1974’s Gone in 60 Seconds, and the 2000 remake, are not exactly the best movies ever made. However one thing that can be said for the original is that the stunts are very real. Written by and starring H. B. Halicki, the movie destroyed 93 cars in just one 40 minute chase seen, and totalled 127 vehicles overall. Many, including all of the police cars, were bought by Halicki at auction in a very used state for under $200 per car.
Still, that’s not exactly pocket money in the seventies, so Halicki employed family and friends rather than professional actors in order to keep production costs low. There was also no official script (which kinda shows) and despite all of the stunts being filmed for real their authenticity is somewhat hampered by some spectacularly dodgy continuity. Much like this website.
The 2000 remake starring Angelina Jolie and Nicolas Cage was far better made, but professional production values didn’t really result in a better movie. They did keep Halicki’s star car though, albeit in updated form; a glorious custom 1967 Ford Mustang known as ‘Eleanor’.
Previous bloggee Lachlan Cameron has recreated the famous movie car from the Gone in 60 Seconds remake beautifully in Technic form, and has included a huge array of working technical functions underneath car’s the iconic bodywork. There’s lots more to see at Eleanor’s album on Flickr via the link above, and you can watch the original movie trailer – which is basically one minute and twenty seconds of car crashes – by clicking here!
