{"id":7203,"date":"2025-08-12T12:42:32","date_gmt":"2025-08-12T11:42:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/?p=7203"},"modified":"2025-08-12T12:42:32","modified_gmt":"2025-08-12T11:42:32","slug":"shindig-166-two-lane-blacktop","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/?p=7203","title":{"rendered":"Shindig! #166 &#8211; Two-Lane Blacktop"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p class=\"slate-paragraph\"><b>As the \u201960s drew to a close in a bleached-out haze, a handful of movie-makers chose the sizzling heat of summer as the uncomfortable setting for a wave of nihilistic snapshots of a tired, torrid, divided America.<\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"slate-paragraph\"><b>RUSS GATER feels the heat with Monte Hellman\u2019s existential road movie <i>TWO-LANE BLACKTOP<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-7206\" src=\"https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/SD166-2-1024x683.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"427\" srcset=\"https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/SD166-2-1024x683.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/SD166-2-300x200.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/SD166-2-768x512.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/SD166-2.jpeg 1250w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Before it even saw the light of day, <em>Two-Lane Blacktop<\/em>\u00a0was already being immortalised. Months before the film\u2019s release,\u00a0<em>Rolling Stone<\/em>\u00a0called it \u201can instant classic\u201d. <em>Esquire<\/em> went a step further, publishing the entire screenplay and anointing it \u201cthe movie of the year\u201d. On paper, the prospects looked good. Hollywood in the late \u201960s had discovered the youth market. If we accept that the previously mentioned <em>Bonnie &amp; Clyde<\/em> and <em>The Graduate<\/em> (both 1967) inaugurated the countercultural trend in American movies, then <em>Easy Rider<\/em> marked its apotheosis. In this context, Hellman\u2019s movie seemed like a can\u2019t-miss proposition: a road flick from Universal\u2019s new \u201cyouth\u201d unit about dropping out and driving fast. But when it hit cinemas, the kids didn\u2019t show up. The movie died a quick death at the box office and eventually slid into oblivion, not appearing on video until \u201999.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Two-Lane Blacktop (1971) - Trailer\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/yPbqV9CgV9s?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Rudy Wurlitzer and Will Corry\u2019s screenplay is as simple as they come. A pair of drifters roam the highways of the American West in a souped-up \u201955 Chevy. They have no stated destination and no obvious motivation. At a gas station, they run into a middle-aged man behind the wheel of a yellow Pontiac GTO. They agree to a contest: a race to the east coast, with the winner getting the loser\u2019s car. The bet seems to set us up for a furious chase and a hellacious climax, but the movie has other ideas. Instead of blazing off into the distance, it meanders, luxuriates in interludes, then just peters out.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The rough cut of <em>Two-Lane Blacktop<\/em> was three and a half hours long. \u201cWe were contractually obligated to deliver a two-hour movie, so we lost half the script,\u201d said Hellman. \u201cWe lost some good scenes, for sure, that I fell in love with.\u201d Gone are the flavour and colour of street-racing life and the road, evoked so beautifully in Wurlitzer\u2019s script. What is gained is a trancelike absorption in movement and ritual. Hellman\u2019s film is composed of many of the in-between moments that most film-makers would cut. In the process, a strange terrain of connection and disconnection inhabited by the four principal characters is mapped out: their shared remoteness is exactly what makes it safe for them to venture into one another\u2019s company. The style of <em>Two-Lane Blacktop<\/em> is restrained and distant, unobtrusively observing its characters go about their business, allowing the protagonists to emerge organically without any explanation of their motivations.<\/p>\n<p><em>To read all of this article \u00a0you can order <\/em>Shindig!\u00a0<em>#166 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.silverbackpublishing.rocks\/product\/shindig-166\/\">here<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<span class=\"synved-social-container synved-social-container-share\"><a class=\"synved-social-button synved-social-button-share synved-social-size-24 synved-social-resolution-single synved-social-provider-facebook nolightbox\" data-provider=\"facebook\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\" title=\"Share on Facebook\" href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fshindig-magazine.com%2Findex.php%3Frest_route%3D%252Fwp%252Fv2%252Fposts%252F7203&#038;t=Shindig%21%20%23166%20%E2%80%93%20Two-Lane%20Blacktop&#038;s=100&#038;p&#091;url&#093;=https%3A%2F%2Fshindig-magazine.com%2Findex.php%3Frest_route%3D%252Fwp%252Fv2%252Fposts%252F7203&#038;p&#091;images&#093;&#091;0&#093;=https%3A%2F%2Fshindig-magazine.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2025%2F08%2FScreenshot-2025-08-12-at-11.41.33-2.png&#038;p&#091;title&#093;=Shindig%21%20%23166%20%E2%80%93%20Two-Lane%20Blacktop\" style=\"font-size: 0px;width:24px;height:24px;margin:0;margin-bottom:5px;margin-right:5px\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Facebook\" title=\"Share on Facebook\" class=\"synved-share-image synved-social-image synved-social-image-share\" width=\"24\" height=\"24\" style=\"display: inline;width:24px;height:24px;margin: 0;padding: 0;border: none;box-shadow: none\" src=\"https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/social-media-feather\/synved-social\/image\/social\/regular\/48x48\/facebook.png\" \/><\/a><a class=\"synved-social-button synved-social-button-share synved-social-size-24 synved-social-resolution-single synved-social-provider-twitter nolightbox\" data-provider=\"twitter\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\" title=\"Share on Twitter\" href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/share?url=https%3A%2F%2Fshindig-magazine.com%2Findex.php%3Frest_route%3D%252Fwp%252Fv2%252Fposts%252F7203&#038;text=New%20post%20on%20our%20site\" style=\"font-size: 0px;width:24px;height:24px;margin:0;margin-bottom:5px;margin-right:5px\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"twitter\" title=\"Share on Twitter\" class=\"synved-share-image synved-social-image synved-social-image-share\" width=\"24\" height=\"24\" style=\"display: inline;width:24px;height:24px;margin: 0;padding: 0;border: none;box-shadow: none\" src=\"https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/social-media-feather\/synved-social\/image\/social\/regular\/48x48\/twitter.png\" \/><\/a><a class=\"synved-social-button synved-social-button-share synved-social-size-24 synved-social-resolution-single synved-social-provider-mail nolightbox\" data-provider=\"mail\" rel=\"nofollow\" title=\"Share by email\" href=\"mailto:?subject=Shindig%21%20%23166%20%E2%80%93%20Two-Lane%20Blacktop&#038;body=New%20post%20on%20our%20site:%20https%3A%2F%2Fshindig-magazine.com%2Findex.php%3Frest_route%3D%252Fwp%252Fv2%252Fposts%252F7203\" style=\"font-size: 0px;width:24px;height:24px;margin:0;margin-bottom:5px;margin-right:5px\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"mail\" title=\"Share by email\" class=\"synved-share-image synved-social-image synved-social-image-share\" width=\"24\" height=\"24\" style=\"display: inline;width:24px;height:24px;margin: 0;padding: 0;border: none;box-shadow: none\" src=\"https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/social-media-feather\/synved-social\/image\/social\/regular\/48x48\/mail.png\" \/><\/a><\/span>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As the \u201960s drew to a close in a bleached-out haze, a handful of movie-makers chose the sizzling heat of summer as the uncomfortable setting for a wave of nihilistic snapshots of a tired, torrid, divided America. RUSS GATER feels the heat with Monte Hellman\u2019s existential road movie TWO-LANE BLACKTOP Before it even saw the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7207,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1009],"tags":[1210],"class_list":["post-7203","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-magazine","tag-two-lane-blacktop"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7203","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7203"}],"version-history":[{"count":-4,"href":"https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7203\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7207"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7203"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7203"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7203"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}