The Car Chase
Sep. 26th, 2011 12:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
woodwardiocomI saw two classic car chase movies recently. Vanishing Point is possibly the only full-length Hollywood picture to consist of one long chase, beginning to end. It has some startlingly beautiful camerwork in it, and some direly murky symbolism. If you wanted to teach someone about the clash of the 1960s and the Establishment (in the form of a car chase), this would be a good choice. And the Blu-Ray transfer is gorgeous.
The original Gone In Sixty Seconds doesn't live up to Point, in that only half the film is one long car chase. We joked that it was absolutely clear they didn't spend the budget on sets, actors, or even on-set sound recording (most of the dialogue is blatantly dubbed in afterwards). What they spent the budget on was cars to wreck. I swear, they get into Blues Brothers territory with the number of cop cars they destroy. Dumb, but likely to appeal to the 14-year-old boy in you.
The original Gone In Sixty Seconds doesn't live up to Point, in that only half the film is one long car chase. We joked that it was absolutely clear they didn't spend the budget on sets, actors, or even on-set sound recording (most of the dialogue is blatantly dubbed in afterwards). What they spent the budget on was cars to wreck. I swear, they get into Blues Brothers territory with the number of cop cars they destroy. Dumb, but likely to appeal to the 14-year-old boy in you.
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Date: 2011-09-26 05:45 pm (UTC)I sat down with the original "Gone..." a few years back when I was too tired for retro and gave up on it really quickly, which probably had had more to do with my mental state than the movie. (Mostly I remember it feeling like "Gone in Sixty Minutes" by dint of the pacing.) I need to give it another look.
FWIW, I've always thought the remake was one of Jerry Bruckheimer's more enjoyable movies. (Written by a guy from Needham, MA, oddly enough.) And it seems *Viggo Mortensen* did a remake of "Vanishing Point" in 1997. Is there anything more weirdly anachronistic-looking than a 14 year old homage to a 40 year old film?
http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi3823108377/
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Date: 2011-09-26 08:24 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-09-26 08:46 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-09-27 08:19 am (UTC)The original script for Vanishing Point had a scene wherein Kowalski meets Death in the form of a slim woman in black. They have sex on the side of the road, followed by a smidgen of profound conversation. I go back & forth on whether I would have enjoyed having that in the film.
Barry Newman, the actor who played Kowalski, bought the rights to the movie at a later point, intending to do a remake. Never happened. He asserts that the reason Kowalski was smiling at the end was because Kowalski thought he'd make it. He wanted to do the remake so that Kowalski survived.
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Date: 2011-09-27 01:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-09-28 05:02 am (UTC)