Two Lane Blacktop (1971)

"Two Lane Blacktop" is a difficult film to describe. It's equally difficult to explain how I feel about it. I rented it from Netflix a few years ago because Dennis Wilson was in it and I love the Beach Boys. I watched it and didn't feel as if there was enough going on in the plot to hold my interest. Later, a film-buff friend of mine who's opinions I value raved about this movie in a discussion about Warren Oates and I felt like maybe I missed something. Criterion had a half-off "flash sale" a few months ago, so I picked this up on Blu-ray to watch again.

James Taylor (the driver) and Dennis Wilson (the mechanic) are two twenty-something gear-heads traveling the country in a souped-up '55 Chevy challenging locals to race for money. The two don't even seem to like each other, really, but their livelihood depends on their shared interest in the car. Stoic and soft-spoken, the two of them are codependent nomads existing from their racing winnings. Along their travels, they bump into Warren Oates (GTO) often enough that he thinks they're fucking with him. After a verbal confrontation, they agree to a cross-country race to Washington DC for pink slips. Oates is the complete opposite of Taylor and Wilson; brash and flashy, talking loud and saying nothing, driving a brand new 1970 GTO, but lacking any mechanical know how. While talking to hitchhikers he picks up along the way (including Harry Dean-Stanton), Oates' backstory story changes each time he tells it. He's a man on the run from his past, but no explanation is given as to why. There's also "The Girl", a bored and disconnected hitchhiking hippie played by Laurie Bird, starved for human contact, but finds herself surrounded by people who care only about their cars.

Director Monte Hellman's use of space might be too much for a lot of people. There are long periods where there is no dialogue and there really isn't a plot to speak of. The race to DC is the only real plot element and the people involved don't seem to care one way or the other how it turns out.   The characters don't even have names and are referred to only as "The Goat", "The Girl", etc.  As a road movie, we're treated to an abundance of great exterior shots. We see America as it will never be again, both in it's landscape and in the freedom the characters experience. While the illusion of freedom exists, the players are all trapped by either their interests, their past, or in the case of "The Girl", her present.

I liked this a great deal more than I did the first time around, but I still feel as if I'm missing a lot of what I'm supposed to be taking away from it. I tried to just enjoy it for what it is, and I did this time. Warren Oates is especially good in this, possibly my favorite role I've seen him in. I'm still not convinced this is the masterpiece people claim it to be, but that might change next viewing. If you liked "Easy Rider" but thought it was too "hippie", give this one a try.

4/5