Vanishing Point (1971)
We borrowed the sub-title for this post from from a John Mellencamp song, in case you young 'uns were wondering.......cause it perfectly sums up so many 1970's movies.....
Nixon was the Prez, Vietnam raged on, with no end (or point) in sight, cops beat up protesters, college students rioted, and the good guys (Robert Kennedy, Martin Luther King were dead and buried, their brains blown out.
And you wonder why rebel heroes of 70's cinema ended up defeated, beaten up, blown up or perforated with bullets?
Sometimes, when we choose to revisit well remembered (often cherished) 70's cult films, we're saddened to see they don't hold up. Raggedy editing, skimpy screenplays, an overabundance of pointing the camera at odd objects or dumb people's faces to make some kind of ironic statement.
'Vanishing Point' contains a whole lotta that stuff, but in so many ways it stands as quintessential counterculture 70's filmmaking. Its primary point: You can stick it to The Man, but The Man always sticks it up your ass.....
First, let us mention that we had an intimate personal relationship with one of the film's two stars.....
No, not Barry Newman as Kowalski, the enigmatic car delivery driver.
We speak lovingly of his co-star, a 1970 Dodge Challenger.....the exact same car we inherited from our dad, and whose sheer good looks and speed earned us enough moving violation tickets for a 10 day license suspension.
Kowalski, unfairly disgraced ex-cop, Medal of Honor Vietnam war veteran, and hell-on-wheels race car driver, has to get the Challenger from Denver to San Francisco in 3 days.
As you might imagine, Kowalski exceeds a few speed limits (easily done in a Challenger, we can tell you) and the state police are hot on his tail pipe.
Encouragement and a cheering section come from Super Soul (Cleavon Little) a blind, black DJ in Middle-of-Nowhere, Nevada. His broadcasts and Kowalski's cop-evading driving soon capture public attention......so much so that bigots invade Super Soul's radio station to give him a severe beatdown.
For those with even a passing familiarity with 1970's movies, do we really need to explain what happens here? For anyone raised on 80's and 90's films, you're probably thinking Kowalski ends up with a hot babe, boatloads of cash and flies off to Mexico for some beachcombing, sex in a hot tub and gallons of Tequila.....
Not in 1970, he won't......
As rickety and poorly written as it is, we still had us some retro fun with this re-watch. A true time capsule blast from the past, and a must for cinema curators of cult items......and those who'd thrill to see a Dodge Challenger put through its paces....
3 stars (***).
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