Nonureva Really Surprised!

RipDelight This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

Chirphymium It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

Janae Milner Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.

Scott LeBrun "Gone in 60 Seconds" mastermind H.B. "Toby" Halicki basically plays himself in this ass kicking tale guaranteed to please car enthusiasts and action movie junkies everywhere. Harlan Hollis is a junkman who's made good with a drive-in car chase classic and who is now set to attend a festival honouring film legend James Dean. However, the trip there proves to be an extremely eventful one as somebody has decided that it would be a very good idea to bump off Harlan. So he has to dodge assassins left, right, and centre while pretty much every vehicle in sight is destroyed in extravagant fashion. When Harlan is thought to be dead, he realizes it's good cover while he hightails it to L.A. to find out the brains behind the operation.Halicki delivers plenty of good, straightforward, unpretentious nonsense that's very easy to watch. The acting won't win any Oscars but it's just right for this sort of thing. Halicki is reasonably engaging in the lead, receiving fine support from Christopher Stone ("The Howling", "Cujo") as P.R. man Michael Fox, Susan Shaw as newswoman Susan Clark, who does some sleuthing of her own, Lang Jeffries ('Rescue 8') as Arthur, and Dan Grimaldi ("Don't Go in the House") as flustered news producer Larry Bergleman. Cameos include Freddy Cannon and the Belmonts, Lynda Day George ("Pieces") as a reporter, car customizer George Barris, and Hoyt Axton ("Gremlins") as both himself and a character in a film-within-the-film.The non-stop assortment of eye popping vehicular stunts is simply spectacular. "The Junkman" set a record for over 150 vehicles destroyed in one way or another. Best of all is the memorable gag of jumping a car *over* a plane. Halicki even works the use of the Goodyear Blimp into the proceedings!This is pulse-pounding visceral entertainment that really hits the spot.Seven out of 10.

Paul Andrews The Junkman is set in California where stuntman, actor, director & businessman Harlan B. Hollis (H.B. Halicki) has just finished a re-shoot for his new film titled Gone in 60 Seconds which premieres in days. On his way to a James Dean festival Hollis comes under attack from a couple of bi-planes & a couple of cars driven by assassins who have orders to kill Hollis in a very public & spectacular way. Using grenades & machine guns Hollis has to use his driving skills to outrun the planes & cars, as the local police join the chase things get messy as Hollid drives for his life. The chase ends with the car Hollis was driving crashing into his ranch & blowing up, but not before he managed to jump out to safety. Now the police, local news reporters, his family & friends & the assassins think Hollis is dead so he sets out finding out the truth behind who wants him dead in secret as everyone thinks he is...Written, produced & directed by stuntman H.B. Halicki who stars in it & did much of the stunt work The Junkman is a strange sort of follow up to his earlier car chase action thriller Gone in 60 Seconds (1974), I say sort of follow up because while Gone in 60 Seconds is referenced & mentioned many times The Junkman takes place in a world where it is just a film & Halicki plays the guy who starred & directed it which he did back in 1974. So Halicki is playing himself, in a strange sort of fictional way as the script was apparently based on his life. I'm not sure the assassination attempt was based on actual events but the guy's massive toy & car collection, his memorabilia, the fact he started out running a junkyard the ranch location used for filmed was actually owned by him & was where he lived. Now, I only watched Gone in 60 Seconds yesterday so it's still fresh in my mind & all the little references, props, cinema posters & gags didn't pass me by but it does make The Junkman feel a little bit like a self obsessed vanity project at times. Overall I didn't think much of Gone in 60 Seconds despite it's good reputation & I found The Junkman to be more of the same, sure it has a few great individual moments, some cool stunt work & a much better story but I was still left feeling empty when it had finished. The humour missed the mark for me, the action while plentiful didn't excite me & the basic story about Halicki's publicist hiring assassins to kill him & proclaiming at the end that he 'wants it all!' is pure Scooby-Doo silliness. The script is a lot more light hearted this time around with some very dated humour. At 100 odd minutes the pacing is better this time around & it's certainly not boring but I can't say I was particularly amazed by it, look it's slightly better than Gone in 60 Seconds but only slightly.Like Gone in 60 Seconds the only reason to watch The Junkman is because of the vehicular action & carnage, this time around we get some planes & a Goodyear blimp join the action to spice things up a bit. Apparently The Junkman is in the Guinness Book of Records as the film that has the most number of vehicles wrecked in it, I am not sure that's true today but it probably was back when it was made. The stunt-work is great & the editing is a lot tighter this time around without the film cutting to needless secondary character's every couple of minutes, the chase through Los Angeles at the end is probably the best sequence. It seems that all the recent DVD releases have had the entire soundtrack replaced with an awful, generic & dull score that really is dreary.According to the IMDb this took two years to make, filmed in California by Halicki probably with his own cars & friends & family helping out. It was probably a real labour of love & the guy obviously had a passion for cars & stunt-work. The acting is slightly better than the original but not by much although the production values are miles better & The Junkman actually looks like a film with decent colourful photography & good location work.The Junkman is an odd film, it's a film born out of Halicki's love for destruction, stunts & cars & he chooses himself to star in it as himself. Halicki is the director & star of The Junkman playing the director & star of Gone in 60 Seconds which he was in reality, does anyone else find that slightly strange? Was to be followed by a sequel but star & director Halicki was killed in a crash with a water tower during filming.

Mr X I mean, you read the comments and reviews, and you'd expect this movie to be on the same level as Gone in 60 seconds. It's just not. Worst, one reviewer even says that this is way better than the Gone in 60 seconds remake with Cage. I can't understand why so many people would bash the remake. It doesn't do justice to the original OK, but it's a fun movie... you guys are just getting old and your time has passed and you can't accept it. That's just life. Don't take it out on Cage. Considering the garbage Cage has played in in his life, the remake accounts for one of his best. But back to this piece of junk. Hey listen. In no way do I want to show any lack of respect for Halicki. His death is sad, and Gone in 60 seconds will always stand as a masterpiece of the genre - and it's amazing this was shot and there are no special effects - and the guy died doing what he loved. Most of us will die in a retirement home mostly senile because we live so (too) long. For me Gone in 60secs is on par or better than stuff like Vanishing Point and such. Someone said Ronin, right on, great car chases there. Personally I think Diesel did something great with Fast 4 and especially 5, but it's really not the same era and there are so many special effects today and I don't want to further upset the old crowd.I mean, let's be sincere. OK, a few stunts here and there are fun but that's it. Of course you see Halicki's toy collection, cars but this movie is just plain bad. Luckily Halicki himself shines on the screen. He's just intense and good looking.The first part of the movie is so dull and long (the part when they try to kill him). OK the opening sequence is fun. Otherwise it's like some walk down memory lane with the references to James Dean etc. Maybe it means something to you guys. Well not to me. And yeah those small planes are fun. But it really shows that many of the sequences are played in fast motion to increase the speed. It's immensely tedious.The movie kicks in after, when Halicki tries to figure out who did it. It somehow kept my interest for some time. The yellow corvette ride is nice. But hey that's it. You could put any music there but nothing will save this movie. Which is why Halicki was working on a sequel to Gone in 60 seconds. So for me the "Junkman" stands as a slapstick piece for the hardcore fan. It's almost a self-portrait of some kind. Only in that way can it be understood. But don't say this is a good movie.May he rest in peace.

Florian Kohler Everybody who loves cars and action will eat this movie. It's even something like an autobiography of H. B. Halicki. The hole lifestory of Harlen Hollis we see is much the same as Halickis own. When you think that Jackie Chan is a tough guy doing all stunts himself, than watch this movie and Gone in 60 second and see how crazy Mr. Halicki is. H. B. did everything himself, even the scenes where stuntpeople said that it is to dangerous. When you see this film from the special edition DVD, and you know the original soundtrack from Hoyt Axton, you may get a little disappointed, because it has been changed to lifeless synthesiser music.