francis ford coppola first personal film and complete and release in 1969 and be the last movie he make a a mostly unknown and up and come director before the godfather and and be in stark contrast to both that film and and the rest of his uneven career . it ostensibly a road movie involve a disconnected young woman bore with domestic life and and pregnant with a child she isn not sure she want and flee the trapping her dull marriage and hit the open road in search of freedom . along the way she befriend a nice man and an ex footballer player that suffer brain damage from a traumatic head injury and play in unexpectedly subtle fashion by a young james caan and and decides to help him and despite become frustrate with his simple way . her effort to rid of him always fail and either by guilt or chance and and eventually lead her directly into the hand of an emotionally wounded cop ( robert duvall ) and who have idea of his own . the plot be threadbare and but coppola do a great job at detail the emotional life of these character and and use edit technique to relay back story that be not at all common in american film of the time . shot be simple and yet extraordinarily effective and convey both the moody desolation of the open highway and and the emptiness of american suburban life and infuse with a gentle melancholy provide by the film score . coppola also deserve credit for address the issue of domestic discontent from a woman point of view in the culturally turbulent 60 . overall and a fairly low key film that be not what audience have come to expect from coppola and but one that be a minor triumph in it own quiet and unassuming way . 7 . 5/10 .