Vanishing Point

Vanishing Point. 1971 20th Century Fox.
Starring: Barry Newman, Cleavon Little, Dean Jagger, Victoria Medlin, Charlotte Rampling
Director: Richard C. Sarafian
Available at Amazon.

Kowalski (Newman) is a Denver-based car delivery driver working for Argo's Car Delivery Service, and he is assigned to drive a white 1970 Dodge Challenger to San Francisco. Apparently, he has either lost everything he has ever wanted in his life prior to this job, or he is simply an adrenaline junkie, as he immediately embarks on his journey to California late one Friday night after dropping off another car following a long ride to Denver. Kowalski stops at a biker bar to buy some Bennies, and he tells his drug dealer pal Jake (Lee Weaver) that he needs to get to Frisco by three o'clock the next day, even if the delivery of the Challenger isn't due until Monday. Jake and the driver make a small bet, and Kowalski rockets out of Denver.

As Kowalski speeds through the West, a radio station called KOW based in a tiny Nevada town is monitoring him by listening to the police radio frequency. A blind DJ called "Super Soul" (Little) is on the air, and he encourages Kowalski to keep evading the police. Kowalski is listening to the station the whole time. Super Soul seems to understand the driver, calling him the last American hero, and seems to sense his reactions (writer's conceit). Kowalski starts attracting attention from the counterculture, and the news media. Bikers and hippies flock to the radio station to offer support.

On Saturday afternoon, KOW is raided by a cop and some goons, where Super Soul and his engineer are assaulted. They manipulate the jockey into encouraging Kowalski to drive into a police trap, but he is aided by a hippie biker and his girlfriend in bypassing the roadblock. Kowalski doesn't even enter California until 7:12 PM on Saturday, over four hours past his intended time. He stops to call Jake, who is aware of the chase thanks to newspaper articles, to tell him he's fine and that he plans to deliver the car on Monday. Early on Sunday morning in a small town called Cisco, east of San Francisco, Kowalski's high speed journey comes to a fiery end when he crashes into two bulldozers set up by the California Highway Patrol as a roadblock.

A great movie with lots of beautiful scenery, and action that never really lets up from the beginning to the end. The ending, though, is up to interpretation. Highly recommended.