Vanishing Point (1971)

User Rating:

7.2/10   

Director:

Richard C. Sarafian

Writers:

Malcolm Hart (story)
Guillermo Cabrera Infante (screenplay)

Release Date:

13 March 1971 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Drama

Tagline:

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

Plot:

Kowalski, works for a car delivery service. He takes delivery of a 1970 Dodge Challenger to take from Colorado to San Fransisco...

Plot Keywords:

Cars | Naked Woman | Hitchhiker | Highway Patrol | Challenger

Cast

Barry Newman	...	Kowalski
Cleavon Little	...	Super Soul
Dean Jagger	...	Prospector
Victoria Medlin	...	Vera Thornton
Paul Koslo	...	Charlie, Young Nevada Patrolman
Robert Donner	...	Collins, Older Nevada Patrolman (as Bob Donner)
Timothy Scott	...	Angel
Gilda Texter	...	Nude Motorcycle Rider
Anthony James	...	Male Hitchhiker #1, in Front Seat
Arthur Malet	...	Male Hitchhiker #2, in Back Seat
Karl Swenson	...	Sandy McKees, Argo's Attendant
Severn Darden	...	Rev. J. 'Jessie' Hovah
Delaney Bramlett	...	J. Hovah's Singer (as Delaney & Bonnie and Friends)
Bonnie Bramlett	...	J. Hovah's Singer (as Delaney & Bonnie and Friends)
Lee Weaver	...	Jake, Kowalski's Denver Connection

MPAA:

Rated R for sensuality/nudity and drug content. (1998 re-rating)

Runtime:

99 min | UK:106 min

Country:

USA | UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

France:U | Iceland:L | Germany:16 (re-rating) (2008) | Singapore:PG | USA:R (re-rating) (1998) | Australia:M | Canada:14A | Finland:K-16 | Norway:16 | Sweden:15 | UK:18 | USA:GP (original rating) | West Germany:18 (original rating)

Filming Locations:

Austin, Nevada, USA

Company:

Cupid Productions

Trivia:

The car featured in the film is a 1970 Dodge Challenger R/T, with a 440 cubic-inch V-8, and not a 426 Hemi V-8 (as is often believed). Five white Challengers loaned from the Chrysler Corporation were used during the filming.

Goofs:

Continuity: After the first motorcycle cop crashes, Kowalski flashes back to a motorcycle race. Two riders are shown crashing, and then one whom is assumed to be Kowalski. The rider is wearing a white jacket with black sleeves and a full face helmet, but after he crashes, he is shown getting up wearing an open helmet with goggles and a dark greenish-blue jacket with stripes. Curiously, the numbers are all the same, 28.

Quotes:

Charlie: What do you think he's done?
Collins: Don't know.
Charlie: Well, what do you think?
Collins: I think he's gonna hijack that car to Cuba, hahahaha.
Charlie: Don't be ridiculous!
Collins: Hell, Charley, I don' know! Maybe killed somebody! Maybe stole that big dude o' his! Maybe both.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Top Gear: (2004-05-23)" (2004)

Soundtrack:

Freedom Of Expression

Soul challenger

The best road movie ever made. To appreciate it you have got to try and see it from the culture of that era. It is totally anti establishment as was the mood of half of America. So the police are all idiots, the 'good ol boys' are either violent rednecks or passive disapproving onlookers. Kowalski is going to give those mid west conservatives something they won't forget, he's going to shake things up for a day or two. Kowalski is simply the symbol of the many disenfranchised at the time. The story starts at the end. We hear a boring stifling radio news item on the price of grain. We see dreary looking bystanders who need to be turned on. Then Super Soul takes over the airwaves with his wild DJ antics and hippy music trying to jolt these people out of their fixed ways. The old and the new are clashing. This sets the mood we know from then it is rebellious. Other aspects the stunts the music the characters have been well covered below so there is no need to say more on that. Some have said that there is no point to this story or Kowalski's motives and have interpreted the title meaning that. But all a vanishing point is an artist name for the phenomena of perspective where two parallel lines seemingly meet and in the long straight roads of the journey we see plenty of vanishing points.