Comments on: Two-Lane Blacktop (1971)

By: Gear Head

Gear Head — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 14:19:52 +0000

oops….. how could I have missed that…Dennis is the mechanic…. my bust…..

By: Gear Head

Gear Head — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 14:17:41 +0000

The film is pure in it’s nothingness…. I have it on almost constantly sometimes simply for it’s back ground noise. I have introduced it to to several of my “hotrod” buddies and some didn’t “get it”. I really didn’t question their allegence to the car culture but more of them being “programmed” as to what they expect from watching a feature. Two Lane Blacktop isn’t about being entertained to me as it is about participating in the “ride”…. the experiance…. the visuals on being on the road and the magical sound of an M-22 rockcrusher… it is about as anti-climatic as can be in the end but it invites me to choose my own ending as I settle behind the wheel of that same ’55 chevy in my thoughts….. the acting?….. James Taylor and Dennis Wilson are brilliant!…. brilliant in the sense that they are completely believable that they are caught up in their own thoughts and ideas as to what they see as important…… look at the beutiful simplicity in the chuckle by Dennis Wilson (the driver) as Warren Oats (GTO) proclaims, “no way baby they ain’t gonna see me” after he is warned to never reveal he’s racing or they’ll bust him for it. I love Two Lane Blacktop because it speaks to me personally, and I never claimed to make sense!

By: Andy

Andy — Fri, 08 May 2009 16:37:23 +0000

My all time favourite road movie and it truly is a road movie not just a movie about cars or travel, it is the existential nature that makes it a true road movie. With the burning film at the end, the film never truly ends just like the race. I am so glad it bombed at the box office, if it had done well we would have had a rubbish sequel a few years later. The attitude of the Driver and the Mechanic remind me of the line in The Fast and the Furious when Vin Diesel’s character says something about how he lives his life quarter of a mile at a time and that nothing else matters. This sums up The Driver and the Mechanic far more than Vin Diesels character and it means so much more coming from these two. They don’t have memorable quotes like that (because they don’t say much of anything) but they don’t have to say memorable things because they live it.

By: Terry Morgan

Terry Morgan — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 15:50:18 +0000

Dennis Wilson said “That Plymouth had a Hemi with a Torqueflite”, not “torque light”. A Torqueflite is a model of Chrysler automatic transmission.

By: Joe Valdez

Joe Valdez — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 19:37:42 +0000

Moviezzz: This is definitely a love it or hate it proposition with no middle ground, but I would be interested to hear if the film has the ability to grow on you. This has been the case for me with several of Stanley Kubrick’s films and Two-Lane Blacktop also has a pictorial sheen and a stillness that really appealed to me. No question, the “acting” of the young leads is non-existent, but the film did not hinge on that for me.

Christian: Great capsule review! The widescreen compositions and sound effects bare out your report about seeing this on a big screen. Maybe I’ll get the chance to one day.

Jorge: I was surprised that I liked it too. Either I knew what I was in store for, or I just didn’t care. Thanks for commenting.

By: sir jorge

sir jorge — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 18:51:14 +0000

this film isn’t half bad, which surprised me in a lot of ways.

By: christian

christian — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 18:20:34 +0000

I love this film probably for all the reasons people hate it. It’s the ultimate 70′s film to me. Zen, oblique, obtuse, abstract…but with cars!
It’s worth seeing on a big screen too.

By: moviezzz

moviezzz — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 15:02:32 +0000

This has always been a film I WANTED to like more than I ever did.

When I first saw it on cable in the 80′s, I only lasted a few minutes. I had no idea it was so rare at the time or I would have watched it all. For years after, when I knew the history, I wished I had given it more of a shot.

When Anchor Bay first released it to DVD, after I knew of its history, I ran out to buy it the day it came out. After watching it, I quickly sold it on Ebay. (Stupid move, as it would go out of print soon after and command three or four times the price).

After that, again I kept reading about how great it was, so I watched it when it aired on cable, and didn’t love it.

Now that Critierion has released it, I feel the need to buy it again and give it another shot. Yet, I still remember not loving it.

One of these days I will like it. But just the performances by Taylor and Wilson are so nothing that it is hard for me to get into.