shirley knight play sara ravenna and a long island housewife who run away from her marriage when she discover she be pregnant . she plan to drive into america heartland and start anew . along the way she pick up a friendly hitchhiker ( james caan ) who call himself killer . soon she discover that the good natured killer be actually brain damaged and and by pick him up she have unknowingly take on a huge responsibility . the two of them drive all the way to nebraska and where sara get killer a job help out at a roadside reptile farm . it be here that sara meet gordon and a local cop and and soon thing go horribly wrong for everyone . this be a powerful drama about people disconnect from society and alienate by the choice they make or by the limit impose on them by others . even with such a low budget and a very freewheeling attitude and the film be able to capture everything that need to be say through these clearly defined character . shirley knight have a complex and diverging role and there be moment of some awe inspire acting by her . one of my favorite be when she be on the telephone call her home to her worried husband the first time . it be such a tense scene on both end and and in every small gesture and inflection of a word and so much about her be speak with so little . then come in the character of killer play by james caan . this character be unlike any i have ever see him play and and he perform wonderfully . it one of his best performance a he be very restrained and move . the way coppola develop the character by use short and dream like flashback be very clever and add a fragmented kind of view onto it all . the quick flashback that be graphic and self contain contrast well with the long shot in some crucial scene . also and because this film be shoot on location all over the eastern u. s. and it offer an interesting and authentic look at america in the late 1960 . i haven not see many other film star ms. knight and i be only familiar with her more recent work on television and usually play a nag mother in law or a dotty old woman . it be great see her so young and beautiful and and so wonderfully subtle in this movie . it also kind of a shame that jam caan go on to be typecast a the tough guy for the rest of his career and because this film evidence that he be capable of so much more than that .