Motion Pictures Not Everybody Liked Two Lane Blacktop…

Oh I know that...I'm describing the fulfilling evening Ward had....I'll Leave it too your imagination...

 

Man, if they dont get it then they dont get it.

its not meant to be a thrilling action packed film with a beginning middle and end, its meant to be a snapshot of these guys lives, these guys who have a self reliance and bare bones innovation that was rapidly dissapearing in the world of consumerism.
A home built car vs commercially available cookie cutter factory built muscle car is just the ‘vehicle’ used to drive home that point (pun obviously intended).

 

Sidenote-For anyone that laughs at the amount of times they change the jets in that movie too, let us remember that richard ruth built that as a real drag car for the time not realising it was a movie car, this means it has 660 centre squirters which were never really designed for anything other that WOT operation on a dragstrip.. couple that with the fact the USA has a LOT of different altitudes-that they covered-and that carb engines are affected by atmospheric pressure. Therefore, naturally factoring this all, with an engine as temperamental as that theyre going to have to address the tune often

 

Yes, lol, I know you knew that. It's a joke. Get it? You said night IN paradise? I said June, not paradise? IN Ju..... Of never mind..............

 

I was thinking that about the jetting too. Anyone that's hauled a snowmobile from Michigan to the rockies to ride knows ya gotta rejet it when you arrive....

 

Again this movie may be more true to life than it appears...doesn't mean it will resonate with everyone...but to most here it left a posi-tive mark...

 

Yeah...sure....which is why I've never changed jets in all my cross country trips in a quicker car....

It's a bad movie, but I still love it

 

The director wanted it to be raw not a polished rehearsed hollywood masterpiece. Im sure most people would agree that when you spend even a few hours on the road its very draining letalone living on the road. The director wanted to portray this. Thats the reasonit was filmed the way it was, they lived on the road while filming, no rest/rehearsals/actors trailers etc, this way the actors get more filthy and worn out the longer they film, this makes it more realistic.
The director wanted someone sort of introverted in the role as the driver and cast taylor after seeing him in a show.. not exactly a showy confident boisterous person.
The reason for the sparse scripting is simply .. when live onthe road with someome, basically all that can be said in conversation has been, so now you just sit in comfortable silence with your thoughts. The driver seemsto have a rumination problem in the movie. James taylor fits this role nicely.. so does denny-willy, who i might add was so vacant upstair hed often forget theu were filiming a movie (a few scenes where he chuckles in the movie where he remembers its what hes doing and its his line).

James taylor wasnt so pissed off at only having had dialoge drip fed to him, more that he wasnt an actor-hes a musician-and hated the process (hence never acting in anything before or after this movie). Hot sun, no aircon, no shade etc.
A realistic portrayal of life onthe road is the reason the director didnt really hire “actors” for any of the roles except warren oates who aptly represents consumerism.

 

I like it because to me, it represents something you see alot nowadays. People get their OT modern mustangs/chargers/camaros etc off the showroom floor and think theyre faster than all the other ones off the showroom floor.. then get beat by someone who built their own home grown car like the hero mr squirrel up there.
And that extends to a lot if life nowadays, more is thrown away than fixed now.

i had an o/t 66 impala i built a 496 for and would regularly waste them showroom guys with it that took me on.., i resourcefully built mine as a thesis for how a poweful car should be, you simply had the money to pay for yours, and i gotta say indeed “them satisfactions ARE permanent!”

 

Jim don't rhe blower help make more consistant pressure making the altitude changes V/S a tunnel ram

I tryed running a tunnel ram bracket racing and I was always chasing the weather changing jets to get rid of the bog

 

Yeah, a blower helps. But I've also driven other pieces of crap cross country, and never had to screw with the carb other than maybe a slight idle adjustment. And that's with a lot of elevation change, like sea level to well over 7000 ft. Kinda like the movie.

Several years ago I got to help with making a movie, it was about robots, but the idea is the same....artists portraying people playing with machines. Artists have absolutely zero understanding of what is or is not technically possible. Getting the movie guys to make the scenes slightly realistic was like tilting at windmills.

Like I said, it's a bad movie...but I love it

 

some one born in 1984 would think that driving a car none the less a very young man would be very draining, come on man when your doing something you love it's exhilating not draining, i guess doing a cross country bike trip would be for super heroes at middle age

 

Not a huge fan of TLB, it was OK. Loved the opening though with Big Willy and the LA Street Racers.
Watched this one last night, the Rifleman played a good role in it.

 

"esquire" magazine was so high on this movie that they printed the entire script in one issue. the execution didn't live up to the expectations!

 

This has been very entertaining!
I wonder how many TV nerds googling TLB (The Love Boat) were directed here? ……..and how many pages of reading did it take them to realize their mistake.

 

Wasn't Dennis Wilson the only Beach Boy that actually surfed?
Also, for what it's worth it was James Taylor's birthday yesterday.

 

Good car movie. The thing that makes me laugh is when they get actors who are supposed to be playing rebellious teenagers that are in their twenties or thirties.

 

Late 60's here.........still playing a rebellious teenager.

 

I just loved the sound of that BBC and the whine of the 4 speed in Two Lane Blacktop. That’s what made the movie for me.

 

A good point was brought up about the realism the director was going for. You see as the movie progresses, especially Dennis Wilson the mechanic, how he looks more and more dirty and worn. But he did get one good nights sleep, with the girl. LOL!

 

He also did some road racing and drag racing.

 

Actually surfed or messed with cars, hot rods, from what I've read.

 

I just watched it for the first time, thanks to this thread. American Graffiti is still my favorite, but this one was well worth the time to watch. While the acting wasn’t much, the car scenes and footage are pretty awesome. Like someone else said, no fake car chases or stunts in this one. It feels mostly believable and possible.

 

Away she went..
Sad how she died.

 

Oh, we get the theme of the movie all right, but that doesn’t mean we like it..

 

Definitely the only surfer. Brian and Carl were into cars but were self admitted to be useless with tools of any kind, other than a mixing board. But Brian was SO good with that, I can forgive the rest...

 

or we like it, and still recognize that it's a bad movie. The car....man....the car....

 

`I mentioned we watch it at the shop while working and I wasn't going to post this as it's kinda cheesy also LOL but I did this for my buddy. His name is Winters.

 

A few years ago one of my brothers drove his 585 hp ‘65 Dart with 4.10 gears and really loud mufflers from LA to Florida to surprise my parents at Christmas wearing ear plugs all the way. He and a friend picked up a woman hitchhiker along the way and never spoke to her - pretty much like Two Lane Black Top. They still laugh about it.

John

 

I always wondered why she left her duffle bag of panties when she hauled that thing in and out of the cars like it was a baby monkey on her back.