Two-Lane Blacktop is on
Made in 1971, Two-Lane Blacktop is a film from an unparalleled time.
In the early ’70s Hollywood was open to experimentation, and major studios financially backed young directors trying to find the industry’s way through a baffling post-Easy Rider world.
Like Easy Rider, Two-Lane Blacktop is also a road movie about rebels. It stars two young and handsome musicians (James Taylor and Dennis Wilson) with California clout, but through the smoke of squealing tires a very different vision appears, especially when contrasted with the good times surf and hot rod flicks that were being produced in those days.
Now an art house classic, this film was originally a major release made for theatres and drive-ins and warranting a tie-in paperback, a common promotional practice at the time. The paperback was actually the script featuring “eight pages of photographs from the hard-hitting smash motion picture.” The cover also touted Esquire magazine’s claim of “movie of the year.”
It was not a smash when it was released but with time has become admired and respected, a unique, must-see for film fans. It’s also an example of how open the creative possibilities were for a brief period.
The film’s plot is nothing new: two men, roving gamblers, partners racing for gain, racking up miles, making repairs and living on the road between showdowns.
That the film’s structure is built like a cowboy movie is not surprising. Director Monte Hellman was a veteran who had worked on existential westerns starring Jack Nicholson in the late 1960s as well as for B-movie producer Roger Corman on such titles as Beast from the Haunted Cave.
Classic touches also include a female romantic interest to threaten the balance, locals to be defeated and a villain in the form of the ever-fascinating Warren Oates. Oates is stunning demonstrating his natural talent for creating believable yet outrageous characters. Having an actor like Oates on board (and Harry Dean Stanton) offset the roles filled by non-actors James Taylor — his image was spotted on a billboard by director Hellman — and Beach Boys’ Dennis Wilson, a real life piston-head. Neither musician contributes music themselves, but then-current performers The Doors, Kris Kristofferson, John Hammond and Arlo Guthrie are heard on the soundtrack, making it more credible than the generic music that was still then the norm in film.
The two cars that feature large in the film also get billing along with their human co-stars: 1955 Chevrolet and 1970 Pontiac GTO. The names of the four main characters are equally to the point, The Driver, The Mechanic, The Girl and GTO. These figures traverse the American landscape experiencing many layers of relationships, excitement, tedium, survival and the changing culture of the early ’70s.
My personal relationship with Two-Lane Blacktop goes back to viewing it in the gym at Port Colborne High School, fairly recently released, procured and screened, along with the Peter Fonda hippie western The Hired Hand, by our young, progressive English teacher. I sat on the wooden floor, 17 years of age, glad to be watching anything non-educational, diggin’ the car scenes, mystified by some of it and getting an alternative education. TwoLane Blacktop ended up being an indelible experience and I eventually managed to acquire the aforementioned paperback to dig deeper.
Two-Lane Blacktop became a staple of late night, pre-infomercial TV, its nuances exposed with every viewing before the striking, surprise ending — the final destination of all that driving.
Don’t miss the chance to see this classic at the Film House Sunday, Jan. 28 at 7 p.m.