Simply Perfect

If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

I still have vivid memories of watching "Vanishing Point" back in the early 1980s - those were the days! I recall the dodge challenger, the scene with the corrupt police and the cool music. Barry Newman in the leading role, was a film star who never was in a sense. He seemed destined for fairly big things but after a few routine movies, his career was knocked off course and he was soon forgotten. His character gives the distinct impression of being rather a troubled soul who doesn't belong any longer. His only aim in life, is to drive and to deliver fast cars for a living. He is a restless spirit but is also tormented by his past. We are given glimpses of his life via some great flashback scenes. Barry Newman is OK, he fits the bill without being very heavyweight as an actor. Cleavon Little is outstanding as the blind radio D.J who guides Barry Newman past police traps. The photography and the music are the main assests from "Vanishing Point." The stunt driving is easily on a par with the car chase scenes from "Bullitt" or "The French Connection." This is still the best "Road" movie, better than even "Easy Rider" and that one is very good.

Well first of all it's not a thriller.It's just a movie about a guy driving fast from point A to point B. The whole movie is nothing else then that. I can imagine that in 1971 this movie would have score high rankings but we are in 2016 now so I watched it with my mind being in 2016. And so my ratings are not good for Vanishing Point. I was going to score it a five, but because of the end that I didn't like it dropped a point. If you are a fan of American muscle cars, or more specifically a Dodge Challenger in this case then you might like Vanishing Point. Or if you are a fan of the music from that time then you might like it as well. But for the rest, the story is just weak and quite ridiculous. Maybe in that time the driver would not have been caught for so long, but in 2016 he would not make it for more then 50 miles. It's like the police in the seventies are retarded. Add on that some hippies in the desert, some gays hitchhiking, a nude hippie chick on a Honda in the desert and that's the whole story.

I can remember reading a review for "VP" when it was released that said something to the effect of "I wouldn't want to be driving down the street of a drive-in movie after this ends and the kids in their cars are leaving" Being 16 years old at the time-the reviewer was absolutely correct. VP packed them in at the drive-ins, this was still the era of big engines and cheap gas. In a few years the Arab oil embargo, sky rocketing insurance rates, and pollution regulations would cripple the Detroit's muscle car industry, but Hollywood in the early 70's still made car chase movies like "VP," "Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry" and "Smoky & the Bandit" in the tradition of Bob Mitchum's 1950's epic, "Thunder Road" that featured about 90 minutes of car chases weaved through a thin plot line.VP has a minuscule plot that logic totally escapes any logic:1) Kowalski is supposed to be driving this Dodge Challenger from Denver to SF for a car delivery service, presumably to someone who will take possession of a muscle car in mint condition. Kowalski completely drives the complete crap out of it, on and off road.2) Kowalski leaves Denver around midnight, but we see him driving in daylight along the breathtaking stretch of I-70 adjacent to the Colorado River in Glenwood Springs, which is only 156 mi. from Denver. Where has Kowalski been all evening? (come to think of it, the only time we see him drive at night is leaving Denver)3) We only see him stop once for gasoline. I would imagine that the 440 Magnum Dodge engine being driven at 120 mph might get 8mpg. So with a 20 gallon tank Kowalski is going to have to stop at least every hour & half. Speaking of which, why don't the police, instead of chasing him with cars, choppers and setting up roadblocks, just wait for him at the few gas stations that are few and far between in the remote sections of Ut & Nv?4) the AM radio station, KOW that has the DJ "Supersoul" that aids Kowalski looks like it is in a tiny town in western Nv, I would guess 100 watts, yet Kowalski is able to pick this station up quite clearly all the way from Colorado.Enough logic. great car chases. hot looking naked chick on a motorcycle shows up later for no reason. not a bad way to spend 90 minutes.

Very good, and surprisingly so. I only watched this because it gets many reverential references in Quentin Tarantino's "Death Proof". Expected it to be nothing more than a revhead movie, but it is far better than that.More like Easy Rider on four wheels. A movie about freedom and individuality. Good script, but it is the direction and the setting that makes this movie great. Richard Sarafian sketches Kowalski's character through flashbacks and delivered information, showing you why he is doing what he is doing. The ending is perfect.Barry Newman hardly had much dialogue, but in playing Kowalski he defined anti-authoritarian freedom-loving figures forever.