Two-Lane Blacktop : It's impossible for words to describe what horror is…

It's impossible for words to describe what horror is…

That's a line from Apocalypse Now, but it really applies to this film as well.
I read some of the post here and see some thoughtful, well planned out responses. Some about the actors, or the script, or how nothing really seems to happen. First off, I don't think a lot of younger viewers will immediately gravitate to this film. It was made before the "blockbuster" of Star Wars, where the senses are inundated with visceral delights. Sure there were big action movies before, but you get the idea. This movie wouldn't have been made if not for the success of Easy Rider, an anti establishment film that some how spoke to the movie going public of the time. I am trying to not use such generalizations as the word "generation" or the like. A time when the fabric of the American experience was changing for the young, when the nobility of the second world war seemed dated and at odds with the daily televised deaths of Vietnam. It's human nature to want more than you have, and this film dealt with that ennui.
I've heard Hellman say he wanted the acting to be like a canvas, so the audience could project whatever they wanted onto the characters. So in this way it is really a reflection of what you bring to the film. If you know in the pit of your stomach the longing and realization of emptiness, you may identify with it. If all you are use to is explosions and snappy smart assed responses, you may not. But when you get older you learn things about yourself and others, if you're lucky. This is also what Hellman described as French Noveau cinema, mascarading as a road movie. So everything is not laid out in paint by numbers fashion. It is understandable if you don't appreciate it, and after all it's just a movie, right?
That's just my take on one of my favorite movies. I may just be full of sh*t and don't know what I'm talking about, and that's o.k. too.

Re: It's impossible for words to describe what horror is…

People are afraid to be alone-in-the-dark with their thoughts and to just contemplate.
This would explain Twitter, MyFace and all of that other stuff we so desperately cling to.

Re: It's impossible for words to describe what horror is…

So do you guys like the movie or not? I do like this movie, but i am a car guy-hard core!! i love it for all the cars and the racing scenes.

Re: It's impossible for words to describe what horror is…

I think you've pin-pointed it. It's a great movie for a lazy sunday but many can't appreciate its subtlety.

* I killed god and all I got was this awesome signature!

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Re: It's impossible for words to describe what horror is…

I liked what some reviewer said about the metaphors becoming obstacles. I think he probably meant allegory, but I'm not going to argue semantics here. Everyone in the film had obsessions: The Driver and Mechanic had holes to fill with speed and domination; GTO had needs for transcendence and self-reinvention; Harry Dean Stanton wanted a little c**k. The one character with enigmatic motivations was The Girl--she seemed lost and confused with no real sense of purpose except to pit the other Allegorical players against each other. It is glib to see the film's use of the automobile as phallic representation, and by extension (no pun intended) America's obsession with better, stronger, faster. After all, sometimes a cigar is just a cigar. The Girl's feigned interest in fuel-injected cut offs and chrome plated rods (oh, yeah) only serves to pique the others' interest. In the end, she sheds two wheels and her baggage to hook up with the Man in Motion and ride into St. Elmo's fire. What is she looking for? A daddy? More c**k? Freedom from the constraints of implied and impending domesticity and a static life? It seems that if Hellman is avoiding cliche by divesting the automobile of it's trite representative qualities, he would not risk reducing the only meaningful avatar of femininity to a mere plot device yet it seems like he is doing just that, and that bothers me. That and her awful singing in the diner. Not only can't she get any satisfaction, but she also can't get no sense of pitch.
At the end of the day, it is a movie of longing and males not being able to leave their baggage in the parking lot. Is it then a study of the nature of gender and the pursuit of the American Dream? I don't know, and I don't think that was on the radar for Hellman in 1971. Maybe in the end, a girl is just a girl, and her vapid portrayal is meant to show how out of place estrogen is in a high octane world of shattered dreams and existential one-upmanship. They are racing for pinks after all, but in the end, the pink eludes everybody. Uncle Sam owns the GTO and the Chevy, and The Girl has gotten her motor running and has headed out on the highway. Or maybe she has the last laugh and shows that no amount of speed can get her to relinquish her pink slip to Sweet Baby James or Charlie Manson's former meal ticket. At any rate, in a film full of non-actors, she takes the whole bakery...s**t on the cake.

Re: It's impossible for words to describe what horror is…

Great post!
I thought the girl's character was really the most interesting one. How she just got into everyone's car so casually and then left all the dudes behind as well as her things outside the diner to go off with someone who looked more her age. I'm sure she probably represents the wild and free female who attempts to live her dream through the males she comes into contact with but as you said "she can't get no satisfaction" with any of them.


I'll tell you in another life, when we are both cats.

Re: It's impossible for words to describe what horror is…

There's a theme there with the girl. She's not getting the responses she's expecting from them. And each of the main characters takes their relationship with cars more seriously than what she thinks is important. Perhaps it's a kind of morbid curiosity on her part. Notice most of the people they meet have adopted some of the material values of the culture, through cars for example, or are trying to drop out of it in some way.(hitching)

Re: It's impossible for words to describe what horror is…

Way to over think and try and make this dull piece of crap art some how. Good job wankers!!

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Re: It's impossible for words to describe what horror is…

Like I said, you bring to it what you know.

Re: It's impossible for words to describe what horror is…

Cinemator- hop on your little moped and putt on over to the Backstreet Boys forum and let the adults speak their mind.


"In a time of universal deceit,
telling the truth is a revolutionary act."
George Orwell

Re: It's impossible for words to describe what horror is…

Oates aside, if real actors were the two leads, the audience would except something the movie never intended.

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