Two nameless drifters known only as The Driver (Taylor) and The Mechanic (Wilson) roam Nowheresville USA, hustling dollars by racing their powerful but plain grey ’55 Chevy. Along the way they pick up The Girl (Laurie Bird) and unintentionally start a race against a yellow Pontiac driven by GTO (Warren Oates), a middle age wannabe hipster. The rules are simple. The first car to Washington wins the others automobile – the ultimate racing grudge match.

Trailing in the wake of Easy Rider, Two Lane Blacktop had all the ingredients for a sure fire hit. All the factors necessary for a successful road movie are all present. Classic cars dueling across the Sates. Check. A cult director from the Roger Corman stable. Check. On the road nihilism and existential plot twists whilst embarking on a journey toward the meaning of America today. Check. And on top of this, two spunky rock musicians in James Taylor and Dennis Wilson as its stars. And yet the film bombed upon its release.

A strange existentialist journey to nowhere, Two Lane Blacktop was simply too dark for success, but its flawed glory and defiant intent stand testament to a unique and maverick talent that peaked out of time. Director Monte Hellman took the road movie far beyond the failed dreams of Easy Rider. Intelligent and thought provoking, its glorious open-ended detail was the perfect allegory of early 70s America. A movie whose whole essence is its own meaningless. A perfect, brutal reflection of a smug self-satisfied year in which the excrement of the peace and love era finally hit the fan.

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