Vanishing Point (1971)

i must have seen a different film!!

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

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.

The Movie Makes a Number of Points that were Often Made in Essential, Thinking Person's Movies of the Late Sixties into the Early Seventies. Thoughts about the Counter Culture, the Vietnam War, Drugs, Nudity, and the Difficult Existence of an Anti Establishment Entity Trying to Survive in a Conservative Society.This is a Muscle Car Movie for the Cerebral Type. The Cross Country Chase and the Driving are Intercut with the Anti-Hero's Encounters with Various Characters on the Edge. This does Nothing to Take Away from the Hook of the Movie that is the Car, the Driver, and the Pursuit.The Weakest Part is the Overly Obnoxious African-American DJ who is Placed in a Country and Western Town with His Radio Rap of Soul Fired Frenzy. Like the Driver, He is a Fish Out of Water. But the Connection, both Psychic and on the Radio with Barry Newman's Kowalski is just too Obvious and Contrived for it to Amount to Much and there is Quite a bit of it.Overall, this Cult Movie Deserves its Reputation. A Great Looking and Edited, Movie with an Appropriate and Sometimes Very Effective Soundtrack make this Low-Budget Winner an Artifact of its Time that Comfortably can be Placed with the Other Iconic Films from the Counter Culture of the Era Displaying the Zeitgeist with some Intelligence, Creativity, and Style.

When Chrysler was first approached for this film, the executive who eventually green-lighted their participation could not believe that anyone would ever watch it. "It's basically a 90 minute ad for a car," he is reputed to have said. Understatement! This 90 minute ad became such a cult hit that an attempt was made to redo it (kindly notice my selection of the word "attempt" and we will discuss the remake no more in this life). Barry Newman had proved a reliable TV actor to that point, but no one had guessed that he would infuse the character of Kowolski with such (pardon the pun) drive. Don't want to give too much away on the off chance you have not seen this film yet, but other reviewers who have opined that this film is a metaphor for the demise of America (from the freedom of the open road, to a police state, with rules and penalties for breaking those rules) may not be far off the mark. See the original, not the AHEM-NEVER-TO-DISCUSSED remake, prepare for a look at the US when freedom was more than a 7 letter world, and prepare for what may possibly be Newman's best work in his career.

I'll admit I wasn't sure quite what to make of this one when I first saw it. I had to view it more than once, and other user reviews actually gave me some insight (thanks everybody). What drew me to Vanishing Point in the first place was that it was a road flick featuring a fast car..and I LOVE movies with fast cars.The premise at the beginning seems simple enough. Kowalski (Barry Newman) is a speed freak (as in drugs AND driving) who makes his living delivering cars. He's just arrived back in Denver, to the place that employs him, after a delivery, and wants to head right back out on the road again to deliver a Dodge Challenger to San Francisco. His boss pleads with him to get some rest, as does his drug dealer, but Kowalski is determined. He bets his dealer the price of the speed he just bought that he can deliver the car in 15 hours (I figured it up..he would have to average 84.5 MPH with NO stops if he drove in a straight line).Where the movie gets interesting..and disturbing..is when it gets into WHY Kowalski is so determined to go on this ride. While he's tearing down the roadway in that waaay cool white Challenger, with police hot on his tail, we see flashes of his past, including his time as a war hero in Vietnam, his stint as a police officer who stops his partner from raping a teenage girl they'd picked up; also we see that for a time he raced cars and motorcycles (crashing more than once), and he even spent a period of time as a hippie/counterculture type (where he watched his girlfriend drown in the ocean). Two dynamics emerge: First, and this was brought up in another review, Kowalski is a guy who couldn't fit in anywhere, be it the "establishment" or the "counterculture." Second, and more important, in the flashbacks we see one bad thing after another happen to him, regardless of what he was doing or who he was with. This is what his life has come down to, and it's as if this pedal-to-the-metal trip to SF, come hell or high water, is all he has left.I would be remiss if I didn't mention the other main player in this, a blind disc jockey who goes by "Super Soul" (Cleavon Little in what may be the finest performance of his career). Super Soul feels an instant connection with Kowalski..calling him "the last American hero" as he races from police on his trek. In between songs he talks to Kowalski over the airwaves as if he can sense what the doomed driver is thinking. In the midst of this a bunch of redneck bullies break into the radio station and give Super Soul a horrific beating, and the movie doesn't really explain why. Maybe it's because they didn't like what Kowalski was doing and Super Soul being sympathetic to him, aggravated by the fact that they already hated Super Soul because he was black.This movie has been compared, erroneously in my opinion, to Easy Rider. Whereas the latter is clearly a movie centering on the 60s counterculture, Vanishing Point is a character study, both of Kowalski and Super Soul, two misfits..yet both honorable and decent men(perhaps that's what makes them misfits)..who seem doomed to never really belong anywhere. It's also a sort of requiem for the days gone by for fast cars and open roads in America. This is not a pleasant movie..it's dark, depressing and surreal..but interesting. And Kowalski drives one VERY cool..and fast..car.