Nicholas Cage as Memphis Raines

True fans of the genre will notice Cage's character hauls ass in a Shelby Mustang GT 500 almost identical to the car Steve McQueen tore up San Francisco's hillsides with in Bullitt back in the glorious, gas-guzzling daze of 1968. Bullitt, however, boasted grittier acting, McQueen's ice-cool persona, and Jacqueline Bisset as Steve's elegant English muffin. Not to be completely outdone, the always-appetizing Academy Award winner Angelina Jolie shines – though not nearly often enough – as Sway, Memphis's former flame and current Ferrari mechanic who for some reason moonlights as a roadhouse barmaid. Call me crazy, but I always figured exotic car technicians made decent money. Regardless, besides the 1994 Jaguar XJ 220, Angelina shows off the best curves in the movie as she assists Memphis on his mission to hot wire a car connoisseur's wet dream of 50 all too desirable automobiles, ranging from a 1970 Plymouth Hemi Cuda to a trio of supposedly "theft proof" Mercedes-Benz.

Angelina Jolie as Sway

Also seeing his career going in 60 seconds is the movie's third Oscar winning actor Robert Duvall as Otto Halliwell. Otto Graveyard would have been a more apropos name for Duvall's character who is a walking vault of automotive knowledge and somewhat reminiscent of the race-team mechanic Duvall played in Tom Cruise's NASCAR epic Days of Blunder, err Thunder. Otto too is coerced into returning to his naturally wicked ways and turns his respectable restoration business back into a chop shop for boosted Bentleys. Duvall reportedly got so into his character, or had so much time on his hands, during the film's making that he actually learned to pinstripe and do custom detail work when he wasn't learning his lines or presiding over the donut table. Of course, Duvall is as believable as always, and now has a real skill to fall back on once he gets this acting thing out of his system.

Meanwhile, back under the hood, Gone in 60 Seconds is a treat to gear heads everywhere who will revel in the pumped-up volume of each automobile's distinctive full-throttle thunder and engine-blowing roar. The inclusion of Jane's Addiction's "Been Caught Stealing" also makes for an amusing moment near the movie's end. Nevertheless, I still left the theater longing to hear such clutch-popping classics as "Highway Star," "Radar Love," or even Chuck Berry's "Maybelline," the hottest roddest driving tune of all time.

Unlike the movie's anti-heroic 1970s predecessors, which date back to Easy Rider and include such Drive-in double-feature fodder as Two Lane Blacktop, Dirty Mary Crazy Larry, The Driver and even Death Race 2000, Gone in 60 Seconds (loosely based on H.B. Halicki's 1974 film of the same name, which climaxed in a legendary forty-minute car chase) wraps up, not in a fiery crash and dramatic helicopter pull-back shot of billowing smoke and burning rubber, but in a feel-good BBQ scene with Memphis and Sway rumbling off into the sunset whiplash free and with no worse injury than a slight cut to Cage's lower lip. Anything more realistic would have cost the movie its PG-13 rating and untold hundreds of dollars at the box office.

As a diehard fan of the "Lone Stranger on the Endless Highway" kind of movie, I was so excited to see Gone in 60 Seconds that I was tempted to write a raving review based on the stars (believe it or not, two of my favorites), its turbo-charged title and provocative poster alone. Seeing is believing, though, or in this case disappointing. I'm trying not to be too harsh, as Gone in 60 Seconds isn't a joyless ride by current action standards. There are respectable amounts of action, suspense and comic release. But, unfortunately, it's aptly titled also, as the memory of the movie doesn't linger long after exiting the theater.