Existential Road Movie so pretentiously vacant dedicated cultists can read anything they want into its empty spaces. Five years after Monte Hellman megged a pair of enigmatic Jack Nicholson Westerns with similar ‘attributes,’ he returned with this slyly (unintentionally?) amusing Drag Racing meditation, teasing all the usual tropes (unanswered hitchhiker’s pass; tagalong gal with mutable loyalties; respectful friendly competitors; final showdown on an enemy track) but withholding the usual payoffs. High-charting pop stars James Taylor and Dennis Wilson, each cutting their losses after this sole acting gig, are The Driver & The Mechanic, living the dream in a souped up ‘55 Chevy, going from diner to diner between racing stops where they make just enough cash to get to the next town. 'Pontiac GTO' Warren Oates may seem a less likely drifter (older, unemployed, lonely, hunting up hitchhikers mainly for companionship), but on the same wavelength when a race to D.C. on the old 'Blue Highways' is suggested. As The Girl, Laurie Bird gives the film a distinctive acting base, making it three rank amateurs against Oates' vastly underrated pro, the subsequent performing imbalance often the only thing holding attention between tire changes. Unique in its way, a Modern Road pic that goes beyond the usual debate on whether it’s The Destination or The Journey that matter. Here, it’s The Carburetor. Or is for Wilson. For Oates, a pair of hitchhikers to ‘jaw’ at. For Bird, a quick, silent exit with a near twin. And for Taylor, a Nouvelle Vague freeze frame flame out and documentation of his long lost luxurious tresses.
DOUBLE-BILL: Walter Hill brought similar abstraction (and similar mixed results) to a different genre in THE DRIVER/’78.
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