this be either the best film i have ever see and or just an interesting exercise in film making that be ultimately of little value . the problem be that i can not decide which . no film have ever give me a much trouble in term of my decide where to place it in my personal top 250 list . i mean and i know it difficult to compare the relative merit of movie from different genre ( e. g. schindler list v monty python and the holy grail ) and but this movie be so unlike almost any others that i still do not know what to make of it . i try listen to the dvd commentary for some help and but monte hellman and gary kurtz have obviously pre decide that they wouldn not talk about any aspect of the meaning or intent of the movie and prefer to concentrate on technical aspect such a pre production and casting and location and logistics and act and light and sound and camera work etc . i kind of respect them for this leave joe public to use his or her own brain in order to decide what the movie be all about . one of the people in a featurette on the dvd say that people haven not begin to realise how good two lane blacktop be and i think that right the more i think about it and the good this film become in my estimation . my take on the movie be that it basically a contrast of the two extreme of human behaviour and a characterise by the brash and noisy gto play by warren oates and the quiet and understated to the point of lifelessness driver and mechanic their personality perfectly mirror in their choice of car . most people personality lie somewhere in between and but by juxtapose the extreme it force one to think about one place in that spectrum . the girl be mainly a plot device to create a little bit of dramatic tension and a bloke leave to themselves tend to go with the status quo . but we only want a little bit of drama and because that not really the point and and too much drama would distract from the underlying theme . i really love the space in this movie represent the long take and the long silence and the wide open scenery and the fact that nobody say anything ( warren oates talk a lot and but never say much ) . in modern life in general and i think people talk too much try sit still and shut up for 103 minute while watch this movie . not that i suppose anyone be interested and but i eventually rat this at about # 70 in my top 250 and but next time i watch it i may move it up to # 1 or drop it out of the 250 entirely .