Vanishing Point (1971/20th Century Fox Blu-ray)
Picture:
B Sound: B- Extras: B- Film: B
Before
the bandit/chase cycle peaked with Smokey
& The Bandit, the earliest films presented the amusing idea that you
could ride away from civilization/the law/society and maybe get away with
it. Maybe you did not have to hurt or
kill anyone and not even steal anything, but just ride around in a car any way
you liked and sooner or later, some squares would want to rain on your
parade. The choice is either to quit
(yawn!) or keep being defiant. Along
with Monte Hellman’s Two Lane Blacktop
the same year, Richard C. Sarafian’s Vanishing
Point (1971) is the other great existential car chase film that has several
things going for it.
One, they
loves cars. Two, they love subversion
with cars. Three, they love people who
drive cars like madmen. Four, they love
and define one of the counterculture’s touchstones for freedom, which developed
into the road movie. Five, they love
people who really literally put themselves out on the edge to nowhere. Six, they love energy and guts. Seven, they know fun is too often the
opposite of good behavior. Yet, both
films say something deeper in their messages as the films can no longer hold
the chases to the big screen by the time all is said and done.
Here, we
get Barry Newman as Kowalski, who is delivering a beautiful new Dodge
Challenger but gets into trouble when he tries to make the delivery in 15 hours
from Denver, Colorado to San Francisco, California! Instead, the authorities would like to
deliver him to the slammer! In between,
the film is fun and not always told in order.
The cast
also includes Cleavon Little as blind
disc jockey Super Soul who is only encouraging the madness on his radio
station, Dean Jagger, Karl Swenson, Severn Darden and the music act Delaney
& Bonnie (Bramley) as part of the off-beat cast as all of this
transpires. Charlotte Rampling is in the
longer U.K. version, which is even better, while two great character actors
(John Amos & Val Avery) as well as two even more famous singer/songwriters
(David Gates of Bread and Rita Coolidge) also show up uncredited, but it is
great when you see them.
But now
more than ever, the Challenger (now going for $100,000+ in the best shape) is
also the star, but not as ad placement, but as dream machine and good ship that
defined Detroit’s muscle cars at their peak.
But then there is the conclusion of the film itself. What happened? That’s for you to watch and find out.
The 1080p
AVC @ 23 MBPS digital High Definition image looks pretty good in both cuts
(seamless branching or not) considering its age and similar films (Omega Man, Enter The Dragon) we have seen on Blu-ray. Except for good film footage I have seen of
the film, it has never looked this good otherwise, with the white Challenger
holding its off-white color very nicely.
Detail is decent, but there is also a great use of depth, telephoto
lenses and some scenes are just dusty from all the car chases. The great Director of Photography John A. Alonzo
(Harold & Maude, Lady Sings The Blues, Chinatown, Black Sunday) delivers some of the most vital work of his career
here among many great films he lensed.
Any HDTV hooked to a Blu-ray player needs to have this one.
The DTS
HD Master Audio (MA) lossless 5.1 mix does its best to upgrade the old optical
mono sound, sometimes having some stereo separation that sounds good and there
are new D-BOX bass punctuations for those with that system. Other moments show their age, but it is
superior to the Dolby Mono options in three languages included for purists.
Extras include
an interactive 1970 Dodge Challenger piece, Virtual Dashboard, Trivia Challenge
on the film, feature length audio commentary by Director Sarafian, theatrical
trailer, TV spots, Cars, Cops & Culture ‘70s Trivia Track and these
featurettes: Built For Speed, OA-5599 and Super Soul Me.
- Nicholas Sheffo
