After the attempted theft of his daughter's husband's car, LAPD Captain Gibbs declares war on master car thief Maindrian Pace, whose insurance investigation company provides the perfect front. A South American drug lord pays Pace and his team to steal 48 cars for him, so they set out on the job while the police frantically try to track him down. Their efforts pay off when Pace's boss double-crosses him and tips them off on his next job. Police pursue Pace in "Eleanor", the last of the cars needed to fulfill their contract, through southern California as he tries to get away.
Reviews
Irascible LAPD captain Gibbs (a amiable and dynamic portrayal by country singer Hoyt Axton) goes after master thief Maindrian Pace (writer/director H.B. Halicki) after Pace steals a car belonging to his obnoxious son-in-law Carl (a lively and amusing performance by Dan Grimaldi). Moreover, a South African drug lord pays Price and his crew to boost 48 cars for him. Halicki keeps the flimsy, but still enjoyable story zipping along at a constant brisk pace, maintains an engaging lighthearted tone throughout, and stages the copious rousing car chases and fender-bending vehicular carnage with rip-roaring aplomb. The last thirty minute extended car chase in particular is simply spectacular, with more than enough burnt rubber and mangled metal on hand to satisfy aficionados of this sort of stuff. Sure, the bulk of this flick is recycled footage from "Gone in 60 Seconds," but it's still a total blast just the same.
What a rip-off! Deadline Auto Theft is actually the original Gone in 60 Seconds with some very minor editing. It is well established that Gone in 60 Seconds 2 is unfinished and this shows the stunt sequences that would have been in that film. That amounts to about 33 minutes of car chases with no storyline to speak of. If you've seen the original Gone in 60 Seconds, acquiring this film will be an extraordinary waste of time unless for some reason you insist on seeing the complete Halicki body of work, in which case, the special features are quite nice. Everyone else should rent this, or the original Gone in 60 Seconds, not both.
One scene in the film shows an auto dealer billboard at his Buick Dealership saying "'73 model clearance, save $$$" I would say the person that commented it was a 1974 film that had scenes added would be correct. If you look at the cars in the film none are newer than 1974. Don't know how they came up with a 1983 release date unless it was released that year and was 10 years later than it was made. A great chase movie with real mayors and city folks in the movie. Don't think you could film that chase scene today with insurance and all. I used to live down in Torrance, CA and recognized the area and streets they used during the filming.
This movie is essentially identical to his original Gone in 60 Seconds. Most of the car and chase scenes are identical. Actually, I don't recall any being different. The Dodge Challenger scene is there, the garage showing all the cars, as well as, the several encounters with Eleanor. Only a few of the dialog sequences are changed. Halicki I believe did this because he didn't like the original plot. The changes add more law scenes. Primarily a loud talking sheriff who constantly demands that the need to find the culprit. I rated this low not really because of the virtual similarity to the original. Really, it's not that bad. I actually rated the original a 7 or 8. There's just no reason to buy both versions in my opinion. However, there is a DVD version that contains both this, as well as, Gone in 60 Seconds 2: Junkman. If you have to have it, I would recommend buying this DVD as it would save you a few bucks.