Deadline Auto Theft (1983)

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 ... See full summary »

Director:

H.B. Halicki

Writer:

H.B. Halicki

Stars:

H.B. Halicki, Hoyt Axton, Marion Busia

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
H.B. Halicki	...	Maindrian Pace
Hoyt Axton	...	Captain Gibbs
Marion Busia	...	Pumpkin Chase
Jerry Daugirda	...	Eugene Chase
George Cole	...	Atlee Jackson
Lang Jeffries	...	Lt. Arthur
Dan Grimaldi	...	Carl
Judi Gibbs	...	Herself
Pat Hartigan	...	Lt. Reed
Butch Stockton	...	1-Baker-11 Detective (Driver)
Phil Woods	...	1-Baker-11 Detective (Passenger)
James McIntyre	...	Stanley Chase
Ronald Halicki	...	Corlis Pace
Markos Kotsikos	...	Uncle Joe Chase
Maureen Coddington	...	Officer DuPree

Storyline

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.

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Plot Keywords:

car chase | car crash | auto theft | bricklin

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Genres:

Action | Comedy | Drama

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

28 October 1983 (USA)

Also Known As:

Auf dem Highway spielt die Polizei verrückt

Filming Locations:

Anaheim, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

H.B. Halicki Mercantile Co.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

98 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

Captain Gibbs is astonished when Carl says his license plate number is "UDUNOME". Carl explains that "MRCOOL" was already taken. As seen later in the film (and in the original Gone in 60 Seconds), it was taken in reality - by Lyle Waggoner.

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Goofs

The rear view mirror in Captain Gibbs's Jaguar disappears and reappears throughout the opening chase.

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Connections

Edited from Gone in 60 Seconds (1974)

User Reviews

Not very often do you get someone to rip-off their own film

This is basically the cult classic 'Gone in 60 Seconds' with some added plot and few a few extra heaps of twisted metal.

H.B. Halicki wanted to improve upon his initial successful film, so in conjunction while shooting the sequel 'The Junkman' he squeezed in some time to shoot the few extra scenes seen here. The result is pretty worthless. Like many camp classics, it is not plot or aesthetic quality that makes them good. It is the tongue-in-cheek nature that makes them fun romps. Can you imagine 'The Evil Dead' being "improved" upon? Sounds stupid to even consider, though Sam Raimi is trying to get a remake off the ground. However, he is pretty much starting from scratch with that, while here you have the same film with scenes added years later. The differences between these scenes are so apparent that it becomes ridiculous. Styles of clothes and even the condition of the old and new shots is so inconsistent that you'll be thinking an ape edited the film.

What is even more disappointing that the "additions" don't add anything. They merely stretch out a film which goes against the whole point of good editing where you trim for good pacing. Also, the new chase scene in the beginning is highly mediocre and the climatic chase from the original is here untouched so by the time you get past the middle of the film you've seen it all before. The funny thing is H.B. Halicki's widow introduces the film as if it were a totally new movie on the DVD introduction.

So only watch this if you want to see the famous 40 minute chase scene and cannot get the original in your hands. Or if you want to see an overblown array of car crashing that is the only thing that H.B Halicki managed to shoot for yet another chase film , but was killed in a stunt accident. That comes as a special feature on the DVD. But it is really nothing special and gets well beyond the line of ridiculousness with its slow motion, ever mounting metallic carnage. That essentially amounts to this film being waste of time. 2/10

Rated PG for metal crunching mayhem