Vanishing Point
Encyclopedia
Vanishing Point is a 1971 American action
-road movie
directed by Richard C. Sarafian
; starring Barry Newman
, Cleavon Little
, and Dean Jagger
.
Vanishing Point is notable for its scenery from filming locations across the American Southwest and its social commentary on the post-Woodstock
mood in the United States. The film is beloved by Mopar
auto enthusiasts because it prominently features a classic 1970 Dodge Challenger
muscle car
.
Kowalski Barry Newman
, a car delivery driver based in Denver, Colorado
, is assigned to deliver a white 1970 Dodge Challenger
R/T 440 Magnum to San Francisco
. A Medal of Honor Vietnam
veteran
, former race car driver and former motorcycle
racer, he lost his job as a cop after being framed in a drug bust, in retaliation for preventing his partner from raping a young woman. He seemingly gave up his automobile and motorcycle racing careers after two near-fatal accidents. He is haunted by the surfing death of his girlfriend Vera, the one true love of his life. He is now an embittered adrenaline junky.
Kowalski delivers a black Chrysler Imperial
to Denver. Though his supervisor demands he get some rest Kowalski insists on delivering the Dodge Challenger to San Francisco immediately. He stops at a biker bar to buy some Benzedrine
pills and bets his dealer, Jake (Lee Weaver
), that he will get to San Francisco by 3 o'clock the next day (although the delivery is not due until Monday).
Later Saturday morning near Glenwood Springs, Colorado
, two motorcycle cops try to stop him for speeding. He runs one off the road and shakes the other officer by jumping across a trench. Kowalski is chased across the states of Colorado
, Utah
and Nevada
into California
, with the police unable to catch him. The whole way, Kowalski has his radio tuned to the station KOW, which is broadcasting from Goldfield, Nevada
. A blind African-American DJ at KOW known as Super Soul listens to the police radio frequency and encourages Kowalski to evade the police. Super Soul seems to understand Kowalski and seems to see and hear Kowalski's reactions.
With the help of Super Soul, who calls Kowalski "the last American hero" on his radio show, Kowalski begins to gain attention among the counterculture
and news media. Bikers and hippie
s flock to the KOW radio station to offer support. In a police chase in Nevada, Kowalski finds himself surrounded by police and flees into the desert. There, he blows a left front tire. Kowalski is helped by the old man who catches snakes in the desert to escape a police chopper that is now searching the desert for him. The old man leads him to a Pentecostal sect that reluctantly gives him fuel. The old man then redirects Kowalski back to the highway. There, he picks up two homosexual hitchhikers stranded en route to San Francisco with a "Just Married" sign in their rear window. They become combative and try to hold him up at gunpoint but Kowalski throws them out of the car.
In the afternoon of Saturday, a police officer and some unidentified thugs, shouting racial epithets, raid the KOW studio and assault Super Soul and his engineer. Near the California
state line, Kowalski is helped by a hippie biker and his nude girlfriend, who has followed Kowalski's police career and made a collage of articles about his story. They discover that Super Soul's encouragement is now being directed by the police to entrap Kowalski; they give him more Benzedrine pills and help him get through the roadblock trap by strapping a motorbike with a red light and air raid siren to the top of the Challenger, fooling the police into clearing the roadblock for him to speed through, putting him in California by Saturday at 7:12 pm. Kowalski calls Jake the dealer on a payphone to reassure him that he still intends to deliver the car on Monday. However, the California police have put sensors on back roads that allow them to track Kowalski as he drives through the night.
In the UK release of the film, Kowalski then picks up a mysterious hitchhiker (played by Charlotte Rampling
). Kowalski accepts marijuana from her despite being shown refusing drugs (other than speed) several times in the past. He stops the car when he starts feeling stoned. She says she has been "waiting for him, everywhere and since forever". When he awakens the next morning, she is gone without a trace. According to interviews with Barry Newman and commentary from the director, the hitchhiker was a representation of death finally catching up with Kowalski.
It is still early Sunday morning when Kowalski makes it to Cisco, California (a vacant cattle town in the Sierra Nevada foothills east of San Francisco). There, with the California Highway Patrol in hot pursuit, Kowalski crashes into the two bulldozers set up by the police as a roadblock, producing a fatal fireball.
Barry Newman offered his interpretation of the film's ending in an interview printed in the March 1986 issue of Musclecar Review, "Kowalski smiles as he rushes to his death at the end of Vanishing Point because he believes he will make it through the roadblock.". The August 2006 issue of Motor Trend
magazine has a sidebar with Newman, in which he explains that Kowalski sees the light glinting from between the two bulldozers. "To Kowalski, it was still a hole to escape through. It symbolized that no matter how far they push or chase you, no one can truly take away your freedom and there is always an escape.". Newman also thought that the entire film was an essay on existentialism
. Kowalski drives to drive, with no real purpose for doing what he's doing. He decides to give his life its definition and meaning, with complete freedom over his actions.
Sarafian explained that he wanted to make Kowalski appear otherworldly and that the world within the film was a temporary existence that he was just making a stop in. At the end of the film, he was ascending from this existence into another (and even points out that the lyrics of the end song point this out, "when the light of life stops burning, till another soul goes free").
Guillermo Cain) wrote the screenplay for Vanishing Point based on two actual events: the disgraced career of a San Diego police officer and a high-speed pursuit of a man who refused to stop, eventually killing himself when he crashed into a police roadblock. Cain modeled the character of Super Soul after legendary rock and roll singer The Big Bopper
, eventually re-naming the character from Super Spic to Super Soul. His script had all the ingredients that reflected the popular alternative hippie-lifestyle of the time: rebellion, drugs, sexual freedom, and rock and roll. In 1969, director Richard Sarafian had turned down an offer to make Robert Redford
's Downhill Racer
and was drawn to the counterculture themes in Cain's script. Originally, the director cast Gene Hackman
to play Kowalski but 20th Century Fox
studio executive Richard Zanuck refused and insisted on relative unknown actor Barry Newman.
According to Sarafian, it was Zanuck who came up with the idea of using the new 1970 Dodge Challenger R/T
because he wanted to do Chrysler a favor for providing Fox for many years with cars on a rental base for only a dollar a day (many if not most of the other cars featured in the film are also Chrysler products.) Stunt Coordinator Carey Loftin
has said that he requested the Dodge Challenger because of the "quality of the torsion bar suspension and for its horsepower" and felt that it was "a real sturdy, good running car". Five Dodge Challenger R/Ts were loaned to the production by Chrysler for promotional consideration and were returned upon completion of filming. No special equipment was added or modifications made to the cars, except for heavier-duty shocks for the car that jumped over No Name Creek. Loftin remembers that parts were taken out of one car to make another because they "really ruined a couple of those cars" while jumping ramps between highways and over creeks. Newman remembers that the 440 engines in the cars were so powerful that "it was almost as if there was too much power for the body. You'd put it in first and it would almost rear back!" To convey the appearance of speed, the filmmakers undercranked the cameras. For example, in the scenes with the Challenger and the Jaguar, the camera was cranked at half speed. The cars were traveling at approximately 50 mi/h but projected at normal frame rate, they appeared to be much faster.
Principal photography began in the summer of 1970 with a planned shooting schedule of 60 days. The shoot had a few mishaps, including Newman driving a Challenger equipped with three cameras into the bushes in order to avoid a head-on collision when a "civilian" driver ignored the traffic blocks installed to ensure the safety of the crew. The film's cinematographer John Alonzo used light-weight Arriflex II cameras that offered a great deal of flexibility in terms of free movement. Close-up and medium shots were achieved by mounting cameras directly on the vehicles instead of the common practice of filming the drivers from a tow that drove ahead of the targeted vehicle. An average day of filming involved the actors and the crew of 19 men spending many hours traveling to the remote locations, shooting for an extended period of time and then looking for a motel to spend the night. Dean Jagger's scenes were shot on the Salt Lakes of Nevada. Super Soul's radio station was filmed in a small town called Goldfield
. All of Cleavon Little's scenes were completed in under three days. Financial troubles plagued the studio at the time forcing Zanuck to shorten Sarafian's shooting schedule by 22 days. In response, the director decided not to film certain scenes rather than rush through the rest of the shoot.
Loftin was the film's stunt coordinator and responsible for setting up and performing the major driving stunts. Newman learned from Loftin and was encouraged by the stunt coordinator to do some of his own stunts. In the scene before Kowalski crashes into the bulldozer, Newman drove and performed a 180 degree turn on the road and went back himself and without the director's knowledge. The 383 car was also used as the tow vehicle in the crash scene at the end of the movie. A ¼ mile cable was attached between the Challenger and an explosives-laden 1967 Chevrolet
Camaro
with the motor and transmission removed. The tow vehicle was driven by Loftin, who pulled the Camaro into the blades of the bulldozers at high speed. Loftin expected the car to go end over end but instead it stuck into the bulldozers, which he thought looked better.
After principal photography, Vanishing Point was cut from 107 minutes to 99 minutes, completely removing a scene where Kowalski picks up a hitchhiker played by Charlotte Rampling
. Newman felt that the scene gave the film "an allegorical lift" but the studio was afraid that the audience would not understand.
. Lionel Newman, head of Fox's music department at the time, denied Sarafian's request because the studio did not want to spend a lot of money obtaining rights to the tracks. The director then suggested that musician Randy Newman
score the film but this request was also denied. After watching the film, musical supervisor Jimmy Bowen
wrote three original songs. Delaney, Bonnie & Friends ended up performing a musical number in the film.
A soundtrack of the film was released in the U.S. on vinyl LP by Amos Records. The vinyl soundtrack is long out of print. There have been reissues of the soundtrack compact disc
in the U.S. by A&M
, including various record companies, and in Europe by Amos Records.
Track listing
The first ever recorded material by Kim Carnes
appears in the soundtrack, credited as "Kim & Dave". Carnes also wrote the song performed by Big Mama Thornton
. The pop music group Delaney, Bonnie & Friends had a small role as a Christian music
band, which included singer Rita Coolidge
and singer/songwriter David Gates
at the piano.
Tracks "I Can't Believe it" and "Sweet Jesus" are not on the original LP Soundtrack.
, Charles Champlin wrote, "Vanishing Point might have had a point, but it ... ah ... got lost. What's left is sophisticated craft and fashionably hokey cynicism". Variety
magazine said, "While stock car addicts may be able to maintain interest in the ultra-fast manipulation of the car, many viewers will just get car-sick ... or sick of the car, which isn't the same thing". Larry Cohen, in the Reporter criticized the film for being "calculated, tedious and in desperate need of tightening, the picture, produced by Norman Spencer, is uninvolving and devoid of a cohesiveness that might have made it work".
Newman recalls that Fox had no faith in the film and released it in neighborhood theaters only to disappear in less than two weeks. However, it was a critical and commercial success in the UK and Europe which prompted the studio to re-release it in the United States on a double bill with The French Connection
. A cult following began to develop due in large part to a broadcast on network television in 1976.
The film currently has a rating of 75% on Rotten Tomatoes
, based on 12 reviews.
's 1997 album of the same name
. It is meant to be an alternative soundtrack to the film. Leader singer Bobby Gillespie said, "The music in the film is hippy music, so we thought, 'Why not record some music that really reflects the mood of the film?' It's always been a favourite of the band, we love the air of paranoia and speed-freak righteousness ... It's a pure underground film, rammed with claustrophobia". In addition, a track from the album was named "Kowalski
" after the character from the film. The track also featured samples of Super Soul's "last American hero" speech from the film. Author Irvine Welsh
scripted the video for "Kowalski" which was directed by musician Douglas Hart
. The video features a Dodge Challenger
and super model Kate Moss
beating up the band.
Super Soul's "last American hero" speech was also incorporated into the lyrics of the Guns N' Roses
song "Breakdown", from their 1991 album Use Your Illusion II
.
The film was the basis for Audioslave
's 2004 music video "Show Me How to Live", directed by the AV Club and which included members of the band in the 1970 Challenger traveling across the desert, following the plot of the movie.
Death Proof
, the Quentin Tarantino
contribution to the faux-exploitation "double feature" Grindhouse, features a chase involving a Dodge Challenger resembling the one seen in Vanishing Point (not being an R/T model and having an automatic transmission). Death Proof also references the film by name repeatedly calling it - "one of the best American movies ever made". The car in the film also has the license plate OA 5599.
In an episode of Top Gear, presenter Richard Hammond
road tests a 2008 Dodge Challenger across Nevada and fondly references the film as the inspiration for him choosing that car.
was created for Fox
television, first airing in 1997, and also featuring a 1970 Dodge Challenger. The film stars Viggo Mortensen
as Jimmy Kowalski (in this version, the character has a first name). Kowalski is rewritten as a suspected militia
sympathizer from Idaho
, and Jason Priestly as "The Voice", a libertarian
talk radio
shock jock
who replaces Super Soul. The two films are similar, but the remake removed all of the original's mystical elements.
Richard Kelly
is currently writing a remake of the film for 20th Century Fox
.
Fox released Vanishing Point in the United States on Blu-ray
on February 24, 2009.
Action film
Action film is a film genre where one or more heroes is thrust into a series of challenges that require physical feats, extended fights and frenetic chases...
-road movie
Road movie
A road movie is a film genre in which the main character or characters leave home to travel from place to place. They usually leave home to escape their current lives.-History:...
directed by Richard C. Sarafian
Richard C. Sarafian
Richard C. Sarafian is an Armenian-American TV and film director. Richard Sarafian has complied a versatile career that has spanned over five decades as a director, actor and writer. He is most popular for his film Vanishing Point . He is the father of: Richard Sarafian Jr., Tedi Sarafian, Damon B...
; starring Barry Newman
Barry Newman
Barry Foster Newman is an American film, television, and stage actor, famous for his interpretation of Kowalski in the movie Vanishing Point. He has been nominated for a Golden Globe and Emmy awards.- Life and career :...
, Cleavon Little
Cleavon Little
Cleavon Jake Little was an American film and theatre actor.Little was widely known for his lead role as Sheriff Bart in the 1974 Mel Brooks comedy Blazing Saddles. He also was the irreverent Dr...
, and Dean Jagger
Dean Jagger
Dean Jagger was an Academy Award winning American film actor.-Career:Born Ira Dean Jagger in Columbus Grove, Ohio, Jagger made his film debut in The Woman from Hell with Mary Astor...
.
Vanishing Point is notable for its scenery from filming locations across the American Southwest and its social commentary on the post-Woodstock
Woodstock Festival
Woodstock Music & Art Fair was a music festival, billed as "An Aquarian Exposition: 3 Days of Peace & Music". It was held at Max Yasgur's 600-acre dairy farm in the Catskills near the hamlet of White Lake in the town of Bethel, New York, from August 15 to August 18, 1969...
mood in the United States. The film is beloved by Mopar
Mopar
Mopar is the automobile parts and service arm of Chrysler Group LLC. The term was first used by Chrysler in the 1920s and has been in continuous use ever since. Mopar parts are original equipment manufactured parts for Chrysler vehicles...
auto enthusiasts because it prominently features a classic 1970 Dodge Challenger
Dodge Challenger
The Dodge Challenger is the name of three different generations of automobiles marketed by the Dodge division of Chrysler.The first generation Dodge Challenger was a pony car built from 1970 to 1974, using the Chrysler E platform and sharing major components with the Plymouth Barracuda. The second...
muscle car
Muscle car
Muscle car is a term used to refer to a variety of high-performance automobiles. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines muscle cars as "any of a group of American-made 2-door sports coupes with powerful engines designed for high-performance driving." Usually, a large V8 engine is fitted in a...
.
Plot
- Note: Two theatrical releases (one U.S., one UK) differ slightly in plot and running time
Kowalski Barry Newman
Barry Newman
Barry Foster Newman is an American film, television, and stage actor, famous for his interpretation of Kowalski in the movie Vanishing Point. He has been nominated for a Golden Globe and Emmy awards.- Life and career :...
, a car delivery driver based in Denver, Colorado
Denver, Colorado
The City and County of Denver is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Denver is a consolidated city-county, located in the South Platte River Valley on the western edge of the High Plains just east of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains...
, is assigned to deliver a white 1970 Dodge Challenger
Dodge Challenger
The Dodge Challenger is the name of three different generations of automobiles marketed by the Dodge division of Chrysler.The first generation Dodge Challenger was a pony car built from 1970 to 1974, using the Chrysler E platform and sharing major components with the Plymouth Barracuda. The second...
R/T 440 Magnum to San Francisco
San Francisco, California
San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...
. A Medal of Honor Vietnam
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
veteran
War Veteran
War Veteran is a science fiction short story by Philip K. Dick. It was first published in If magazine in March 1955.-Plot summary:The plot concerns an old man who claims to have travelled back in time from a future in which Earth has lost a devastating war to its own Martian and Venusian colonies...
, former race car driver and former motorcycle
Motorcycle
A motorcycle is a single-track, two-wheeled motor vehicle. Motorcycles vary considerably depending on the task for which they are designed, such as long distance travel, navigating congested urban traffic, cruising, sport and racing, or off-road conditions.Motorcycles are one of the most...
racer, he lost his job as a cop after being framed in a drug bust, in retaliation for preventing his partner from raping a young woman. He seemingly gave up his automobile and motorcycle racing careers after two near-fatal accidents. He is haunted by the surfing death of his girlfriend Vera, the one true love of his life. He is now an embittered adrenaline junky.
Kowalski delivers a black Chrysler Imperial
Chrysler Imperial
The Chrysler Imperial, introduced in 1926, was the company's top of the range vehicle for much of its history. Models were produced with the Chrysler name until 1954, and again from 1990 to 1993. The company tried to position the cars as a prestige marque that would rival Cadillac and Lincoln...
to Denver. Though his supervisor demands he get some rest Kowalski insists on delivering the Dodge Challenger to San Francisco immediately. He stops at a biker bar to buy some Benzedrine
Benzedrine
Benzedrine is the trade name of the racemic mixture of amphetamine . It was marketed under this brandname in the USA by Smith, Kline & French in the form of inhalers, starting in 1928...
pills and bets his dealer, Jake (Lee Weaver
Lee Weaver
Lee Weaver is an African-American film and television actor.-Career:Weaver's first screen appearance was in 1955 and according to the Internet Movie Database, he has appeared in more than 120 film and television productions, including 45 single-episode appearances on various television...
), that he will get to San Francisco by 3 o'clock the next day (although the delivery is not due until Monday).
Later Saturday morning near Glenwood Springs, Colorado
Glenwood Springs, Colorado
The City of Glenwood Springs is a Home Rule Municipality that is the county seat and the most populous city of Garfield County, Colorado, United States. The United States Census Bureau estimated that the city population was 8,564 in 2005...
, two motorcycle cops try to stop him for speeding. He runs one off the road and shakes the other officer by jumping across a trench. Kowalski is chased across the states of Colorado
Colorado
Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...
, Utah
Utah
Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...
and Nevada
Nevada
Nevada is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. With an area of and a population of about 2.7 million, it is the 7th-largest and 35th-most populous state. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which contains its...
into California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, with the police unable to catch him. The whole way, Kowalski has his radio tuned to the station KOW, which is broadcasting from Goldfield, Nevada
Goldfield, Nevada
Goldfield is an unincorporated community and the county seat of Esmeralda County, Nevada, United States, with a resident population of 440 at the 2000 census. It is located about southeast of Carson City, along U.S...
. A blind African-American DJ at KOW known as Super Soul listens to the police radio frequency and encourages Kowalski to evade the police. Super Soul seems to understand Kowalski and seems to see and hear Kowalski's reactions.
With the help of Super Soul, who calls Kowalski "the last American hero" on his radio show, Kowalski begins to gain attention among the counterculture
Counterculture of the 1960s
The counterculture of the 1960s refers to a cultural movement that mainly developed in the United States and spread throughout much of the western world between 1960 and 1973. The movement gained momentum during the U.S. government's extensive military intervention in Vietnam...
and news media. Bikers and hippie
Hippie
The hippie subculture was originally a youth movement that arose in the United States during the mid-1960s and spread to other countries around the world. The etymology of the term 'hippie' is from hipster, and was initially used to describe beatniks who had moved into San Francisco's...
s flock to the KOW radio station to offer support. In a police chase in Nevada, Kowalski finds himself surrounded by police and flees into the desert. There, he blows a left front tire. Kowalski is helped by the old man who catches snakes in the desert to escape a police chopper that is now searching the desert for him. The old man leads him to a Pentecostal sect that reluctantly gives him fuel. The old man then redirects Kowalski back to the highway. There, he picks up two homosexual hitchhikers stranded en route to San Francisco with a "Just Married" sign in their rear window. They become combative and try to hold him up at gunpoint but Kowalski throws them out of the car.
In the afternoon of Saturday, a police officer and some unidentified thugs, shouting racial epithets, raid the KOW studio and assault Super Soul and his engineer. Near the California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
state line, Kowalski is helped by a hippie biker and his nude girlfriend, who has followed Kowalski's police career and made a collage of articles about his story. They discover that Super Soul's encouragement is now being directed by the police to entrap Kowalski; they give him more Benzedrine pills and help him get through the roadblock trap by strapping a motorbike with a red light and air raid siren to the top of the Challenger, fooling the police into clearing the roadblock for him to speed through, putting him in California by Saturday at 7:12 pm. Kowalski calls Jake the dealer on a payphone to reassure him that he still intends to deliver the car on Monday. However, the California police have put sensors on back roads that allow them to track Kowalski as he drives through the night.
In the UK release of the film, Kowalski then picks up a mysterious hitchhiker (played by Charlotte Rampling
Charlotte Rampling
Charlotte Rampling, OBE is an English actress. Her career spans four decades in English-language as well as French and Italian cinema.- Early life :...
). Kowalski accepts marijuana from her despite being shown refusing drugs (other than speed) several times in the past. He stops the car when he starts feeling stoned. She says she has been "waiting for him, everywhere and since forever". When he awakens the next morning, she is gone without a trace. According to interviews with Barry Newman and commentary from the director, the hitchhiker was a representation of death finally catching up with Kowalski.
It is still early Sunday morning when Kowalski makes it to Cisco, California (a vacant cattle town in the Sierra Nevada foothills east of San Francisco). There, with the California Highway Patrol in hot pursuit, Kowalski crashes into the two bulldozers set up by the police as a roadblock, producing a fatal fireball.
The ending
The ending (and implicitly the theme of the film) has been the source of much debate. The viewer is left guessing why Kowalski insists on driving to San Francisco immediately and then drives heedlessly across four states to his death. Kowalski says only "I gotta be in Frisco 3 o'clock tomorrow afternoon." When Jake scoffs that he's being put on, Kowalski says, "I wish to God I was."Barry Newman offered his interpretation of the film's ending in an interview printed in the March 1986 issue of Musclecar Review, "Kowalski smiles as he rushes to his death at the end of Vanishing Point because he believes he will make it through the roadblock.". The August 2006 issue of Motor Trend
Motor Trend
Motor Trend is an American automobile magazine. It first appeared in September 1949, issued by Petersen Publishing Company in Los Angeles, and bearing the tag line "The Magazine for a Motoring World". Petersen Publishing was sold to British publisher EMAP in 1998, who sold the former Petersen...
magazine has a sidebar with Newman, in which he explains that Kowalski sees the light glinting from between the two bulldozers. "To Kowalski, it was still a hole to escape through. It symbolized that no matter how far they push or chase you, no one can truly take away your freedom and there is always an escape.". Newman also thought that the entire film was an essay on existentialism
Existentialism
Existentialism is a term applied to a school of 19th- and 20th-century philosophers who, despite profound doctrinal differences, shared the belief that philosophical thinking begins with the human subject—not merely the thinking subject, but the acting, feeling, living human individual...
. Kowalski drives to drive, with no real purpose for doing what he's doing. He decides to give his life its definition and meaning, with complete freedom over his actions.
Sarafian explained that he wanted to make Kowalski appear otherworldly and that the world within the film was a temporary existence that he was just making a stop in. At the end of the film, he was ascending from this existence into another (and even points out that the lyrics of the end song point this out, "when the light of life stops burning, till another soul goes free").
Cast
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Barry Newman Barry Newman Barry Foster Newman is an American film, television, and stage actor, famous for his interpretation of Kowalski in the movie Vanishing Point. He has been nominated for a Golden Globe and Emmy awards.- Life and career :... |
Kowalski |
| Cleavon Little Cleavon Little Cleavon Jake Little was an American film and theatre actor.Little was widely known for his lead role as Sheriff Bart in the 1974 Mel Brooks comedy Blazing Saddles. He also was the irreverent Dr... |
Super Soul |
| Dean Jagger Dean Jagger Dean Jagger was an Academy Award winning American film actor.-Career:Born Ira Dean Jagger in Columbus Grove, Ohio, Jagger made his film debut in The Woman from Hell with Mary Astor... |
Prospector (The Desert Snake Catcher) |
| Victoria Medlin | Vera Thornton |
| Karl Swenson Karl Swenson Karl Swenson was an American theatre, radio, film, and television actor.-Biography:Born in Brooklyn, New York of Swedish parentage, Swenson made several appearances with Pierre-Luc Michaud on Broadway in the 1930s and 40s, including the title role in Arthur Miller's first production, The Man Who... |
Sandy McKees (Argo's Car Delivery Attendant Clerk) |
| Lee Weaver Lee Weaver Lee Weaver is an African-American film and television actor.-Career:Weaver's first screen appearance was in 1955 and according to the Internet Movie Database, he has appeared in more than 120 film and television productions, including 45 single-episode appearances on various television... |
Jake (Denver Drug Dealer, Kowalski's Connection) |
| John Amos John Amos John Amos is an American actor and former football player. His television work includes roles in The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Good Times, the miniseries Roots, and a recurring role in The West Wing. He has also appeared on Broadway and in numerous motion pictures in a career that spans four decades... |
Super Soul's engineer |
| Joe Brooks | Speed Freak |
| Tom Reese | Sheriff |
| Paul Koslo Paul Koslo Paul Koslo is a German-Canadian actor.-Career:Koslo started his career in such 1970's cult films as Nam's Angels a.k.a. The Losers, , Mr. Majestyk, Vanishing Point, Joe Kidd and The Stone Killer... |
Charlie (Young Nevada Patrolman) |
| Robert Donner Robert Donner Robert Donner was an American actor who made many appearances in television series and films in a career spanning more than 40 years.-Early life and career:... |
Collins (Older Nevada Patrolman) |
| Owen Bush Owen Bush Owen Bush was an American actor. Born in Savannah, Missouri, he went on to have a lengthy career in television and film. His best known roles were on the Soap opera Passions and in the last 2 Prehysteria! films as Mr. Cranston.-External links:... |
Communications officer |
| Bill Drake Bill Drake Bill Drake , born Philip Yarbrough, was an American radio programmer who co-developed the Boss Radio format with Gene Chenault via their company Drake-Chenault.-Early career:... |
KLZ-FM Reporter |
| Severn Darden Severn Darden Severn Teakle Darden, Jr. was a comedian and actor, and an original member of The Second City Chicago-based comedy troupe as well as its predecessor, the Compass Players... |
Rev. J. 'Jessie' Hovah |
| Delaney Bramlett Delaney Bramlett Delaney Bramlett was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and producer. Bramlett's five decade career reached peaks in creativity, performance, and notoriety in partnership with his then wife Bonnie Bramlett, in a revolving troupe of professional musicians and Rock superstars dubbed Delaney... |
J. Hovah's singer (as Delaney & Bonnie and Friends Delaney, Bonnie & Friends Delaney & Bonnie – in ensemble called Delaney & Bonnie & Friends – was a rock/soul revue fronted by husband-and-wife singer/songwriters Delaney and Bonnie Bramlett.... ) |
| Bonnie Bramlett Bonnie Bramlett Bonnie Bramlett is an American singer and sometime actress known for her distinctive vocals in rock and pop music. This began in the mid 1960s as a backing singer, forming the husband-and-wife team of Delaney & Bonnie, and continuing to the present day as a solo artist.-Life and career:Bramlett... |
J. Hovah's singer (as Delaney & Bonnie and Friends Delaney, Bonnie & Friends Delaney & Bonnie – in ensemble called Delaney & Bonnie & Friends – was a rock/soul revue fronted by husband-and-wife singer/songwriters Delaney and Bonnie Bramlett.... ) |
| Bekka Bramlett Bekka Bramlett Rebekka Ruth Lazone "Bekka" Bramlett is a singer from the United States. She is the daughter of popular music duo Delaney and Bonnie.... |
J. Hovah's Baby (as Delaney & Bonnie and Friends Delaney, Bonnie & Friends Delaney & Bonnie – in ensemble called Delaney & Bonnie & Friends – was a rock/soul revue fronted by husband-and-wife singer/songwriters Delaney and Bonnie Bramlett.... ) |
| Rita Coolidge Rita Coolidge Rita Coolidge is a multiple Grammy Award-winning American vocalist. During the 1970s and 1980s, she charted hits on Billboard's Pop, Country, Adult Contemporary and Jazz charts.-Career:... |
J. Hovah's singer (as Delaney & Bonnie and Friends Delaney, Bonnie & Friends Delaney & Bonnie – in ensemble called Delaney & Bonnie & Friends – was a rock/soul revue fronted by husband-and-wife singer/songwriters Delaney and Bonnie Bramlett.... ) |
| Patrice Holloway Patrice Holloway Patrice Holloway was an African-American soul and pop singer.-Career:Patrice Yvonne Holloway was born on March 23, 1951 in Los Angeles, California, the youngest of three children born to Wade Holloway, Sr. and his wife, the former Johnnie Mae Fossett... |
J. Hovah's singer (as Delaney & Bonnie and Friends Delaney, Bonnie & Friends Delaney & Bonnie – in ensemble called Delaney & Bonnie & Friends – was a rock/soul revue fronted by husband-and-wife singer/songwriters Delaney and Bonnie Bramlett.... ) |
| David Gates David Gates David Gates is an American singer-songwriter, best known as the lead singer of the group Bread, which reached the tops of the musical charts in Europe and North America on several occasions in the 1970s. The band was inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame... |
Piano player at revival meeting (as Delaney & Bonnie and Friends Delaney, Bonnie & Friends Delaney & Bonnie – in ensemble called Delaney & Bonnie & Friends – was a rock/soul revue fronted by husband-and-wife singer/songwriters Delaney and Bonnie Bramlett.... ) |
| Anthony James | Male Hitchhiker #1 (Front Seat) |
| Arthur Malet Arthur Malet Arthur Malet is an English actor.Arthur Malet was born in Lee-on-Solent, Hampshire, England in 1927. He emigrated to the United States in the 1950s, starting out onstage and winning two Drama Desk Awards in 1957. He came to some prominence in the 1960s, starring in films playing characters much... |
Male Hitchhiker #2 (Back Seat) |
| Timothy Scott | Angel |
| Gilda Texter Gilda Texter Gilda Texter is an American costume designer, wardrobe supervisor and actress.-Career:Gilda Texter is a costume designer; despite her work in the costume and wardrobe Department of over 40 movies and television productions, she is probably most famous for her feature film debut in the movie... |
Nude motorcycle rider |
| Charlotte Rampling Charlotte Rampling Charlotte Rampling, OBE is an English actress. Her career spans four decades in English-language as well as French and Italian cinema.- Early life :... |
Female Hitchhiker |
Production
G. Cabrera Infante (under the pseudonymPseudonym
A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
Guillermo Cain) wrote the screenplay for Vanishing Point based on two actual events: the disgraced career of a San Diego police officer and a high-speed pursuit of a man who refused to stop, eventually killing himself when he crashed into a police roadblock. Cain modeled the character of Super Soul after legendary rock and roll singer The Big Bopper
The Big Bopper
Jiles Perry "J. P." Richardson, Jr. also commonly known as The Big Bopper, was an American disc jockey, singer, and songwriter whose big voice and exuberant personality made him an early rock and roll star...
, eventually re-naming the character from Super Spic to Super Soul. His script had all the ingredients that reflected the popular alternative hippie-lifestyle of the time: rebellion, drugs, sexual freedom, and rock and roll. In 1969, director Richard Sarafian had turned down an offer to make Robert Redford
Robert Redford
Charles Robert Redford, Jr. , better known as Robert Redford, is an American actor, film director, producer, businessman, environmentalist, philanthropist, and founder of the Sundance Film Festival. He has received two Oscars: one in 1981 for directing Ordinary People, and one for Lifetime...
's Downhill Racer
Downhill Racer
Downhill Racer is a 1969 film and the first to be directed by Michael Ritchie. A drama about ski racing, it stars Robert Redford and Gene Hackman.Tagline: How fast must a man go to get from where he's at?-Plot:...
and was drawn to the counterculture themes in Cain's script. Originally, the director cast Gene Hackman
Gene Hackman
Eugene Allen "Gene" Hackman is an American actor and novelist.Nominated for five Academy Awards, winning two, Hackman has also won three Golden Globes and two BAFTAs in a career that spanned five decades. He first came to fame in 1967 with his performance as Buck Barrow in Bonnie and Clyde...
to play Kowalski but 20th Century Fox
20th Century Fox
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation — also known as 20th Century Fox, or simply 20th or Fox — is one of the six major American film studios...
studio executive Richard Zanuck refused and insisted on relative unknown actor Barry Newman.
According to Sarafian, it was Zanuck who came up with the idea of using the new 1970 Dodge Challenger R/T
Dodge Challenger
The Dodge Challenger is the name of three different generations of automobiles marketed by the Dodge division of Chrysler.The first generation Dodge Challenger was a pony car built from 1970 to 1974, using the Chrysler E platform and sharing major components with the Plymouth Barracuda. The second...
because he wanted to do Chrysler a favor for providing Fox for many years with cars on a rental base for only a dollar a day (many if not most of the other cars featured in the film are also Chrysler products.) Stunt Coordinator Carey Loftin
Carey Loftin
Carey Loftin was an American actor and stuntman. One of his most famous roles was as the truck driver in Steven Spielberg's Duel, although his face was never seen...
has said that he requested the Dodge Challenger because of the "quality of the torsion bar suspension and for its horsepower" and felt that it was "a real sturdy, good running car". Five Dodge Challenger R/Ts were loaned to the production by Chrysler for promotional consideration and were returned upon completion of filming. No special equipment was added or modifications made to the cars, except for heavier-duty shocks for the car that jumped over No Name Creek. Loftin remembers that parts were taken out of one car to make another because they "really ruined a couple of those cars" while jumping ramps between highways and over creeks. Newman remembers that the 440 engines in the cars were so powerful that "it was almost as if there was too much power for the body. You'd put it in first and it would almost rear back!" To convey the appearance of speed, the filmmakers undercranked the cameras. For example, in the scenes with the Challenger and the Jaguar, the camera was cranked at half speed. The cars were traveling at approximately 50 mi/h but projected at normal frame rate, they appeared to be much faster.
Principal photography began in the summer of 1970 with a planned shooting schedule of 60 days. The shoot had a few mishaps, including Newman driving a Challenger equipped with three cameras into the bushes in order to avoid a head-on collision when a "civilian" driver ignored the traffic blocks installed to ensure the safety of the crew. The film's cinematographer John Alonzo used light-weight Arriflex II cameras that offered a great deal of flexibility in terms of free movement. Close-up and medium shots were achieved by mounting cameras directly on the vehicles instead of the common practice of filming the drivers from a tow that drove ahead of the targeted vehicle. An average day of filming involved the actors and the crew of 19 men spending many hours traveling to the remote locations, shooting for an extended period of time and then looking for a motel to spend the night. Dean Jagger's scenes were shot on the Salt Lakes of Nevada. Super Soul's radio station was filmed in a small town called Goldfield
Goldfield, Nevada
Goldfield is an unincorporated community and the county seat of Esmeralda County, Nevada, United States, with a resident population of 440 at the 2000 census. It is located about southeast of Carson City, along U.S...
. All of Cleavon Little's scenes were completed in under three days. Financial troubles plagued the studio at the time forcing Zanuck to shorten Sarafian's shooting schedule by 22 days. In response, the director decided not to film certain scenes rather than rush through the rest of the shoot.
Loftin was the film's stunt coordinator and responsible for setting up and performing the major driving stunts. Newman learned from Loftin and was encouraged by the stunt coordinator to do some of his own stunts. In the scene before Kowalski crashes into the bulldozer, Newman drove and performed a 180 degree turn on the road and went back himself and without the director's knowledge. The 383 car was also used as the tow vehicle in the crash scene at the end of the movie. A ¼ mile cable was attached between the Challenger and an explosives-laden 1967 Chevrolet
Chevrolet
Chevrolet , also known as Chevy , is a brand of vehicle produced by General Motors Company . Founded by Louis Chevrolet and ousted GM founder William C. Durant on November 3, 1911, General Motors acquired Chevrolet in 1918...
Camaro
Chevrolet Camaro
The Chevrolet Camaro is an automobile manufactured by General Motors under the Chevrolet brand, classified as a pony car and some versions also as a muscle car. It went on sale on September 29, 1966, for the 1967 model year and was designed as a competing model to the Ford Mustang...
with the motor and transmission removed. The tow vehicle was driven by Loftin, who pulled the Camaro into the blades of the bulldozers at high speed. Loftin expected the car to go end over end but instead it stuck into the bulldozers, which he thought looked better.
After principal photography, Vanishing Point was cut from 107 minutes to 99 minutes, completely removing a scene where Kowalski picks up a hitchhiker played by Charlotte Rampling
Charlotte Rampling
Charlotte Rampling, OBE is an English actress. Her career spans four decades in English-language as well as French and Italian cinema.- Early life :...
. Newman felt that the scene gave the film "an allegorical lift" but the studio was afraid that the audience would not understand.
Soundtrack
Sarafian wanted to score the majority of the film from an album called Motel Shot by Delaney, Bonnie & FriendsDelaney, Bonnie & Friends
Delaney & Bonnie – in ensemble called Delaney & Bonnie & Friends – was a rock/soul revue fronted by husband-and-wife singer/songwriters Delaney and Bonnie Bramlett....
. Lionel Newman, head of Fox's music department at the time, denied Sarafian's request because the studio did not want to spend a lot of money obtaining rights to the tracks. The director then suggested that musician Randy Newman
Randy Newman
Randall Stuart "Randy" Newman is an American singer-songwriter, arranger, composer, and pianist who is known for his mordant pop songs and for film scores....
score the film but this request was also denied. After watching the film, musical supervisor Jimmy Bowen
Jimmy Bowen
Jimmy Bowen is an American record producer and former pop music performer.Bowen was born in Santa Rita, New Mexico. He began as a teenage recording star in 1957 with "I'm Stickin' With You," originally the flip side of the hit record "Party Doll" by Buddy Knox, but ultimately a Top 20 recording...
wrote three original songs. Delaney, Bonnie & Friends ended up performing a musical number in the film.
A soundtrack of the film was released in the U.S. on vinyl LP by Amos Records. The vinyl soundtrack is long out of print. There have been reissues of the soundtrack compact disc
Compact Disc
The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...
in the U.S. by A&M
A&M Records
A&M Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group that operates under the mantle of its Interscope-Geffen-A&M division.-Beginnings:...
, including various record companies, and in Europe by Amos Records.
Track listing
- "Super Soul Theme" - The J.B. Pickers - 1:50 (Bowen)
- "The Girl Done Got It Together" - Bobby Doyle - 2:47 (Settle)
- "Where Do We Go From Here?" - Jimmy Walker - 2:53 (Settle)
- "Freedom of Expression" - The J.B. Pickers - 5:48 (Bowen)
- "Welcome to Nevada" - Jerry ReedJerry ReedJerry Reed Hubbard , known professionally as Jerry Reed, was an American country music singer, innovative guitarist, songwriter, and actor who appeared in more than a dozen films...
- 1:52 (Barnhill/Lanier) - "Runaway Country" - Doug Dillard ExpeditionThe DillardsThe Dillards are an American bluegrass band from Salem, Missouri, consisting of Douglas Flint "Doug" Dillard The Dillards are an American bluegrass band from Salem, Missouri, consisting of Douglas Flint "Doug" Dillard The Dillards are an American bluegrass band from Salem, Missouri, consisting of...
- 4:09 (Dillard/Berline) - "Love Theme" - Jimmy Bowen OrchestraJimmy BowenJimmy Bowen is an American record producer and former pop music performer.Bowen was born in Santa Rita, New Mexico. He began as a teenage recording star in 1957 with "I'm Stickin' With You," originally the flip side of the hit record "Party Doll" by Buddy Knox, but ultimately a Top 20 recording...
- 2:40 (Bowen/Carpenter) - "You Got to Believe" - Delaney, Bonnie & FriendsDelaney, Bonnie & FriendsDelaney & Bonnie – in ensemble called Delaney & Bonnie & Friends – was a rock/soul revue fronted by husband-and-wife singer/songwriters Delaney and Bonnie Bramlett....
- 3:00 (Bramlett) - "So Tired" - Eve - 2:10 (Creamer/Sliwin/Temmer)
- "Mississippi QueenMississippi Queen"Mississippi Queen" is a song by the American rock band Mountain. Considered a rock classic, it was their most successful single, reaching #21 in the Billboard Hot 100 record chart in 1970...
" - MountainMountain (band)Mountain is an American hard rock band that formed in Long Island, New York in 1969. Originally comprising vocalist and guitarist Leslie West, bassist Felix Pappalardi and drummer N. D. Smart, the band broke up in 1972 before reuniting in 1974 and remaining active until today...
- 2:32 (West/Laing/Pappalardi/Rea/Knight) - "I Can't Believe It" - Longbranch PennywhistleLongbranch PennywhistleLongbranch Pennywhistle was a country rock/folk music group consisting of Glenn Frey and John David Souther.They played as a duo in the late sixties at Doug Weston's Troubadour Nightclub in West Hollywood, Calif. They released a self-titled album in 1969 under the Amos Records label. However, the...
- (Frey/Souther/Seger/Browne) - "Dear Jesus God" - Bob SegariniBob SegariniBob Segarini is a recording artist, singer, songwriter, composer and radio host. During a professional music career primarily developed between 1968 and the early 1980s, Segarani was particularly popular in Canada...
and Randy Bishop - 3:57 (Segarini/Bishop) - "Sing Out for Jesus" - Big Mama ThorntonBig Mama ThorntonWillie Mae "Big Mama" Thornton was an American rhythm and blues singer and songwriter. She was the first to record the hit song "Hound Dog" in 1952. The song was #1 on the Billboard R&B charts for seven weeks in 1953. The B-side was "They Call Me Big Mama," and the single sold almost two million...
- 1:47 (Carnes) - "Sweet Jesus" - Red SteagallRed SteagallRussell Steagall is a multitalented showbusiness personality whose career has covered a period of 35 years and has spanned the globe...
- "Over Me" - Bob SegariniBob SegariniBob Segarini is a recording artist, singer, songwriter, composer and radio host. During a professional music career primarily developed between 1968 and the early 1980s, Segarani was particularly popular in Canada...
and Randy Bishop - 3:04 (Segarini/Bishop) - "Nobody Knows" - Kim & DaveKim CarnesKim Carnes is an American singer-songwriter. She is a two-time Grammy Award winner noted for her distinctive raspy vocal style. Some people have called her "The Female Rod Stewart" due to her raspy voice....
- 2:22 (Settle)
The first ever recorded material by Kim Carnes
Kim Carnes
Kim Carnes is an American singer-songwriter. She is a two-time Grammy Award winner noted for her distinctive raspy vocal style. Some people have called her "The Female Rod Stewart" due to her raspy voice....
appears in the soundtrack, credited as "Kim & Dave". Carnes also wrote the song performed by Big Mama Thornton
Big Mama Thornton
Willie Mae "Big Mama" Thornton was an American rhythm and blues singer and songwriter. She was the first to record the hit song "Hound Dog" in 1952. The song was #1 on the Billboard R&B charts for seven weeks in 1953. The B-side was "They Call Me Big Mama," and the single sold almost two million...
. The pop music group Delaney, Bonnie & Friends had a small role as a Christian music
Christian music
Christian music is music that has been written to express either personal or a communal belief regarding Christian life and faith. Common themes of Christian music include praise, worship, penitence, and lament, and its forms vary widely across the world....
band, which included singer Rita Coolidge
Rita Coolidge
Rita Coolidge is a multiple Grammy Award-winning American vocalist. During the 1970s and 1980s, she charted hits on Billboard's Pop, Country, Adult Contemporary and Jazz charts.-Career:...
and singer/songwriter David Gates
David Gates
David Gates is an American singer-songwriter, best known as the lead singer of the group Bread, which reached the tops of the musical charts in Europe and North America on several occasions in the 1970s. The band was inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame...
at the piano.
Tracks "I Can't Believe it" and "Sweet Jesus" are not on the original LP Soundtrack.
Reception
Vanishing Point premiered in January 1971 and did not receive positive notices. In his review for the Los Angeles TimesLos Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
, Charles Champlin wrote, "Vanishing Point might have had a point, but it ... ah ... got lost. What's left is sophisticated craft and fashionably hokey cynicism". Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
magazine said, "While stock car addicts may be able to maintain interest in the ultra-fast manipulation of the car, many viewers will just get car-sick ... or sick of the car, which isn't the same thing". Larry Cohen, in the Reporter criticized the film for being "calculated, tedious and in desperate need of tightening, the picture, produced by Norman Spencer, is uninvolving and devoid of a cohesiveness that might have made it work".
Newman recalls that Fox had no faith in the film and released it in neighborhood theaters only to disappear in less than two weeks. However, it was a critical and commercial success in the UK and Europe which prompted the studio to re-release it in the United States on a double bill with The French Connection
The French Connection (film)
This article is about the 1971 film. For the British fashion label, see French Connection .The French Connection is a 1971 American crime film directed by William Friedkin. The film was adapted and fictionalized by Ernest Tidyman from the non-fiction book by Robin Moore...
. A cult following began to develop due in large part to a broadcast on network television in 1976.
The film currently has a rating of 75% on Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
, based on 12 reviews.
Legacy
Vanishing Point was the inspiration for Primal ScreamPrimal Scream
Primal Scream are a Scottish alternative rock band originally formed in 1982 in Glasgow by Bobby Gillespie and Jim Beattie and now based in London. The current lineup consists of Gillespie, Andrew Innes , Martin Duffy , and Darrin Mooney...
's 1997 album of the same name
Vanishing Point (album)
Vanishing Point is a 1997 album by Primal Scream. It is named after and inspired by the 1971 film Vanishing Point, especially the song "Kowalski", which is meant to be an alternative soundtrack to the movie...
. It is meant to be an alternative soundtrack to the film. Leader singer Bobby Gillespie said, "The music in the film is hippy music, so we thought, 'Why not record some music that really reflects the mood of the film?' It's always been a favourite of the band, we love the air of paranoia and speed-freak righteousness ... It's a pure underground film, rammed with claustrophobia". In addition, a track from the album was named "Kowalski
Kowalski (song)
"Kowalski" is a song by the band Primal Scream. It was released as a single on May 5, 1997, and is the first to be released from the band's fifth album Vanishing Point. The single went to number 8 on the UK charts....
" after the character from the film. The track also featured samples of Super Soul's "last American hero" speech from the film. Author Irvine Welsh
Irvine Welsh
Irvine Welsh is a contemporary Scottish novelist, best known for his novel Trainspotting. His work is characterised by raw Scottish dialect, and brutal depiction of the realities of Edinburgh life...
scripted the video for "Kowalski" which was directed by musician Douglas Hart
Douglas Hart
Douglas Hart is a British musician and music video director.-Biography:Hart was the first bassist and founding member of the Scottish band The Jesus and Mary Chain, and played with the group from 1984 to 1991...
. The video features a Dodge Challenger
Dodge Challenger
The Dodge Challenger is the name of three different generations of automobiles marketed by the Dodge division of Chrysler.The first generation Dodge Challenger was a pony car built from 1970 to 1974, using the Chrysler E platform and sharing major components with the Plymouth Barracuda. The second...
and super model Kate Moss
Kate Moss
Kate Moss is an English model. Moss is known for her waifish figure and popularising the heroin chic look in the 1990s. She is also known for her controversial private life, high profile relationships, party lifestyle, and drug use. Moss changed the look of modelling and started a global debate on...
beating up the band.
Super Soul's "last American hero" speech was also incorporated into the lyrics of the Guns N' Roses
Guns N' Roses
Guns N' Roses is an American hard rock band, formed in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, in 1985. The band has released six studio albums, three EPs, and one live album...
song "Breakdown", from their 1991 album Use Your Illusion II
Use Your Illusion II
Use Your Illusion II is the fourth studio album by the American rock band Guns N' Roses. It was one of two albums released in conjunction with the Use Your Illusion Tour, and as a result the two albums are sometimes considered a double album...
.
The film was the basis for Audioslave
Audioslave
Audioslave was an American rock supergroup that formed in Los Angeles, California in 2001. It consisted of former Soundgarden lead singer/rhythm guitarist Chris Cornell and the former instrumentalists of Rage Against the Machine: Tom Morello , Tim Commerford and Brad Wilk...
's 2004 music video "Show Me How to Live", directed by the AV Club and which included members of the band in the 1970 Challenger traveling across the desert, following the plot of the movie.
Death Proof
Death Proof
Death Proof is a 2007 American action thriller film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino. The film centers on a psychopathic stunt man who stalks young women before murdering them in staged car accidents using his "death-proof" stunt car...
, the Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Jerome Tarantino is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, cinematographer and actor. In the early 1990s, he began his career as an independent filmmaker with films employing nonlinear storylines and the aestheticization of violence...
contribution to the faux-exploitation "double feature" Grindhouse, features a chase involving a Dodge Challenger resembling the one seen in Vanishing Point (not being an R/T model and having an automatic transmission). Death Proof also references the film by name repeatedly calling it - "one of the best American movies ever made". The car in the film also has the license plate OA 5599.
In an episode of Top Gear, presenter Richard Hammond
Richard Hammond
Richard Mark Hammond is an English broadcaster, writer, and journalist most noted for co-hosting car programme Top Gear with Jeremy Clarkson and James May, as well as presenting Brainiac: Science Abuse on Sky 1.-Early life:...
road tests a 2008 Dodge Challenger across Nevada and fondly references the film as the inspiration for him choosing that car.
Remake
A remakeVanishing Point (1997 film)
Vanishing Point is a 1997 television remake of the 1971 cult film.The film stars Viggo Mortensen, Jason Priestley, Peta Wilson, Christine Elise and Keith David and the same model 1970 Dodge Challenger R/T as in the original, and was directed by Charles Robert Carner.The remake originally aired on...
was created for Fox
Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...
television, first airing in 1997, and also featuring a 1970 Dodge Challenger. The film stars Viggo Mortensen
Viggo Mortensen
Viggo Peter Mortensen, Jr. is a Danish-American actor, poet, musician, photographer and painter. He made his film debut in Peter Weir's 1985 thriller Witness, and subsequently appeared in many notable films of the 1990s, including The Indian Runner , Carlito's Way , Crimson Tide , Daylight , The...
as Jimmy Kowalski (in this version, the character has a first name). Kowalski is rewritten as a suspected militia
Militia
The term militia is commonly used today to refer to a military force composed of ordinary citizens to provide defense, emergency law enforcement, or paramilitary service, in times of emergency without being paid a regular salary or committed to a fixed term of service. It is a polyseme with...
sympathizer from Idaho
Idaho
Idaho is a state in the Rocky Mountain area of the United States. The state's largest city and capital is Boise. Residents are called "Idahoans". Idaho was admitted to the Union on July 3, 1890, as the 43rd state....
, and Jason Priestly as "The Voice", a libertarian
Libertarianism
Libertarianism, in the strictest sense, is the political philosophy that holds individual liberty as the basic moral principle of society. In the broadest sense, it is any political philosophy which approximates this view...
talk radio
Talk radio
Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues. Most shows are regularly hosted by a single individual, and often feature interviews with a number of different guests. Talk radio typically includes an element of listener participation, usually by broadcasting live...
shock jock
Shock jock
Shock jock is a slang term used to describe a type of any radio broadcaster who attracts attention using humor that a significant portion of the listening audience may find offensive. The term is usually used pejoratively to describe provocative or irreverent broadcasters whose mannerisms,...
who replaces Super Soul. The two films are similar, but the remake removed all of the original's mystical elements.
Richard Kelly
Richard Kelly (director)
James Richard Kelly is an American film director and writer, best known for writing and directing the cult classic Donnie Darko in 2001.-Early life:...
is currently writing a remake of the film for 20th Century Fox
20th Century Fox
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation — also known as 20th Century Fox, or simply 20th or Fox — is one of the six major American film studios...
.
Home release
There were two theatrical releases, a U.S. version and a UK version. Both are included on the Region 1 DVD.Fox released Vanishing Point in the United States on Blu-ray
Blu-ray Disc
Blu-ray Disc is an optical disc storage medium designed to supersede the DVD format. The plastic disc is 120 mm in diameter and 1.2 mm thick, the same size as DVDs and CDs. Blu-ray Discs contain 25 GB per layer, with dual layer discs being the norm for feature-length video discs...
on February 24, 2009.
See also
- Vanishing PointVanishing Point (1997 film)Vanishing Point is a 1997 television remake of the 1971 cult film.The film stars Viggo Mortensen, Jason Priestley, Peta Wilson, Christine Elise and Keith David and the same model 1970 Dodge Challenger R/T as in the original, and was directed by Charles Robert Carner.The remake originally aired on...
- Television remake - Two-Lane BlacktopTwo-Lane BlacktopTwo-Lane Blacktop is a 1971 road movie directed by Monte Hellman, starring singer-songwriter James Taylor, Beach Boys drummer Dennis Wilson, Warren Oates, and Laurie Bird. Esquire magazine declared the film its movie of the year for 1971, and even published the entire screenplay in its April, 1971...
External links
- "How He Found America - an analysis of the film by cinematographer Janusz KamińskiJanusz KaminskiJanusz Zygmunt Kamiński is a Polish cinematographer and film director. He has photographed all of Steven Spielberg's films since 1993's Schindler's List.-Life and career:...
in the New York Times - Interview with director Richard C. Sarafian
- Essay by Geoff Ward Existential Criticism and the movie Vanishing Point