Two-Lane Blacktop: The 1971 Road Film Shot Across the American Southwest

Two-Lane Blacktop is a 1971 road film about two street racers who travel the American Southwest, earning money from impromptu races. Monte Hellman directed it for Universal Pictures after the success of Easy Rider, but the film took a far quieter route than its predecessor. Its reputation has grown steadily since a modest first release.

What is Two-Lane Blacktop about?

The film follows two street racers, known only as the Driver and the Mechanic, who drift from town to town in a modified 1955 Chevrolet. They pick up a hitchhiker called the Girl and meet a rival named GTO, and the three men agree to a cross-country race. The plot is sparse, and the characters remain officially unnamed.

The two racers live on the road in a highly modified, primer-grey 1955 Chevrolet 150 two-door sedan drag car. They earn their living by challenging locals to impromptu races, moving on whenever the money runs out. The film's rhythm comes from long stretches of driving, refuelling stops and quiet moments between races.

The pair head east on Route 66 out of Needles, California, and collect the Girl, whom they met at a diner in Flagstaff, Arizona. The Driver develops a crush on her, but she sleeps with the Mechanic while he is out drinking. The friction between the three of them sets the tone for the middle of the film.

In New Mexico the racers encounter GTO, another driver on the highway, and a tense rivalry forms between the two cars. GTO is not an obvious street racer and shows little automotive knowledge, yet a cross-country race to Washington, D.C. is proposed, with the prize being the loser's car. GTO picks up several hitchhikers along the way. When his inexperience shows, the trio ends up in a shaky partnership, and the Driver takes over the driving for a while when GTO gets tired.

The trio stops at a Memphis race track to raise money. After the Driver finishes his race, he discovers that the Girl has left with GTO. She rejects GTO's suggestion of Chicago, then turns down the Driver's proposal of a trip to Columbus, Ohio, for car parts. She leaves with a stranger on a motorcycle and abandons her belongings in the car park.

The film ends abruptly. GTO picks up two soldiers and claims he won the car by beating two men in a cross-country race involving a custom 1955 Chevrolet 150. The last scene shows the Driver racing a Chevrolet El Camino at an airstrip in East Tennessee.

A road film about speed that spends most of its time in the silences between races and the long miles of the open road.

How did the film get made?

Universal commissioned the film in the wake of Easy Rider's success. The project began with producer Michael Laughlin and a story by Will Corry, which was later rewritten by the underground writer Rudolph Wurlitzer during an actual cross-country road trip. Monte Hellman directed, and Wurlitzer wrote a new script in four weeks.

Producer Michael Laughlin had a two-picture deal with CBS Cinema Center Films. The company paid Corry $100,000 for an original story about two men and a girl who drive across the country. Corry had been inspired by his own cross-country journey in 1968, and his story was the seed of the film.

Hellman had been working in Italy on a film project that fell through when Laughlin introduced him to two possible projects, one of which was this one. Hellman found Corry's story interesting but not fully realised, and he agreed to direct only if another screenwriter rewrote the script. A friend recommended Rudolph Wurlitzer, whose novel Nog had impressed him.

Wurlitzer gave up on Corry's story after five pages, but he and Hellman agreed to keep the basic idea of the cross-country race and the three central characters, the Driver, the Mechanic and the Girl. GTO and the other supporting figures were Wurlitzer's creation.

To prepare, Wurlitzer stayed in a Los Angeles motel and read car magazines. He also spent time with obsessive mechanics and car fans in the San Fernando Valley. He said he knew little about cars, but he understood the experience of being lost on the road,.

Who was cast in the leading roles?

James Taylor and Dennis Wilson played the Driver and the Mechanic, Warren Oates played GTO, and Laurie Bird played the Girl. The three leads were inexperienced actors, and the casting process was unusual. Dennis Wilson was the last actor cast, close to the start of filming.

Hellman saw a picture of Taylor on a billboard on the Sunset Strip and asked him to come in for a screen test. The Mechanic role remained uncast four days before filming, and Hellman tested people he met in garages. A suggestion from the casting director's circle led him to Wilson.

Hellman chose Wilson because he felt the musician had lived the role and had grown up with cars. Both leads were inexperienced actors, which made the casting a considerable gamble for the production.

Hellman also took an unconventional approach with his leads. He kept them from reading the full script in advance and gave them pages of dialogue on the day of shooting. Taylor, who was used to having control over his music, found this difficult. Hellman eventually allowed him to read the script, but Taylor never did.

How was the film shot?

Principal photography began on August 13, 1970, in Los Angeles and lasted eight weeks with a crew of 30. The production used three matching Chevrolets and two matching G.T.O.s, and the cast travelled through the southwest towards Memphis, Tennessee. Hellman insisted on real cross-country travel for the shoot.

Hellman believed the audience would only accept the characters' journey if the production physically crossed the country. He said the trip affected the actors, and that it affected everybody on the production.

Gregory Sandor shot the entire film, but because of union issues the camera operator Jack Deerson was credited as director of photography. Sandor was instead credited as the film's photographic advisor.

Hellman shot almost the entire script as written. He edited the film himself and said he needed his hand on the brake during the process. His first cut ran three-and-a-half hours, but his contract required a final film no longer than two hours, so the version released ran 105 minutes.

Hellman had control of the final cut. Universal's Ned Tanen had given him $850,000 and that control.

What is the soundtrack like?

Two-Lane Blacktop has no soundtrack album, and it uses far less music than other road films of its era, such as Easy Rider. The music covers rock, folk, blues, country, bluegrass and R&B, and neither James Taylor nor Dennis Wilson contributed any songs.

Several tracks stand out. Moonlight Drive by The Doors is among the notable tracks, while Maybellene is performed by John Hammond and the traditional folk tune Stealin' is performed by Arlo Guthrie. Me and Bobby McGee is performed by its composer, Kris Kristofferson, and it became closely tied to the film.

Terry Allen's Truckload of Art can be heard briefly coming out of the GTO.

In 2003 Plain Records released a tribute album inspired by the cult classic. Its contributors included Wilco and Sonic Youth, along with several other artists who recorded exclusive tracks for the project.

How did critics respond?

Reviews on the film's first release were generally positive, with Roger Ebert giving it three stars out of four and Jay Cocks in Time calling it immaculately crafted. The film was not a commercial success, and the critical praise did not turn into box office. Today Rotten Tomatoes lists 93% approval from 40 critics.

Roger Ebert praised the sense of life that broke through the film, especially in GTO, played by Warren Oates. He described GTO as the one figure in the film who seemed fully present as a person, which gave the viewer a sense of having met someone.

Vincent Canby of The New York Times said the film was far from perfect but praised its restraint and control. Jay Cocks in Time found it immaculately crafted, funny and beautiful, with a lingering mood of loss and loneliness. J. Hoberman in The Village Voice described achingly eloquent landscapes and absurdly inert characters.

Esquire published the entire screenplay in its April 1971 issue and put the film on its cover as a nomination for movie of the year. Hellman later felt that the publicity had raised expectations that the film could not meet, because audiences judged it against that buzz.

Lew Wasserman, who ran the studio, saw the film, disliked it and refused to promote it. When the film opened in New York on the Fourth of July weekend, there were no newspaper advertisements to support it. Esquire later listed its own cover prediction among its annual Dubious Achievements awards.

Metacritic gave the film a score of 89 out of 100 from 15 critics, which places it firmly in the universal acclaim category. The film has become a cult favourite through reappraisal rather than release-week success.

Why did it take so long to reach home video?

Universal released only a few films from its catalogue each year, and Two-Lane Blacktop was not a priority. Music rights issues, especially for Moonlight Drive, held up any proper release for years. Anchor Bay finally licensed the film in 1999, and the Criterion Collection followed with a special edition in 2007.

In 1994 Seattle's Scarecrow Video invited Hellman to show the film in its store. The shop then collected 2,000 signatures for a petition demanding a video release, and the list included Werner Herzog's name. Press coverage of the store's campaign followed.

Universal had been seeking a partner to give the film a release that matched its cult status. The rights were the obstacle, and William Lustig, a technical adviser for Anchor Bay, encouraged Hellman to approach the surviving members of The Doors for their approval.

In 1999 Anchor Bay licensed the film and released it on VHS and DVD. The limited edition DVD came packed in a metal tin with a booklet, a poster replica and a miniature car key chain. A regular edition appeared without the poster and key chain.

Criterion released a two-disc special edition on December 11, 2007, which included a new documentary by Hellman. That documentary featured an interview with Kristofferson about how Me and Bobby McGee became so closely tied to the film. Masters of Cinema released a Region B Blu-ray in the UK on 23 January 2012, and Criterion followed with a US Region A Blu-ray in January 2013.

Film at a glance

Why is the film still discussed?

The film is valued as a time capsule of U.S. Route 66 in the pre-interstate era, and it is praised for its stark footage and minimal dialogue. It has been compared with Vanishing Point, Easy Rider and Electra Glide in Blue, and it has been reassessed as a major work of the New Hollywood movement.

Brock Yates, who organised the Cannonball Run, cited Two-Lane Blacktop as an inspiration for the race. He commented on the film in his Car and Driver column when he announced the first Cannonball.

Early reviews were largely favourable, yet box office results were modest. With time the film earned a reputation as a sleeper hit and a cult classic, and critics have since looked at it again with fresh interest.

In 2012 the Library of Congress added the film to the National Film Registry, judging it culturally, historically or aesthetically significant.