Review of Two-Lane Blacktop (1971) by Jeffrey D — 15 Jan 2008

Interesting, low-key film about the disintegration of the American Dream (or, perhaps, its evolution during the socially turbulent 1960s) as seen through the eyes of four drifters on the highways of the US. Basically, the Driver and the Mechanic roam the West Coast, looking for drag races in order to pay for their 55 Chevy. Along the way, they encounter the Girl (a hitchhiker) and GTO (Warren Oats playing...Warren Oats). The Driver and the Mechanic live their dream, but it is hollow and makes them little more than monks in a rolling cloister. When the Girl joins them, she seems to represent the notion of change, of restless energy that they - for all their nomadic wanderings - seem to lack. If the Driver and Mechanic are the dreamers who've found what they want (as self-limiting as that dream becomes), GTO is constantly trying to reinvent himself (something America has always prided itself on). The problem is that, with all his attempts to redefine himself by creating fabrications of his past, he is also never satisfied. The problem, I would say, is that if you are free to make anythign out of your life that you want, how do you really know when you are happy? Highly stratified, defined societies, provide distinct parameters for measure self-satisfaction. America does not, beyond a broad notion of materialism. If the Girl is the personification of restless energy, then in the end she decisively leaves the three men, choosing a random man to drive off with.

Obviously, I find the movie thought provoking and a great example of the Philosophical Road Movie, a genre that had a short run, but produced some great movies.