For fans that missed it the first time, Mill Creek Entertainment re-releases their stellar home version of “Gone in 60 Seconds” but now with a Digital Copy for buyers. Mill Creek is finally entering the digital arena for folks that bypass physical copies, and it’s a wise investment. The new release garners a restored and remastered version of the 1974 action film, and it’s a neat addition to the sub-genre of car based action films. “Gone in 60 Seconds” takes its premise and doles out a very solid and exciting action film with a slew of mesmerizing car chase sequences that are far more engrossing than the painfully inferior remake from 2000.
Halicki plays Maindrian Pace, an insurance investigator by day, and a car thief by night. He is tasked with stealing 48 cars in five days by a South American Drug Lord offering $40,000, until Pace is sold out by one of his team. Now after stealing his favorite car he calls “Eleanor,” he’s on the run to finish the job and evade the police at every turn. Writer/Producer/Director/Actor H. B. Halicki is recorded as filming much of the movie on such a miniscule budget and low resources, which is quite surprising how better his car chases work over the Nicolas Cage starring film vehicle. While the movie itself it a bit rough around the edges, it holds close to its heart the grit and raw that makes these movies so damn appealing.
While the movie itself is unevenly paced at times, and never quite resolves a lot of its storylines, the energy and wonderful filmmaking more than compensate. I actually managed to care about the characters, especially with the stakes raised high for Maindrian who promises to be caught at any moment during his heist. While the film itself is slim on narrative, it allows for a ton of really tense and exciting moments with Maindrian and his group runs around stealing rare cars, and barely avoiding jail time by relentless police. “Gone in 60 Seconds” is a surefire action movie gem, with a frenetic energy and genuine excitement that make it a standard for movie buffs of all kinds.
The blu-ray from Mill Creek features a two minute introduction from Denice Halicki who explores her husband H.B.’s passions, and his love for realism and stunts. There’s the original trailer, a thirty minute series of interviews with Lee Iacocca, Parnelli Jones, Jim Dilamarter, J.C. AgaJanian, Jr., and Bobby Ore, and finally fifteen minutes of rare footage. It’s mostly soundless, and garners eight minutes of first person driving footage and is mostly raw and candid footage of Halicki setting up and filming various car chase scenes.