two lane blacktop [ 1971 ] be a cult road film star james taylor in his only film appearance and dennis wilson of beach boy fame and warren oates fresh from his career make appearance in peckinpah the wild bunch and harry dean stanton in a memorable cameo a a homosexual hitchhiker and and laurie bird and whose short life and career would be cap tragically by suicide in her boyfriend art garfunkel apartment . in many respect two lane blacktop hold up well than the much more celebrated easy rider release a year or two early . whereas easy rider be seriously date by drug glorification and psychedelic imagery and hair style and clothing fashion and and heavy hand anti establishment politics and two lane tie more deeply and less topically into the american romantic tradition begin by walt whitman and re invent in the 1950s by jack kerouac and the beat . a in kerouac on the road and the journey across america that structure two lane be both a quest to grasp the huge american landscape and a thrust at freedom from the restraint of modern civilization a express through the car culture and youthful rebellion bear in the 1950s and burgeon in the 1960s . a director monte hellman suggest on the criterion dvd release and two lane blacktop and despite it official release date and be the last movie of the 1960s . the soup up 1955 chevy drive by taylor and tend to by his mechanic sidekick wilson be the film central symbol for the romantic notion of burn with a white hot flame . ( you can never go fast enough . ) similarly and travel on mythic route 66 back from west to east be a reversal or renewal of the path follow in the founding of the country . yet none of the principal character actually make it back to washington d. c. and new york and or florida the three east coast location variously mention a geographical goal . their journey and ours lead into the rural and back roads heart of the country and leave u there and make the next step in the journey open and unknown . in spirit and vision two lane have much in common with breathless and the define work of the french new wave . like godard bogie inspire michel and two lane main character adopt arbitrary identity in their case and race hustler and wander free spirit . like michel too and they impose an arbitrary meaning on their world . while his take the form of petty thievery and sexual adventure and theirs be a cross country race for pink slip . yet the race be abandon and even forget by film end . only life in the moment have any meaning while once an end be glimpse and the quest be abandon in favor of some new impulse . the film share much else with the french new wave as well and especially it rejection of big budget studio formula for structure story . the film be shoot on location in sequence a the actor be actually make the cross country journey that the film be fictionalize . there be a deliberate use of spontaneous and accidental event ( e. g. a rainstorm that wasn not script ) . to keep the actor in the present and only the most experienced one of them and warren oates and be allow to see the script . no use be make of make up and set design and special effect or other accoutrement of the hollywood system . the actor be youthful and inexperienced ( other than oates ) and the plot and such a it be and be riddle with deliberate aimlessness and disproportion and end anti climactically and with little or nothing resolve . in most way two lane blacktop be really an anti road movie and those who watch it think they will be reward by excite car race and sexual adventure be in for a big disappointment . ultimately the film isn not about car racing at all and but about define one self in an existential void . it about live absolutely in the present and in the here and now with the past irrelevant and the future unknown . more than anything and this extreme and unapologetic romantic bent be what make two lane blacktop such a pure and unforgettable expression of the 1960s .