Released 1974

Dir. H.B. Halicki

              I once learned, when writing or making a movie, write or make the movie you would want to watch. Someone else out there will probably want to see it and enjoy it. I don’t know if that’s what was going on in H.B. Halicki’s mind, but his creation of Gone in 60 Seconds in 1974 certainly backs up this theory. Produced completely independent of a major Hollywood studio, and financed entirely by Halicki himself, Gone in 60 Seconds has become one of the greatest car chase movies of all-time. As well as a cult classic.

              If you’re into cars, it’s not hard to like, or even love Gone in 60 Seconds. Top billing goes literally to Eleanor, a 1973 Mach 1 Mustang, the human characters are nowhere near as important. The story is simple, steal 48 specific cars in a short period of time for delivery to a South American drug lord. And not get caught. The plotting is sketchy, the dialogue is clunky, the acting is atrocious, but all that really doesn’t matter, you learn the art of stealing a car, which is a really nice take away. For someone who didn’t really know anything about filmmaking, Halicki managed to put together a production that is huge in scope, for very little money, that remains undeniably watchable.

              It would be so easy to tear this movie apart from a script, structure and acting standpoint, but that would be unfair. Script wise, there are subplots that are underdeveloped, never resolved, or just disappear as quickly as they are introduced. However, there are clever little twists and jokes that come together by the end, that, if you catch them will make you smile. The first half of the movie is an amateur hour of filmmaking, starring Halicki and his real-life friends and family, but it’s good enough to draw you in. The only character that is developed is Eleanor, the car that is proving the most difficult to steal. She is the final car to fill the order. This sets the stage for the epic 40-minute car chase that has made this movie so rightfully famous.

              I am unfamiliar with the geography of Long Beach California, and the surrounding area, but Eleanor seamlessly tears through the streets, highways and sidewalks, followed by a never-ending stream of cop cars. Leaving a six-city path of wreckage, that would playout in later decades so frequently on live tv in the Los Angeles area. This helps me believe that this could be happening in real time. Small dramas play out along the way, as accidents pile up causing someone to be rescued from a burning car, a Cadillac dealership is thrown into chaos as Eleanor stops by for a visit, and a young couples test drive ends in disaster.  The peril of rubbernecking is on full display as car after car is slammed from the rear by other motorists watching the mayhem. So let that be a lesson to you.

              The chase is a true adrenaline rush, that is as raw as the filmmaking on display, you feel every hit Eleanor takes. The speed is intense as is the feeling of pursuit. The police will not give up, punishing their cars to the maximum. Their lights and sirens give them an identity, and menace. There is almost a Buster Keaton feel to the chase. Endless cops, and a make it up as we go along style of filmmaking, which is close to the truth. Stunts are improvised, and in more than one instance there are real mishaps that add a heightened sense of reality to the freeway mayhem.

              There’s nothing profound about Gone in 60 Seconds, it’s about as profound as a manual transmission. No life lessons, unless you’re into stealing cars for profit. It won’t cure world hunger or bring peace in our time. But, if you think long and hard, which is completely optional, imagine what can be accomplished if you have a dream and the passion to follow it. H.B. Halicki made it happen. His $140,000 investment earned $40million at the box-office.

               H.B. Halicki never became a force in Hollywood, I don’t think that that was ever his intention. He just wanted to make the ultimate car chase movie.  Halicki would go on to make a couple more films, financed solely by himself. In 1989, he was in the process of making a fourth film, when he was tragically killed in an on-set accident. He was following his dream. And when Hollywood made their remake of Halicki’s original passion project, in 2000, they failed to match the adrenaline pounding intensity of the 1974 original. They didn’t even come close. What does that tell you?

The original Gone in 60 Seconds is streaming on Tubi or available on a collector’s edition DVD.