On G List of Movie Reviews

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Gone in 60 Seconds (1974)

Rate: 4
Viewed: 4/25

4/25: After seeing Gone in 60 Seconds with Nicolas Cage, I decided to check out the original.

And...it's not a good movie. I can see why it made $40 million at the box office against a budget of $150,000 which has everything to do with the cars. Getting an F is the story, the dialogue, the acting, the editing, and the sound. They're unbearably bad and heavily drenched in 70's fashion. It's hard to see during the night shots.

Then, there's the mother of them all: the forty-minute car chase which is the longest in history. This is the one that makes the film. Although not mind-blowing, there's a lot of potential in it. With a skilled editor on top of an actual plot, Gone in 60 Seconds could've been transformed into a well-made picture that would be an enduring classic to this day.

So, what happened to the guy who wrote, produced, directed, starred, and performed the stunts in Gone in 60 Seconds? His name was H.B. Halicki, and he died in a freak accident during the making of the sequel in 1989. For the big jump at the end of the original, he did it, resulting in ten compacted vertebrae, and was never able to walk the same again.

All in all, if not for the cars, there's no money in Gone in 60 Seconds.

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