Vanishing Point seems to be one of those films on the cusp between the 60's era psychedelia and the 70's tough guy cop chase movies. It has elements of both and could have been so much more had it focused more on the main character and less on the nonsense. In so many films of this type the lead meets up with the strangest people just to be strange and it adds little to the overall story. I recall the scene in Thunderbolt and Lightfoot where they encounter that crazy guy who shoots rabbits from his trunk and funnels the exhaust into the cars interior, why, we don't know and never find out. In Vanishing Point we have to two weird gay bandits in one of the most ridiculous scenes I have ever watched and a revival meeting in the desert that seems just thrown in and pointless.
The Dodge Challenger obviously is just incredible and is a star in it's own right and the shots of it screaming across the desert highways are just fantastic. I'm not sure of the whole delivery premise to begin with, he doesn't seem to care if the car is damaged, so why is he in a hurry to deliver it and didn't they have Dodge dealerships in CA in 1970???. Is it a death wish from the start? It's hard to see this now and realize that car was brand new and one of the true monsters of the road at the time. The movie is dated like most older films but I don't rate movies based on that, you have to take into account the time and not compare it to today.
Clevon Little's role is just incredibly stupid with him feeling the drivers moves or whatever and the music they choose does not fit the scenario at all, you would of expected a much harder soundtrack. I'm still not sure why there is a soul station in the middle of nowhere, and it must have one powerful signal to reach such a long distance. In fact the music here is so bad and forgettable I can't imagine anyone listing it as part of the reason they like this film. A lot of movies from this era used groups they thought were going to be popular or are friends of the producer, there is not one hit from the 60's or 70's here except "Mississippi Queen" which is used for ten seconds and in the wrong place.
More weird to be weird is the naked chick but I guess there is a running theme of wispy blonds in his past, but how in the hell would she have a collage of his history?
The ending is so disconnected from the rest of the movie, the crowd awaiting his arrival don't even seem to be in the same scene and it ends so anticlimactically. Why did they suddenly use a Camaro to blow up instead of the Dodge, you can even see the letters on the side nameplate. The beginning had a good feel to it and I can't imaging how great this would have been had it been more structured and been a straight action film instead of trying to become some religious message wrapped in a Challenger.
The Dodge Challenger obviously is just incredible and is a star in it's own right and the shots of it screaming across the desert highways are just fantastic. I'm not sure of the whole delivery premise to begin with, he doesn't seem to care if the car is damaged, so why is he in a hurry to deliver it and didn't they have Dodge dealerships in CA in 1970???. Is it a death wish from the start? It's hard to see this now and realize that car was brand new and one of the true monsters of the road at the time. The movie is dated like most older films but I don't rate movies based on that, you have to take into account the time and not compare it to today.
Clevon Little's role is just incredibly stupid with him feeling the drivers moves or whatever and the music they choose does not fit the scenario at all, you would of expected a much harder soundtrack. I'm still not sure why there is a soul station in the middle of nowhere, and it must have one powerful signal to reach such a long distance. In fact the music here is so bad and forgettable I can't imagine anyone listing it as part of the reason they like this film. A lot of movies from this era used groups they thought were going to be popular or are friends of the producer, there is not one hit from the 60's or 70's here except "Mississippi Queen" which is used for ten seconds and in the wrong place.
More weird to be weird is the naked chick but I guess there is a running theme of wispy blonds in his past, but how in the hell would she have a collage of his history?
The ending is so disconnected from the rest of the movie, the crowd awaiting his arrival don't even seem to be in the same scene and it ends so anticlimactically. Why did they suddenly use a Camaro to blow up instead of the Dodge, you can even see the letters on the side nameplate. The beginning had a good feel to it and I can't imaging how great this would have been had it been more structured and been a straight action film instead of trying to become some religious message wrapped in a Challenger.