Gone in 60 Seconds (4 Stars)

There are a lot of films that have a car chase. "Gone in 60 seconds" is a car chase that has a film. There's a plot, but the story is dull and the acting is lacklustre. My advice is that you skip the first 55 minutes and just watch the car chase that fills the rest of the film. Some people claim that it lasts 40 minutes, but I timed it at a mere 32 minutes. It's a matter of definition, whether you begin when the car is driving or when the pursuit begins. Whatever the exact length is, it's one of the best car chases ever filmed.

When you ask people for lists of the best car chases the answers differ a lot. It depends on what the criteria are. Do you mean the length of the chase? That would put "Gone in 60 Seconds" at the top of the list. Do you like car chases with extras, such as the special effects in "The Matrix Reloaded"? What about crazy elements, such as the tank in "GoldenEye"? The Terminator films all have exciting car chases. "The Raid 2" combines a car chase with a martial arts battle. Do you think that car chases using CGI are acceptable, or do you just want a no-frills car chase with stunt men sitting in real cars, pedal to the metal?. "Death Proof" is Quentin Tarantino's homage to the pre-computer days when car chases were real.

"Gone in 60 Seconds" was made in 1974 and features one of the greatest classic car chases. An army of stunt men are shown driving and crashing cars. The streets weren't completely cordoned off for the shoots, leading to some unplanned extras. For instance, the appearance of the biker gang in the film was unplanned. They were out for a casual drive when the police cars raced by in pursuit of the yellow Mustang. Thinking they were real policeman the bikers shouted abuse as they passed. Things like that can't be planned.

My four-star rating is a composite rating, the average of two stars for the first 55 minutes and five stars for the rest.

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P. S. Don't bother with the 2000 remake of this film, however talented the actors are. The story and acting are better, but it has a much inferior car chase. They don't make them like they used to.