When Chrysler was first approached for this film, the executive who eventually green-lighted their participation could not believe that anyone would ever watch it. "It's basically a 90 minute ad for a car," he is reputed to have said. Understatement! This 90 minute ad became such a cult hit that an attempt was made to redo it (kindly notice my selection of the word "attempt" and we will discuss the remake no more in this life). Barry Newman had proved a reliable TV actor to that point, but no one had guessed that he would infuse the character of Kowolski with such (pardon the pun) drive. Don't want to give too much away on the off chance you have not seen this film yet, but other reviewers who have opined that this film is a metaphor for the demise of America (from the freedom of the open road, to a police state, with rules and penalties for breaking those rules) may not be far off the mark. See the original, not the AHEM-NEVER-TO-DISCUSSED remake, prepare for a look at the US when freedom was more than a 7 letter world, and prepare for what may possibly be Newman's best work in his career.
Review of Vanishing Point
