Two-Lane Blacktop

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Two-Lane Blacktop

R

1971

1h 42m

Drama

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

93%

Tomatometer

40 Reviews

81%

Popcornmeter

5,000+ Ratings

In this cult favorite road film, a mechanic (Dennis Wilson) and a driver (James Taylor) live only to race and maintain their 1955 Chevy. Heading east from California with no particular agenda, they give a girl (Laurie Bird) a ride, and en route she incites jealousy between the men by sleeping with them both. Meanwhile, the trio encounters an overbearing GTO driver (Warren Oates) who agrees to race them to New York, each side putting at stake their most prized possession: their car.

Critics Consensus

Beautifully directed and utterly unique, Two-Lane Blacktop captures the spirit of its era as smoothly as it evokes the feeling of the open road.

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Paul D. Zimmerman

Newsweek

02/12/2020

Heilman's heroes remain insulated from us by their own failures to feel. We are part of the world they pass through invisibly -- and so they remain as foreign and opaque as ever.

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David Thomson

The New Republic

06/20/2013

It came nowhere close to the numbers on Easy Rider, but it is so much more worthwhile as a film. Indeed, I'm going to push my luck and say there has never been a better film about sweaters.

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Nick Schager

Lessons of Darkness

06/19/2011

B-

Captures an aura of existential despondence that's married to a far less evocative (and durable) strain of counterculture romantic doom.

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Matt Brunson

Film Frenzy

Feb 9

3/4

An existential take on alienation as well as a study of the American road as a way of life.

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Josh Larsen

LarsenOnFilm

09/04/2021

3/4

...less about the wheels on the asphalt and more about the headspace that driving can put you in.

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Peter Sobczynski

The Spool

07/11/2021

A piece of utterly original art-house Americana utterly unlike anything before or after.

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Michael

Aug 16

I saw this when it came out in ‘71 and I was all about the cars but this time I got into the nuances of the acting & story. Yeah it’s minimalist but considering this was made during the country being asshole deep in a deeply unpopular war you can understand better the do and say what I want to attitudes and actions of the players.

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thiago S

@Thiagostone Jun 22

Filme fraco, o roteiro é fraco, as cenas são fracas, a história é fraca, o elenco é fraco, e ninguém ajuda a melhorar o filme, os personagens são fracos, e o filme deveria ter cenas bem melhores e relevantes, para fazer o filme ser bom

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acsdoug D

@acsdoug May 15

Some guys take their sweet time racing from California to the east coast. Along the way, nothing happens.

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RedApple A

@RT71152999 Jan 9

Cars don’t usually interest me, yet this film did.

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Leaburn O

@RT35452347 08/28/2024

I’m sure there’s a reason for this film but I couldn’t find it and was too bored to dwell on it. A couple of hours I’ll never get back. Avoid. Watched on DVD.

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Thomas H

@RT34076855 03/25/2023

Anyone who ever set out on a doomed road trip will relate to Two Lane Blacktop. What at first seems like an Easy Rider retread quickly veers off from typical road movie sentimentality and becomes lost in the back roads of ennui and a foreboding sense of nihilism.

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Monte Hellman

Director

James Taylor

The Driver

Warren Oates

G.T.O.

Laurie Bird

The Girl

Dennis Wilson

The Mechanic

David Drake

Needles Station Attendant

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Synopsis

In this cult favorite road film, a mechanic (Dennis Wilson) and a driver (James Taylor) live only to race and maintain their 1955 Chevy. Heading east from California with no particular agenda, they give a girl (Laurie Bird) a ride, and en route she incites jealousy between the men by sleeping with them both. Meanwhile, the trio encounters an overbearing GTO driver (Warren Oates) who agrees to race them to New York, each side putting at stake their most prized possession: their car.

Director: Monte Hellman
Producer: Michael Laughlin
Screenwriter: Will Corry, Rudy Wurlitzer
Distributor: Universal Pictures
Production Co: Universal Pictures
Rating: R
Genre: Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Jan 1, 1971, Wide
Release Date (DVD): Dec 11, 2007
Runtime: 1h 42m
Aspect Ratio: Scope (2.35:1)

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