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Two-Lane Blacktop [1971]
![Two-Lane Blacktop [1971]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/61akqRgMJkL._SL160_.jpg)
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Editorial
Amazon.co.uk Review
James Taylor is The Driver, a car-obsessed racer with stringy hair and a concentration that precludes conversation. He travels the backroads of rural America with his buddy, The Mechanic, (Dennis Wilson of the Beach Boys), an equally obsessed lost soul at home only in the car or under the hood. They have no names, only designations, and no life outside of their gypsy existence, riding the unending highway in their souped-up '55 Chevy from race to race. After picking up a hitchhiking Girl (Laurie Bird), whose presence breaks the tunnel-vision focus of the two men, they challenge a middle-aged hotshot, the garrulous G.T.O. (Warren Oates) to a cross-country race. Monte Hellman's Two-Lane Blacktop is the most alienated evocation of modern America ever made, an almost abstract study in dislocation and obsession set against a vague landscape of roadside diners and rest stops. Taylor and Wilson deliver appropriately blank performances, only expressing emotion when The Girl sparks jealousy between them. Oates is a glib dynamo constructing a new persona in every scene, as if trying on characters to play as he ping-pongs between the coasts. "How fast does it go?" asks The Driver, admiring G.T.O.'s car. "Fast enough," he answers. The Driver snaps, "You can never go fast enough." These are characters on the road to nowhere who can't work up enough speed to escape themselves. --Sean Axmaker
The car's the star
Review date: 2008-11-15 Rating: 10 out of 10
This, as so many have said before me, is a cult gem and the best of the genre by a long, long chalk. Wonderfully understated, except by Oates, the car is the real star, a no nonsense beast that is so cool it doesn't dress up whatever the occasion and like the heroes, Taylor and Wilson, exists for only one thing.....speed. Forget the sticky bun kids of the various two Fs and their toys, this is the Daddy of them all, a big block Chevy, primer coated, mean as a mother in law, built to street race and giving a taste of the life more realistically than any other movie I ever saw. Even the original Vanishing Point pales to insignificance by comparison. The real deal.
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Reviews
Dirty Mary Crazy Larry
Review date: 2008-05-28 Rating: 2 out of 10
In this 1971 low-budget movie there is little or no action. As well as that the acting is monosyllabic and "underplayed" meaning the actors (making their acting debuts, musicians Dennis Wilson and James Taylor play) have no acting ability what so ever. This was their first and last venture into motion picture territory. Both musicians underplay their parts; erm sorry, I take that back they cannot act.
Also, there is no real story and the ending is strange and unsatisfying yet very much welcome in this viewers opinion. Gosh, I've seen some crap movies over the years but "Two-Lane BlackTop" takes the biscuit. The great Warren Oats can't bring any of his usual brilliance to this turkey of a movie. Oats struggled with his part in the meandering "Bring me the Head Of Alfredo Garcia". Here, in Two-Lane Black Top he is completely lost at sea. The fact that both of these movies were unavailable for over 30 years (res ipsa loquitor) is an indication that they are rubbish and that releasing them on dvd would be a bad financial risk for the production studios.
Well here they are folks on dvd with some extras.
Buy them, watch them, and experience disappointment and boredom.
Selah, Bee Clarke.
PS. If you are looking for an entertaining low budget road movie buy Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry.
The Definitive '70s Road Movie
Review date: 2007-01-25 Rating: 10 out of 10
This is THE film that for me defines the "Road Movie" genre. This is a window into endless days and roads, there's no particular start or end, just stark, listless and sometimes uncomfortable punctuation on the way to nowhere. It also protrays the cultural no-mans land of the post hippie period perfectly, the half bitten relationships between the main players, lacking sentiment so profuondly that the saccarin smiles that would fill the cinema later in this decade seem like grotesque parade floats. This film is mesmerising, once seen you can't forget it, it took me a long time (and a lot of money) to get it on import, here it is, easy!
A love-it-or-hate-it movie. Personally I love it.
Review date: 2007-01-22 Rating: 10 out of 10
Read the comments on the IMDB site and you'll find plenty of people who obviously watched it thinking they were getting another "American Graffiti" or 1971 version of "The Fast And The Furious" and came away hugely disappointed - little action, monosyllabic and underplayed acting, no real story and a strange unsatisfying ending. But it's all those things that make the film so wonderful! It's a perfect late 60s/early 70s road movie. Two guys who just drive about in a 1955 Chevy (so stripped that it doesn't even have a paint job) challenging local hotshots to street drag races until they bump into a strange bullshitter who challenges them to race across the US, and off they go. James Taylor and Dennis Wilson beautifully underplay their parts. They just exist to race and so anything else, talk included, is really superfluous. A girl hitcher gets picked up at one point and ends up walking away from the pair of them obviously bemused and somewhat pissed off that despite her attempts to make one jealous of the other they really just don't care about her. And you get all the talk you need from the wonderful Warren Oates, who plays the GTO driver brilliantly - the character's just too old to have `gotten' the sixties and knows they he's missed something. Every hitcher he picks up as he races across the country gets told a different story, and his sense of jealousy for what he thinks Taylor and Wilson has is palpable. It's beautifully shot and proceeds at a langorous, leisurely pace. The ending is what one can only describe at "cinematic". If you want thrills-and-spills then give it a miss. If you want to see a cult gem, one of the coolest films ever made, check it out. I first saw it twenty odd years ago and it became my favourite film; the nice thing is, twenty odd years later it still is.
Road Movie with a difference
Review date: 2006-08-08 Rating: 8 out of 10
I've been waiting for this to be re-released in this country for years. I remember seeing it a couple of times on TV. For anyone who's into this period of American movie making this can be considered a classic. For anyone who's interested in James Taylors' career it's very interesting to watch. Why it's taken until 2006 to get a release seems strange, although I expect it'll only appeal to niche markets and true movie lovers unless there's some promotion. Shame.
Product Details/Specifications
Actor(s):
Harry Dean Stanton
Warren Oates
Dennis Wilson
James Taylor
Laurie Bird
Creators:
James Taylor (Primary Contributor)
Warren Oates (Primary Contributor)
Director(s):
Recording label: Universal Pictures UK
Manufacturer: Universal Pictures UK
EAN: 5050582434521
Binding: DVD
Number of items: 1
Format: Anamorphic, PAL,
Release date: 2007-06-18
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Audience rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
Region code: 2
Running time: 103 minutes
Theatrical release date: 1971
Language: English (Original Language)