My Favorite Movies: Number 65

Gone in 60 Seconds: (2000)

This is one of the first movies I can remember having built up anticipation for prior to its release. I had already seen the original 1974 film and was in love to the point of obsession with 60s era mustangs (my first car was a 66 red mustang). I think I saw this movie in theatres no less than four times that summer.

I like this film for what it is: a star-studded, action-packed, Jerry Bruckheimer high-octane car chase blockbuster. I don’t try to claim it is anything more than that, but I love it. It is a true guilty pleasure. Though the ensemble cast of stars helps keep your attention with Nicolas Cage, Angelina Jolie, Robert Duvall, Giovanni Ribisi, Scott Caan, and Will Patton, the cars in the movie steal the show (pun intended).

I can’t mention this movie without mentioning Eleanor, that beautiful 1967 Shelby Mustang GT500. The whole movie built up to that car, as the unicorn to Cage’s character Memphis Raines. And the final car chase did not disappoint, racing through the tight city streets, the roar of the exhaust, sprinting through the LA river drainage with a shot of nitrous to out run a helicopter, and finally climaxing with a gravity defying jump off a perfectly placed tow truck kissing the top of an ambulance with the back tire on the way down. 

I have probably seen this movie 30+ times since it came out, and each time I love it as much as the first. It's not the best movie ever, but for me its one of my all-time favorites