Vanishing Point

The plot is incredibly flimsy, and basically serves as a vehicle to showcase some good car chases and naked boobs. Weak, and a little juvenile, but entertaining in places. I'll admit that is a cool car.

Barry Newman stars as a driver with a death wish in this stripped-back road movie. In lieu of any real narrative, the fine music, camerawork and atmosphere manage to keep proceedings engaging, as do various characters' musings on existentialism and the period's counterculture attitudes. Although a bleak ending is never in doubt, it nonetheless delivers a powerful blow.

Essentially a movie about a speed freak, somewhere along the way it becomes a little more than that thanks to a nice combination of music, editing and some great sequences and shots. It's no masterpiece but it has something about it that makes it feel special while you watch it.

It's okay to be plotless (I guess). But if a movie is, it needs to do very well on other counts. Honestly, just about the only thing 'Vanishing Point' has going for it is a quite hilariously bad flashback.

Man eats handful of drugs and bets his dealer he can drive from Denver to San Fransisco in 15 hours. I have to be honest: For a minute there, I actually thought that this was gonna be 90 minutes of high speed cross country pursuit with sweet, sweet music on the side. But it looses some of it's pace ones things move into the dessert.

Difficult to see why this is rated so highly. A string of cliches, bad acting, paper-thin plot and average-at-best cinematography doesn't add up to a classic, cult or otherwise.

I like how some people try to pencil this movie in as a simple car chase movie. Kowalski's interactions with the society of that time period is what really delivers entertainment in a very subtle way, and yes there are some great car chase scenes.

Nice period piece and a classic of the genre. Due to budgetary constraints, the movie is not as fully realized as the director originally wanted it to be, lacking "incident", according to Sarafian himself, but the occasional shortness of plot elements, dialog etc. creates room for the hypnotic power of speed to fully unfold. While the cinematography may be a bit cheap with a lack of lighting here and there etc., it's very effective and many of the shots have been copied by others since.

I like that when I sit down to watch this movie again, I never seem to remember how much story it has. That's like the cherry on top of a delicious car-chase sundae.

After watching this I never want to see a single car chase again, ever -- or hear bluegrass music. This is sort of like pornography for car freaks: the plot is very sparse and tacky and is only there to hold together the action scenes. If you've seen Bullitt, or William Friedkin movies, you have seen far better chase scenes. And if you have a thing for vehicles screeching around in middle America, watch Two-Lane Blacktop or Russ Meyer stuff, anything but this.

Delivering a Dodge Challenger from Colorado to San Francisco turns into a vigilante race against cops for Kowalski (Newman), various meetings with freaks, hippies, other road detritus and a fine contemporary soundtrack provides a post-60s Manson-esque tingue to the proceedings and landscapes. A succinct plot, dialogue and conclusion to the film mark it out as a classic in the \"Road Movie\" genre.

I was finally able to locate this after wanting to see it for a while. There's no real plot to speak of, though it seems to be playing with some ideas about existentialism and authority and individualism which are interesting in the context of the time. Some of the car chase stuff is pretty damn good, but this is more of a different road/mood film than anything. The version I was able to track down was the UK version, which is 8 minutes longer than the US cut.

Gilda Texter as the "nude rider" adds 10 points to my score.

What a terrible start for a movie. Has someone shuffled the scenes in post production? Too boring and irritating to sit through.

I don't know who would subject themselves to such trouble over a simple dare but other than that I was in love with this film. The main actor is not very good or inspiring as what his character probably should be but the direction, soundtrack, and general overall feel and sort of experimentation is incredible

This must be one the most forgettable movies ever. I have watched it several times because I actually thought I had never seen it (seriously). Even now, as I'm writing, I am beginning to have a little doubt... I just remember a speeding car... Is it this one? This said, it's rather watchable.

Some really great sequences slightly outweigh some truly dire ones. Probably the most American movie I've ever seen.

The more I think about it, the more I think I like it, due to how easy-going this film is, especially with its short story strands that don't overstay their welcome, as well as the ambiguous nature of the protagonist's motivations. Yet ultimately, this is a finely cohesive piece that makes some nicely simple comments on existentialism (both political and personal). Also boasts more than a handful of gorgeous barren American landscapes, the cinematography alone make this an American classic.

For a movie about a former race car driver dashing across the American Southwest, this was one slow ass, tedious ride! I do have to thank this movie, among many others, for giving us Death Proof; and unclad hippie women riding a motorcycle.

The driving skills are amazing but the problem with this movie and others like it such as anything from H.B. Halicki is that aside from the car chase and stunt driving there is nothing really happening and absolutely no characterization. So the driving while impressive starts to get repetitive and a little boring. The flashbacks and DJ scenes that try to interject depth just fail miserably. Not much dialog but what there is happens to be some of the worst I've ever heard

Not just a solid car film, but an interesting meditation on life and freedom. Barry Newman comes across as sort of an off-brand Richard Gere, but delivers a stoic, brooding performance that accents the raw masculinity of the screenplay.

What is it with great car chase movies having terribly anti-clamactic endings?

In some ways terribly outdated, but also very entertaining and with some amazing car chase sequences. If only they had left the flashbacks behind in the editing room...

If some producer had told Sarafian to drop the flashbacks (no matter how hilarious they are) and find a better lead than Newman, this could have been the ultimate car movie.

77.500

Overlong and somewhat repetitive, but in many ways fascinating chase movie scores its highest points in capturing the mood of the disaffected post-Watergate Nixon-era America, beautifully personified in Little's compelling 'Super Soul' DJ. As a 'Man With No Name', Newman unfortunately lacks Eastwood's charisma, but the colorful cast of supporting characters make the trip worthwhile. Some impressive car stunts beautifully photographed.

The mixture of the chasing and Kowalski's interactions isn't seamless and the film does drag noticeably at its half way point but it's still fun.

This feels like Easy Rider done right. In its minimalism the film has a certain soulful quality that somehow tacitly resolves the film's many unanswered questions all by itself. The soundtrack, cinematography, and abundant, gratuitous nudity don't hurt either. Kowalski makes for a memorable antihero as a man who'll run you off the road and then stop to make sure you didn't get injured.

Kowalski (Barry Newman) undertakes to deliver a Dodge Challenger from Denver to San Francisco, tearing up the road, defying the police and becoming a folk hero in the process. One of the great car-chase films, a mix of thrills, counterculture and vague allegory which succeeds for the most part, let down only by some dated moments and a brief but ugly bit of stereotyping. Boasts stunning cinematography by John A. Alonzo, a marvelous soundtrack, and vibrant direction by Richard C. Sarafian.

Ostensibly a simple road movie about a guy trying to out-run the police, but much more than that beneath the surface. A mournful tribute to an age of dampened rebellion and lost freedom, imbued with a sense of fatalism that wouldn't be out of place in the best film noir. Mystical, cynical, existential, plus terrific cinematography and two very memorable characters in Super Soul and Kowalski,

* Casting, Acting : 5 * Script : 6 * Directing, Aura : 3 * Ease of Viewing : 4 * Naked Eye : 5

I found this compelling and entertaining, with Newman an engaging anti-hero. I enjoyed Cleavon Little's performance as well - I don't recall seeing him in anything else apart from Blazing Saddles. While the film arguably has little going on apart from a guy driving a cool car across the country, meeting some weirdos along the way, there is a lot to like here, and is another effective filmic reminder that the carefree 60s were gone.

76.125

This is a weird movie with some really fun car chases. Most of the plot of the movie is told with flashbacks. This movie is dated but I had a good time watching it.

Has the necessary amount of energy to pull it off.

One of the better "car movies" around. Not much else to it.

Great

A classical rebellious movie with moderately little quantity of drugs involved. Nicely directed and acted, and I liked editing a lot. A naked lady on a bike was sweetly tanned.

Tries really hard to one-up Easy Rider with loaded metaphorical weight and iconography. Barry Newman's "Kowalski" is laboriously set up as an American outsider hero, and you can see the ending coming a desert hundred miles away. That said, there are some cool touches, and the music is alright.

I loved the ambivalence around the protagonists' motivations. Maybe the story is almost non-existent, but the pervasive 70's feeling makes up for a lot.

I was actually surprised by the story that this movie had and the way it ended. It was kind of a thinker. but it was also a simple story which really helped. Amazing car chase scenes, which I will watch again just for that alone. Very good acting and I loved seeing Cleavon Little again. You don't nearly get too many chances to see his movies that much anymore.

The first half an hour was very boring... Got somewhat ok later on.

Pretty much Easy Rider with a car and less drugs. One man against the whole society. Loved the chase scenes but the plot could've offered more.

Much more than a car-chase movie. A rebellious, soulful call for freedom. Spirit of the 60's lives with this film. Kowalski, acted by Barry Newman, might be typical anti-hero, but his calm, determined attitude isn't something easy forgettable. Artsy car movie.

"...a particularly charged variant of a now extinct genre: the artsy B-movie"

Simple plot, but beautifully executed. Great shots, great cars and great car chases.

Oh lord... won't you buy me a dodge challenger...

Great car!

Corrida contra o destino estreava há 50 anos nos EUA. Só hoje descobri que esse roteiro é do Guillermo Cabrera Infante e não tinha nenhuma lembrança que a Charlotte Rampling estava aqui representando a morte, o que quer dizer que antes devo ter visto a versão americana do filme e só hoje vi a estendida. Enfim, filmaço libertário com uma trilha sonora do caralho. BlurayRip Extended FGT.

good car movie; but i do not like it so much

Kowalski rules !

More than a good car movie, it's a very good movie. Lots of beautiful landscape shots.

Good film.