I've been bitten by a creepy crawler that has sunk it's claws and bled its poison into me and its name is 'Two Lane Blacktop.' The more I think about the film the more connections I make.

I'll begin by saying the heart of the film, like most films - good ones anyway, is ultimately about relationships. And how we humans communicate and try to connect and/or relate to one another. The Driver and the Mechanic are only shown speaking to one another about cars, racing cars, and the task ahead, which is car racing. They speak practically only when necessary - which gives a heightened effect to their bits of dialogue. This is how they bond and relate to each other. This is what they know and are comfortable with it. When they come across others, other car freaks (99% being men) there is a common language established among them. They can instantly relate over talk of engines, tires, speed, etc. It's like a club. This is typical of men and how they bond with each other. It can be cars and other topics: sports, travel, hunting/fishing/outdoors - often activities that require a hands on approach. This is all personified when they meet GTO and their episodes along the road. Now GTO, there's a character for ya. Whereas the Driver and Mechanic you have to torture to get a word from - GTO never shuts up. The Driver and Mechanic seem to have a more post-modern approach to language - and GTO has a strong desire to speak to anyone who will listen or not listen - it doesn't matter to him. We start to catch on to his act and bullshit stories - but as the film goes along he slowly reveals himself to be a very lost and sad individual behind a flashy and calculated veneer.

Enter the Girl through the passenger door. She throws a wrench into all this machismo (pun intended). Even these guys who only seem to care about cars and going fast - allow her to slowly, methodically works her way through them. She upsets the harmony between Driver and Mechanic first of all. And I believe the challenge of 'the race' was done to impress her soon as she seems to be getting bored. And she goes along with it for a while and points out how they don't seem to care that much about it. As I pointed out in my last blog they seem to quickly lose interest soon as she leaves them high and dry.

Quick note about the screenplay/editing process - director Monte Hellman said he followed the screenplay very closely, but the first rough cut ran 3 1/2 hours long so a lot had to be snipped. So basically half of what is in the script was essentially left on the floor. I can tell you that in the screenplay The Girl first sleeps with Driver and all goes well. But in the finished film she sleeps with Mechanic. Driver almost walks in on them, stops, listens, then sinks to the ground very sadly. Driver is the more fragile and awkward of the duo. Mechanic is confident in his skin and role whatever situation he finds himself in. Driver is only confident when he's behind the wheel and and trying to rope a sucker into a race. She naturally is attracted to Mechanic and wants to sleep with him but emotionally seems more interested in Driver. (So I'm not sure if the early scene of Girl and Driver was cut simply because of running time or for story - to build their relationship more slowly - though I guess you can argue the scene wasn't essential enough for Hellman to keep). The Girl and Driver don't get any alone time till much later in the film and what do they do? He teaches her how to drive of course. For him this is a very intimate thing - where she thinks it's a game. There is where men and women often differ and there's a lack of connection. However when they kiss, finally, she remarks this is something she knows how to do and he likely lacks experience. The film can be read through these subtle moments of glances and verbal exchanges between the 4 principle characters.

There's a lot of talk of both The Car (the '55 Chevy) and The GTO (the '70 Pontiac GTO) throughout the movie and I believe this goes deeper than just the surface dialogue. Both represent an identity and state of mind for the characters, as well as machines that can go fast or status symbols. GTO (the car and the man) represents this new age American consumerism. The car version is the ultimate consumer's vehicle - right off the factory assembly line. It's flashy and posh inside and out. It goes along with the man's attitude and yuppy style. The man has a different color cashmere sweater for every occasion. He's got a wet bar in the trunk and every drug on the market. The Car is the ultimate fixer-upper or do-it-yourselfer. It's built from scratch with many different aftermarket parts. At the outset we're pulling for the young 'hometown' boys and their self-assured grey primer hot rod. GTO is the prick everyone loves to hate and rout against. I think all that gets muddled along the way. The Driver and Mechanic demonstrate their car is indeed faster so maybe they aren't quite the underdogs we all thought and their quiet cockiness grows a bit old - meanwhile GTO reveals the jaded layers of hurt he carries with him and maybe he really does love the Girl. Towards the end he begins to win me over.

Compared to a film like Easy Rider - Hellman understates the background - the places where the cars go careening through. The film exists on the back country roads or "Two-lane blacktops." This isn't a film going for the glory and displaying a romantic view of 'The Road' as many of the films of the era do. Typically road films do this by also offering the mystery to go along with it - by in constant pursuit of the horizon - discovering what lies just beyond it. This idea is one Americans hold dear echoing back to the early explorers venturing further and further west away from civilization - going further than where the old roads end and into the unknown. Thus creating new roads. Two-Lane blacktop doesn't concern itself too much with that. Its characters have been there, done that. Hence they're going West to East.
Unlike other road films where there's an end goal in mind and location there characters are on a path to get to - that doesn't exist in TLB. Sure there's the supposed race to D.C. but that doesn't come till almost halfway through and as I've mentioned I believe it gets abandoned. They drive fast - often well over 100mph - but the truth is they aren't in any real hurry to get anywhere. They stop, chit chat, share food and drinks, trade war stories, wait for the other to fill up, and even help fix the other's vehicle. Because they're 'all in it together' (a line that speaks universally). It wouldn't be any fun without the other in sight - going alone. And even if, the film ends before the know who wins. Furthermore, it wouldn't really matter who wins. The other will just get another car and be right back on the road again - Driver and Mechanic trolling back and forth between East and West for 'squirrels to run' and GTO out picking up hitchhikers and telling stories. Because that's what the know most - the road, and solitude. Perhaps one day all 3 will settle down and find their own niche somewhere but till then...they'll be out there.