"Sometimes when you steal a car you get more than you bargain for". Oh fo sho. I mean sometimes you get a movie out of the whole shebang. And uh, sometimes you get a car chase that's its own separate entity, clocking in at about 40 minutes. Crazy town.
So yeah, 1974's Gone in 60 Seconds is the original Gone in 60 Seconds, only to be later remade into a more commercialized, Nic Cage vehicle of the same title (pun intended). "Gone", well it takes place in Long Beach, California, amidst the Southern Cali smog and seedy, Southern Cali underbelly. The gist: a drug lord pays a car thief and his merry men to steal 48 cars in 5 days. Seems easy right? Wrong. The fuzz is on the prowl and they'll do whatever it takes to thwart the mighty operation. "I should have read my horoscope this morning". Yeah you should have pal, before trying to lift that Ford Mustang named "Eleanor".
Starring H. B. Halicki, Marion Busia, and George Cole (never heard of these guys, have you?), Gone in 60 Seconds is the ultimate "Me' Decade" pic, a supposed drive-in mainstay warts and all. Possibly the inspiration for the Beastie Boys music vid "Sabotage" (possibly), "Gone" is 70s Cheese Whiz I tell you, with director Halicki giving us something the late William Friedkin would've done had he made The French Connection into a low budget porn flick minus a little "ooh la la".
Gene Hackman thrillers and processed sauces aside, "Gone" has got poor dubbing with a little tongue-in-cheek added. It also has goofball, wooden acting that seems rather appropriate for all the automobile theft shenanigans going down. Then there's "Gone's" choppy editing with zooms and car crash continuity errors gone aplenty. Finally, Gone in 60 Seconds has a modernized musical score from Ronald Halicki and Philip Kachaturian that sort of supplies a breezy, wound up intensity. Heck, it all seems to come together despite a few defects (har har), giving the audience member a screw loose classic speaker systems everywhere still probably salivate over. "Seconds" in command!
Written by Jesse Burleson
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