Motion Pictures Not Everybody Liked Two Lane Blacktop…

Car Craft 71.
I really like this film, but had I read this maybe I’d have avoided it (I was 2, and not reading, so it all worked out )

 

I gotta say, I side with the author here. The cars are neat, but the story is so slow and boring, I really tried but I couldn't get into the movie. I'm surprised it's become such a cult classic.

 

…well, I don’t know that I can actually argue about what the premise of the movie as it was written in Car Craft…but, it is an awesome flic!

 

I really love it too but honestly if you're not a gearhead it really is a terrible movie. It was just the right car, the right actors, the right locations, and the right period in time. You could never make that movie again.
Could you imagine Hollywood doing a remake today? It would be two twenty something guys, faces buried in their cell phones looking for directions while driving cross country on interstate highways in their subaru.

 

It's a fun car guy movie. Everything that was said in that review was pretty well true, but we didn't watch it for a great story line or serious acting, we watched it to see the cars and the racing as what it was and just have fun.

 

Movie reviews are just that.....one persons' opinion, it's kind of like reading reviews on Amazon when trying to decide on a purchase, which ones do you believe.
TLB was a "car movie", which have never been known to be Oscar worthy.
Not everyone liked Bullitt either but it had cars and Steve McQueen in it, what's not to like.
My only quibble was how many of the same hubcap can one car lose in one chase scene?

 

I agree it’s overrated…

 

Now THATS funny !!!

stupid flick , cool cars , I don’t get it , but I’ve watched it a 1000 times at least !!

 

I read once that the director of the movie wanted it to look like a documentary. He said that at the end where he cuts the film, that is intended to be that there is no ending, you just have to wonder yourself what happens next. I love this movie for it's some what raw feeling of two street racers and the freedom it represents.

 

I like it, 'have seen it more times than I can count.
it doesn't need a point, it just is.

 

This film is not period correct or traditional...!


Yes, I was being sardonic...but accurate.

 

If everything sucked that bad the world would be a better place. I've watched it countless times and I've got it on DVD.

 

Sideburns Wilson, Unibrow Taylor and a hot chick, what's not to like?

 

Not a cinematic great perhaps. But I like it a lot better than the shit in theaters these days.
Ford vs. Ferrari not included!

 

The funny thing is I've known guys like the two in the fifty five, infact like the BSr in the goat also.
I've never seen it on the big screen but I liked it from the get go. But then wouldn't it be fun to drive around the country on an endless summer.
Now it's a time capsule of 1970.

 

You 'actually' watched the movie in the drive-in??
How unique!
My eyes were shut most of the time.....
6sally6

 

I have the box set version. It came with a copy of the script. I imagine like most movies, the movie and the script aren't 100% the same. I watch it every few years. I did get the see the 55 prior to filming at Irwindale one night when they had it at the track shaking it down. It was a true 10 second street car for sure.

 

Cool car and good sound.........some action but stupid/non-existent plot. IMO
6sally6

 

I use the remote a lot……

 

I actually watched the movie at a drive in with my wife to be. We thought it was the worst movie we had ever seen. True story. Have not re-watched it, either.

 

Remember this.

 

I watched it after reading about it on the hamb. Most of it anyway. It sucks. I know we're all car guys, but just because it's about a car doesn't make it a good movie. And just because it's a bad movie doesn't mean you can't enjoy it. I live the movie dazed and confused, and honestly it's not much better....

 

The cars are the stars.
The guys are just wallpaper.
The chick...... well you got'ta have a chick. It's like a law or something.

 

I read an article years ago about making the movie and James Taylor said he hated the whole experience. Apparently for some artistic B.S. reason the director wouldn't give the actors more than one day of dialog at a time which made it very frustrating for them. In his performance Taylor looks pissed off during most of the movie. Now you know why.

 

I concur!
Considering how old I was when I saw TLB you'd think I'd remember this.

 

I only saw the movie when it first came out, but clearly remember the "gotta change jets" line. But as far as the movie, isn't the appeal all about the fantasy of road tripping and freedom? It's along the same line of fantasy as an ad I remember in Hot Rod Magazine, promoting Hot Rod Magazine (maybe back in the late '60's or early '70's?) of which I remember the photo of a T Roadster, taken from the rear and nothing but lonely desert highway in front of the car. Man! Freedom!

I'd love to find that stretch of highway, or one like it, just to cruise a bit in my T. As far as road tripping in a street racer '55....isn't that current day's Drag Week that is held for most of us as a fantasy?

Lynn

 

That was a great review and extremely accurate. Tried to watch it once and couldn’t stay to the end.
Now not all movies are made to turn a profit. On of my student’s Dad was a
financial planner had had a group of clients who had to “lose” some cash as they were headed to the next higher tax bracket. He got them into financing Meatballs. They were really pissed when that movie turned a profit... so sometimes awful is awfully good!

 

The only good car movie I ever watched was Vanishing Point.

 

I liked it but he bulldozer scene scarred me for life.