Double Nickels

"Double Nickels" is a pretty good 70's car chase flick, which means its not all that good as a film, but for a gearhead like me it's great. Jack Vacek, George Cole, and Ed Abrams were all in "Gone in 60 Seconds." The whole movie has the "Gone" vibe too it. It's about two California Highway Patrolmen (Vacek and Abrams) who moonlight as Repomen for George Cole, it's got some funny bits, some good chases and a great look at 70's California. On the car front, as cops Vacke and Abrams drive pretty sweet '74 or '75 Dodge Monaco's (much like the car in "The Blues Brothers") Vacke and ratty late 50's Chevy pickup, and the last chase is in a BEAUTIFUL 1968 Chevelle SS/396 and a pretty funny chase in a Pinto. Overall its not as good as "Gone in 60 Seconds," but its worth a look if you like car chase flicks.

Smokey is a highway patrolman in California who decides to make some extra money with his partner by repossessing cars (and even the occasional boat) whose owners have been lax in making payments. That's it for the plot. This movie wasn't made to be plot-heavy. It was made to show various car chases and have tires screeching. And it does. When Smokey finds out some of the repo'd vehicles are actually stolen and on the 'hot sheet' he and his cop partner have to swing into action to make sure they don't end up in the slammer.

Lotsa car chases and stunts, a little romance (Smokey finds himself a tolerant girlfriend) and some reasonably likable characters make this a fun movie to watch if you're into drive-in movies from the (sadly) long-gone 1970s -- when the livin' was free and easy. Looks like some of the movie was filmed on the Pacific Coast Highway, I might add. No studio stuff here . . .

TIME TO BURN RUBBER.

"Double Nickels" is one of the many good, but virtually unknown, 1970's era car chase thrillers. Jack Vacek (director/star) was a "Gone in 60 Seconds" veteran and offers some unusual twists. The Pinto being chased down the stairs is a good example of originality in the car chase format. An entertaining first solo effort. Other work by Vacek is seen in Halicki cult classics "The Junkman" and "Deadline Auto Theft." Vacek also produced a decent film around 1987 called "Deadly Addiction."

"Double Nickels" has been all but forgotten since its theatrical release. It has been seldom shown on television, I've only come across one movie reference book that mentions it over the years, and it never got a home video release until its copyright ran out several years ago, prompting cheapo DVD companies to find battered prints and release it. Seeing it, it's easy to see why it's drifted into obscurity. To be fair, some of the dialogue scenes have an effective natural feel, like the movie is a documentary and we are peeking into the lives of real people. But I'm hard pressed to think about anything else positive about this movie. There is barely a plot, with the movie often progressing like the filmmakers are making it up as they go along. And the vehicular scenes are incredibly boring when they should be exciting. The closing credits thank H. B. Halicki, the creative force behind the drive-in classic "Gone In 60 Seconds". Had he directed this movie, I'm sure the movie would have been better, at least with the vehicular scenes.

This obscure car chase comedy was mostly from the same cast and crew that created the original Gone in 60 Seconds. However, the leading role goes to Jack Vacek, who had worked as cinematographer in 60 and does a pretty decent acting job as the film's cool-cat hero Smokey. The cinematography by Tony Syslo (who would later work as the DP in Halicki's The Junkman) is appropriately gritty, grainy, and sunny to support the backdrop of mid-1970s California. Ed Abrams is also a riot as Smokey's pal and Patrice Schubert is perfect as Smokey's girlfriend. George Cole (Atlee from 60) also appears as one of the repossessors and his sons Anthony and Michael, the low riders appear, ditching their cramped white Cadillac and driving sparkly clean Ford Econo vans.

The car chases aren't exactly as thrilling as Halicki had staged in 60, but they're decent enough to please fans of the genre, particularly a sequence where a Ford Pinto is pursued down a set of stairs and a rollicking police chase through the Los Angeles storm drain. All in all, a valiant effort.