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Two-Lane Blacktop



Drag racing east from L.A. in a souped-up ’55 Chevy are the wayward Driver and Mechanic (singer/songwriter James Taylor and the Beach Boys’ Dennis Wilson, in their only acting roles), accompanied by a tagalong Girl (Laurie Bird). Along the way, they meet Warren Oates’s Pontiac GTO–driving wanderer and challenge him to a cross-country race—the prize: their cars’ pink slips. But no summary can do justice to the existential punch of Two-Lane Blacktop. With its gorgeous widescreen compositions and sophisticated look at American male obsession, this stripped-down narrative from maverick director Monte Hellman is one of the artistic high points of 1970s cinema, and possibly the greatest road movie ever made.



DIRECTOR-APPROVED SPECIAL EDITION:

- Restored high-definition digital transfer, supervised by director Monte Hellman, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition
- Alternate 5.1 surround soundtrack, supervised by Hellman, presented in DTS-HD Master Audio on the Blu-ray edition
- Two audio commentaries: one by Hellman and filmmaker Allison Anders and one by screenwriter Rudolph Wurlitzer and author David N. Meyer
- Interviews with Hellman, actor James Taylor, musician Kris Kristofferson, producer Michael Laughlin, and production manager Walter Coblenz
- Screen test outtakes
- Performance and Image, a look at the restoration of a ’55 Chevy used in the movie and the film’s locations today
- Color Me Gone, photos and publicity from Two-Lane Blacktop
- Trailer
-PLUS: New essay by Kent Jones, appreciations by Richard Linklater and Tom Waits; and a reprint of the 1970 Rolling Stone article “On Route 66, Filming Two-Lane Blacktop”; the DVD edition also features Wurlitzer’s screenplay


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Narshty wrote:Brad Stevens, who has written a book on Monte Hellman and seems the obvious choice for the liner notes, says Criterion is working on a new edition of Two-Lane Blacktop featuring a new documentary that revisits the shooting locations and more.

I really, really hope a two-disc set of The Shooting and Ride in the Whirlwind are on the way too.

Ha, just bought the UK version yesterday, was cheap though.
Saw the Shooting this week, a truly amazing film, I was floored, akin to Antonioni making a western. The French Carlotta 2-set DVD with The Shooting, Whilwing, Cockfighter and 2 good documentaries on Hellman is a must own.

I'm surprised that Criterion went for this, since the Anchor Bay edition already had a commentary by Hellman and Gary Kurtz and a short doc directed by George Hickenlooper. Hopefully those features will get ported over.

Yes, it seems like Two-Lane Blacktop has already had its deluxe edition, but it is nice to get another example of 1970s Hollywood in the collection (currently the only one seems to be 3 Women) and I'm sure Criterion are really going to do a bang-up job on the film or they wouldn't be going back to it.

Incidentally, I've noticed that Cockfighter, The Shooting and Ride in the Whirlwind are all now OOP. I wonder if a full Monte Hellman boxset is in the works?

YES!!! Go Criterion! =D>

I saw Two-Lane Blacktop for the first time about a year ago on the Fox Movie Channel and was very impressed.

A full Monte Hellman box set would be both very intriguing and an education for me.

Color me excited. (Even if it is just TLB)

keeproductions wrote:A full Monte Hellman box set would be both very intriguing and an education for me.

As long as it includes Silent Night, Deadly Night 3: Better Watch Out!

Commander Shears wrote:

keeproductions wrote:A full Monte Hellman box set would be both very intriguing and an education for me.

As long as it includes Silent Night, Deadly Night 3: Better Watch Out!

Ouch... First I was thinking "generally-unsung, talented, genre-filmmaker" and now all I can think of is Bob Clark.

keeproductions wrote:

Commander Shears wrote:

keeproductions wrote:A full Monte Hellman box set would be both very intriguing and an education for me.

As long as it includes Silent Night, Deadly Night 3: Better Watch Out!

First I was thinking "generally-unsung, talented, genre-filmmaker" and now all I can think of is Bob Clark.

I've not seen it, but it has some admirers on the a_film_by group, notably Bill Krohn:

Post number 339: Subject: Hellman fanatic

I'm the Hellman fanatic who swears by Better Watch Out. I wrote the presskit and a lengthy L*c*nian critique in Cahiers. Monte is quite proud of it - I think I even heard him say at one point that it's his best film. As an aside, it was his relationship with Live through Better Watch Out that enabled him to get Reservoir Dogs financed - a good deed that may still pay off, although it sure is taking a long time. There was Red Rain, then Freaky Deaky... Miramax may be the problem.

I was just remarking the other day what a shame it is that PBS produced all those Beckett adaptations by mediocre directors (with the exception of Atom Egoyan's Krapp's Last Tape) and no one thought to call Monte Hellman.

I agree with Fred about the Philippine films, although I made the mistake of lending my copies (and a letterboxed China 9 I got from Monte) to some thief whose name I have happily forgotten long ago, so I haven't seen them lately. And I strongly urge younger auteurists to rush to see China 9 and Iguana - beautiful, moving, imaginative films. And of course Better Watch Out: Silent Night, Deadly Night 3.

Also see post 579.

I've not seen it, but it has some admirers on the a_film_by group, notably Bill Krohn:

Thanks Colin. Hmmm... put me back in the intrigued and looking for an education camp.

Arn777 wrote:The French Carlotta 2-set DVD with The Shooting, Whilwing, Cockfighter and 2 good documentaries on Hellman is a must own.

Are these good transfers? The first two films are all over the public domain, but usually in atrocious condition.

As for the existing edition of Two-Lane Blacktop, I hope Criterion doesn't duplicate the commentary, as it's one of the dullest, least revealing director commentaries I've ever heard. It seems like they're barely staying awake, and the sharpest insights we get are things like "it wasn't actually raining when we did this shot - someone was using a firehose," or "this small town was actually a real small town which looked just like this".

I have only watched The Shooting so far and the Carlotta transfer is good good (and I'm quite fussy). The sound is not so good with hard to understand dialogue at times (mostly at the beginning), but this may have been intentional or due to budget limitations, I was happy to have french subs.

Monte Hellman talks about Two-Lane Blacktop on BBC Radio 4's The Film Programme this week (it'll only be up to listen again for 7 days, so hear it now).

Narshty wrote:Monte Hellman talks about Two-Lane Blacktop on BBC Radio 4's The Film Programme this week (it'll only be up to listen again for 7 days, so hear it now).

Cheers, Narshty. And wow, Eli Roth is a fucking sage, isn't he? Without his films, I wouldn't be able to cope and come to terms with the senseless and sickening violence in the world. The cure is the cause! Paradoxical!

Great news about the Criterion of Two-Lane.

I've been wanting to see Two-Lane Blacktop for a while now, so a criterion edition is good news to me as well. I would absolutely love a good Hellman boxset, as I know others would too. It would have to include China 9, Liberty 37.

Oh, and I too love Silent Night, Deadly Night 3: Better Watch Out! It's maybe my second favorite (though who knows, it would be kind of great if it turned out to be his best!) Love The Shooting as well, and The Cockfighter is very good.

Great news regarding the Criterion release! I made some screenshots of the British DVD in the Screencaps thread.

Philip Kemp's review of the new UK disc has this tidbit at the end:

Still, might be worth waiting for the forthcoming Criterion release on Region 1 – it's planned to include a documentary by Hellman on Oates, his friend and favourite actor.

Hellman related....if you get the chance, hunt down Cockfighter. It is an amazing film, truly one of the best films most people have never heard of and Warren Oates gives what I think is his best performance in it. The OOP disc is one that I regularly lend to friends when they ask about something off the beaten path.

And that Cockfighter disc itself has an excellent documentary on Oates.

I have Dillinger and Race with the Devil in the mail. I actually accidentlly ordered a second copy of the later and I can't be bothered returning it, so if anyone here wants it, I'll send it on when it arrives next week. I live in Britain.

More info on the upcoming disc, this time from IndieWire:

In town to screen his 1971 road trip masterpiece "Two-Lane Blacktop," director Monte Hellman gave one of the best intros I've ever seen. He started off with a little joke: "Most filmmakers usually do not have the time to think about what the film is about; when people ask me I usually say about an hour and three quarters..." Many yuks ensued! To the delight of film fans everywhere, Hellman also announced an upcoming two-disc DVD from the Criterion Collection, for which he's been shooting new documentary material, including an interview with Kris Kristofferson about how his song, Me and Bobby McGee, and how its themes of freedom have become so closely associated with the film. Hellman also discussed the fact that because of the nature of the film, he was able to shoot it in sequence, but only gave the script to the actors page by page. Star James Taylor was not exactly enamored by that approach and "about halfway through the film [he] became upset about this and said he would mutiny and would not act any more unless I gave him the script," recounted Hellman, continuing "I gave him the script and he never read it. To this day he still has not seen the film." [Mark Rabinowitz]

-BJ

Wow, James Taylor in the Criterion Collection… I thought that ship of mine would never come to port. Count one more copy as good as sold to this guy.

December release - spine 415.

I'd never even heard of this one (although I had seen The Cockfighter, which is indeed a very good movie based on Charles Willeford's noir novel). Is it just Criterion being hip and lowbrow, or is this actually that good?

Tribe

A definite digi-pack due to the inclusion of screenplay

Is Allison Anders friends with Monte Hellman? Great to see Linklater give an appreciation to the only person who likes Impossible to Plow.

I feel a little cheated that this is the only new release for December, so it better be as good as Cockfighter and China 9, Liberty 37.