Two-Lane Blacktop (1971)

Quick FYI on the reviews for *both* DVD releases of this seminal film...
A painlessly quick FYI by a longtime Amazonian on his biggest pet peeve of Amazon reviews: No matter how many DVD releases there are for a particular film, Amazon lumps them all together.

As such, the first 84 reviews are for the *initial* (and now waaaaaaaaay OOP) DVD release of this seminal film by Anchor Bay. The reviews for the *Criterion* release begin with the one on November 24, 2007, which is entitled, "Two-Lane Blacktop: an existential road movie."

Ok, I'm stepping off my titanium soapbox now.... d'oh!!!!

Without Roots, Without Destination: Pure Americana
The only real acting done in this film is done by Warren Oates and its a powerful perfomance. He plays a man with a troubled past narrating his way through one fantasy after another. For Oates, known only as "G.T.O.", the road means whatever he wants it to mean. Whenever he gets tired of himself, and lonely for an audience, he simply picks up a stranger and begins a new narrative. Whats brilliant about this character is that he seems like someone you could very well run into were you taking a cross-country trip of your own. This character and others like him are eternal fixtures on the American highways. The road appeals to these types because they are in love with the impermanence of a life lived there. Every stretch of road promises a new encounter, a new adventure, and no success or disappointment lasts more than a day.

James Taylor & Dennis Wilson have only their rock mystique, and the mystique of the '55 Chevy. They are not actors, and this really works just fine most of the time because they are really not required to speak. They are barely there, and thats the way they like it. Monte Hellman seems to be saying that "G.T.O's" middle age blues and Taylor's and Wilson's brand of disaffection are perhaps both symptoms of the same general American malaise. Whats particularly American about this malaise is that America is a country in love with mobility and Americans are always seeking for a new frontier and that urge for something beyond, something greater than the present has to offer, is never satisfied. All that the characters in this movie, and in many other early 70's films, can find is a temporary release from their surroundings, from themselves. In this film that temporary release is speed and wandering the stretches of America's highways like the sailors of old used to roam the seas or winding rivers.

There is no soundtrack music. When we do hear music it is just what happens to be playing on the jukebox at the roadhouses and diners that these characters tumble through each morning and each night. In one of those diners we hear Kris Kristoferson's version of his own song "Me and Bobby McGee" playing in the background and the line,"freedom is just another word for nothing left to lose," is particularly poignant in the context of these character's lives but the characters are oblivious to the fact that the song has anything to say to them. They hear only the call of the road.

"G.T.O" has cassette tapes of every genre of music in his car, but for him it doesn't matter whether its rock or country so long as the song is about cars. In several scenes the camera seems to sit like a passenger in the backseat just eavesdropping on "G.T.O" singing along to another song about another car. "G.T.O" is by far the most developed character and everything he does is memorable. Oates is a wonder here! Taylor and Wilson are appealing as countercultural apparitions haunting the screen with their folksy California appeal but Oates' earthy heart and soul humor is what really grounds the film in something tangible (without him the film would be an abstract--because voiceless & emotionless-- character study). This humor provides the perfect balance for Taylor and Wilson. But Oates' character does two other vital things as well: he provides us with insight into what leads someone to abandon their home and hit the road in the first place, and he is living proof of just what happens to a man who lives his life on the road. Taylor and Wilson are ruggedly reticent but there is ultimately also something mechanical about them and were it not for G.T.O we would tire of them quickly. Granted, there is also something mechanical about the way G.T.O. repeats the same narratives over and over again, so neither side is perhaps any better off than the other in this intergenerational conflict, but the friction between the silent Taylor and Wilson and the chatty Oates is what keeps both parties (and us) from falling asleep at the wheel.

Taylor & Wilson's chevy is silent. Ironically, when riding with them, we never hear any music. They do not want any luxuries like music or air-conditioning to complicate their lives: they are not looking to settle in anywhere, comfort is not a factor, and the sparseness of the cars interior and exterior emphasize their no-nonsense approach. They prefer a trance-like communion with the road and each other. Taylor speaks only a handful of words and Wilson speaks only about what needs to be done to the car. When a hitchhiker picks them up (she climbs into the chevy while they are dining)they passively accept her presence. Shes a hippie girl used to livin' out of a duffle bag. Taylor and Wilson each have a private moment with her but she doesn't seem to stir much desire in either of them. What seems to irk Taylor is not the fact that she leaves the car to ride with someone else but that somehow this means that he has lost at something and hes all about winning every race, every bet, every kind of wager.

The no-name roadhouses and diners and gas stations have a similar no-nonsense beauty to them. They are not so much oases of food and drink as necessary pit-stops. Hellman avoids the major highways and cities; most of this film takes place on the backroads and in sparsely inhabited southern towns and some viewers might be inclined to see this film as a nostalgic journey into a more rural, less spoiled, American landscape. Taylor and Wilson's preference for the older automobiles would certainly support the view that they believe America is becoming more and more generic, and that this ever-expanding sameness is what is accelerating America's demise. Avoiding the major highways and cities thus seems like an effective way of remaining aloof from the mainstreaming tendencies of contemporary America.

There is no real end to a movie like this which is more about an evocation of a certain brand of American romanticism/escapism than it is about specific characters. These characters are familiar archetypes that still litter the backroads and roadhouses of an America that never grows old or tired or disillusioned with itself.

A cult classic returns to DVD Criterion style.
This review is for the Criterion Collection DVD edition of the film.

Other versions are significantly different.

Two Lane Blacktop is a classic cult film released in 1971

Starring well known singer James Taylor and Beach Boys drummer, Dennis Wilson, this become a cult hit with racers and other car enthusiasts.

The film is about two young men who are driving across the country in a heavily modified 1955 Chevrolet 150. They pick up a female hitchhiker and are later challenged to a cross country race by an older man who drives a Pontiac GTO. They have many adventures along the way and meet many interesting people.

This DVD has many special features which are really impressive and very informative.

Disc one contains the film with two audio commentaries. One is with the film's director Monte Hellman and Allison Anders. The other is with the film's writer Rudy Wurlitzer and author David Meyer who has written books about films.

Disc two contains interviews with Monte Hellman, James Taylor, Kris Kristofferson, Michael Laughlin, and Walter Coblenz. There are also screen tests, a theatrical trailer, publicity photos, and documentary about the restoration of a 1955 Chevrolet 150 with a bonus which I considered the best special feature. A look at the filming locations of the movie with a comparison of how they looked when the film was made and how they look 35 years later.

There is also a large booklet with many other essays and production notes.

This is an excellent film and the special features are the best I've seen for a while.