Don't Know Where We're Going Down Two-Lane Blacktop

You are there, but you are never really there.

Such an esoteric, minimalist  statement could be one of many open-to-interpretation themes found in the 1971 road movie cult classic Two-Lane Blacktop. Two-Lane Blacktop is so narratively thin, viewers are able to infuse any theme they wish. Fans and critics have been doing so since the film was first released, although the box office failure gained most of its acclaim decades after its original release.

The Road Movie/Faux Documentary

The plot of Two-Lane Blacktop is fairly simple. A long-distance race takes place between a crew of young persons named The Driver (James Taylor), The Mechanic (Dennis Wilson), and The Girl (Laurie Bird) and their 1955 Chevy and a middle-aged man dubbed GTO (Warren Oates), the driver of a 1970 GTO.

The Easy Rider inspirations in the film are obvious. The alienation in the often dialogue-sparse feature is even more pronounced and the characters are decidedly less charming, humorous, and likeable. We always hear the noise of engines and the road with clear distinction. The characters only seem to speak sporadically and rarely with distinction.

The minimalism in the film seeks allows events to unfold in a slice of life manner as opposed to adhering to a more generic dramatic structure. That is why the film flopped when it was first released and why it has risen to classic status these days.

Two-Lane Blacktop is a documentary-like film that captures the proceedings in a fly-on-the-wall manner. The road movie captures slices of life created by drifters who simply want to race their cars. The races are sometimes against other cars and always an attempt to get as far away from society as fast as possible.

Flies on the Wall, Flies in the Movie

The viewer is traditionally disconnected from the events of a film. Audiences watch what unfolds on the screen. They are "there" in the movie theater, but they are not "there" on the screen. The characters in Two-Lane Blacktop aren't there either. They have been divorced from the world and only seem to be peripherally part of things. (The audience is not comprised of the only flies on the wall) Drifting from place to place, new environment to new environment, allowing Route 66 to be their simple guide. Just follow the road to a new location.

As the song goes, the road goes on forever. No matter where the characters travel, they find no home. As in Easy Rider, there is a rejections of society and a desire for a more anarchistic existence.

Emotional Disconnects and Attempts to Connect

Two-Lane Blacktop differentiates itself further from Easy Rider because their is no bonding between characters in Two-Lane Blacktop. Instead, there is constant friction and everyone keeps everyone else emotionally at arm's length. The rare extended scenes of dialogue highlight this notion.

                                                                 DRIVER
                                                        You hear the cicadas?

                                                 (Long, long, uncomfortable pause)

                                                                 GIRL
                                                         Yeah.

                                                                 DRIVER
                                                          ......You talk about survival those are some freaky
                                                          bugs. The come out of the ground every seven years...
                                                          {to mate and die}.

                                                                 GIRL
                                                          You bore me.

The sound of the cicadas is much louder and clearer to hear and understand than the characters speaking the likely improvised dialogue. The characters and their dialogue are cast adrift in the events of the film. From a dialogue perspective, he cicadas chirping in the background are just as important at The Driver's musings. That is to say, his dialogue is not all that important. The action of the race and the dynamics of the scenery are important.

The motif repeats itself in the next scene in which the song "Me and Bobby McGee" drowns out most dialogue....until the dialogue switches to a wager for ownership of the loser's car in a race.

Old Again, Young Again, What's The Difference?

The characters are a byproduct of traveling and racing. Both actions help establish who the characters are. In some ways, the constant travel keeps the characters from being who they are as much as it allows them to become nameless, identity-less creatures who are byproducts of their road excursions.

The race between The Drive, The Girl, and The Mechanic vs. GTO appears, superficially, to be symbolic of a youth vs. elders theme. It really isn't. GTO shares virtually everything in common with the other three. He has the same interests, ethics, and lives the same life. GTO simply reflects the direction the others are headed. Since GTO has not arrived anywhere, he becomes the personification of the road never ending.

This is not to say there is no tension or conflict. The two parties are competing against one another. Neither are heroes or villains, although some do have their nefarious moments.

To defeat GTO in the race, The Driver lies to the police claiming he was brutally reckless on the road. Eventually, GTO catches up with The Driver.

                                                                 DRIVER
                        We just wanted to let you know were right along with you
                        on the road. Were all in this together, right?

GTO is not amused at being played and blows up. Was he really being played though? He loosens up and tries to give some experienced advice to The Driver.

                                                                  GTO
                        I been scouting locations for a down home movie on fast cars,
                        but the real race is more interesting.

At first, this seems as if GTO is trying to bond with his young friend/foe. In a way, it is. There is a warning present as well.

                                                                 GTO
                       You can't be a nomad forever unless you can flow
                       with it like me.

The statement still seems like an endorsement of life on the road. Although he is extolling the virtues of living the nomadic way, GTO's life is not exactly one of glib grandeur.

                                                               GTO
                      Everything fell apart on me. My job, my family, everything.

                                                              DRIVER
                     I don't want to hear about it.

GTO, we learn, has issues with alcohol. His life of adventure, of "bouncing from coast to coast like a rubber ball" is an attempt at escaping reality. And he really has nowhere to go.

We don't know what the younger ones are escaping from. Perhaps they are lost in a general sense of rebellion common with the youth at the time. In an era before social media and virtual, simulated lives and personas, the existence of an outlaw was attractive. The life was doubly attractive for those interested in escaping. Driver, Mechanic, and The Girl are looking to escape abstracts like "the system". GTO wishes to escape a failed family life and career.

Regardless, they are both seeking escape and the idea has its dire faults. Running away from a problem has a tendency to leave the problem unsolved.

Raised Eyebrows, Groucho Marx, and the Curtain Call on Laughter

A cliché of a cliché of a cliché of a cliché goes something to the effect of "Things don't always turn out how you planned." The final years of the life of the iconic Groucho Marx probably were nothing like the sharp-witted comedian troupe leader envisioned. Known by millions, Marx's last years entailed living a life of mostly solitude behind the four walls of a California estate. His career in show business was over, and, barring the occasional get-togethers with Hollywood friends, Marx's twilight years were spent chiefly waxing on the glory days of yesteryear.

We have a document of those days in the form of an amazing book.

Raised Eyebrows: My Years Inside Groucho's House by Steve Stoliar presents an intriguing look at the last years of the iconic comedian. Stoliar was a massive fan of the Marx Brothers as a young man, and he eventually met his iconic screen hero after arranging an early 1970's screening of Animal Crackers. The scratchy, beaten-up 16mm print screening was a very special event. At the time, Animal Crackers was a Marx Brothers film unavailable for television syndication due to a rights issue. With the sold-out screening, doors were opened, and contacts made leading to Stoliar working as Groucho's archivist at the comedian's home from 1974 to 1977.

The autobiography/biography delivers a sad glimpse into the final years of the lonely screen and stage icon. This long-retired beloved figure still had legions of fans thanks to constant reruns of Marx Brothers movies on television, but the fame connected to a life he no longer lived.

Rob Zombie optioned the book for a film version, but the project appears stalled. Maybe the adaptation will rise out of "development hell" and become a realized project one day.

Cover for the book by Steve Stoliar

Retelling the book's highlights here on this blog is unnecessary and would not do the outstanding and compelling work justice. Just buy the book. Read the whole story.

What can be said about the work is it shows, in the microcosm of the last days of Groucho Marx, we learn a great life can come to a bittersweet end. Groucho sat on top of the entertainment world on stage, screen, and television. And then, one day, he got old. While it is wonderful to live a long life, Marx had to accept the world had changed around him, and he was too aged to make any transitions into the new entertainment landscape. Solace in personal relationships was not to be either.

Outstanding radio interview with Stoliar.

Raised Eyebrows is a proverbial cautionary tale for all of us. No one has to be a world-famous comedian to reach the end of days in a sad state. Faded professional and personal glory affect people of all walks of life and backgrounds. And the impact is going to be bear a considerable weight on the shoulders of anyone who experiences it. Raised Eyebrows may focus on the particulars of the final years of Groucho Marx, but the tale can be found in the home of many untold millions of people.

Morricone's Masterful Emotions in The Ecstasy of Gold

Ennio Morricone's body of work as a composer is among the most impressive in all of cinematic history. He made a ballyhooed return in The Hateful Eight, but his title score for The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly will always be his most well-known work. The main theme to the film is, arguably, the second-best musical piece in the spaghetti western epic.

The Ecstasy of Gold is a strangely emotional musical work. Hints at "the anxiety of hope" (for lack of a better description) are found in the opening of the music. The tempo picks up to a faster pace that highlights the adventurous aspects of the film, and then the tempo slows. Confusion sets in and the sounds reflect finding gold, its fortunes, and its treasures is far harder than anticipated.

The Ecstasy of Gold is a fantastic, sweeping piece. Metallica was suitably impressed as they covered it. Here is the original version.

Nice Screenplay Character Touches in Night Moves (1975)

Budding screenwriters have a tendency to throw a lot of unnecessary things into a script. The idea at work is the more elements added to the screenplay, the more profound the plot, characters, and themes will be. Maybe that works now and then, but the common result is usually a muddled one. Too much tossed into a script has a tendency to create a massive mess.

One of the best film noirs of the 1970s is Arthur Penn's classic Night Moves. The 1975 feature was a vehicle for Gene Hackman. Like The Conversation (1974) and Prime Cut (1972), Night Moves did not reap massive ticket sales at the box office despite being an outstanding feature.

A lot could be written about Night Moves. In keeping with the theme of this particular entry, we can focus on simplicity in the outstanding screenplay.

Gene Hackman's character is not down and out financially, but spiritually. Greater days are behind him.

When JFK died, Moseby reveals he was in the middle of his stellar NFL career. When Robert died, he was staking out the home of an adulterer trying to get pictures for a divorce case. Gene Hackman plays Harry Moseby, a former professional NFL star who now works as a private investigator. The character is mired in sadness of glory lost. In one brief scene that takes place in the darkness of night, Leslie Warren's character Paula asks him where he was when the Kennedy brothers were shot.


In only three years, Moseby went from a superstar to a pathetic sad sack. No one feels more ashamed about the fall from glory than Moseby. Hackman gets the pain of his character across brilliantly. Screenwriter Alan Sharp deserves a lot of praise for coming up with this brilliant script point.

Heart, Soul, and Special Effects on a Budget: Silent Running (1972)

Silent Running (1972) remains well-deserving of its cult status. The feature was a product of a cinematic time capsule - the early 1970's Hollywood new wave movement.

A little context here.

Hollywood's Young Mavericks

Easy Rider (1969) was a massive success (Will we ever see the four-hour rough cut?), and studios allowed young directors free reign to produce experimental movies. The idea was to let the "older crowd" at the studios get out of the way since younger directors had a better shot at connecting with younger audiences. Ironically, a number of those films were flops and have become forgotten. The science-fiction genre, mercifully, houses fervent fans who cherish its history. Silent Running is never to be forgotten. Bruce Dern's performance is a memorable (albeit nuanced) one, and the look of the film's set and art direction was amazing for its time. However, not everyone sees it this way due to certain dated aspects of the film.

The Future By Way Of The 1970s

And then some mock the future-by-way-of-1972 look of the space crafts. The advanced space station of 100 years in the future is operated by, essentially, computers found in a long-outdated Radio Shack catalog. The clothes and hairstyles look like 1972 styles make a comeback in 2072. Yes, Silent Running is a very 70's - early 70's - era movie.

The word "cheap" may be unfairly lobbied at the model kits used to create the future space world. CGI was science-fiction and not science/media-fact at this time when Superman: The Movie suffered in development hell because no special effects team could come up with a credible way to make Superman fly realistically. The model kits are not convincing by modern standards, but they possess something modern CGI effects lack. There is both heart and passion to these models.

Building The Genre Via Model Kits

In the early 1970s, producing a movie such as Silent Running was not easy - or even desirable. The strange future worlds of science-fiction were few and far between on the big screen. When such films did arrive in theaters and drive-ins, an amazing sense of wonder overtook the (sadly, sometimes small) audiences who turned out for these films. Today, everyone knows how special effects are produced. The wonder is not there. Special effects are taken for granted.

Little details went into the design of the exterior space station and the surrounding ships. These details bring the models to life and, in turn, help create the believable isolated world Bruce Dern finds himself in.

The look does not have to be perfect, but it needs to be captivating within the presentation context. Yes, there is an ever-present dated look to the models, but the dated nature does capture the sentiments of the times. Even though the film takes place in the future, the themes are rooted in Vietnam War-era anxieties and upheavals. Linking the future to the 1970s through minimalist sets and props helps maintain a connection to the themes and the time the feature debuted.

Special effects that overwhelm the senses tend to take people out of a movie. A CGI-infused war on the sensory system leaves little time for the audience to digest a film. Other wondrous aspects of a film can end up being lost. Though minimalist in so many ways, the plastic and glue creating the interstellar environment of Silent Running help keep the film's focus on its characters and themes. Bruce Dern and his environmental laments are never lost in a sea of computer-generated effects. 

Arkansas Is A New Home to Theatrical Releases Of Classic Films

The good people in Arkansas don't know how lucky they are. Movie theaters across the state are being treated to a host of classic films on the big screen. Not too long ago, only New York and California were home to consistent classic movie revivals. Today, more and more states across the U.S.A. are running classic films on the silver screen. Better still, the films are being run on a regular basis and not just in conjunction with a holiday or film festival.

Jaws (1975), The Maltese Falcon (1941), and Spartacus (1960) are getting the theatrical release treatment in Arkansas this month. Check out the full story at ArkansasOnline.com.

Any and all classic films are awesome to view on the big screen, but Spartacus is the one I would wish to see the most. The Stanley Kubrick classic is a wonder of art direction and cinematography Widescreen Blu-ray does not do it justice.

Malcolm McDowell Celebrates the 44th Anniversary of A Clockwork Orange

A Clockwork Orange remains one of the most influential of all subversive science-fiction films ever made. On this date in 1972, A Clockwork Orange was given a wide release across theaters, and audiences were stunned at Stanley Kubrick's brutal cinema masterpiece.

Star Malcolm McDowell reminisces about the film in the entertainment section of the New York Daily News. Some points McDowell makes in the article include:

• The drugs and gang-filled dystopian future of the movie seems is becoming a reality.
• Novelist Anthony Burgess deserves far more credit as A Clockwork Orange's driving creative genius than his is given.
• McDowell is happy to move onto more comedic roles.

More comedic roles? Yes, McDowell is being featured in an Amazon-produced comedy series but his next movie slated for release is the ultra-violent 31, a horror film directed by Rob Zombie.

                (Extended early 1970's interview with McDowell discussing A Clockwork Orange)

Check out the full article at the New York Daily News site.