obviously, this type of film making presents multiple issues, and perfection can hardly be achieved from it. The film dives right into the central plot without much in the way of introduction to any of the characters. While this is the norm, considering the focus of carsploitation movies is simply the cars, it presents an issue within the story itself. When our hero (played by writer, director, producer H. B. Halicki) is double-crossed by a friend just before the film's explosive forty-minute climax, one can't help but feel that it'd be a more effective film if we truly cared about our hero being ripped off by his close friend. Similarly, there is clearly a love connection between the hero and the character played by Marion Busia, but this too seems to be abandoned rather than explored in order to make room for car crashes. None of this is really a bad thing that negatively hurts the film. It makes it less effective, but the beauty of Gone in 60 Seconds is that it's a film that never tries to be anything more than what it is: a made for shocks, carsploitation film.

The dialogue throughout the film is actually well-written. There are very few circumstances of dialogue, but what is present either drives the main storyline forward, or presents comical situations between the main protagonists. An especially effective scene involves a stolen car full of heroin nearly being discovered by a friendly police sergeant. In another sequence, one of the film's more likable performers is nearly mauled to death by a tiger after he discovers it asleep in the back seat of a vehicle he is trying to steal (hello future reference in The Hangover?). 

What remains clearly the most astounding thing about Gone in 60 Seconds is exactly what is meant to be the most impressive thing about it: the car chases and car crashes. Prior to the climax even, the film boasts some awe inspiring moments, including a theft gone-wrong that leads to a midnight car chase. Unquestionably, though, it is the forty-minute climactic car chase that will stick with audiences in regards to this film whenever it is mentioned. With Halicki doing most of the stunt work himself, and real police cars, pedestrians, bikers, and plenty of others who were at risk - the final result may be the most spectacular car chase to ever be recorded on film. Edited together with such technical precision by the film's editor Warner Leighton, and photographed from almost every angle imaginable by cinematographer Jack Vacek, the climactic chase is bound to keep any viewer's heart rate well above its average beats per minute.

Despite a paint-by-numbers exploitation formula, Gone in 60 Seconds manages to be an incredible motion-picture due to its embracing of its simplicity, and its really going for it attitude when it comes to its carsploitation moments. And with a plot that manages to be fun and entertaining enough, the film remains a likable staple of 1970s exploitation cinema that deserves much more recognition than it has earned from just its awful Nicolas Cage remake alone.

8/10