alexanderdavies-99382 I still have vivid memories of watching "Vanishing Point" back in the early 1980s - those were the days! I recall the dodge challenger, the scene with the corrupt police and the cool music. Barry Newman in the leading role, was a film star who never was in a sense. He seemed destined for fairly big things but after a few routine movies, his career was knocked off course and he was soon forgotten. His character gives the distinct impression of being rather a troubled soul who doesn't belong any longer. His only aim in life, is to drive and to deliver fast cars for a living. He is a restless spirit but is also tormented by his past. We are given glimpses of his life via some great flashback scenes. Barry Newman is OK, he fits the bill without being very heavyweight as an actor. Cleavon Little is outstanding as the blind radio D.J who guides Barry Newman past police traps. The photography and the music are the main assests from "Vanishing Point." The stunt driving is easily on a par with the car chase scenes from "Bullitt" or "The French Connection." This is still the best "Road" movie, better than even "Easy Rider" and that one is very good.

writenact I was expected a modern classic, but what a let down. The whole thing was a long, rather mediocre car chase. Here's a guy who supposed deliver a car (one would assume, intact) driving through the desert, off road, etc. I don't think the car was stolen (or maybe it was, whatever...), however the plot of getting to San Francisco in 15 hours on a bet with a small time speed dealer didn't make sense. The only thing that kept me awake was the naked girl on motorcycle. Even the car chase sequences were bland. If you're looking for a car chase movie from that era, try Bullit or The French Connection. Maybe I'm missing the whole 'Lone Wolf/Rebel' bit, I dunno. I realize this was a drive-in/B Movie, however Vanishing Point seemed like a pointless exercise in WTF.

The Couchpotatoes Well first of all it's not a thriller.It's just a movie about a guy driving fast from point A to point B. The whole movie is nothing else then that. I can imagine that in 1971 this movie would have score high rankings but we are in 2016 now so I watched it with my mind being in 2016. And so my ratings are not good for Vanishing Point. I was going to score it a five, but because of the end that I didn't like it dropped a point. If you are a fan of American muscle cars, or more specifically a Dodge Challenger in this case then you might like Vanishing Point. Or if you are a fan of the music from that time then you might like it as well. But for the rest, the story is just weak and quite ridiculous. Maybe in that time the driver would not have been caught for so long, but in 2016 he would not make it for more then 50 miles. It's like the police in the seventies are retarded. Add on that some hippies in the desert, some gays hitchhiking, a nude hippie chick on a Honda in the desert and that's the whole story.

Peter Harding Much has been written about this movie, so the story is well known. The main character is a man known as Kowalski who delivers cars for a living. He has done other things though. He was a Vietnam veteran, a former car and bike racing driver and an ex cop, but in the film he collects a car on a Friday night in Colorado to drive it back to San Francisco, California, in 15 hours. ( a journey of some 1200 miles ).Given the car he is driving, a 1970 Dodge Challenger R/T 440ci V8 with a 4 speed manual transmission, which is also allegedly " hopped up to over 160 ", it is technically achievable, however, as he will be driving mainly on the back roads, no one seems to think he can do it. To help him, he visits a friend at the start and take a supply of speed and then gets on his way. And then the fun begins.So what is the movie really about?....Well, if you read all the other comments, and I recommend you do, you will see the main points of the plot and events, etc, so I wont be repeating these here, but to me, none of them get to the real raison d'etre of Kowalski and the movie.You first have to look at the time period in the US in 1970/71. The Vietnam war was still ongoing and by then the protest against it was very wide spread. In addition, there was still a very strong racism element and the US was in effect a Police state, only much more so than today.Then there was the Muscle care era which was at its peak in 1970/71, but by 1973, it was all but dead as emission laws made many of the big block engines illegal. The 70 Dodge Challenger R/T 440 ci V8 was one of the fastest in its day and with a 4 speed manual transmission was good for around 375 bhp in stock form, however, we are told that it is hopped up to do over 160 mph, ( standard was around 140 mph ) although no details of how it is tuned are given other than a couple of cops saying it is allegedly supercharged.Then he have Kowalski himself. On face value it would seem he has been a failure throughout his life ( well the bits we get to see in flash back ), but is he really?....No. The way he drives the Dodge shows you that he is in a different league to the cops and like all racing drivers, instead of slowing down, he changes down and accelerates to even faster speeds, so he isn't simply a good driver, he is a great driver. One of the very best.He doesn't just drive the car, he becomes part of it and it becomes part of him. He knows that whenever he changes down a gear or two, he has rocket like acceleration that will get him out of trouble and when the roads get closed off, he simply takes it out into the desert. As Super soul says, Kowalski is one of the last great American hero's and that is what the movie is really about.It is an epitaph to the last of the real hero's, Kowalski, the last of the real muscle cars and the last blast of a freedom that the police are trying to destroy. Kowalski knows that, just like the muscle car, his time has come and gone, so he pushes himself on an almost impossible journey that he knows will end in his death. After all, what is there to live for. Nothing except the speed and the race, and so at the end we see him smash into two bulldozers rather than surrender.On face value, this seems madness. He could easily stop and although he might be imprisoned for a while ( or maybe not as he hadn't really done anything wrong ), he would get to drive again, but for Kowalski its not so simplistic. He is on a one way journey and this is evident by the flash backs to the past events in his life. We see him as a racing car driver, a bike racer, when he was a cop and the death of his beloved. He whole life story is laid out along the road, so it is obvious that death is the only destination. This is further confirmed when we see the naked chick shows him all the news stories she has collected about him long before this journey. Its like she is an Angel saying, this was your life Kowalski.There is also the scene not in the US versions ), where he picks up a female hitchhiker ( death ) who spends the night with him and then mysteriously disappears before he wakes. Kowalski knows its coming, but rather than fear it, he drives into the next world at maximum speed, smiling and with him dies the last of the great muscle cars.Whether you agree with my synopsis or not, this is one of the great movies of all time and if you do nothing else in your life, you have to see this film and preferably on a big screen with surround sound.