Review of Vanishing Point (1971) by Nicholas M — 14 Jul 2007

It?s 1971. Vietnam is splitting the social fabric of the USA. Kowalski is an ex policeman. Kowalski drives cars from Denver to San Francisco in as little time as possible. Never made clear why anyone would want him to do this but it?s largely irrelevant to the bleached bones of a plot.

This time the car is a white Dodge Challenger which to those not in the know is possibly the zenith of the American muscle cars with a HUGE V8 engine which sounds like an army of Apocalypse Now Huey gunship choppers coming in for the kill.

A year or two the fuel crisis hit America and cars like this were an anachronism never to be seen again. Kowalski is ripped to the tits on amphetamines so that he can stay awake for 15 hours tearing across the vast desert in the Challenger.

Mad religious hippies, snake charmers, a narrator DJ called Super Soul and a naked chick on a motorbike describe his journey. All the while he has to contend with The Man in the form of the Highway Patrol who seem intent on destroying this last expression of American freedom in a jaded society.

My favourite bit is the seemingly endless gear changes (what is this ? a 10 speed gearbox?) as Kowalski screams that V8 monster across the stark beauty of the desert. Not a happy ending either but this is not a feel good movie.