I don't know whether it means anything and I don't care. Random nudity. Late 60s rock n roll soundtrack. Casual pill use. Hot rod and cool driver. Racist pigs. Hippies that you don't want to see die like Dennis Hopper in Easy Rider. The open road. Fantastic photography. Even the ''love interest'' scene is wonderfully under-stated. This movie makes me wish I was 16 years old at a Friday drive-in in 1971.

Well first of all it's not a thriller.It's just a movie about a guy driving fast from point A to point B. The whole movie is nothing else then that. I can imagine that in 1971 this movie would have score high rankings but we are in 2016 now so I watched it with my mind being in 2016. And so my ratings are not good for Vanishing Point. I was going to score it a five, but because of the end that I didn't like it dropped a point. If you are a fan of American muscle cars, or more specifically a Dodge Challenger in this case then you might like Vanishing Point. Or if you are a fan of the music from that time then you might like it as well. But for the rest, the story is just weak and quite ridiculous. Maybe in that time the driver would not have been caught for so long, but in 2016 he would not make it for more then 50 miles. It's like the police in the seventies are retarded. Add on that some hippies in the desert, some gays hitchhiking, a nude hippie chick on a Honda in the desert and that's the whole story.

VANISHING POINT is a mix of the classic car chase film and a more existential movie along the lines of EASY RIDER; the good news is that it's substantially better than EASY RIDER, and has a sheen of quality lacking in the more crowd-pleasing car flicks of the 1970s (like GONE IN 60 SECONDS and SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT).Barry Newman, playing it understated, is the driver who's tasked with delivering a car cross country under a strict time limit. Before long, the cops are on his tail for speeding, and what follows is an intense pursuit flick with some great filming of high speed chases. VANISHING POINT is a film that's all about the visual, and it does look lovely, the director capturing the sleekness of the vehicles and by contrast the wildness of the desert locales very well.And, of course, there's THAT ending, which is unforgettable once seen, and helps to add immeasurably to the experience. I think the story as a whole could have been a little more powerful - it's very slim, and there's barely any characterisation - but this is a classic production far above more recent Hollywood stabs at the genre (like DRIVE ANGRY).

I have been in love with this movie ever since i was kid. When i first saw trailer on TV with beautiful white Challenger speeding over the road, i knew that this is the movie that i will like.From the opening scene with small desert town early in the morning, through car chases and great,bizarre characters that main hero meets on his journey, i simply couldn't get enough of the movie. Barry Newman plays Kowalski with great attitude as silent, otherworldly-like guy who drives for one reason; because he can.He doesn't really need a reason to get to San Francisco inside 15 hours, he just wants another challenge. Maybe he is adrenaline junkie, or somebody who wants to pay back to the system that took his life apart? It doesn't really matter, cause entire time that he spends on lonely desert roads, being chased by cops he becomes hero for people like him. People who have been attacked by the law just because they wanted what he wants. They wanted to be free. Unfortunately, at the time when movie was made, things weren't so great for USA, and everyone were in fight with one another, and the part where Kowalski gets in road fight with Jaguar driver is perfect example of this.Ending of the movie is very sad, but in a way,it is the perfect ending for Kowalski who has suffered so much throughout his life that death is not "only way to escape", he could surrender and spend some time behind bars, but his own decision to go someplace else.What that place is,nobody knows, but he wanted to go there. Why? Maybe he was tired of the world in which he was living for so long that he wanted to move in some other world where he wouldn't need to be worry when will somebody stab him in the back, since already it happened to him too many times. Maybe, he truly was last free soul in the world which he was the part of, and he couldn't stand it anymore. Girl in black that he picked up night before his last day was, in a way, death coming to welcome him into the afterlife, sort of speak. That's why he accepted her company, because he knew that next day, he will finally reach his destination, finish line for which he drove his entire life.This is my own view of this fine movie. No matter how old VANISHING POINT is, it is still greatest car chase movie ever, not because of the some incredible chase scenes, but because of the way that story stays true to the way that world still turns, and there is always some lonely soul out there that fights hard to get to its own finish line. Definitely recommended for every car loving guys and girls, and for everyone who love old cult classics.