Two-Lane Blacktop
d. Monte Hellman, 1971
Nearly 35 after its original release, Monte Hellman's Two-Lane Blactop feels starkly modern. Other films of the time - even loved ones like Easy Rider - don't feel nearly as powerful as I imagine they were upon their release. Hellman's film, which is the complete opposite of most car/road movies, tells its story with very little dialogue and a rather thin plot. At the center of the film are a cast of lonely characters and all of the actors are quite astonishing (with particularly brilliant performances by James Taylor as the Driver and Warren Oats as G.T.O). Though I'm sure it's not really important, the movie is about Taylor and Oats driving cross country (Taylor with a mechanic and a girl who tagged along pretter early on, Oats by himself), eventually G.T.O challenged the Driver to a race to Washington, D.C., and he accepts on the condition that they race for pink slips to their cars. Soon enough, the narrative gives way to the more abstract part of the film, in which G.T.O and his lies become the saddest part of the film. Hellman really had something going here, and I demand a second viewing.
