long out of circulation because of dispute over music right and two lane blacktop and now available on dvd and be one of the most original and compelling american movie of the twentieth century . it be a road movie and a film about car and and a search for mean in american life that could easily be call zen and the art of drag racing . shot from the inside of a car and it be an authentic vision of what it be like to be drive across america at a specific historical moment . promote by universal studio in 1971 a an answer to columbia easy rider and the film be originally release to less than enthusiastic audience but have since take on the status of cult classic and it be richly deserve . unlike easy rider and it be a film that simply observe and what it see be pure americana represent it people and gas station and diner and and drag strip . we feel the claustrophobia and the space and the speed and and the loneliness . the film star singer james taylor ( fire and rain ) and dennis wilson of the beach boys a taciturn drag race who drive their soup up 1955 chevy across the country challenge local to a drag race . the main character be drifter . they come from nowhere and be head east and toward a destination that be murky at best . they be people whose reality begin and end with their machine . everyone talk about how good life can be somewhere else in new york and chicago and the beach of florida and and the coast of mexico and somewhere up the road apiece . warren oates and a monte hellman regular and turn in a truly outstanding performance a the driver of a pontiac gto who challenge taylor and wilson to a cross country race and the prize be the ownership of the car . gto be a talkative fellow who concoct tall tale about his background to impress every hitchhiker he pick up ( one be a gay cowboy play by harry dean stanton ) . he be a sad and perhaps self destructive individual but he be human and you can reach out to him and feel his pathos . first time actor taylor and wilson express little emotion and there be scant dialogue but they also seem right for their role . their total focus be on their car . though the chevy look old and ugly and it be as powerful a any car on the road and the driver and the mechanic treat it like their own flesh and blood and constantly fine tune to maintain it impeccable performance . they go from town to town and just try to survive by race . in the word of author john banville and they have no past and no foreseeable future and only the steady pulse of a changeless present . along the way they pick up a cherubic young roadie ( laurie bird ) who be willing to go wherever the ride take her . after each of the boy have sex with her in motel room and in the car and she become moody and resentful and fear that she be be use but have nowhere else to go . though the main thrust of the plot be the race to washington and dc and the focus seem to get lose along the way and and the film become more of a character study of the lack of human connection than about race . the film look for the soul of america in the early 1970s and come up empty . it be release in 1971 at a time when the hope and dream of the 60 counter culture have give way to the disillusion of kent state and altamonte and the bombing of cambodia and and the medium cynical preemption of the hippie movement . the movie be about everything and nothing . everyone be bid their time wait for life to turn out rather than create the possibility . though they live for the moment there be no joy and only the gnawing reality of something miss . they be like many of u and skim along on the surface of life and reminisce about a goal that once seem real but be now just out of reach . they look ahead to a blank future and while ignore the life around them and what be in the present moment . two lane blacktop be an exceptionally beautiful film and a poetic description of a world without possibility . it may also be the definitive statement of the anguish of the materialist paradigm that have begin to crumble and fall apart .