{"id":4704,"date":"2007-05-02T04:46:48","date_gmt":"2007-05-02T08:46:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/?p=4704"},"modified":"2019-08-17T04:04:59","modified_gmt":"2019-08-17T08:04:59","slug":"vanishing-point-1971","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/2007\/05\/02\/vanishing-point-1971\/","title":{"rendered":"Vanishing Point (1971)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>I know Tarantino would love to take the credit for the popularity and new found interest in \u201cVanishing Point,\u201d thanks to his repeated references to the movie in his underrated \u201cDeath Proof,\u201d but that\u2019s simply presumptuous, considering many people have been singing the praises of \u201cVanishing Point\u201d for years and years. It\u2019s been deemed as the best car movie ever made, and is considered a pure cult classic, way before Chin McGee mentioned it on celluloid, and that\u2019s a fact. \u201cVanishing Point\u201d is really nothing but a one hundred minute car chase across country, and I loved every minute of it.<\/p>\n

Why? Well, with films like these, you really don\u2019t watch them for the compelling characters, the complex story, or the comedic one-liners. If you want shit like that, go somewhere else. With \u201cVanishing Point\u201d it\u2019s merely a simplistic story about a man known simply as Kowalski, who is speeding across the country in a White Dodge Challenger. This rod fucking charges through the light and past highways like a bullet, and he\u2019s not intent on stopping for anyone to make his deadline. He dodges police, helicopters, tractors, roadblocks, and every single object you can imagine, because he has to make this deadline. What we do know about Kowalski is told less through dialogue and sub-plots and more through flashbacks. We learn that even though he\u2019s a hell of a driver and possibly a criminal, there\u2019s a reason why he can use a car like a weapon, and holds little regard for the authorities.<\/p>\n

Newman\u2019s performance is excellent, and he\u2019s able to take a role that has little to no dialogue, and use it to his advantage. Director Sarafian relies instead on the soul of the film, Cleavon Little, who plays a blind radio DJ for Nevada. Little\u2019s Super Soul is a man who comes to life once he takes on the radio mic, and keeps track of the Challenger\u2019s journey across the country defying everything the authorities can throw at Kowalski. In the process, he also manages to compel the small town he works for, as the town folks begin crowding around his booth waiting for updates on the Challenger\u2019s escape from the law. And as the film goes on, the two almost seem to share a psychic connection with one another, as they bond over the airwaves. \u201cVanishing Point\u201d has heart, and it has a genuinely electric story that uses its simplicity to pull us into the eyes of Kowalski.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s even more interesting is hat he\u2019s not even a psychopath. He never runs anyone over, makes sure never to hurt the officers chasing after him, and even runs a hot rodder off a road and goes to check if the driver is okay. It\u2019s rather fascinating how writer Infante can draw such a compelling and rather three dimensional character with little dialogue, and even less back story, but I was drawn into Kowalski\u2019s mission from minute one, and I was rooting for him. \u201cVanishing Point\u201d ends like every other rebel\u2019s story, and in spite of it, Sarafian makes an excellent commentary on the time period where nihilism was apart of life. I\u2019d say Tarantino\u2019s endless references in \u201cDeath Proof\u201d was pretty apt. \u201cVanishing Point\u201d is an excellent car chase flick with a great performance by Barry Newman, and Cleavon Little, and fantastic direction from Sarafian. This is worth the watch, even if you didn\u2019t enjoy \u201cDeath Proof.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I know Tarantino would love to take the credit for the popularity and new found interest in \u201cVanishing Point,\u201d thanks to his repeated references to the movie in his underrated \u201cDeath Proof,\u201d but that\u2019s simply presumptuous, considering many people have been singing the praises of \u201cVanishing Point\u201d for years and years. It\u2019s been deemed as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,12],"tags":[58,71,240,814,1087,1145],"class_list":["post-4704","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-grindhouse-review-fest","category-movie-reviews","tag-action","tag-adventure","tag-crime","tag-racing","tag-thriller","tag-v"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4704","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4704"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4704\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31771,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4704\/revisions\/31771"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4704"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4704"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4704"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}