I first watched this film on TBS in about 1988 after classes while in college. I remember being mesmerized and when it was listed to come on again I had a fresh VHS tape and recorded it. I watched it over and over. It is very simply- The. Best. Movie. Ever. Made.

With a movie like "Two-Lane Blacktop", just knowing the character names will give you an idea of the existential road movie you're in for: The Driver, The Mechanic, Girl, GTO. James Taylor and Dennis Wilson are speed demon, tearing up the road in a stripped-down '55 Chevy (lacking even a basic heater because it'll slow her down). They just sorta happen upon Warren Oates in his spankin' new GTO and both engage in a cross-country race. This is a nomad's movie; drifting along the road, throughout the country, through life. It doesn't have a distinct beginning, middle, or an ending because it's not about that; it's about being out there. Which is great, and I liked the final shot of the melting film. But it left me cold. I wanted to know more about these people, something to hold onto. But this only lets us drift in and out of these characters' lives just as they do with each other. And being kept at arm's length was disappointing.6/10

Can a film be too much of its time? Watching Monte Hellman's dull-as-dirt cult classic "Two-Lane Blacktop" allows me to answer that question with a resounding YES!! The film is famous for capturing the ennui and disillusionment that descended on the counter culture when it realized its aspirations weren't going to be realized. Hitchiking on a dreamy vision of what America could be, they were dropped off at the side of the road in an America as it actually was, and a bleak landscape of middle class boredeom stretched out before them. I give Hellman's movie credit for capturing that mood like a firefly caught in a bottle, and I have to imagine someone who lived through this time and saw this film upon its initial release would have quite a different experience from me. But from my vantage point, seeing this film for the first time in 2014, it's nearly unwatchable. Musicians parading as actors stand around literally doing nothing for a very long two hours. I'm assuming we're supposed to sympathize with the main character (played by James Taylor), but since he hardly ever speaks a line and is generally a douche when he does, it's very hard to. I didn't understand who these people were, why they seemed so miserable or why I was supposed to care.Grade: D

i think that this film is an excellent film it has touched the heart of drag racing and stripped out muscle cars if you disagree you have never seen the film. this film has helped me know what a real film is all about and as well that there is not a lot of speech in it makes it more enjoyable to the viewer as it focuses more on the car the racing and the journey of the people as they race across America finding new challenges to beat this means that you can get more of an understanding of the life in America this means that they live the American dream racing in fast stripped out American muscle cars with big blocks and small block v8