Vanishing Point
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Movie Reviews of Vanishing Point
Movie Review: Best car movie ever!
Summary: 5 Stars
The story begins at the end, where we are shown a roadblock of monstrous proportions, and a white 1970 Dodge Challenger rocketing toward it. From there the tale begins, backing up two days to give the rest of the story. An interstate chase is on for the driver of the Challenger, whom we know nothing at all about. As the story unfolds, the identity of the driver is rationed out in flashbacks and news reports, slowly bringing into focus the nature of the character. At first, we naturally assume the driver to be a simple car thief, as does law enforcement. Gradually, we learn that the driver is not a thief at all, he is simply delivering the car. He is a decorated Vietnam veteran who joined the police department after his honorable discharge, married a beautiful girl, and then lost her in a surfing accident. Not long after, he stopped a senior officer from beating and raping a young hippie girl, and was dishonorably discharged from the force. We also learn that his high-octane burn across the desert is to satisfy a simple wager: if he makes it from Denver to San Francisco in less than 15 hours, he doesn't have to pay for the amphetamines he bought to keep him awake for the trip. He is guided along the way by blind disc jockey "Supersoul" (Cleavon Little), who speaks to the driver (whose name is we learn is Kowalski (no last name given, via the AM radio in the Challenger. Supersoul is Kowalski's invisible guardian angel, advising him of the cop's attempts to stop him, at least until some local rednecks bust into the radio station with a storm of rocks and racial epithets and beat Super Soul and his engineer into submission. As Kowalski rockets across the blasted desert landscape, he encounters numerous crackpots and visionaries, all of whom seem to offer another piece to the puzzle that Kowalski's life has become. From prospectors to faith healers, outlaws to newlywed hijackers, we are given a glimpse into a world that exists far from the beaten track we all travel each day. As Kowalski hurtles toward his date with the destiny that was mapped out for us at the very beginning of the film, each rumor and news report seems to contradict the image of him that is being played out by the police of several states, elevating him to something of a folk hero among a growing legion of fans and supporters.
This movie knocked me out from the very beginning. For those die-hards, yes, there are plenty of car chases and stunts to satisfy most fans of car/action films. But that's not the whole story, by any measure. For this is the story of one man, not a mythic legend, or even a regional folk hero. Why does he do what he does? He simply has nothing left to lose or gain. How many men returned from Vietnam at least a little disillusioned by the world they came home to? How many have had their lives mapped out neat and pretty, only to have the blind monkey wrench of fate turn their worlds upside down? Here is a man who is perfectly willing to sacrifice his freedom, his safety, and possibly even his life to win what amounts to a ten-dollar bet, at best. When Kowalski finally arrives at the roadblock, the inevitable conclusion to his odyssey, he takes the only road he knows, a path which had been set for him ever since the beginning.
On a cinematic level, the influence of Vanishing Point is far reaching, indeed. The story of a jaded ex-cop who has lost his wife, his hope and, to a degree, his humanity, was taken and nitro-injected in George Miller's Mad Max (1979) and the Road Warrior (1982), as Max Rockatansky (not too far a reach from Kowalski) has his life violently ripped out from under him, and thus turns to the open road. At first for revenge, but then because it is the only world he can exist in, a place where jungle law prevails. By then, Max is nothing more than a shell, a ghost of a human who haunts the blighted landscape propelled by a hunger not even he can understand. One of the most effective plot devices is that of not giving the protagonist a name until well into the film. Joel Schumaker used this technique very well in his good movie Falling Down (1993), not giving Michael Douglas' character a name until the final act of the film's story. By doing this, we are allowed to see the character as a sort of everyman, someone whom we may know, or may even be. We are then free to observe the goings-on at a much more personal level, knowing all too well that the story being played out upon the screen could, given the right circumstances, be any of us, and to that end, possibly even all of us. By the time we learn that the character is someone, it's too late. They are already a part of us, bound by destiny and experience. Also of note is the using of a disc jockey to provide a running commentary on the nature and exploits of the protagonist (as well as provide a reasonable source for the music in the film), a device used, to lesser effect, in Walter Hill's The Warriors (1979). Lastly, although film characters have been bumping into oddballs in the desert for years, Abbe Wool's wonderful Roadside Prophets (1992) stands out as the protagonists wander through the desert, encountering numerous wisdom-dispensing desert dwellers, each contributing their ideas, ideals, and experiences in a way that lends toward a larger collective ideology wherein a greater truth resides.
This is a masterpiece of filmmaking. Do yourself a huge favor and check it out.
Movie Review: A Dirge For A Dying America
Summary: 5 Stars
Richard Sarafian's 1971 film "Vanishing Point" is, for starters, a fascinating study of those persons anthropologists sometimes term "marginal men"--individuals caught between two powerful and competing cultures, sharing some important aspects of both but not a true part of either, and, as such, remain tragically confined to an often-painful existential loneliness. Inhabiting a sort of twilight zone between "here" and "there," a sort of peculiar purgatory, these restless specters cannot find any peace or place, so they instead instinctively press madly on to some obscure and unknown destination, the relentless journey itself being the only reason and justification.
Disc jockey Super Soul (Cleavon Little) and delivery driver Kowalski (Barry Newman) are two of these specters, marginal but decent, intelligent men who can't or won't live in burgeoning competing cultures which in reality have offered them very little of worth or substance, despite their own personal sacrifices. Kowalski himself had tried to "fit in" with the Establishment as a soldier and police officer and later, attempted to do the same with the blossoming 1960s counterculture, but soon disappointingly found that they both were ridden with their own various forms of dishonesty and insincerity. Personal honor, self-reliance, honesty, justice and genuine respect--Kowalski's stock in trade--were tragically valued very little by either, despite each one's shrill and haughty claims to the contrary.
Moreover, it's no accident Newman's character has a Polish surname; the Poles throughout their history have created a very rich and unique Slavic culture largely based upon just such a "marginality"--being geographically jammed between two powerful and radically different historic enemies, Germany and Russia, and never being able to fully identify with either one, at often great cost to themselves. It's also no accident Little's character is blind and black, the only one of his kind in a small, all-Caucasian western desert town--his sightlessness enhancing his persuasiveness and his ability to read Kowalski's mind, the radio microphone his voice, his race being the focus of long simmering and later suddenly explosive disdain--all of the characteristics of a far-seeing prophet unjustly (but typically) dishonored in his own land.
The desert environment also plays a key role in cementing the personal relationship between and respective fates of these two men--to paraphrase British novelist J.G. Ballard, prophets throughout our history have emerged from deserts of some sort since deserts have, in a sense, exhausted their own futures (like Kowalski himself had already done) and thus are free of the concepts of time and existence as we have conventionally known them (as Super Soul instinctively knew, thus creating his own psychic link to the doomed driver.) Everything is somehow possible, and yet, somehow nothing is.
Finally, "Vanishing Point" is also a "fin de siecle" story, a unique requiem for a quickly dying age,a now all-but-disappeared one of truly open roads, endless speed for the joy of speed's sake, of big, solid muscle cars, of taking radical chances, of living on the edge in a colorful world of endless possibility, seasoned with a large number and wide variety of all sorts of unusual characters straight from the minds of Mark Twain and Nelson Algren, all of which had long made the USA a wonderful place. "Vanishing Point" poignantly shows us that such a world was already slipping away in 1971, and now, over 30 years later, it sadly is but a fond memory, having been brutally supplanted by today's swarms of sadistic, military-weaponed cop-thugs, obsessive and intrusive safety freaks, soulless toll plazas, smug yuppie SUV drivers, tedious carbon-copy latte towns, and a infantile craving for perfect, high-fuel-efficiency safety and security, rather than individual liberty, at all costs, a "brave new world" where simply wanting to be left alone amidst Orwellian chants of "it's for the children" and "either you're with us or against us" is now tantamount to near-treason.
The DVD contains both the US and UK releases of the film; the UK release, I believe, is a much more satisfying film, as it has the original scenes deleted from the US version. As an aside, Super Soul's radio station call letters, KOW, are in fact the ones for a country & western station in San Diego.
Movie Review: Much more than a car chase movie
Summary: 5 Stars
This movie held me spellbound the first time I saw it and is still capable of this after countless viewings. This is more than just a car chase movie, it actually has depth and a story to tell. The scenery of the great American West is also first rate and the soundtrack never fails to set the mood.The story of the main character, an auto delivery driver named Kowalski unfolds as he takes delivery of a white '70 Dodge Challenger which is as he puts it `souped up to 160' and proceeds to drive it from Denver to San Francisco. His plan, however is to do this in 15 hours to win a bet. As Kowalski makes his journey his life is revealed to us through flashbacks and recollections which are usually triggered by what is currently happening to him in real time. Through these the viewer learns that despite his apparent lawless behavior, Kowalski is a man of good character.
It is this good character, sense of duty and strong moral code that led to Kowalski's fallout with the establishment. He had been a decorated war hero and was honorably discharged from the military. A few years later, he was a decorated policeman. However, when he saw his police partner behaving in an unsavory fashion, he reacted. His reward was to be dishonorably discharged from the police force. This ultimately led Kowalski down the path to where we are introduced to him.
One of the big things that drew me into this movie is that it doesn't hand you the explanations on a silver platter. Instead it allows you to think about it and draw your own conclusions long after you've seen it. Some reviewers on IMDB have already done a great job of touching on the philosophies of freedom and individualism prevalent in this movie, so I won't waste the time trying to top those. I'll add that I feel this is a type of an expressionist film. Kowalski is kind of an `Everyman' who is on a journey to find his place in the grand scheme of things. Along his path he encounters various characters that watch over him and help him along, but there are also those who wish to shut him down. Whether you think the conclusion of Kowalski's journey is successful or not is up to you.
Another big plus is the realism in the driving scenes, where the drivers are actually driving their machines and occasionally things happen like tires going flat or the car needs fuel. Most modern car chase sequences leave me wanting with all of the computer generated car moves and general lack of realism. I know they sometimes got it wrong back then too, doing things like obviously speeding the film up. In this one though, they got it right. The driving here brings us into that realm of manhandling 4000 lbs. of American Iron, in all the glory of big-block V8 roar, screaming smoking tires, and hands grappling with the steering wheel.
Another thing that's cool to me about this type of movie is the appearance of the car. At the beginning, the car is resplendent in gleaming chrome and white paint. As the story moves along, the car gradually gets a more dusty battered countenance. I won't spoil the end, but those who've seen it know.
The final things that tie this whole thing together are the soundtrack and scenery. They seem to go hand in hand, from the upbeat rock & roll as Kowalski starts out to the stirring guitar strains during the thoughtful moments. I also cannot say enough about the scenery, which really draws the viewer in. It ranges from the mountains of Colorado, across Utah and into the searing Nevada desert.
In closing, I'll say that this is one of my favorite movies. It won't be understood by everyone, but those of us who fantasize about getting in a classic car and blasting down an open two-lane highway devoid of SUV's, sport sedans and minivans will likely get it.
Movie Review: Nothing to living and nothing to lose...
Summary: 5 Stars
I should hate this movie. I always wanted a '70 Challenger R/T and in some part thanks to this classic, offbeat movie, prices have now skyrocketed far beyond what I could pay for one. This is a REAL Cult movie. Mopar fanatics have long exchanged philosophical points of view about it and if it had used a bigger name actor, it could have immediately done to the Dodge Challenger what Dirty Harry did for the Smith & Wesson 44 Magnum. Obviously, the Dodge Boys missed a real marketing opportunity back then. Instead, for almost three decades it languished almost unseen, occassional showing up on Cinemax or some video catalog for sixty bucks or more. Now, to my regret, it is available to the unwashed masses (just kidding, sort of) and even spawned a remake.
Now, about that remake. Fox TV did this back in '96 and the Vanishing Point purist that I am, I cringed with anticipation of this. I admit I liked it, not as a remake, but as a '90's version of Kowaslki's journey. Now it seems to have shuffled off to its own video Purgatory. The story made use of the paranoia of the times much like the '70's version did of the anomie of the Vietnam era. So it was not the equal of the original, but did not try to simply retell the story because each decade had its own social dynamics to contend with. if you haven't seen it, it starred Viggo Mortenson before many people had heard of him. Steve Railsback is his usual overcaffeined loose gun going after Kowalski in his black '70 Charger named The Beast. At least we got two stunning Mopars driving like heck through John Ford country. Now back to the original:
Nowadays driving 150 mph into a bulldozer is something you would only do on Fear Factor. Back in the early '70's, it was not that common either, but any teen facing a possible hitch in Vietnam might find it a preferable fate. Such was youth in the days of draft, war, race riots, and cheap gas. Kowalski is an outcast in a lost generation and is like the last wild mustang of the west-I guess it would have been too obvious if he were driving a Boss 429 or even a white (Dodge) Charger. Cleavon Little is Super Soul, actually the Superego trying to bring Kowalski back from his doomed Id-yssey. I was always amused for years over the fact that his flight begins on the incomplete I-70 west of Denver, and that in the '90's it was STILL under construction. Kowalski may be a drugged out anti-hero, but he is still portrayed as a man with more integrity than society who will still take the time to see if that cop he just ran off the road has survived his rollover. They don't make 'em like that anymore. As part of a triumvirate of social misfit car chase movies of the early '70's (Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry and Two-lane Blacktop being the others) this is the best. If you grew up in those times you will dig it, if you were too young, you might just wonder what the heck is up with this dude and dismiss it. That would be your loss.
Movie Review: Vanishing Point
Summary: 5 Stars
If you were a teenager in 1971, you probably saw this from the backseat of your VW bug. Windows steamed up, rainy friday night. Boone's Farm bottles hidden discreetly (next to the seat inside the driver door). Well now the video and audio are caught up to today's standard and the movie even comes closed captioned for us Jensen / Craig stereo owners playing Hair of the Dog full tilt! Remember...? "Now you're messin with a ..."When you're 15 or 16, it just makes sense that a grown up, like ex-cop Kowalski wants to drive a supercharged Dodge from Denver, Colorado to San Francisco in 15 hours. The powers that be have done a great job restoring both visual and audio to this film. The late Cleavon Little runs a very close second to the car as the take over star. You get to see Delaney, Bonnie (Bramlett) & Friends including Big Mama Thornton. And let's not forget the naked blond babe in the desert.
Anyway I just was not getting the right memories sitting in my comfortable living room watching this classic so if you're missing the good old days, try this: Get some friends to help carry the big screen tv set and dvd player into the garage. Get your kids old swing set and place it between you and the screen. Put up those yellow bug light spot lights just to the right or left of where the screen is. Park your car at the bottom of the drive way. Run a bad sounding speaker out to one of the side windows. Remove one windshield wiper. Turn on sprinkler system so it simulates a heavy drizzle. About 30 minutes of the movie, run into the house and tear up a $20 bill. Bring back popcorn, nachos, cokes for the kids, cups of ice for the grown ups (still only a quarter each.) Forget napkins, and going to restroom. And go back and enjoy the movie! To add realism honk your horn, moon passers by, and flash headlights at screen!
Throw trash on your lawn and drive off with speaker still in your car. Watch broken glass as your leaving. Drive around for a few hours or stop to neck. Then sneak into your own house before your teenage children get home.
This is a "have fun" and enjoy movie. The bonuses are almost none existent (a 20 second TV trailer, a 1:00 minute TV trailer) and that sort of stuff.
Don't criticize this one by comparing it to the new ones, just smile shake your head and reminisce. I still want that Challenger and Bullitt's Mustang AND CHARGER. No sissy toyotas in my movies!!!
John Row