Gone in 60 Seconds 1974

“You can lock your car. But if he wants it...it's GONE IN 60 SECONDS”[1] Before there was Angelina Jolie and Nicholas Cage stealing 48 cars in the 2000 version of Gone in 60 Seconds, there was the not so Hollywood original released in 1974. It was written, produced, directed, and stars H.B. Halicki, who also did most of the stunt driving. Halicki stars as Maindrian Pace, an insurance investigator that also happens to steal cars. He makes a deal with a South American drug lord to steal 48 specific cars for him, all to be delivered to the Long Beach docks within five days. Pace’s only rule is that all of the stolen cars must be insured. Like the remake, all of the cars have female code names to mask their illegal scheme. Problems and disputes between the thieves come to a head way, when one of them calls in a tip to the police on where the final car will be stolen from. That final car is a 1973 black and gold Ford Mustang code named “Eleanor.” Pace steals the car but the cops are there and this leads to a forty minute car chase through six different California cities.

The film is by no step a masterpiece; there was virtually no script, the sound is poor, and the acting is not very good. They pretty much just made up things as they went along and most of the actors were friends and family, in order to save on production costs. What you do end up with is one of the longest and greatest car chase scenes put to film, with somewhere around 93 cars and a garbage truck being destroyed. There were multiple real accidents that occurred and were luckily captured on camera; including a police car overturning, an actor nearly being hit, and when “Eleanor” gets rear ended and hits a light pole at a speed of 100 mph. The final big climax has “Eleanor” jumping over a series of wrecked cars, covering a height of 30’ and distance of 128’ without the use of a catapult or special effects. Halicki injured himself on the stunt, compressing his spine in the landing[1].

Halicki was killed in 1989 during the preparation for a stunt for a sequel. While this version is nowhere near as slick and glossy as the remake and it has its flaws, this is still essential viewing for fans of car chase scenes.

 

Works Cited

[1]	"IMDB," IMDB, 14 3 2016. [Online]. Available: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0071571/taglines?ref_=tt_stry_tg. [Accessed 14 3 2016].