Gone in Sixty Seconds (2000)

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Overview:

An action movie with a specific focus on cars, Gone in Sixty Seconds came out in 2000 based somewhat on a film of the same name made in 1974. Directed by Dominic Sena and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer with Nicolas Cage and Angelina Jolie headlining. 

Randall "Memphis" Raines is forced to come out of car thief retirement when his kid brother gets into too much trouble with a notoriously evil crime boss. Now it's up to Memphis to pick up his brother's clack and steal 50 cars in only three days or his brother will be killed. 

Plot Summary:

Kip Raines is a young car thief with his own crew and even a large order of cars to steal. Next up on his list is a Porsche and they steal it straight out of the dealership floor. As Kip and one of his crew, Mirror Man, ride away in the Porsche they are seen racing away from a stop light by two police officers. Arriving back at their warehouse headquarters with the rest of the crew they all begin to celebrate another car stolen and mark it off a list written on the wall and only visible by black light. The cops bare down on the warehouse though, following the Porsche all the way back. The crew begin cleaning up as quickly as possible, taking all evidence of what they have been doing and the keys to all the stolen cars. Tumbler, another crew member, accidentally breaks one of the black light bulbs.

Castlebeck

The crew escapes but Detective Roland Castlebeck rolls into the warehouse with his partner Detective Drycoff. Castlebeck knows this was a professional operation, no damage to the cars, little to no evidence of why they were stealing the cars, and no Honda Civics among the bunch of cars. Castlebeck even manages to find shards of the black light glass but isn't sure exactly what its from so he sends it to the police lab.

 Learning about Kip's trouble

Randall "Memphis" Raines, Kip's older brother, works out in the middle of nowhere at a go kart track for kids and fixing up cars. An old friend shows up, Atlee Jackson, and fills Memphis in on what has been happening. Kip had taken a job from a crime boss named Raymond Calitri and promised 50 high-end and rare cars in 2 weeks. Memphis agrees to go with Atlee, who works for Calitri now, and they arrive at Exeter Salvage and Steel which is owned by Calitri. Kip is being held for his failure, handcuffed to the steering wheel of a car inside of a car crusher. Memphis listens to Calitri who is embarrassed about the loss and offers Memphis the job. Memphis is out of the game though, he pays Calitri's advance back and figures the matter to be settled. But it isn't, Calitri doesn't want to be embarrassed by not shipping the cars and refuses to let the Raines' brothers off the hook.

 Why are you in town Memphis?

The next day Castlebeck is on the trail of the big boost he discovered and hears that the Memphis Raines is back in town. Just outside of Memphis' mom's place of work he find Memphis. Inside Memphis was asked by his mom to get Kip out of the trouble he is in, outside Memphis denies anything and claims he is in town on family business. Castlebeck is still suspicious and thinks that original busted boost Kip was doing just felt like Memphis' work.

Despite the heat from Castlebeck, Memphis heads out to see one of his old crew, Otto. Otto is now running a restoration car shop instead of the old chop shop where Memphis learned to start stealing cars the right way. Memphis explains the trouble Kip is in and is forced to ask for help. The job is 50 cars in only 3 days with a limited crew. Otto agrees to help out and the begin making phone calls to some old friends.

Donny

First up is Donny who is giving driving lessons to a young chinese woman and very glad to help Memphis and his brother out. Further down the list of mostly dead or incarcerated criminals is Sphinx, a man who doesn't talk but knows how to steal cars. And finally is Sway, Memphis' former girlfriend. She works too jobs to pay bills and Memphis is able to convince Sway to leave her now clean life to help Kip's problem. Outside the bar Memphis is confronted by Johnny B, a local thug and wannabe crime boss who heard Memphis and Kip took the Calitri job which Johnny B thinks would have gone to him. His goons begin beating Memphis up until Sphinx shows up. Sphinx doesn't mess around and blows Johnny B's car up then proceeding to beating all of his goons up saving Memphis. 

Meanwhile Castlebeck figures the only way the newer Mercedes were stolen from the original job were through specially ordered laser cut keys. These keys could only have come from a dealership and after investigating the employees of a nearby dealership, one sticks out. They pay him a visit and admits to selling three laser cut keys to a "boxer looking guy". Castlebeck tells him to call him back if the guy ever shows up again.

Kip and his young crew meet up with Memphis and his old school crew with an offer to help out. After understanding that Memphis makes all the calls and orders the two groups agree to work together due to the large size of the job. The boost, car thefts, has to be done in only one night that way the police don't catch on until all the cars are gone already. Toby, one of Kip's crew, hack into the insurance database finding addresses for some cars, Donny heads to the DMV and pays for more addresses for the remaining cars. Memphis poses as a rich asshole who is looking for a specific type of Ferrari, the type that is kept in the local Ferrari warehouse along with other rare Ferraris.

Eleanor

Castlebeck catches wind that the "boxer looking guy" is picking up another set of Mercedes keys and follows him, Tumbler another of Kip's crew, back to Otto's garage where everyone is planning the boost. Castlebeck holds back for the night and sets up surveillance at the three Mercedes the laser cut keys are for. Memphis and the two crews begin scouting every single car on the list so they can prepare everything needed to steal them all the following night. The last car to be boosted is Eleanor, a 1967 Shleby Mustang GT 500. Eleanor is a car that almost refuses to be stolen, no matter how many times Memphis has tried to steal the car something always goes wrong. 

With everything scouted out, and a little trouble from Johnny B, the team are preparing the next day for the night's boost which must be done by 8am sharp the following morning. Freb, from Kip's crew known for ordering pizza really well, steals his own car thats not on the list after spotting it just sitting in a neighborhood with its keys in the ignition. Everyone gets on his case for stealing a car not on his list and it gets worse when bags of heroin are found in the trunk. It goes further downhill when Castlebeck rolls up onto Otto's garage trying to get any information on the boost. With some heroin on the ground and some of the calls signs still laying out. Castlebeck spots the call signs but not the heroin after they convince him to rev the stolen Cadillac blowing the heroin away. 

Lowrider

The heat is on but so is the boost, with lowrider playing, the crew begin their long night of stealing cars. The first of Ferraris from the warehouse are easy to steal along with a series of other cars. It isn't until Memphis approaches the first of the three Mercedes that he notices a van, Castlebeck's surveillance van, has moved two houses closer. Memphis orders the Mercedes to be left alone just as Donny is approaching another one. After talking it over at Otto's they figure the source of the keys was tainted when Tumbler got them. They realize though they still have the original keys from the original Mercedes that are now impounded by the police but with one bigger problem, Otto's dog ate the keys. With two of the crew waiting for the dog to do his business everyone else continues with the boost.

The Original List

With the Mercedes finally boosted and most of the list now settled in a cargo ship and the deadline approaching Castlebeck gets a lead on Calitri and on the glass he found at Kip's warehouse. Castlebeck finds Kip's list written in black light only pen on the wall and despite the large list, Castlebeck figures that Memphis will leave Eleanor for last. With the Hummer they try to steal almost caught and one of Kip's crew shot stealing another car its up to Memphis to the steal the very last car, Eleanor.

Just as Memphis is rolling away in the Mustang he is spotted by Castlebeck just arriving to watch over the car. The two begin a car chase through the streets of Long Beach, he out drives a helicopter through the LA river, and through a shipyard where he finally creates a big enough gap from Castlebeck to head to Calitri's cargo ship. Unfortunately for Memphis as he arrives at the Vincent Thomas Bridge he finds an accident blocking the entire lane. However he spots an opportunity just as Castlebeck and the police arrive, a tow truck lowered just right for him to ramp over the accident. 

Despite the chase, Memphis doesn't arrive on time. With Atley covering for Kip, saying he left town already, Memphis will take the fall for only having 49 cars by 8am. Memphis does arrive, albeit 12 minutes late and Eleanor a bit beat up, and says everything is fine because he did exactly what Calitri asked, 50 cars in 3 days. Calitri sends two thugs out to kill Memphis in his junk yard but Atley is able to distract the two goons long enough for Kip to knock them out with a crane. Memphis goes back inside to get revenge on Calitri who manages to retreat to his office and grab a gun.

Castlebeck arrives at Calitri's just in time to hear the gunshots as the three of them play a cat and mouse game through the steam-works of Calitri's junk yard. Calitri gets the jump on Castlebeck after shooting a steam pipe and causing Castlebeck to drop his gun. Even after learning that Castlebeck is a police officer he is about to shoot him when Memphis kicks Calitri over the ledge and down through the ceiling of his own office. Castlebeck wants to arrest Memphis for his crimes but understands why he did everything for Kip and for saving his life, so he lets Memphis go.

The two crews celebrate their victory with a barbeque and beer with Kip presenting Memphis a gift for all the things he did for him, his very own Eleanor. A bit beat up sure but finally Memphis has his unicorn.

Critical Reception:

Gone in 60 Seconds grossed over $100 million in the United States alone but received mostly poor critical reception. With the finaicial succes of the film a sequel began development but due to Nicolas Cage's continued scheduling conflicts from his heavy filming routine one was never able to be made. 

Director's Cut:

Eleanor:

'67 Mustang Shelby GT 500

A 1967 Shelby Mustang GT 500, Eleanor is beyond just another car. She is a call back to the days when cars were made to be fast and big rather than fuel efficiency. She is a unicorn, a mystical creature that is impossible to catch, and serves as Memphis' white whale throughout the movie. She is a fickle machine, even the lightest of scratches or the wrong words will cause Eleanor to turn on you. 

In the original Gone in Sixty Seconds Eleanor was a 1973 Ford Mustang Mach 1. Just like in the remake Eleanor doesn't go down without a fight and the crew have to find more than one of them after being forced to return the first one.