Two-Lane

"Monte is the master of the low road," screenwriter Rudy Wurlitzer said recently, reflecting on his experience working with Monte Hellman on 1971's "Two-Lane Blacktop."

Imported and Homegrown Steve Dollar 2011

The retrospective doesn't only feature Mr. Wurlitzer's celebrated collaborations with maverick directors like Monte Hellman ("Two-Lane Blacktop"), Sam Peckinpah ("Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid") and Alex Cox ("Walker") It's a bit of an extravaganza, as well.

On the Road Again Steve Dollar 2011

There's a temptation to liken the novelist and screenwriter Rudy Wurlitzer to one of his great anti-protagonists, like the gearheads in the 1971 film "Two-Lane Blacktop," lost to white-line fever in the vast expanse of a country that doesn't seem to exist anymore.

On the Road Again Steve Dollar 2011

"Monte is the master of the low road," screenwriter Rudy Wurlitzer said recently, reflecting on his experience working with Monte Hellman on 1971's "Two-Lane Blacktop."

Imported and Homegrown Steve Dollar 2011

I discussed these various scenarios with my friend, and agreeing we didn't want to find ourselves next on the Green River Killer's roster of victims, we came up with some ground rules: No single men (I hadn't seen Two-Lane Blacktop so ...), no young couples, and no groups of guys.

Kim Morgan: The Diary Of A Preteen Hitchhiker 2010

Still, there are two things that make Vanishing Point and Two-Lane Blacktop compelling, regardless of how underwritten they feel in the present tense.

Eating the Dinosaur Chuck Klosterman 2009

Along with Duel, that year also saw the release of Vanishing Point and Two-Lane Blacktop, companion films that romanticize driving to a degree that now seems vaguely absurd.

Eating the Dinosaur Chuck Klosterman 2009

The other more obvious link between Vanishing Point and Two-Lane Blacktop is how they conclude.

Eating the Dinosaur Chuck Klosterman 2009

Two-Lane Blacktop was made more cheaply (an estimated $850,000) and managed to be even more plotless: Two drag-racing slackabouts (musicians James Taylor and Dennis Wilson) get into a cross-country Route 66 road race against a drifter in a GTO (the always crazy Warren Oates).

Eating the Dinosaur Chuck Klosterman 2009

The only reason I like them is because Vanishing Point and Two-Lane Blacktop seem to solve the Road Movie Equation I mentioned a few paragraphs earlier.

Eating the Dinosaur Chuck Klosterman 2009