Vanishing Point (1971) Review

"It's the maximum trip... at maximum speed." 

Number Three on my list of the Top Ten Car Movies is Richard Sarafian's 1971 drive-in cult film Vanishing Point. Often imitated, never duplicated, Vanishing Point is classic carsploitation, basically one long car chase, interspersed with flashbacks that provide what little backstory there is.

Barry Newman is Kowalski, who takes a job delivering a 1970 Dodge Challenger from Denver to San Francisco. He bets his speed dealer that he can make the delivery in 15 hours or less, which inevitably leads to unwanted attention from Johnny Law. A spectacular car chase, and much vehicular mayhem, ensues.

Kowalski is a decorated Viet Nam veteran and former cop who got kicked off the force when he stopped a superior officer from raping a girl. Then his wife drowned accidentally, leaving him with nothing left to lose. When he manages to evade the efforts of various law enforcement agencies, he becomes a folk hero.

In the supporting cast are Cleavon Little as Super Soul, a blind radio personality with a police scanner who helps him avoid the heat, and mythologizes him for his listeners as "The Last Free Man on Earth;" Dean Jagger as a grizzled old prospector (similar to his role in the much beloved Christmas episode of "The Partridge Family"); Delaney & Bonnie and Friends (featuring a young Rita Coolidge, as well as David Gates of the soft-rock supergroup Bread); and the immortal Gilda Texter as the naked chick on the motorcycle.

I saw this movie at the local drive-in when I was a kid, and it stuck with me over the years. Watching it again three decades later, it's more than a bit dated, and the gay hitch-hikers that Kowalski throws out of his car are particularly ugly stereotypes, but it holds up pretty well, as does the music score, but then I'm a sucker for early '70s rock stuff.

The DVD release also includes the longer UK release version of the film, which features a scene with British beauty Charlotte Rampling as a sexy hitch-hiker.

Vanishing Point was remade (very, very badly) in 1997, with Viggo Mortensen as Kowalski, and Jason Priestly (!) in the DJ role. Avoid that one at all costs, and dig the original. 

Available on DVD from Fox Entertainment.