The Junkman

Customer Reviews:

Not Fred Sanford - a different Junkman.......2007-08-13

The Junkman is the follow-up to H.B. Halicki's Gone In 60 Seconds (1974). It is an independent film written, produced by, and starring the self-made amateur. Thus, I'm inclined to judge it with a kinder and gentler tone. The plot is centered around a salvage yard mechanic that grew into a successful filmmaker and business mogul. The viewer isn't burdened with the details of how this came to be, as this movie is all about action and not a biography. What's important to the viewer is that some unknown party wants him to die in a spectacular and highly publicized death. So while on the road minding his own business our mechanic/mogul finds himself ambushed by 4 armed assassins. Two are in cars, two are in biplanes. Our unarmed hero has only his wits and driving skills versus their semi-automatic weapons and grenades.

You are not going to watch this for the plot, which is quite thin. You will not be dazzled by the acting, the cast is quite unskilled. For heaven's sake, don't expect intriguing dialogue! This movie is the filming of a cat and mouse game with cars and airplanes. The rest of the movie is an afterthought, it would seem. The idea here was to raise the bar set by the excellent chase scene in the original Gone In 60 Seconds, but The Junkman falls a bit short.

Almost all of the car crashes and stunts - including the car jumping over the low flying airplane - are superfluous and add nothing to the great escape attempt. Careless onlookers rear ending each other over and over gets boring pretty quickly. Of course reports of a grenade lobbing airplane is going to get the attention of the police. Scores of police units are dispatched to... contribute to the gratuitous crashing. An army of police converging on the assassination attempt would have made for a much more thrilling event, but not a single unit made it that far. After Gone in 60 Seconds, it's incredulous that Halicki didn't recognize this!

Furthermore, whereas Gone In 60 Seconds wisely put the great escape at the end of the movie, The Junkman places this event early in the film. After it's over, there is little reason to watch the rest of the film, due to the amateurish state of everything else about the film. The hero does eventually confront the person that had him marked for death and we are led to believe that they will settle their differences with a man-to-man, bare-knuckle rooftop brawl. But suffice it to say, the movie ends with a whimper.

Gone In 60 Seconds is the better film. Watch it before considering The Junkman (or Deadline Auto Theft). The Junkman isn't terrible if you consider how it came to be, but it will certainly not appeal to everyone and should certainly be avoided by more critical viewers.

The Suck. Yup........2007-07-09

If your taste in movies revolves around watching a man (with an enormous ego) who can't act playing a man who can't act who loves the sight of ground metal, then you need to have your head examined.

I want those two hours of my life back.

DVD.......2007-01-12

If you like car crash and car chase scenes then this is the movie. If you have seen the original "Gone in 60 seconds". Then you may not be impressed because a lot of the same footage is used in all three movies. It was still worth seeing.

Great movie.......2006-08-28

This movie has a better attempt at a story than Halicki's previous movie, Gone in 60 Seconds, but the driving and stunts aren't quite as exciting. Still, Halicki delivers more the rip-roaring action and comedy in a way that looks more realistic than most movies of this style. The story is still feels like it was inserted more as an afterthought to the stunts and action sequences, but it was a more coherent than it's predecessor.

An auto 'Plan 9 from Outer Space'.......2006-08-20

One star (hey, I'm being generous) for acting, direction, cinematography, editing, art direction, sound recording, writing, costumes, makeup and all those other creative areas that contribute to the magic of the movies. You'll be hard put to find a single redeeming feature in this nonsense. Halicki's other car caper special, 'Gone in 60 Seconds', was pretty dreadful in all the above departments but at least it had a cool forty minute car chase, which, thanks to film editor Warner Leighton, turned out rather well but even he could not do much with 'The Junkman'.

There is plenty of chase action but most of it takes place in the safety of the Californian countryside and so loses the visual impact of a city chase with plenty of other vehicles and obstructions. Cars at speed on rural routes just look feeble.

If you want chases stick to 60 Seconds and forget 'The Junkman'. BTW, it was originally titled 'Gone in 60 Seconds 2.

Average customer rating:

More Junk

Gone in 60 Seconds/The Junkman
Starring: Gone in 60 Seconds 2pak
Manufacturer: Halicki Films
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Action & Adventure | Genres | DVD | Video

( G ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
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ASIN: B0000C0FGL
Release Date: 2003-07-22

Customer Reviews:

More Junk.......2004-11-17

Gone in "60"seconds was a great film~I am really sorry it had to be backed up with such a poor continuance~The acting"if you want to call it that"is the same as the first one in the series.The stunts are way over the top~but,if I had known the over all movie was going to be so bad with rambling non coherant scenes(oviously cocaine WAS popular in the 70's).I would just settled with Gone the 1st one~and had nothing to do with the other two in this triogly~Save your money~Or better yet buy"Highwaymen"~

TV Double Feature-Telephone Time-Golden Junkman/Grandpa Changes The World-Lon Chaney

Average customer rating:

TV Double Feature-Telephone Time-Golden Junkman/Grandpa Changes The World-Lon Chaney

Manufacturer: cascadia
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Television | Genres | DVD | Video
ASIN: B0009Y8P8Q

Product Description

The Golden Junkman True story of an Armenian immigrant who overcomes all odds to become a wealthy and educated man: after his wife's death, he rears his beloved sons in old-world simplicity, only to have them turn on him and call him an ignorant peddler. Hurt, but not discouraged, he begins to educate himself by studying the encyclopedia and ultimately returns to college to earn his degree and the respect of his children.

DVD:

DVD

DVD