Two Super-Charged Road Movies Take the Not So Scenic Route Through America

Barry Newman as Kowalski, 'Vanishing Point' (1971).
A high-speed chase through the desert turns him into an overnight folk hero.

By Paul Parcellin

“Vanishing Point” (1971)

The hyperkinetic, blind radio disc jockey Super Soul (Cleavon Little) is a lot like an evangelical preacher without the fire and brimstone. He’s part guardian angel, part voice of God to renegade automobile delivery driver Kowalski (Barry Newman) who, to put it mildly, is having an extremely tough day. 

A slightly burned around the edges Kowalski (he doesn’t seem to have a first name) returns from an exhausting delivery and insists on taking another assignment post haste. 

He grabs a white 1970 Dodge Challenger that’s due to be delivered in San Francisco and sets out to tear-ass across the desert to California with a pocketful of bennies as his only companion.

The hopped-up Kowalski makes a bet with his speed dealer that he can drive from Denver to San Francisco in 15 hours.

Spinning his tires and dodging the police, Kowalski tunes in to Super Soul on the car radio and discovers that the disc jockey is following his progress via a police scanner. The radio man cheers for the erratic driver as sheriff departments and highway patrol squad cars try in vain to chase him down. 

Cleavon Little as Super Soul.
His on-air raps are a guiding beacon for Kowalski.

The jive-talking announcer comments on the hero’s actions like a Greek chorus and sets up the movie’s underlying theme. In his blisteringly paced, funky online patter, Super Soul calls Kowalski the “last American hero” and “the last free soul.” Both are dubious titles for a man wired on amphetamines and driving someone else’s car like he’s been fired out of a cannon. 

Like “Two-Lane Blacktop,” the other movie discussed below, “Vanishing Point” is about freedom, but in an early 1970s countercultural way, meaning the word comes packed with contradictions, misconceptions and exaggerations. Yes, Kowalski is busting out of the norm, but, not to be too materialistic, aren't you glad that’s not your car he’s driving? 

Both films feature square pegs who’ve dropped out of society and live on the road. Highways and byways are commuting channels for most of us, but for these chronic nomads the road is a place that simply brings them to another road, another diner, another filling station. There’s no destination, really. Constant motion is the objective. 

Some might connect this with the restless energy of post-World War II America that inspired Jack Kerouac’s cross-country journeys, but it ain’t the same ball of wax. There’s no aesthetic pleasure taken from these motor-driven marathons; no awe at the vastness of the American landscape, no hopefulness and youthful optimism are present here. Any sense of joy and wonder was long ago deposited in a landfill. There’s only raw speed, the smell of burning rubber and a mad desire to shake free of society’s constraints.

All eyes are on Kowalski.

Kowalski, a former cop who raced cars and motorcycles and is a decorated war hero, is angry at the corruption he’s seen and bad breaks he’s had. We flash back to his days as a policeman, when he stops his superior officer from roughing up and raping a suspect, and was summarily drummed out of the force. 

At first it’s hard to understand why he’s made such a risky, indeed foolish bet. There’s no logical reason other than his compulsion to push himself to the limit. It’s just his way of shutting out the world, and like the drugs coursing through his veins, it's effective for a while, until it isn't. 

We cheer him on at first as he evades the Keystone Kops-like bumbling of small town heat who can’t figure out how to stop him. Kowalski does everything from jetting off the road into rocky desert terrain to taking the car over some pretty sick jumps — the car’s owner would no doubt suffer a brain hemorrhage at the sight of the suspension-smashing abuse the pristine muscle machine suffers. Somehow, the car looks none the worse for wear. Is the seemingly indestructible white muscle car a symbol of freedom — who knows?

Dean Jagger as the Prospector and Barry Newman as Kowalski.
Capturing poisonous desert snakes.

The ever intrepid Kowalski presses on and encounters, among other strange sights, a naked girl on a motorcycle (Gilda Texter) and a grizzled prospector (Dean Jagger), who captures poisonous snakes and sells them to a religious cult that has set up camp amid the cacti and sage brush.

At this point we might begin to wonder if these encounters are real or just the hallucinations of a buzzed hop head who’s spent too much time in the hot sun. 

The heat is on and Kowalski is in the skillet.

Things get stranger still when he encounters a woman by the roadside (Charlotte Rampling). She gives him some pot to toke on and spends the night with him. In the morning she’s gone. So, was she real or some kind of omen? It’s anybody’s guess (For some reason this sequence appears only in the film’s UK cut).

“Vanishing Point” was reviled by some critics who saw it as a downward regression that started with Steve McQueen’s “Bullitt” (1968). That’s the film that knocked everyone’s eyeballs out with stomach-churning, daredevil stunt driving in the ferociously steep hills of San Francisco. Doubters lamented that movies had become nothing but smash-’em-up thrill porn. In recent times “Vanishing Point” has won a legion of admirers, including Quentin Tarantino, and is a bonafide cult classic. 

It may not hold up as the spiritual experience that some suggest it is, including the film’s director, Richard C. Sarafian, but “Vanishing Point” is wall-to-wall action. Just don’t rely on it as a guide to cross-country travel.

Dennis Wilson, Laurie Bird and James Taylor, 'Two-Lane Blacktop' (1971).

“Two-Lane Blacktop” (1971)

Monte Hellman didn’t have a complex story in mind when he made “Two-Lane Blacktop.” He says it barely has any plot and he’s right on the money about that. It’s a movie about street racers, a subculture of amateur drivers who run unsanctioned drag races. There isn’t much money in it — the faster of two cars wins whatever scratch gets wagered, a few hundred bucks at best. 

The four main characters are the Driver (James Taylor) the Mechanic (Dennis Wilson), the girl (Laurie Bird) and GTO (Warren Oates). Among them, Oates was the only actor with bonafide screen cred. Taylor is a popular singer-songwriter with hit records, and Wilson, who died in 1983, was a drummer and vocalist for the Beach Boys. Bird was a model who later appeared in Hellman’s film “Cockfighter” (1974) and played Paul Simon’s girlfriend in Woody Allen’s “Annie Hall” (1977). She gives a remarkably natural performance in here.

The Driver and the Mechanic work the local street racing circuit like pool hustlers. They travel in a rebuilt 1955 Chevy. With its dull primer gray finish and prominent hood scoop the car doesn’t look like much. But it’s got a growling 454 V8 engine that blows the doors off of all challengers.

What happens next is simple. The four of them converge — the Driver and the Mechanic pick up the hitchhiking Girl; GTO and the two drag racers cross paths on the road and irritate each other until GTO challenges them to a cross-country race that starts in New Mexico and finishes in Washington, D.C. The winner gets the other’s pink slip — ownership of the car, that is.

That’s about it. There’s some minor drama when the Girl sleeps with the Mechanic — the Driver was sweet on her but didn’t speak up quickly enough. But emotions among the three are muted. Even the race itself ends up petering out long before either car reaches the finish.

Warren Oates as GTO in Two-Lane Blacktop.

“Two-Lane Blacktop” was green lit post “Easy Rider” (1969). Universal wanted to capitalize on the momentum of Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper’s counter-culture motorcycle odyssey that proved a surprise hit. 

But the studio hated Hellman’s finished product and barely promoted it. It flopped at the box office and was the last theatrically released film he helmed with major studio support. (He did, however, direct second-unit work and filled in, uncredited, with another project for a major.)

Another roadside diner.

Unlike other films of its ilk, “Two-Lane Blacktop” is an unromanticized view of outsiders living on society’s edge. All four characters seem to exist only on asphalt (much of it was shot on the old Route 66). There may be towns with real homes and people leading normal lives somewhere near the highway but we rarely see them. The four wanderers only exit their vehicles to eat diner food and refuel. At one point the girl hops out to panhandle when funds get low. 

Each seems to exist in his or her own private haze. Their relationships are tentative — the Girl switches cars to ride with GTO but that flirtation is short lived. 

The film defines each of them by the functions they fulfill. When the tires need to be changed the Driver sits on the roadside watching the Mechanic do the labor. He only drives, you see. GTO is merely the man with the orange Pontiac GTO muscle car — how much more early 1970s can you get? The Girl is the fickle love interest whose allegiances shift on a whim.

Laurie Bird as The Girl, 'Two-Lane Blacktop,'

GTO is the most verbose of the four. He’s a good ole boy who talks hitchhikers’ ears off, regaling them with grandiose stories about himself that are pure fantasy. He picked up his spanking new car in Bakersfield, or maybe he won it in a Vegas craps game. 

He’s a live wire and the diametric opposite of the taciturn Driver and Mechanic. Beneath the surface he’s just another homeless traveler whose lonely life has defaulted to a nomadic pilgrimage to nowhere. It’s a cinch that all four never see anything more exotic than a lunch counter, a Stuckey’s and an Esso station.

Many have called this the most genuine of road movies and that may be true (when I’ve watched every road movie ever made I’ll get back to you). For a scripted drama it often feels like a documentary. The movie has a lulling pace occasionally interrupted by bursts of fuel-charged speed. It all seems like a dream induced by gasoline vapors. 

In the end, all four go their separate ways, and not much is likely change for this quartet. The road goes on forever and there are no exit ramps.

Imposter noir: 51 films about swapping, losing and faking identities

Olivia de Havilland, 'The Dark Mirror' (1946).

"There is only one plot – things are not what they seem." 

 — Jim Thompson

By Paul Parcellin

Let’s say you’re a character in a film noir. It’s likely that someone who you’re rubbing elbows with is not who they say they are. For that matter, you may not be who you claim to be, either. Or, stranger still, you may be using an alias because you can’t recall who you really are and bad people are trying to do you harm.

Unlikely, you say? Guess again. Noir characters often shed their identities and don new facades. It’s just a matter of faking the paperwork (in the movies, at least).

But there’s a huge pitfall in the identity switching game: Whomever you’re fixing to impersonate may be sitting on a powder keg, and suddenly, you’re in a dangerous game of musical chairs.

Take note that when it comes to false identities, stolen identities, memory blackouts and the like, director Alfred Hitchcock is the ringmaster extraordinaire of it all. Sir Alfred clocks in here with a whopping seven identity switcheroo films. Was he obsessed? You be the judge. Here are 51 films in which identities are stolen, faked and erased from the mind:

“Across the Bridge” (1957)

A wealthy businessman (Rod Steiger) hops a train to Mexico to evade embezzlement charges. Enroute, he steals another man’s identity, but that only complicates matters. Ken Annakin directs.

“The Big Steal” (1949)

An Army lieutenant (Robert Mitchum) accused of robbery pursues the real thief on a frantic chase through Mexico, aided by the thief's fiancee (Jane Greer). Meanwhile, the lieutenant appropriates an Army captain’s (William Bendix) identity. Don Siegel directs.

“The Bigamist” (1953)

A man (Edmond O’Brien) is secretly married to two women, and carefully maintains two separate identities. But he feels the pressure of his deceit. Ida Lupino directs.

“The Case of Charles Peace” (1949)

Businessman Charles Peace (Michael Martin Harvey) leads a double life. By day he's a respected local businessman, but by night he's a professional thief who lets nothing, not even murder, stop him from getting what he wants. Norman Lee directs.

“The Chase” (1946)

A drifter (Robert Cummings) takes a job as a chauffeur, becomes entangled in a criminal scheme, and wonders if he’s losing his grip on reality. Arthur Ripley directs.

“Chase a Crooked Shadow” (1958)

At Kimberley Prescott’s (Anne Baxter)  villa, a stranger (Richard Todd) shows up and claims he is her brother who supposedly died the previous year in a car accident. Michael Anderson directs

“Crossroads” (1942)

A diplomat (William Powell) suffers amnesia and is blackmailed over a possible criminal past. The mystery hinges on whether he’s someone else entirely. Jack Conway directs.

“The Dark Mirror” (1946)

Identical twins (Olivia de Havilland), one good, one possibly a murderer, swap identities to confuse authorities.  Robert Siodmak directs.

“Dark Passage” (1947)

A man (Humphrey Bogart) convicted of murdering his wife escapes from prison, changes his face with plastic surgery and assumes a new identity while working to try to prove his innocence. Delmer Daves directs.

“Dead Reckoning” (1946) 

A soldier (Humphrey Bogart) searches for another serviceman (William Prince) who has run away just before receiving the Medal of Honor. There’s a dark spot on the fleeing soldier's past and Bogart investigates. John Cromwell directs.

“Dead Ringer” (1964)

A woman (Bette Davis) kills her wealthy twin sister and takes her place. But her plan is more complicated than she anticipates. This crime drama is steeped in gothic atmosphere and deception. Paul Henreid directs

“Detour” (1945)

An unemployed pianist (Tom Neal) hitchhikes across the country. Along the way he assumes a new identity and his troubles grow deeper by the hour. Edgar G. Ulmer directs.

“Dishonored Lady” (1947)

A beautiful editor at a fashion magazine (Hedy Lamarr) has a breakdown due to the pressures of her work and her disappointing love life. A psychiatrist recommends that she start life fresh by moving into a smaller apartment and under another name. Robert Stevenson directs

“Foreign Correspondent” (1940)

On the eve of World War II, a young American reporter (Joel McCrea) tries to expose enemy agents in London. Kidnapping, deceptive identities and treason come to light. Alfred Hitchcock directs.

“High Wall” (1947)

A man (Robert Taylor) accused of murder suffers from amnesia and tries to recover his memory and his true identity to prove his innocence. Curtis Bernhardt directs.

“His Kind of Woman” (1951)

Deported gangster Nick Ferraro (Raymond Burr) plans to re-enter the United States with the aid of gambler Dan Milner (Robert Mitchum). Milner is unaware of the scheme he’s taking part in. John Farrow, and Richard Fleischer (uncredited) direct.

“Hollow Triumph” (1948) a.k.a. “The Scar”

A criminal (Paul Henreid) assumes the identity of a psychiatrist he resembles, complete with a self-inflicted facial scar. But his plan has a major flaw. Steve Sekely directs.

“House of Bamboo” (1955)

Planted in a Tokyo crime syndicate, a U.S. Army Investigator (Robert Stack) goes undercover in search of answers in the death of an Army official. Samuel Fuller directs.

“The House on Telegraph Hill” (1951)

Concentration camp survivor Victoria Kowelska (Valentina Cortese) becomes involved in a mystery after she assumes the identity of a dead friend in order to gain passage to America. Robert Wise directs.

“I Walk Alone” (1947)

An ex-con (Burt Lancaster) returns to claim part of a business, only to find the books and identities have been manipulated. Byron Haskin Directs.

“Jail Bait” (1954)

Vic Brady (Timothy Farrell) draws young Don Gregor (Clancy Malone) into a life of crime. He then blackmails Gregor's plastic surgeon father (Herbert Rawlinson) into fixing up his face so he can evade the cops. Edward D. Wood Jr. directs.

“Kansas City Confidential” (1952)

An ex-con trying to go straight (John Payne) is framed for a million dollar armored car robbery and must go to Mexico in order to unmask the real culprits. Incidents involving disguise, hidden identity and mistaken identity prevail. Phil Karlson directs.

“Lady in the Lake” (1946)

The editor of a crime magazine (Audrey Totter) hires Phillip Marlowe (Robert Montgomery) to find her boss’s wife. But there’s murder afoot, and the private eye finds himself smack in the middle of it. Identity switching plays an important role in this mystery. Based on Raymond Chandler’s novel. Robert Montgomery directs.

“Macao” (1952)

Nick Cochran (Robert Mitchum), an American exiled in Macao, has a chance to restore his name if he can help capture an international crime lord. Cochran goes undercover while trying to woo the beautiful songstress Julie Benson (Jane Russell). Josef von Sternberg directs.

“The Maltese Falcon” (1941)

San Francisco private detective Sam Spade (Humphrey Bogart) takes on a case involving three eccentric fortune hunters (Peter Lorre, Sidney Greenstreet, Elisha Cook Jr,) and a compulsive liar (Mary Astor). The object of their quest is a priceless statuette. John Huston directs.

“The Man Who Cheated Himself” (1950)

A cop (Lee J. Cobb) helps his lover cover up a murder and tries to lead the investigation, effectively switching from lawman to suspect. Felix E. Feist directs.

“Ministry of Fear” (1944)

Stephen Neale (Ray Milland) has just been released from an asylum during World War II in England when he accidentally stumbles onto a dangerous underground organization. Fritz Lang directs.

“The Narrow Margin” (1952)

A woman (Marie Windsor) planning to testify against the mob must be protected against potential assassins on the train trip from Chicago to Los Angeles. Richard Fleischer directs.

“Nightfall” (1956)

Through a series of bizarre coincidences, an artist (Aldo Ray) finds himself falsely accused of bank robbery and murder and is pursued by the authorities as well as the real killers. Jacques Tourneur directs.

“No Man of Her Own” (1950)

A pregnant woman (Barbara Stanwyck) adopts the identity of a railroad-crash victim and starts a new life with the woman's wealthy in-laws. But she finds that maintaining her ruse is more difficult than she imagined. Mitchell Leisen directs.

“North by Northwest” (1959)

A New York City advertising executive (Cary Grant) goes on the run after being mistaken for a government agent by a group of foreign spies, and falls for a woman (Eva Marie Saint) whose loyalties he begins to doubt. Alfred Hitchcock directs.

“Out of the Past” (1947)

A former private eye (Robert Mitchum) living under a false identity escapes his past to run a gas station in a small town. But his past catches up with him and must return to the life he tried to leave behind. A gambler (Kirk Douglas) and a duplicitous dame (Jane Greer) await his arrival. Jacques Tourneur directs.

“Seconds” (1966)

An unhappy middle-aged banker agrees to a procedure that will fake his death and give him a completely new look and identity. But it comes with its own price. John Frankenheimer directs.

“Shadow of a Doubt” (1943)

A teenage girl (Teresa Wright), is overjoyed when her Uncle Charley (Joseph Cotten) comes to visit the family in their quiet California town. But slowly she begins to suspect that he harbors a dark secret and isn’t exactly who he seems to be. Alfred Hitchcock directs.

“Somewhere in the Night” (1946)

George Taylor (John Hodiak) returns from World War II with amnesia. Back home in Los Angeles, while trying to track down his old identity, he stumbles upon a murder case that’s gone cold and a hunt for a missing $2 million. Joseph L. Mankiewicz directs.

“Spellbound” (1945)

A psychiatrist (Ingrid Bergman) becomes involved with the new director of the hospital (Gregory Peck) where she practices. But she discovers that her new beau has a dark side. Alfred Hitchcock directs.

“Stolen Face” (1952)

A doctor (Paul Henreid) repairs a female inmate's disfigured face to match the lovely woman (Lizabeth Scott) who left him. He marries the inmate and learns that beauty is only skin deep. Terence Fisher directs.

“Stolen Identity” (1953)

A jealous concert pianist (Francis Lederer) murders his wife's lover, then frames an innocent taxi driver (Donald Buka) for the crime. Gunther von Fritsch directs.

“Strange Impersonation” (1946)

A research scientist (Brenda Marshall) conducting experiments on a new anesthetic finds herself being blackmailed by a woman (Ruth Ford) she accidentally knocked down with her car. Anthony Mann directs.

“The Strange Mrs. Crane” (1948)

Jenny Hadley (Marjorie Lord) settles into a comfortable existence with a new identity as Gina, the wife of politician Clinton Crane (Pierre Watkin). Blackmailer Floyd Durant (Robert Shayne) threatens to reveal her criminal past. Sam Newfield directs.

“The Stranger” (1946)

An investigator from the War Crimes Commission (Edward G. Robinson) travels to Connecticut to find an infamous Nazi. Amid the bucolic countryside, danger lurks. Orson Welles directs and co-stars.

“Tension” (1949)

A meek pharmacist (Richard Basehart) creates an alternate identity under which he plans to murder the bullying liquor salesman who has become his wife's lover. John Berry directs.

“They Won't Believe Me” (1947)

On trial for murdering his girlfriend, philandering stockbroker Larry Ballentine (Robert Young) takes the stand to claim his innocence and describe the actual, but improbable, sequence of events that led to her death. Mistaken identity is a major plot twist. Irving Pichel directs.

“The Third Man” (1949)

Pulp novelist Holly Martins (Joseph Cotten) travels to shadowy postwar Vienna, only to find himself investigating the mysterious death of an old friend, Harry Lime (Orson Welles). The films plays heavily with false appearances and coverups. Carol Reed directs.

“The 39 Steps” (1935)

A man in London (Robert Donat) tries to help a counter-espionage agent (Lucie Mannheim), but when the agent is killed and the man stands accused, he must go on the run to save himself and stop a spy ring that is trying to steal top-secret information. Alfred Hitchcock directs.

“This Side of the Law” (1950)

A drifter (Kent Smith) is bailed out of jail by a lawyer (Robert Douglas), who hires him to impersonate a millionaire until the man can be declared legally dead and the estate settled. However, the man soon finds out that things are not exactly how they seem. Richard L. Bare directs.

“The Two Mrs. Carrolls” (1947)

An artist (Humphrey Bogart ) forms an attachment with a woman (Barbara Stanwyck) on holiday in the country. As the relationship develops, his behavior and information about his past cause her increasing concern. Peter Godfrey directs.

“Vertigo” (1958)

A former San Francisco police detective (James Stewart), struggling with his personal demons, becomes obsessed with a hauntingly beautiful woman (Kim Novak) he’s been hired to tail. Alfred Hitchcock directs.

“Walk Softly, Stranger” (1950)

An ex-hood (Joseph Cotten) hopes to start a new life under an assumed name in a small town but his past catches up with him. Robert Stevenson directs.

“The Woman on Pier 13” (1949) a.k.a. “I Married a Communist”

Successful, newly-married Brad Collins (Robert Ryan) once belonged to the Communist Party. He’s been living under an assumed identity, but now the party will stop at nothing to use him. Robert Stevenson directs.

“The Wrong Man” (1956)

Manny Balestrero (Henry Fonda) is mistaken for an armed robber and arrested. But how can he prove that he’s innocent? Alfred Hitchcock directs.

There are undoubtedly many more films that deal with identity and impersonation. What would you add to the list, and which are your favorites? Shout it out in the comments section.