Tip Top Black Top: THE Petrolhead Movie?

Nice poster from '72

  One of the most watched car movies of all time is "The Fast And The Furious" from 2001. People OBSESS over that movie... because it's amazing. Especially the part where Dom and Brian get to a stoplight, with the modded Supra, and challenge a bald dude in his black Ferrari 355 drop top. However, plenty of the cars in that movie are mostly for show. I mean, who drives around in Civics and other Japanese cars with obnoxious and surreal decals and nitrous? Not that many ... I hope so. Anyways, the movie we're talking about today is from 1972. One year before the oil crisis, the muscle car was taking it's last breath, with Chrysler being the last company to offer a decently powered V8. Large engines were still ample and cheap to fill up, compared to today. A time of zero knowledge of dying penguins and polar bears, its place being taken by excess turned up to 11.

   "Two Lane Blacktop" is a movie about a couple vagabond drag racers, The Driver (James Taylor) and The Mechanic (Dennis Wilson: drummer of "The Beach Boys") going from West to East, making money by challenging other racers on their way. Their chariot in this story is a '55 Chevy, primer grey with an enormous hood scoop. Under the hood, it has a 454 (7.5lt) big block Chevy V8 with a 4-speed  and a Posi (LSD). They don't talk a lot in the movie and mostly fiddle with the car, like checking the timing, the valve guides, swapping the tires for slicks, etc. However, the duo goes to car meets with zero non-American cars, only Hemi 'Cudas, 1st and 2nd gen Camaros, Superbirds, Chargers, and other funky, awesome sounding hot rods. The film lets you enjoy the sound of herculean V8s rumbling and roaring, the click-click of the gears, the whine from the differential. That's all you need in a car movie. Later, the Driver and The Mechanic pick-up The Girl (Laurie Bird) at a diner. Further down the story, the trio meets up with a guy called "G.T.O." (Warren Oates), a narcissistic dude who picks up hitchhikers and fucks with them by telling them random stories that reveal his awesomeness... or so he thinks. He's travelling down the same roads as the gang in the '55 Chevy, so they decide to race for pink slips all the way to Washington D.C..

The factory car against the homebuilt one

  One of the things I love about this movie is how it takes you back in time, in the America of the early 70's. As the characters are travelling from West to East, you get to see all the old american cars, especially the muscle cars in the drag races. But not only that. You take a peek at the bars, the diners, the gas stations, playing sweet rock music. The dialog is quite laconic in the movie, but the lack of it adds to the experience. It submerges you into the story, taking you on a road trip around the U.S. the right way, at the right time.  This is simplicity at its best, which make Two Lane Blacktop an incredible film. If you watch it, you won't regret it.

Mean as hell '55 with a 454