Gone in 60 Seconds (2000 film)



Gone in 60 Seconds (also known as Gone in Sixty Seconds) is a 2000 American action heist film starring Nicolas Cage, Angelina Jolie, Giovanni Ribisi, Christopher Eccleston, Robert Duvall, Vinnie Jones, and Will Patton. The film was directed by Dominic Sena, written by Scott Rosenberg, and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer. The film is a loose remake of the 1974 H.B. Halicki film of the same name.

The film was shot throughout Los Angeles and Long Beach, California. It was released on June 9, 2000 by Buena Vista Studios. Upon release, Gone in 60 Seconds received mixed reviews from critics. It was criticized for its writing and its direction as well as the acting, although Nicolas Cage and Angelina Jolie's performances, as well as the action sequences, were praised. Despite the critical failure, the film was a commercial success, grossing over $237 million against a budget of $90 million.

Plot
Kip Raines (Giovanni Ribisi), an aspiring car thief in Los Angeles, is working with his gang to steal fifty expensive cars for Raymond Calitri (Christopher Eccleston), a British gangster who has inexplicably taken over organized crime in Long Beach, via Calitri's associate, Atley Jackson (Will Patton). On the last heist, their antics bring attention by the police, and they narrowly avoid capture, though are forced to abandon the warehouse and the bulk of cars they stole. Detectives Castlebeck (Delroy Lindo) and Drycoff (Timothy Olyphant) seize the cars and begin an investigation.

Calitri kidnaps Kip and threatens to kill him in a car crusher for failing the job. Atley, sympathetic to Kip's plight, visits Kip's older brother, Randall "Memphis" Raines (Nicolas Cage), a former car thief having gone straight years before, and explains the situation. Memphis meets with Calitri to negotiate Kip's release, but in exchange, Calitri forces Memphis to agree to steal the fifty cars within 72 hours or else he will kill Kip.

Memphis visits his mentor Otto Halliwell (Robert Duvall) and they assemble a crew, including Donny Astricky (Chi McBride), Sphynx (Vinnie Jones), and Sara "Sway" Wayland (Angelina Jolie), Memphis' old flame. Kip and his crew also offer to help. Knowing the police will be watchful for the thefts, Memphis suggests to steal all the cars in a twelve-hour period. The group starts to identify the target cars with Memphis giving each a female name. He plans on stealing a modified 1967 Ford Shelby GT500, dubbed "Eleanor", last, as he considers the car cursed, with all previous attempts to steal one gone awry.

As they scout the car locations, Memphis is approached by Castlebeck and Drycoff. While they cannot charge him with any crime, they warn him that they are watching his activities closely, citing that he will be arrested if he does so much as to 'use an aerosol can in a manner other than directed'. Later, the detectives discover that some of the previous Mercedes heists were accomplished by ordering laser cut transponder keys direct from Hamburg, Germany, and they set up stakeouts to watch those cars specifically.

On the night of the heists, most of the initial thefts go without problems, with the gang members delivering the cars to Calitri's dock. When Memphis and others prepare to steal the Mercedes with the transponder keys, he gets a sense of something amiss, and has the gang abandon those; instead, they successfully scheme a way to obtain those cars from the police impound. Castlebeck, furious that he could not catch Memphis in the act, returns to the seized warehouse to search for any more clues.

They discover pieces of a blacklight lamp, and shortly discover the list of fifty cars written in ultraviolet-sensitive paint on the wall. Aware they cannot watch all those cars, Castleback focuses on the Shelby GT500, knowing Memphis' penchant for this car, and its rarity. They quickly locate the few Shelbys in the city.

Just as Memphis is about to take the Shelby, the detectives arrive. Memphis leads them and their police escort on a dangerous chase through the city, eventually ditching them near the docks. He delivers the damaged car to Calitri, who refuses it since Memphis was twelve minutes late and the car sustained damage. Calitri then has the Shelby crushed. Memphis again pleads for Calitri's mercy as he prepares to kill Memphis instead with a gun, but Kip and a repentant Atley overcome their guards, and force Calitri to flee into his dockside warehouse; Memphis gives chase just as Castlebeck and Drycoff arrive. Memphis and Calitri engage in a game of cat-and-mouse, the noise drawing the detectives inside.

Just as Calitri has Memphis cornered, Castlebeck appears, confusing Calitri, who then prepares to execute Castlebeck. Memphis seizes the opportunity to rush Calitri and push him over a railing to his death, saving Castlebeck. Memphis tensely explains the situation to Castlebeck and where they can find the other stolen cars, and Castlebeck reluctantly lets Memphis and Kip go.

The gang celebrates with a barbecue, and as a way of showing thanks, Kip announces he has sold off his chopper motorcycle to buy Memphis the partially-wrecked, but still drive-able, Shelby GT500 that Calitri had previously crushed. The film ends with Memphis and Sway driving the car, shortly before it breaks down.

Cast

 * Nicolas Cage as Randall "Memphis" Raines
 * Angelina Jolie as Sara "Sway" Wayland
 * Robert Duvall as Otto Halliwell
 * Will Patton as Atley Jackson
 * Delroy Lindo as Detective Roland Castlebeck
 * Giovanni Ribisi as Kip Raines
 * Christopher Eccleston as Raymond Calitri
 * Vinnie Jones as Sphinx
 * Scott Caan as Tumbler
 * T.J. Cross as Mirror Man
 * James Duval as Fred
 * Timothy Olyphant as Detective Drycoff
 * Chi McBride as Donny Astricky
 * William Lee Scott as Toby
 * Grace Zabriskie as Helen Raines
 * Frances Fisher as Junie Halliwell
 * Stephen Shellen as Roger
 * Trevor Goddard as Don
 * Master P as Johnny B
 * Carmen Argenziano as Detective Mayhew
 * Bodhi Elfman as Fuzzy Frizzel
 * Arye Gross as James Lakewood
 * Dan Hildebrand as Saul
 * Michael Peña as Ignacio
 * John Carroll Lynch as Impound Manager

Cars featured
The 50 cars, stolen in the film, are listed below. They are listed in the same order as seen in the film; by year and model, along with their respective codenames.

Production


In 1995, Denice Shakarian Halicki entered into a license contract to produce the remake with Disney and Jerry Bruckheimer. Filming began in 1999, with Halicki as Executive Producer.

The film trailer was narrated by Melissa Disney and the film is widely credited as one of the first major movies to employ a female trailer voice.

Soundtrack
A soundtrack containing a blend of rock, electronic, and hip hop music was released on June 6, 2000 by the Island Def Jam Music Group. It peaked at #69 on the Billboard 200.

Box office
Gone in 60 Seconds premiered on June 9, 2000. In its opening weekend, Gone in 60 Seconds grossed $25,336,048 from 3,006 US theaters, leading all films that weekend. By the end of the film's theatrical run, it had grossed $101,648,571 domestically and $135,553,728 internationally, comprising a total gross revenue for the film of $237,202,299 worldwide. Though the film earned a $237 million worldwide box office gross, Slate columnist Edward Epstein argued that, after overhead, it lost roughly $90 million after all expenses, including the $103.3 million it cost to make the film, were taken into account over the four years following the film's release.

Critical reception
The film garnered a mostly mixed reaction from critics. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that 25% out of 137 reviews gave the film a positive review, with an average rating of 4.4/10. The website's critical consensus reads: "Even though Oscar-bearers Nicolas Cage, Angelina Jolie, and Robert Duvall came aboard for this project, the quality of Gone in 60 Seconds is disappointingly low. The plot line is nonsensical, and even the promised car-chase scenes are boring." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 35 out of 100, based on 34 critics, indicating "mixed reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.