bmtbird I first watched this film on TBS in about 1988 after classes while in college. I remember being mesmerized and when it was listed to come on again I had a fresh VHS tape and recorded it. I watched it over and over. It is very simply- The. Best. Movie. Ever. Made.

Joakim Thiesen (thefilmmann) Masters Of Cinema Cast - Episode 4 - Monte Hellman's Two-Lane Blacktop Monte Hellman's 1971 film Two-Lane Blacktop is rare film. Judging by appearances it is a typical road movie, fast cars, cool guys, pretty girls and endless roads yet Easy Rider this is not. Its two main characters have no names other than The Driver and The Mechanic - they barely say a word and when they do its just about cars anyway. For light relief we have Warren Oates in the kind of role that only Warren Oates could play but for those wanting something a little more deeper or indeed a little more...well anything then Two-Lane Blacktop maybe something of a slog. It simply refuses to act like a film should. The main plot is not that gripping, you don't really get to know the characters in any great depth and its doesn't even have a score to tap you foot too. But sometimes cinema is about those moments of silence between characters, that reflective look out the window and where that story you have seen many times before should be is something altogether different. In this episode Joakim and Tom and joined by Hunter Duesing from the Midnight Movie Cowboys Podcast to discuss this cult oddity as well as go on a fair number of tangents. Enjoy. moccast.blogspot.no/2013/05/episode-four-two-lane-blacktop.html

Slow Code An almost slow motion, blow by blow account of three men in two muscle cars racing from the southwest to D.C. for pink slips.Sparse, tacit, stark and entirely denouement - a perfect depiction of America at that time in history.Brilliant depiction of early post-industrial America; its ennui and dull disillusionment: Two hugely powerful cars in a half-hearted race to an ambiguous finish line. Going nowhere fast.The action is sparse, dialog very spare, and rural pre-interstate America drifts past in dull, desolate splendor.Three of the characters almost never speak, and the fourth almost entirely tells lies.There is no resolution. No goals are accomplished. The film even abandons the race. No one changes or gains insight. It's a perfect film.Only technically a "car movie" because it takes place in cars. The characters could be walking, or on bicycles, or sitting in a bar playing cards.I'm a wicked car nut, and this had been on my list for forty years. And now that I've seen it, the fact that it isn't a rip-snortin' action thriller, but a quiet character study is all good. Actually glad I didn't see it when I was nine years-old (when it came out...) this film deserves to be viewed with insight I didn't possess until my 20s or 30s.Funny - when I heard the Doors song playing, I mused - "Probably why the film was in the can for so long. In my thoughts blamed Manzerak. But it was Morrison's estate that kept it unavailable until 2007. Figures...

qormi Okay, for a few minutes there, it was cool seeing James Taylor and Dennis Wilson just hanging out...then you realized...wait...this is a movie? Very quickly, these rock icons are revealed to be self-absorbed, self- conscious, conceited punks who think they can throw their jock onto the field and the game's over... I mean, these guys were stoned, the director was stoned,the film editor was stoned, everyone in the theater was stoned... ...c'mon - there's no other explanation. The film was devoid of plot, the girl was no prize - she brought new meaning to the word, "plain"....the cars were no match for modern muscle cars....the ending just characterized the cheapness and lack of effort in a film when a car crash is depicted by discoloring the film in the projector....,.I kid you not. The absolute worst...unbelievably, disgustingly bad.A complete bore fest.