Gone in 60 Seconds

[laura_seabrook]

Watched this film again today, after first seeing it maybe 25-30 years ago.

I first saw it at the Liberty Cinema in Perth on Barrack St. I don't even know if that cinema still exists - the last time I was in Perth, in 2005, I noticed that so many CBD cinemas were gone (or had been turned into Woolworths). The Liberty Cinema was were I first saw Desperate Living, Baraka, and a whole host of arts/cult films. On Sundays it would show Chinese language films, especially Martial Arts flicks.

Anyway, it was interesting to see this again. I'd forgotten just how non-mainstream it was. The film quality looks like super 8 and for the first ten minutes it's hard to figure out just who's talking to whom. According to Jenn, who's seen the remake, there are whole scenes that have been lifted from the original.

It's all about stealing cars and a 40 minute car chase which is the main feature of the film. After watching the interviews and seeing the extra (often silent) footage that's featured on the DVD, it's clear that many of the stunts weren't fake. There's some slow motion footage that's been cranked up, but for the most part it seems that the real actors drove the real cars as seen in the film. Also, due to restricted budget, it seems that real police and firemen played, you guessed it, police and firemen.

What surprised me was the fact that this was a self-funded film, and that the main character was also the director - explains a lot of under action, though the real star of the film is "Eleanor", a 1973 Ford Mustang. Gasp - this film started a whole genre of chase films.

Good to see it again.