Force Fed Films: Gone in 60 Seconds (1974)

Today we introduce a new site feature, Force Fed Films. Both Puneet and I pick a movie we want the other to watch. It doesn't have to be bad, it doesn't have to be good, but whatever is chosen, we MUST watch it. For my first film, Puneet chose the original 1974 Gone in 60 Seconds. You see he loves car movies and wanted me to experience this classic for myself. I was just glad he changed his mind from House of Wax! So hit the jump and find out how it all turned out.

I fired this baby up and was really looking forward to this as I actually really enjoyed the Nicholas Cage remake from 2000. Puneet really spoke highly of this film and it sounded like I was in for an easy ride. A classic. A good movie.

How far from the truth that was.

Let me paint you a picture of the start of this movie. We see men working on cars. We see men at the site of a car accident. We see men dismantling cars. We see a wedding. Yeah, the wedding threw me for a loop too. Over top of all of this is the voice of a man talking to a number of individuals, sometimes on the phone with someone, and in general, horribly boring exposition. This goes on for nearly 15 minutes. At the 12 minute mark I wanted to turn it off and found myself checking the time to see how long this torture was going to be.

Eventually people actually started talking on camera, but it quickly became apparent that they didn't have the budget for good sound recording equipment. The audio was simply terrible. Sure, the music in the background was bad, and could hardly be referred to as a soundtrack, but the actors were all so quiet! Clearly the voice-over for the first 15 minutes was due to not being able to record the actors properly, and they had to at least get some of the story quickly explained. Or maybe it was to avoid further ruined scenes by the horrendous acting of every member of the cast.

Seriously! A 40 minute chase sequence!

Luckily I only had to put up with the acting for about half the movie, as the last 40 minutes is one gigantic chase scene. Not only that, but it appears to be the same car doing the entire sequence the whole time, as the ever increasing damage of the car stays consistent for all 40 minutes. Too bad the entire thing was one of the most mundane chase scenes I've ever had to watch. It was like watching someone playing a Grand Theft Auto game, but not bothering to do anything worthwhile. Just randomly driving everywhere and anywhere, with an ever growing horde of cop cars on their tail. Except somehow this was boring and nothing happened.

I'll make this simple. Avoid this movie at all costs! I'm saying this for your own protection, this movie will make you want to drive your own car off the nearest cliff. I wish he had chosen House of Wax.