414 Two-Lane Blacktop
Goddamn, at this point everything I have read about this film (which is everything I can lay my eyes on) leads me to believe I will be completely smitten when this DVD is released. I'm really intrigued by the sound of its existential tone and languid pace. For some reason I always love movies where nothing really happens. Maybe I'm a boring fella in that respect. In case you didn't know, Down By Law is my favorite film ever, and it may be reaching or wishful thinking on my part, but somehow this sounds similar… And for the record, no, I don't compare every film to Down By Law, there is just something about the nihilism and lack of conventional plot payoffs that rings true to me in these synopses I've read. Am I way off?
- kinjitsu
- Joined: Sat Feb 12, 2005 1:39 pm
- Location: Uffa!
An interview with Hellman from 2000: Cars and Speed and Flight
tryavna wrote:If nothing else, of course, Warren Oates gives a masterclass in film acting in the movie.
Monte Hellman wrote:If you're totally unaware that the person is an actor. Some roles can be played by actors who are obviously actors, and you enjoy them for the fact that they are obviously actors; and the character himself then becomes a theatrical person, just as many people in life are theatrical and other people are less so. I think the character of G.T.O in Two-Lane Blacktop is a theatrical character, and it wouldn't have been proper for Warren (Oates) to have played him non-theatrically, let's say. Whereas the driver and the mechanic and the girl, had they been theatrical, would have struck a false note. The one character (G.T.O) in the film is bigger than life, so it's the role in the film that could not have been played by an inexperienced actor.
- zedz
- Joined: Sun Nov 07, 2004 7:24 pm
Same boat. For me, it's still not up there with The Shooting or Cockfighter, but having seen it again recently on the big screen, there's a lot more going on there than at first meets the eye. Linklater's comments posted above are a good entry point, not least for pointing out the striking gulf between the film's Bressonian performances (specifically Taylor) and its Oatesian one.tryavna wrote:Having also been underwhelmed by it after my first viewing but then having realized that it really sticks with you in an almost inexplicable way, I'd have to say that it is an existential masterpiece. For me, it's a movie that's more of an "experience" than anything else -- in that I find myself slowly being forced to adapt my own mental state to its rhythms.
The reception history of the film tends to make it difficult to approach. Absurdly vilified on release (you need to understand that this was anticipated as the second coming of Easy Rider, but it's really in an entirely different universe), its subsequent critical rebound has made all sorts of grandiose claims (e.g. "existential masterpiece") that are hard to live up to, and the film itself has ended up sitting awkwardly between polarised views.
Whoever mentioned The Hired Hand above, I enthusiastically second it: one of the greatest American films of the time and ridiculously underappreciated. Check this out while you're waiting for Two Lane Blacktop.
-
- Joined: Sat Sep 09, 2006 11:38 am
- Location: New York City
That was me and yes it is criminally underrated. Shame that Peter Fonda didn't go on to direct more, he has the eye of a painter. And has anyone here seen Idaho Transfer? Sounds like a tripped out 70s sci fi flick in the realm of The Man Who Fell to Earth.zedz wrote:Whoever mentioned The Hired Hand above, I enthusiastically second it: one of the greatest American films of the time and ridiculously underappreciated. Check this out while you're waiting for Two Lane Blacktop.
That's great news. Was there something going on that made him never watch the film though? Seems like there's more to it than just "never getting around to it"...souvenir wrote:Disc producer Susan Arosteguy revealed in a podcast (somewhere just before the halfway mark) that Criterion interviewed James Taylor last week for this disc.
- Polybius
- Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2004 10:57 pm
- Location: Rollin' down Highway 41
souvenir wrote:Disc producer Susan Arosteguy revealed in a podcast (somewhere just before the halfway mark) that Criterion interviewed James Taylor last week for this disc.
That's a bit of a surprise. It's come up in the past in his interviews and he's never seemed too happy about it.
Edit: I missed Lee's post, but I think he's onto the same thing I am. Have to wonder what J.T.'s problem was.
- Doctor Sunshine
- Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 10:04 pm
- Location: Brain Jail
- What A Disgrace
- Joined: Sun Nov 07, 2004 10:34 pm
- Contact:
I had a dream about Two Lane Blacktop...sort of. I have no idea what the film is like; not having seen it...but in the dream, myself and a friend of my dad's watched it...and after it was over, we went on a road trip, which eventually involved the pair of us involved in Kaurismaki-esque punching bouts (if such a thing can be imagined; I've only seen the man's first five features and Man Without a Past) with some random thugs in an abandoned rest center that, while being out in the country, looked like something out of Tati.
I've had a bunch of other odd film related dreams; usually involving films I haven't seen yet. I had a dream about Rules of the Game before seeing the film; where the film was shot in very washed out Technicolor and starred Dita Parlo on a cliff with Michel Simon. I had a dream that I received the Apu Trilogy for Christmas; the DVDs being held in a small wooden chest. I had a dream that Sam Fuller was coming to my house.
I've had a bunch of other odd film related dreams; usually involving films I haven't seen yet. I had a dream about Rules of the Game before seeing the film; where the film was shot in very washed out Technicolor and starred Dita Parlo on a cliff with Michel Simon. I had a dream that I received the Apu Trilogy for Christmas; the DVDs being held in a small wooden chest. I had a dream that Sam Fuller was coming to my house.
- zedz
- Joined: Sun Nov 07, 2004 7:24 pm
Not a perfect match (it's B&W for one thing), but you should probably see Gremillon's Lumiere d'Ete.What A Disgrace wrote:I've had a bunch of other odd film related dreams; usually involving films I haven't seen yet. I had a dream about Rules of the Game before seeing the film; where the film was shot in very washed out Technicolor and starred Dita Parlo on a cliff with Michel Simon.
-
- Joined: Mon Jul 30, 2007 7:39 am
-
- Joined: Mon Jul 30, 2007 7:39 am
-
- Joined: Mon Jul 30, 2007 7:39 am
-
- Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2004 2:08 am
re: Linklater's list.
the line as originally reported (by Jim Ridley in Austin) was:
"Because Dennis Wilson gives the greatest performance ever by a drummer. "
I never understood the "performance by a driver" things (drivers give bad performances?), but it makes more sense like this (cf. Ringo).
Levon Helm in Shooter comes close, of course...
the line as originally reported (by Jim Ridley in Austin) was:
"Because Dennis Wilson gives the greatest performance ever by a drummer. "
I never understood the "performance by a driver" things (drivers give bad performances?), but it makes more sense like this (cf. Ringo).
Levon Helm in Shooter comes close, of course...
- Michael
- Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2004 12:09 pm
My mind is still wrapping around the film after watching it for the first time last night. Whether I like it or not, I'm still uncertain. The style of the film is pretty cool and and does not suffer from being dated at all like Easyriders and so many other 60s/70s films. At first I thought it was about drag racing, muscle cars and all that but the film translated them into metaphors for America losing its direction, history, identity and so forth.
However, I wasn't blown away by the film as much as I thought I'd be. The whole 60s/70s alienation grew old fast for me...way overdone by the time Two-Lane Blacktop was released. Antonioni's alienation was a splash of fresh spring water when I was exploring his films long ago. Same thing with Bresson. And the last "famous" shot of Blacktop seems to be inspired from Persona. In all, I didn't feel Blacktop was really that original except maybe for those who have no exposure to the directors across the ocean. I think Seconds (filmed 4 years previously) is a perfect example of a shatteringly original modern American film. It could be that I"m mistaken but for some reason I was under the impression that the film was very original like Mala Noche.
Not meaning to rip apart this really fine film but that was the personal impression I got.
The Honeymoon Killers (another 70s American film in the collection) is far more fascinating and brilliant, I feel. And more criminally under-appreciated than Blacktop for sure.
However, I wasn't blown away by the film as much as I thought I'd be. The whole 60s/70s alienation grew old fast for me...way overdone by the time Two-Lane Blacktop was released. Antonioni's alienation was a splash of fresh spring water when I was exploring his films long ago. Same thing with Bresson. And the last "famous" shot of Blacktop seems to be inspired from Persona. In all, I didn't feel Blacktop was really that original except maybe for those who have no exposure to the directors across the ocean. I think Seconds (filmed 4 years previously) is a perfect example of a shatteringly original modern American film. It could be that I"m mistaken but for some reason I was under the impression that the film was very original like Mala Noche.
Not meaning to rip apart this really fine film but that was the personal impression I got.
The Honeymoon Killers (another 70s American film in the collection) is far more fascinating and brilliant, I feel. And more criminally under-appreciated than Blacktop for sure.
- GringoTex
- Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2004 5:57 am
I never thought about Two-Lane Blacktop as being about alienation. It's the roaring exhaust of existentialism. The Driver and The Mechanic are going to race over and over and over until the end of time because, in the words of GTO, "those satisfactions are permanent."Michael wrote:However, I wasn't blown away by the film as much as I thought I'd be. The whole 60s/70s alienation grew old fast for me...way overdone by the time Two-Lane Blacktop was released. Antonioni's alienation was a splash of fresh spring water when I was exploring his films long ago. Same thing with Bresson.
- Michael
- Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2004 12:09 pm
That too. In cinema, existentialism seems to love to interwine with alienation. There is a profound sense of alienation and rootlessness in Blacktop.It's the roaring exhaust of existentialism.
Last edited by Michael on Wed Dec 12, 2007 5:25 pm, edited 1 time in total.
- LightBulbFilm
- Joined: Wed Nov 16, 2005 5:11 pm
- Location: Florida
- Contact:
- Michael
- Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2004 12:09 pm
I can't think of a film (before and since Mala Noche) that is like Mala Noche in any way. Can you? It's like Gus Van Sant created the film without having seen any films. It's completely organic, made straight from the heart. It's completely original even by todays standard. I still can't get over the fact it was made more than 20 years ago and it certainly doesn't look that way at all!How is Mala Noche "very original"?
Don't get me wrong. Two-Lane Blacktop is a wonderful film. It's just that I was expecting something fresh. Guess I grew too jaded after watching too many "existential" films of the 60s and 70s. I must admit that the film keeps simmering in my mind all today.