Vanishing Point
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| Vanishing Point | |
|---|---|
 Vanishing Point |
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| Directed by | Richard C. Sarafian |
| Produced by | Norman Spencer |
| Written by | Guillermo Cain Malcolm Hart |
| Starring | Barry Newman Cleavon Little Dean Jagger Victoria Medlin Karl Swenson |
| Music by | Kim Carnes Delaney, Bonnie & Friends Pete Carpenter Mike Post Jimmy Bowen |
| Cinematography | John A. Alonzo |
| Editing by | Stefan Arnsten |
| Distributed by | Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation |
| Release date(s) | January 15, 1971 |
| Running time | 98 min./106 min. (UK version) |
| Language | English |
| IMDb profile | |
Vanishing Point is a 1971 road movie starring Barry Newman, Cleavon Little, Dean Jagger, and an Alpine White 1970 Dodge Challenger R/T with the 440/375 HP engine.
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. It was one of the earliest films (following on the example of Easy Rider), to feature a rock music soundtrack. It is beloved by Mopar enthusiasts because it is one of the most significant movies ever to feature a classic Dodge muscle car. The film continues to be popular to this day and is considered a cult film.
It had an original operating budget of $1.3 million dollars.[1]
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[edit] Synopsis
Barry Newman plays a delivery driver named Kowalski who works for a car delivery service in Denver, Colorado. Flashbacks which appear throughout the movie hint that he has lost everything he has ever wanted and was reduced to taking the job as a delivery driver as a last resort. He is a Vietnam veteran, a former law enforcement officer, former race car driver, and former motorcycle racer. He lost his job as a cop apparently after being framed in a drug bust, in retaliation for his preventing his partner from raping a young girl. He had to give up his automobile and motorcycle racing careers after two near-fatal accidents. His girlfriend lost her life in a surfing accident.
As the movie opens, Kowalski is near the end of his chase by the California Highway Patrol. The movie then flashes back to Denver, where his journey began. He has just arrived in Denver with a car he is delivering, and asks for another assignment. His supervisor objects and insists Kowalski get some rest, but Kowalski insists on taking on another delivery that night. It is already after midnight and Kowalski is assigned to deliver a 1970 Dodge Challenger R/T powered by a 440 cubic inch single four barrel carb 375 horsepower V-8 engine to San Francisco. After stopping at a biker bar to buy some benzedrine and making a bet with the drug dealer over how long it will take him to make it to San Francisco, he is on his way and takes off at high speed out of Denver.
The police begin to give chase later that morning near Glenwood Springs, Colorado. Kowalski winds up being chased across the states of Colorado, Utah, and Nevada, with the police unable to catch him. The chase includes actual footage from Rifle, Colorado, Thompson Springs, Utah, Green River, Utah, Austin, Nevada, Wendover, Utah, and Tonopah, Nevada. The film is notable for actually having been filmed in these locations the movie was set in, and as a result for featuring incredible footage of the desert and the small towns in the region during the pre-Interstate Highway era.
The whole way, Kowalski has his radio tuned to station KOW, which is broadcasting out of Goldfield, Nevada. Cleavon Little plays "Super Soul", the Afro-American DJ at the radio station. Super Soul listens to the police radio frequency and helps Kowalski evade the police by broadcasting information on the police whereabouts over the radio. With the help of Super Soul, who calls Kowalski "the last American hero" on his radio show, Kowalski begins to gain national attention as a cult hero among the counterculture during the chase. Bikers and hippies flock to Goldfield, Nevada where Super Soul broadcasts from, and to the towns along the way to wish Kowalski luck. Kowalski is helped by others including an old desert rat, and a Pentecostal sect. In the afternoon, Super Soul is physically attacked by a cop and a few followers and KOW is forced off the air. Near the California state line, Kowalski is helped by a biker and his nudist girlfriend who live in a shack in the Nevada desert. They give him more benzedrine and help smuggle him across the California state line where the police have set up a roadblock waiting for him that evening. By next morning, Kowalski has made it as far as Cisco, California, where with the California Highway Patrol in hot pursuit, he suddenly and intentionally runs into two bulldozers set up by the police as a roadblock, producing the fatal fireball sequence the movie is often remembered for.
Despite Kowalski's new cult hero status among the counterculture, he repeatedly shows he doesn't want that status during the movie; Kowalski is at heart a despondent blue-collar worker. The viewer is left guessing why Kowalski suddenly decided to drive recklessly and evade the police across four states to his death. Kowalski himself says little during the movie. The only hints come from the benzedrine use suggesting a psychotic reaction, and the flashbacks scattered throughout the movie which suggest that Kowalski is a man at the end of his rope with nowhere left to go. His four-state chase is his way of going out with a bang, so to speak.
Barry Newman offers a different interpretation of the film's ending. In an interview printed in Musclecar Review (Mar 86, available here) he says "Kowalski smiles as he rushes to his death at the end of Vanishing Point because he believes he will make it through the roadblock." Presumably, Newman believes that a combination of Kowalski's drug-induced frame of mind and the blinding light from the bulldozer blades prevents him from seeing that he has no chance.
[edit] Alternate versions
An alternate version of the movie includes nighttime footage co-starring Charlotte Rampling as a hitchhiker, which fills in the gap between the evening when Kowalski is smuggled across the California/Nevada state line, and the next morning when he crashes to his death in Cisco. The current U.S. DVD release of Vanishing Point includes both the original version of the movie and the alternate version.
[edit] Cast and Crew
- Barry Newman .... Kowalski
- Cleavon Little .... Super Soul
- Dean Jagger .... Prospector/Snake Catcher
- Victoria Medlin .... Vera Thornton
- Paul Koslo .... Charlie (young cop)
- Robert Donner .... Collins (older cop)
- Timothy Scott .... Angel
- Gilda Texter .... Nude motorcycle rider
- Anthony James .... Male hitchhiker #1
- Arthur Malet .... Male hitchhiker #2
- Karl Swenson .... Sandy (Argo's Car Delivery)
- Severn Darden .... J. (Jessie) Hovah
- Delaney Bramlett .... J. Hovah's singer (as Delaney & Bonnie and Friends
- Bonnie Bramlett .... J. Hovah's singer (as Delaney & Bonnie and Friends)
- Rita Coolidge .... J. Hovah's singer (as Delaney & Bonnie and Friends)
- Eric Clapton .... J. Hovah's guitarist (as Delaney & Bonnie and Friends)
- David Gates .... Piano player at revival meeting/J. Hovah's Keyboardist (as Delaney & Bonnie and Friends)
- Jim Gordon .... J. Hovah's drummer (as Delaney & Bonnie and Friends)
- Lee Weaver .... Jake (Denver drug dealer)
- Cherie Foster .... Girl #1
- Valerie Kairys .... Girl #2
- Tom Reese .... Sheriff
- Owen Bush .... Communications officer
- Charlotte Rampling .... Hitchhiker
- John Amos .... Super Soul's engineer
[edit] Soundtrack
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 occasional compact disc reissues of the soundtrack in Europe.
[edit] Track listing
- "Super Soul Theme" - The J.B. Pickers
- "The Girl Done Got It Together" - Bobby Doyle
- "Where Do We Go From Here?" - Jimmy Walker
- "Welcome to Nevada" - Jerry Reed
- "Dear Jesus God" - Bob Segarini and Randy Bishop
- "Runaway Country" - Doug Dillard Expedition
- "You Got to Believe" - Delaney, Bonnie & Friends
- "Love Theme" - Jimmy Bowen Orchestra
- "So Tired" - Eve
- "Freedom of Expression" - The J.B. Pickers
- "Mississippi Queen" - Mountain
- "Sing Out for Jesus" - Big Mama Thornton
- "Over Me" - Bob Segarini and Randy Bishop
- "Nobody Knows" - Kim & Dave
Also in the film but not included on the soundtrack release is:
- "I Can't Believe It" - Longbranch Pennywhistle
- "Sweet Jesus" - Red Steagall
The first ever recorded material by Kim Carnes appears in the soundtrack, credited as "Kim & Dave". Kim 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.
[edit] Trivia
- The license plate on Kowalski's Dodge Challenger is Colorado OA-5599. This license plate number has been highly sought after as a vanity plate ever since the film's release.
- The car used in the crash scene at the end of the film is a 1967 Chevrolet Camaro instead of a Dodge Challenger.
- A big-screen remake of the movie in the near future has been announced, which should be in-line with the release of the production version of the 2006 Dodge Challenger Concept.
- Although Cisco is a real location in California, the Cisco scenes were filmed in Cisco, Utah, a ghost town near Moab. Cisco, Utah was also the location of some of the scenes filmed in Thelma and Louise, another road movie which has been compared to Vanishing Point.
- The film is often cited as an inspiration for the Cannonball Baker Sea-To-Shining-Sea Memorial Trophy Dash (better known as the Cannonball Run). Although the plot of the film has similarities to the race's premise, the first running of the Cannonball preceded the film. Organizer, Brock Yates, credits another contemporary road movie, Two-Lane Blacktop, as providing some inspiration for the race, however.
- Kowalski plans to drive from Denver to San Francisco in 15 hours. This would require an average speed of 85 miles per hour.
- A 1/25 plastic scale model kit of the Vanishing Point was produced by AMT, and re-released many times since. Although a good representation of the car can be made by the experienced modeller, the model utilizes a 440 Six-Pack, rather than a 440 Magnum.
- The vehicles used for filming included four 440 4-speed cars and one 383 automatic. There were no 426 Hemis used in filming, and there is no reference to the engine size in any dialog. The remake differs on this, and makes a point of the Challenger being powered by a 426 Hemi.
- The car was not supercharged nor turbo charged, but normally aspirated with the single quad (4 barrel) 440/375 horse. The cameras were undercranked in some scenes to give the illusion of high speed. Also some chase scenes had high speed engine noises over-dubbed in portions of the sound track.
- According to the directors comentary on the latest DVD release, a total of 9 1970 Dodge Challengers, Alpine White, were supplied by Chrysler Corporation, 8 were destroyed, beaten up while filming.
- The August, 2006 issue of Motor Trend Magazine has a cover with a new Dodge Challenger R/T concept vehicle alongside two police cruisers. The words "Vanishing Point" appear in the pavement ahead of the Challenger. Inside is a 9 page article titled "Kowalski Rides Again". It includes current photos of Barry Newman checking out the new Challenger concept, plus an interview with him about his thoughts on the new Challenger verses the old. He also speaks about the movie Vanishing Point and his role as Kowalski.
- The script originally had the Super Soul character written as "Super Spic" but it was deemed too racist and didn't fit with Cleveland Little, who was cast for it.
[edit] References in popular culture
- Deathproof, the Quentin Tarantino contribution to the faux exploitation "double feature" Grindhouse, features a chase involving a Dodge Challenger identical to the one seen in Vanishing Point. Deathproof also references the earlier movie by name repeatedly.
- The film was the inspiration for the 1997 album by Primal Scream, also titled Vanishing Point. 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.
- The film was the basis for Audioslave's 2004 music video "Show Me How to Live", which included members of the band in the 1970 Challenger travelling across the desert, following the plot of the movie.
- A reference to the movie can be found on Guns N' Roses Use Your Illusion II album track "Breakdown". This is a spoken-word part, mimicking Super Soul's voice, in the end of the song, in which one of Super Soul's on-the-air monologues from the film can be heard.
- The sound effect when Kowalski crashes into the bulldozers was later used in the video game Driver.
[edit] Remake
There was also a significantly-altered Vanishing Point remake shown by Fox on TV in 1997, starring Viggo Mortensen. The remake also featured a 1970 Dodge Challenger, but otherwise recast Kowalski as a suspected militia sympathizer from Idaho, and replaced Super Soul with a libertarian talk radio shock jock. The remake got a mixed reception at best from fans of the original movie, perhaps due, in part, to the ending where Kowalski hits the bulldozers at a recorded 165 MPH and the car simply bursts into flames without damaging the panelwork.
