I just watched the movie for the first time and......well....WTF???? I get the cars and the street racing, but story? Dialog? Plot? DAMN. O.k, they are driving across the country racing for gas money. They don't talk, other than to "Check the jets and the valves". Whats up with the girl getting into what ever car she wants to and no one has a problem with it. GTO is a pathological liar. They are racing to DC for pinks, yet hang out with each other at every opportunity. Neither seems too concerned about actually going to DC, even plan to go to Cleveland instead. If I were racing for my car, you better get the hell out of my way! The film "burns" in the middle of a "climactic" race, that isn't really that important, ending the film...... I love car movies, I know they don't always have award winning plots and dialog, but this one???? Am I missing something? Can anyone explain it to me?
Not much to explain really. Goofy movie with a kick ass 55, a strange plot and stupid ending. I've watched it many time's though, and have no real explanation why aside from i like the 55. Take it for what it is, weird.
When you watch it 6 times and know the history, come back to this thread and tell us whats up. best movie
Cool cars, always loved the 55. I know it is classic car movie, cult following, whatever. That is one strange piece of celluloid. DAMN.
It's probably more "real" than any other car movie made. It's lack of story line and dialog is the plot. If you work to hard to try to understand it, you're gauranteed to miss the point.
I read a story in a Playboy magazine about a movie they were going to make. A year later I was driving thru San Angelo Texas and saw a nice 55 Chevy in front of a movie theatre. I stopped to look at the car and saw that it matched the Chevy on the movie poster so I went in and watched the movie. As the movie progressed I recognized it as the Playboy movie story. They had changed the name of the movie to Two Lane Blacktop. When the movie ended I went out and the 55 in the parking lot was gone. Great movie! Ratracing across the USA made as much sense as anything else that year.
It's an "art" film. You don't define art. You appreciate the parts that move you... then start wearing black clothes and hanging out at coffee shops, while working on a novel that's already taken 5 years to write and doing this so others can see you and think, "Hey, that guy must appreciate art because he's wearing black clothes and hanging out at coffee shops, while working on a novel that's already taken 5 years to write."
If your read between the lines like POPROCKCRUSHER said. Goerge Lucas made American Graffiti. Study that and Vanishing Point!
hahaha good one.....an old biker mentor told me the driver (James Taylor) blew his mind from all them drugs.....then again I have to question all the drugs my mentor was doing
Hell, I AM an artist.....Mural artist, been doing this since 98, I appreciate different art, strange art, and just plain off the wall, gonzo shit. It is cool that they shot it for like $75k. They shot it in sequence across the country as they went. I get that it won't be Oscar material, but I figured on a little more than that. I know the 70s were fucked, I grew up in them. Grew up with B.J and the bear, smokey and the bandit, Land of the lost......Damn. Loved the Wraith in the 80s..not cenematic genius, either, but much easier to watch. I can appreciate the flick, but I don't get the status following.
The movie wasnt about the 70s. It was about a HOTROD and a RACE. For those of us who grew up in the 50s, the movie was GREAT. I remember having to analyse and critique every sentence of a story in English Class. This movie is not like that, its just pure America
I know what you're looking for: a work of art where "the road" offers a place of freedom, discovery, self-reflection, and ultimately redemption. If you want that, go read Kerouac's On the Road or Pirsig's Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. Two-Lane is road noir. The road is just the road. Don't go looking for anything more, 'cause there ain't nothing else there. That's the whole movie.
Well, that seems a little harsh. I'm sure she is a nice girl. Here is the NYT's take on it for what it is worth.
She does the mechanic first, in the hotel room....you wait outside with the driver and listen to grunts and moans, then she does some kissing that probably leads to more with the driver in the car. Driving cross country not leaving the car.....can you imagine how funky they all must be???
Back then car movies were pretty rare. So, we liked every single one we had offered to us. BUT, to watch them now, with current film technology is painful
So I seen one part of it where they went to Mary's Cafe...did they film that part here in Arizona because there is a Mary's Cafe off HWY89 that I drive by everyday and the building and background look EXACT.
The Jalopy Journal
