I watched Vanishing Point a few days ago, because I remembered it being a big influence on Death Proof and I got a chance to pick up a cheap copy.
I liked it, but it was kind of strange, and I don't think a movie like that could get made today (except as some little indie art-house thing). The main character has almost no apparent motivation for his actions, and he takes drugs constantly. The cops in the movie are the antagonists, but they aren't really bad guys, they're just doing their job. I won't spoil the end of the movie, but it's not a happy one.
It just gave me the odd feeling that America in 1971 was a very different place from America in 2008.
Re: Vanishing Point
I haven't seen that film since it was on TV when I was a kid in like the early eighties or somethin'.
SPOILER ALERT!!!
But it was my understanding that he meant to kill himself. I thought it was inferred from some of the music and the flashbacks...
Still, I think there's a hole in cinema these days. Everything has to be explained? I like the idea of a kinda good guy/rebel without a cause Iago. It makes for great bad guys too, done right. ...Remember "The Hitcher"?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hitcher_(1986_film)#Plot_summary
Re: Vanishing Point
I remember watching that movie and thinking afterwards "90 minutes of car chases for a study in nihilism?"
Blech.
If you weren't doing anything wrong, then you have no reason to be afraid while they kick the crap out of you. - D.A. Ridgely
Re: Vanishing Point
Sounds like Duel. Which I thought was pretty good.
"They civilize left, They civilize right
Till nothing is left, Till nothing is right"
Re: Vanishing Point
I think that's what they were going for.
What defiance meant to the people around him maybe meant something very different than it meant to him. Were they projecting? What's the balance between committed defiance and being suicidal? ...I think that may have been a little more relevant in '71.
Why be a rebel without a cause? Is defiance important in and of itself? These are interesting questions.
Oh, and in my personal opinion, 90 minuites of car chases is important in and of itself. ...it's car chases!
Caaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaar Chases.
Re: Vanishing Point
I agree. It needed another 30 minutes of car chases to be a PERFECT study in nihilism. A little more trading paint and debris flying would have completed the philosophical argument.
Re: Vanishing Point
I consider Duel to be a classic as well as a personal favorite, although admittedly it's also wrapped up in personal childhood nostalgia for me, so I may not be very objective.
"My intellect is gigantic, monstrous, terrifying."
Re: Vanishing Point
Vanishing point is one of my favorites. It's up there with Cool Hand Luke.
"Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind... I am ashamed to think how easily we capitulate to badges and names, to large societies and dead institutions.."-Emerson
Re: Vanishing Point
I think its a great car chase and pretty decent movie.
I'm sure there's a deeper meaning to it, but really I just like well choreographed and long car chases.
Proud Cosmotarian