Motion Pictures Not Everybody Liked Two Lane Blacktop…

X-2!!!!! (But by today's standards....it's pretty stupid too... Guess I liked it because I had a 70 Challenger then)
6sally6

 

It's official, I bought a copy. Gotta see if 50+ years has adjusted my view of things. Maybe I'll see "more" and maybe I'll say it still sux but the car, the car, the car. All of us have that in common and sometimes when Mrs Highlander is working late and TV has nothing (usually) I'll slide it in. For reals, got a copy on the way.

 

It's online free (don't need Facebook). I watched it (again) some last night, up until they made the bet to race to DC. I don't remember what happens after that, and not sure I'll watch the rest. But as said the cars are cool.

https://www.facebook.com/CrownVicPartsKing/videos/two-lane-blacktop/224729422392374/

 

When comes to cars Hollywood knights

 

I personally would rather discuss the star of the show than keep beating a dead horse, we already know that the movie falls short in the world of cinematography.
Many know this I'm sure but I'm betting a lot don't notice that the TLB 55 had the wing windows removed and used sliding plastic windows, Lexan I assume, if you squint you can just make them out.


I couldn't find original closeup photos but here is one from a tribute car as an example.

 

I think the motorcycle guy would haul her but not that bag so she gave it up.

 

Seen it whent it first came out. Liked the '55 and the racing scenes, but the story line was pretty thin obviouly. JT was at the top of his game at the time, so there's that. Many years later, I realised it was more of a culture statement than a movie. So in that respect it checked most of the boxes IMO...

 

from the film, you can see it better. I expect it was probably plexiglass.

 

Jim, I bet that's true, Lexan was probably not in use much at that point yet.
Not sure if it is the original TLB 55, you can tell by the thickness that it's plexiglass.

 

My version would have windows. Maybe a real decklid too. Pulling in somewhere, there'd be no question what it is and why. Michigan can get chilly late in the season.

 

A late friend built a replica, he said those windows made the car unbearably hot inside, he said no air movement at all.



After the second summer he switched the windows back and changed the wheels since he said it wasn't a 2LBT car anymore

 

My version had stock windows and decklid. My chevy II has plexiglass side windows, and glass front and rear. The TLB car looks like a handful....which is how it really should be, eh?

 

Yep!
A friend built two 66 Chevy II sedans and a 55 two-ten, all tube frame street cars, they were the epitome of that and then some.
I can't count how many trips south to Bakersfield we made in that heat.
I loved every hot sweaty, deafening minute of it!

 

I like these wheels better than the 200s' that were on the movie car.

 

I can drive my 55 with both door windows down on a cold day and be just fine, there is very little airflow from the door windows in these cars. Open the vent windows so the rear edge is facing forward on the other hand and you can really get things moving. Between them and the floor vents, you can get a good bit of air moving at speed. You still gotta have the door windows down so the air has someplace to go.
Your friend said exactly my thoughts about those sliders on the TLB car. Must be unbearable in the heat.

 

Easy solution would be to clone the camera car, dummy carburetor under the scoop, air conditioning and all

 

Love Vanishing Point, great movie.

 

used to be a clone in st. louis. i pulled up next to it at a stoplight and yelled, "hey--james taylor!"
did he ever get a grin!

 

when TLB hit theaters, there were guys doing that for real!

 

you are right. i took a date to see "the public enemy," a gangster film with james cagney and jean harlow. when harlow appeared, nearly every young lady in the place said, "what's so great about her? she's ugly!"

 

he was. he was great at changing the jets, too!

 

good eye. the st. louis guy that cloned the car had them as well!

 

she looked kinda rough in some of the scenes. This one is ok

 

Not a ten , BUT I wouldn’t kick her outta bed for eating crackers either

 

I watched the movie on YT just because it had the AG 55 in it. Not my favorite, but interesting to me for a lot of reasons. I was intrigued enough to buy the DVD so I could see it on something bigger than my laptop. To me worth it for the extras, including a short film about the film itself.
No doubt the movie was severely over-hyped before it was released and the pressure during production was immense. I'm too young to remember any of this from back in the day, but can't imagine a magazine publishing a screenplay for a highly anticipated movie. Ouch.
The director had free reign on the movie (no notes from the producers and the hated studio execs) if it came in under 2 hours. To make the time cut Monte Hellman deviated from the script pretty drastically. There are remnant scenes in the final cut to set up deleted scenes, so mechanically it's pretty deeply flawed. He wrestled with an always late Dennis Wilson and an overly high strung JT. Taylor had issues with pretty much everything related to movie making, waiting for Wilson among them.
Initial reaction upon release was pretty negative, just like the review in post #1 on this thread. It flopped at the box office. Then it became a cult hit, first overseas, then among movie school types, then even our critics here. The current critical ratings are eye popping.
Movies are like any other art; the appreciation is highly subjective and changes over time.

 

Every once in awhile.. Beauty play's second string...

 

and hanging out with Charlie Manson...

 

Ok, I watched it again tonight. Over half of it could have been cut out. Did not make a whole lot of sense, but neither did most of the other movies of that era. There were only a few paragraphs of dialogue total. Somebody should edit this thing down. It could have been better, but I kinda liked it.