The typical road movie involves main characters who leave their homes so that they can go on a road trip, which will eventually alter their perspective in some way. While Monte Hellman’s “Two-Lane Blacktop”, does not alter any of its main character’s perspective, the movie does instill a vivid, existential feel to the countryside being traversed and is full of restless, frustrated, and desperate characters.
The movie is almost plotless as it follows two nameless street racers, who I will call The Driver (Folk Rock superstar James Taylor in his only acting role), and The Mechanic (Beachboys drummer, Dennis Wilson), as they travel in their highly modified but dullish grey, 1955 Chevrolet two-door racing car. They support themselves by winning impromptu drag races with similar types of people they meet on the way. Their ugly looking car is easily the fastest car on the road, making victory in these races almost assured. They meet two people on the road. One is a teenage hippie I will call The Girl (Laurie Bird), and the other is a middle-aged man who is going through a deep mid-life crisis and is driving through the country on a brand-new GTO sports car. This character is portrayed by the great character actor Warren Oats, who is also nameless and will be referred to as GTO, because of the car he drives. Driver and Mechanic goad GTO into a long-distance race from their location in New Mexico to Washington DC, with the winner taking ownership of the other’s car. The rest of the film revolves somewhat around this race, because neither of the people involved are really interested in winning. They keep stopping for various reasons, and even waiting for their so-called competitor to catch up and continue the race. They interact together in a very non-competitive manner. There is absolutely no tension or suspense in this movie. The girl has sex with The Mechanic and is desired by both the Driver and GTO. At one point I wondered whether she would choose one of them over the other, until I realized that this becomes unimportant within the ensuing story.
Both Taylor and Wilson were non-actors, and Bird starred in her first movie as a former model. Their stilted acting left an unemotional emptiness in the feelings of their characters. This fits the mood and feel of the movie very well, as I found it a strong treatise on loneliness. While The Driver and The Mechanic are travelling together, they only speak to each other in terms of the car they are driving. They do not seem to even recognize the existence of the other as a human being. The Girl on the other hand, uses people (or more to the point, men), to get from one location to the next and it is not important to her where that location is. She is the ultimate loner. When The Driver shows an inkling of emotion, it drives her away.
The loneliest person in the movie is GTO, a middle-aged man suffering from some sort of mid-life crisis. It is obvious that he is escaping from some former life, having bought an expensive sports car, and driving to no place in particular. The race challenge became a purpose in life for him. It is also obvious that he does not want it to end, which is why he keeps circling back to the other car, waiting for them to catch up. Warren Oats gives a superb performance as GTO. The wooden performances of the other three actors serve to make Oat’s excellent depiction of GTO stand out even more. Like Nicholson from the similar theme, “Easy Rider”, Oats brings life into the movie. Luckily, he has a major role and stays relevant throughout. His loneliness is profound and sad, as he constantly picks up hitchhikers on the way to keep him company. He also tells each of these strangers a different, obviously fake story about himself. This made sense to me as his true background is probably too personal to relay to a stranger, yet he still has the need for any sort of human companionship. Oats breathes life into the character of GTO, who is always brandishing a large, forced smile, like a traveling salesman. Oats was a great character actor, and in this movie, he proves that he is more than capable of carrying a movie on his own. GTO’s inner sadness and fake bravado is brought out impeccably by Oats.
As a road movie, “Two-Lane Blacktop”, wanders into the rural American South, and while made in 1971, I am pretty sure not a lot has changed in that part of the country since. The gas stations, cold coke bottles and roadside cafés are what make this area tick, and Hellman has an acute eye for these details.
As interesting as this slice of American reality is, the movie still failed to instill in me anything more than a passing interest. It is the ending or lack of ending found in the movie that served to lose me with its somber message. For me, a movie about character and tone that dwells within sad, lonely lives does not require a resolution but does need an emphasis point that makes you ponder its meaning. Instead of this, Hellman gives us a seemingly clever cinematic trick to end his movie. The same sort of trick that Godard loved to put in his movies. When the film ended, I thought that it was a cross mixture of Godard’s “Weekend”, and Hopper’s “Easy Rider”. Since I do not particularly care about either of those two films, I also found “Two-Land Blacktop”, a good looking, somewhat interesting but ultimately boring movie.
1001 Movies before you die 