I had heard this movie title a number of times, reading a little into it I knew it was something to do with driving, and I had it recorded on VHS for a long time, so I finally got to watching it eventually. Basically Kowalski (Barry Newman) is a former racing driver, ex-cop and Medal of Honor Vietnam War veteran, he now works as a car delivery driver. His latest assignment is to deliver a white 1970 Dodge Challenger R/T 440 Magnum, from Denver to San Francisco, approximately 1,200 miles, in 3 days. The delivery service clerk, Sandy (Karl Swenson), urges him to get some rest, but Kowalski insists on getting started, then he has a bet with his dealer, Jake (Lee Weaver), to get the car there in less than 15 hours. Kowalski is haunted by the memories of the Vietnam war, his discharge from the police in retaliation for preventing his partner from raping a young woman, and the death of his girlfriend Vera Thornton (Victoria Medlin), he now exists on adrenaline. Driving west across Colorado, two motorcycle police officers pursue Kowalski who try to stop him for speeding, with his experience as a motorcycle racer he manages to force one off the road and eludes the other. Then a driver in a Jaguar E-Type convertible pulls up alongside Kowalski, challenging him to race, the after accepting the driver nearly runs him off the road, but Kowalski overtakes him and causes the Jaguar to crash into a river, Kowalski checks to see if the driver is okay, before taking off. The police are in hot pursuit, but are unable to catch him as Kowalski drives across Utah and into Nevada, during the pursuit he listens to hippie radio station KOW, broadcasting from Goldfield, Nevada. The show is hosted by the blind disc jockey who goes by the name Super Soul (Blazing Saddles' Cleavon Little), he listens to the police radio frequency, he encourages Kowalski to evade the police. Super Soul seems to understand Kowalski and seems to see and hear Kowalski's reactions, he calls him "the last American hero", Kowalski gains the interest of the news media, and people gather at the KOW studio to offer their support. Kowalski finds himself surrounded as the police chase him across Nevada, he heads into the desert, he blows the left front tire, an old Prospector (Dean Jagger), who catches snakes, helps him, gives him fuel and redirects him back to the highway. On the way Kowalski picks up two homosexual hitchhikers stranded en route to San Francisco, they are "Just Married", they attempt to hold him at gunpoint, but he manages to throw them out and continue his journey. On Saturday afternoon, a vengeful off-duty highway patrolman and some local racist thugs break into the KOW studio and assault Super Soul and his engineer. Approaching the California state line, hippie biker Angel (Timothy Scott) helps Kowalski, he gives him some pills to help him stay awake, Angel's girlfriend (Gilda Texter), who rides her motorcycle nude, recognises Kowalski from the various newspaper articles. Kowalski suspects that Super Soul's broadcast has been infiltrated by the police to entrap him, Angel confirms they are indeed waiting at the border, he helps Kowalski get through the roadblock. Kowalski finally reaches California by Saturday, he calls Jake the dealer from a payphone to reassure him that he still intends to deliver the car on Monday. On Sunday morning, California police have been tracking Kowalski's movements on an electronic wall-map, a roadblock using two bulldozers has been set up in the small town of Cisco, where Kowalski will be passing, a small crowd gathers there. Kowalski approaches the roadblock at high speed, he smiles as he crashes into the bulldozers in a fiery explosion, killing himself, firemen work on putting out the flames, and the crowd slowly disperses. Also starring Paul Koslo as Deputy Charlie Scott and Robert Donner as Deputy Collins. Newman is charismatic enough as the man on a drug-fuelled trip, and Little is good as the DJ who charts the anti- hero's progress, it is a simple story of a driven driver going at high speed through deserts and small towns, stopping only for fuel and rest, so there is plenty of interesting scenery along the way, a reasonable cult road movie. Worth watching!

A few years before "Smokey and the Bandit" would present a confusing mixture of messages about the joys of traveling the road, came "Vanishing Point", a superb film about which so much could be written. I saw this film when it first came out--a nineteen year old who could really identify with the film's point of view.Yes, this film owes a debt to "Easy Rider" (1969) and "Bonnie and Clyde" (1967), but the anti-heroes of "Easy Rider" were looking for truth. Kowalski, the anti-hero of "Vanishing Point" is looking for freedom.This film should be classified under "fantasy". It is a libertarian fantasy, a dream of escaping the control and corruption of the establishment (as it was then called). In the early 70s, a great turmoil enveloped this country. Those who fought for peace (in the shadow of the Vietnam conflict), racial equality, a redefining of gender roles, and the freedom of the individual to do or become whatever he desires (as long as it does not violate the freedom of others) became the counterculture, a massive challenge to the status quo and those who wished to maintain traditional values.Kowalski (Barry Newman) is a man who's background and history is revealed throughout the film. From a man who merely drives for a living, he becomes a man who is trying to cope with the tragedies and inequalities of his past. Eventually, he becomes a hero to the people on the fringe of society who recognize his fight as their own. He battles the "blue meanies" (a reference to The Beatles' "Yellow Submarine"). There are various clues that this is a fantasy. No one gets hurt despite some dangerous activities. This is important because Kowalski is not out to hurt others. There are also some scenes that, though "real", seem almost to be dreams.As he drives his Challenger (of course) down western highways that disappear in the infinite at that vanishing point on the horizon, we begin to see that this is one man's rebellion, as assertion that he will no longer be controlled. This man of few words has nothing left to lose, perhaps.Accompanied by some great tunes and the encouragement of a blind DJ, Kowalski meets some interesting characters. Watch for Dean Jagger in a small, choice role as a snake hunter. "Vanishing Point" has a great cast of credited and uncredited actors and musicians.Will Kowalski (like Moses) lose his way in the desert, but eventually emerge to find a promised land? Will he become invincible and larger than life? Will he become a martyr, either by intention or by accident?One could write pages about this film and its messages. It helps to have seen it in 1971, to experience it as part of the milieu of its time. But this film is a metaphor for principles that are timeless.

Vanishing Point is the type of movie rarely seen these days. It has so many identities, a car chase movie simply being one of them. It both deconstructs and pays tribute to the American love affair with the automobile and cinema. It's also a love letter to the 60s, playing up themes of freedom and escaping oppression. Most importantly, it's a classic heroes journey. Kowalski, the hero has a mission, a romantically Americana mission, and he let's nothing get in his way. Movies like Vanishing Point aren't duplicated, because they cannot be. They are products of their time, a tribute to both films and ideals past.

Much has been written about this movie, so the story is well known. The main character is a man known as Kowalski who delivers cars for a living. He has done other things though. He was a Vietnam veteran, a former car and bike racing driver and an ex cop, but in the film he collects a car on a Friday night in Colorado to drive it back to San Francisco, California, in 15 hours. ( a journey of some 1200 miles ).Given the car he is driving, a 1970 Dodge Challenger R/T 440ci V8 with a 4 speed manual transmission, which is also allegedly " hopped up to over 160 ", it is technically achievable, however, as he will be driving mainly on the back roads, no one seems to think he can do it. To help him, he visits a friend at the start and take a supply of speed and then gets on his way. And then the fun begins.So what is the movie really about?....Well, if you read all the other comments, and I recommend you do, you will see the main points of the plot and events, etc, so I wont be repeating these here, but to me, none of them get to the real raison d'etre of Kowalski and the movie.You first have to look at the time period in the US in 1970/71. The Vietnam war was still ongoing and by then the protest against it was very wide spread. In addition, there was still a very strong racism element and the US was in effect a Police state, only much more so than today.Then there was the Muscle care era which was at its peak in 1970/71, but by 1973, it was all but dead as emission laws made many of the big block engines illegal. The 70 Dodge Challenger R/T 440 ci V8 was one of the fastest in its day and with a 4 speed manual transmission was good for around 375 bhp in stock form, however, we are told that it is hopped up to do over 160 mph, ( standard was around 140 mph ) although no details of how it is tuned are given other than a couple of cops saying it is allegedly supercharged.Then he have Kowalski himself. On face value it would seem he has been a failure throughout his life ( well the bits we get to see in flash back ), but is he really?....No. The way he drives the Dodge shows you that he is in a different league to the cops and like all racing drivers, instead of slowing down, he changes down and accelerates to even faster speeds, so he isn't simply a good driver, he is a great driver. One of the very best.He doesn't just drive the car, he becomes part of it and it becomes part of him. He knows that whenever he changes down a gear or two, he has rocket like acceleration that will get him out of trouble and when the roads get closed off, he simply takes it out into the desert. As Super soul says, Kowalski is one of the last great American hero's and that is what the movie is really about.It is an epitaph to the last of the real hero's, Kowalski, the last of the real muscle cars and the last blast of a freedom that the police are trying to destroy. Kowalski knows that, just like the muscle car, his time has come and gone, so he pushes himself on an almost impossible journey that he knows will end in his death. After all, what is there to live for. Nothing except the speed and the race, and so at the end we see him smash into two bulldozers rather than surrender.On face value, this seems madness. He could easily stop and although he might be imprisoned for a while ( or maybe not as he hadn't really done anything wrong ), he would get to drive again, but for Kowalski its not so simplistic. He is on a one way journey and this is evident by the flash backs to the past events in his life. We see him as a racing car driver, a bike racer, when he was a cop and the death of his beloved. He whole life story is laid out along the road, so it is obvious that death is the only destination. This is further confirmed when we see the naked chick shows him all the news stories she has collected about him long before this journey. Its like she is an Angel saying, this was your life Kowalski.There is also the scene not in the US versions ), where he picks up a female hitchhiker ( death ) who spends the night with him and then mysteriously disappears before he wakes. Kowalski knows its coming, but rather than fear it, he drives into the next world at maximum speed, smiling and with him dies the last of the great muscle cars.Whether you agree with my synopsis or not, this is one of the great movies of all time and if you do nothing else in your life, you have to see this film and preferably on a big screen with surround sound.