criterionforum.org

Two-Lane Blacktop:- Hellman, as his later inactivity testifies, seems to have turned himself into box-office anathema by toying once too often with his beloved actes gratuites, so open-ended that they would delight even the most demanding existentialist. Here two young hot-rodders (Taylor, Wilson), making their way across America by picking up racing bets on the side, challenge (or are challenged by) the boastful middle-aged owner of a gleaming new Pontiac (Oates). As their mesmeric duel unfolds within a landscape that narrows down to a claustrophobic tunnel of highways, filling stations and roadside cafés, it soon becomes apparent that Hellman is less interested in allegory (class and generation conflicts as in Easy Rider) or in the race itself (which simply fizzles out), than in the mysterious process whereby a challenge is subtly metamorphosed into an obsession. Self-enclosed, self-absorbed, and self-destructive (as the last shot of the film catching in the projector and burning suggests), it's absolutely riveting.

125100 wrote:Just a Seventh Seal rerelease would have made my xmas

PLUS: Rudy Wurlitzer's screenplay, reprinted specially for this release; new essays by Kent Jones, appreciations by Richard Linklater and Tom Waits; and a reprint of the 1970 Rolling Stone article "On Route 66, Filming Two-Lane Blacktop."

125100 wrote: and nothing good ever came of the 70's.

125100 wrote:nothing good ever came of the 70's

125100 wrote:nothing good ever came of the 70's

125100 wrote:I mean I didn't care for Easy Rider and nothing good ever came of the 70's

125100 wrote:I may buy Two Lane Blacktop even though it doesn't really appeal to me, I mean I didn't care for Easy Rider and nothing good ever came of the 70's.

jbeall wrote:

125100 wrote:I may buy Two Lane Blacktop even though it doesn't really appeal to me, I mean I didn't care for Easy Rider and nothing good ever came of the 70's.

Not to pile on, esp. since this thread is about Two-Lane Blacktop, but put Network and The Sting in your netflix queue. If you watch those two films and still believe that nothing good came out of the 70s, then you're beyond hope. On the other hand, if you find yourself enlightened, come back for more recommendations.

Macintosh wrote:Also, i feel the cover art is really missing the spirit of the movie and doesn't do the film justice.

125100 wrote: nothing good ever came of the 70's.

Hellman, as his later inactivity testifies, seems to have turned himself into box-office anathema by toying once too often with his beloved actes gratuites, so open-ended that they would delight even the most demanding existentialist

Hellman, as his later inactivity testifies, seems to have turned himself into box-office anathema by toying once too often with his beloved actes gratuites, so open-ended that they would delight even the most demanding existentialist

Can some smarty-pants here dumb down this sentence for me a little and help me understand exactly what it is saying about Hellman's work?

• Because it's the purest American road movie ever.
  Because it's like a drive-in movie directed by a French New Wave director.
  Because the only thing that can get between a boy and his car obsession is a girl, and Lori Bird perfectly messes up the oneness between the Driver, the Mechanic, and their car.
  Because Dennis Wilson gives the greatest performance ever by a driver.
  Because James Taylor seems like a refugee from a Robert Bresson movie.
  Because there was once a god who walked the Earth named Warren Oates.
  Because there's a continuing controversy over who is the actual lead in this movie. There are different camps. Some say it's the '55 Chevy, some say it's the GTO.
  Because it has the most purely cinematic ending in film history.
  Because it's like a western. The guys are like old-time gunfighters, ready to out-draw the quickest gun in town. And they don't talk about old flames, but rather old cars they've had.
  Because Warren Oates has a different cashmere sweater for every occasion. And of course the wet bar in the trunk.
  Because unlike other films of the era with the designer alienation of the drug culture and the war protesters, this movie is about the alienation of everybody else, like Robert Frank's American Comes Alive.
  Because Warren Oates, as GTO, orders a hamburger and an Alka Seltzer and says things like "Everything is going too fast and not fast enough."
  Because it's both the last film of the '60s -- even though it came out in '71 -- but it's also the first film of the '70s. You know, that great era of "How the hell did they ever get that film made at a studio/Hollywood would never do that today" type of film.
  Because engines have never sounded better in a movie.
  Because these two young men on their trip to nowhere don't really know how to talk. The Driver doesn't really converse when he's behind the wheel, and the Mechanic doesn't really talk when he's working on the car. So this is primarily a visual, atmospheric experience. To watch this movie correctly is to become absorbed into it.
  And, above all else, Two-Lane Blacktop goes all the way with its idea. And that's a rare thing in this world; a completely honest movie.

FilmFanSea wrote:On my only viewing of the film a few years back, I came away underwhelmed (I had loved The Shooting and Ride the Whirlwind). I think the subject matter didn't interest me in the least, I was pissed off at the superficial narrative, and the acting was wooden. Maybe there's an existential masterpiece lurking beneath the surface that eluded me (it wouldn't be the first time that's happened), or maybe I just wasn't in a receptive mood.