Vanishing Point (1971)

Vanishing Point is an American action film starring Barry Newman, Cleavon Little, and Dean Jagger. Directed by Richard C. Sarafian, the film is notable for its scenic film locations across the American Southwest and is especially popular with Mopar auto enthusiasts because it prominently features a classic 1970 Dodge Challenger muscle car. It is also seen by some as a social commentary on the post-Woodstock mood in the United States.
==Plot==
Kowalski works for a car delivery service. He takes delivery of a 1970 Dodge Challenger to take from Colorado to San Francisco, California. Shortly after pickup, he takes a bet to get the car there in less than 15 hours. After a few run-ins with motorcycle cops and highway patrol they start a chase to bring him into custody. Along the way, Kowalski is guided by Supersoul - a blind DJ with a police radio scanner. Throw in lots of chase scenes, gay hitchhikers, a naked woman riding a motorbike, lots of Mopar and you've got a great cult hit from the early 70's.Plot summary by Matthew @ IMDB
==Cast==
*Barry Newman -as- Kowalski
*Cleavon Little -as- Super Soul
*Dean Jagger -as- Prospector
*Victoria Medlin -as- Vera
==Production==
===Development===
The screenplay for Vanishing Point was written by G. Cabrera Infante, under the pseudonym Guillermo Cain. The story was based on two actual events: the disgraced career of a San Diego police officer and a high-speed pursuit of a man who refused to stop and was killed when he crashed into a police roadblock. Infante modeled the character of Super Soul after legendary rock and roll singer The Big Bopper. His script reflected the popular counterculture lifestyle of the time, containing elements of rebellion, drugs, sexual freedom, and rock and roll.
In 1969, director Richard C. Sarafian turned down an offer to make Robert Redford's Downhill Racer in order to direct Vanishing Point. He was drawn to the counterculture themes in Cain's script. Originally, the director wanted Gene Hackman to play Kowalski, but 20th Century Fox studio executive Richard Zanuck insisted on casting relative unknown actor Barry Newman in the lead role.Siegel 2008, pp. 26–27. The film marked the first major screen appearances of Cleavon Little and John Amos.
===Vehicles===
According to Sarafian, it was Zanuck who came up with the idea of using the new 1970 Dodge Challenger R/T. He wanted to do Chrysler a favor for their longtime practice of renting cars to 20th Century Fox for $1 a day. Many of the other cars featured in the film are also Chrysler products.Siegel 2008, p. 27. Stunt Coordinator Carey Loftin said he requested the Dodge Challenger because of the "quality of the torsion bar suspension and for its horsepower" and felt that it was "a real sturdy, good running car."
Five Alpine White Dodge Challenger R/Ts were lent to the production by Chrysler for promotional consideration and were returned upon completion of filming. Four cars had 440 engines equipped with four-speeds; the fifth car was a 383 with automatic. No special equipment was added or modifications made to the cars, except for heavier-duty shock absorbers for the car that jumped over No Name Creek. The Challengers were prepared and maintained for the movie by Max Balchowsky, who also prepared the Mustangs and Chargers for Bullitt (1968). The cars performed to Loftin's satisfaction, although dust came to be a problem. None of the engines were blown. Loftin remembers that parts were taken out of one car to repair another because they "really ruined a couple of those cars" while jumping ramps between highways and over creeks. Newman remembers that the 440 engines in the cars were so powerful that "it was almost as if there was too much power for the body. You'd put it in first and it would almost rear back!" The Challengers appear in the film with Colorado plates OA-5599.
=== Filming ===
Principal photography began in the summer of 1970 with a planned shooting schedule of 60 days.Siegel 2008, p. 28. Financial troubles plaguing the studio at the time forced Zanuck to shorten Sarafian's shooting schedule by 22 days. In response, the director decided not to film certain scenes rather than rush through the rest of the shoot. An average day of filming involved the actors and the crew of 19 men spending many hours traveling to the remote locations, shooting for an extended period of time and then looking for a motel to spend the night.Siegel 2008, pp. 29–30. The shoot had a few mishaps, including Newman driving a Challenger equipped with three cameras into the bushes in order to avoid a head-on collision when a "civilian" driver ignored the traffic blocks installed to ensure the safety of the crew.Siegel 2008, pp. 28–29.
The film's cinematographer John Alonzo used light-weight Arriflex II cameras, that offered more free movement.Siegel 2008, p. 29. Close-up and medium shots were achieved by mounting cameras directly on the vehicles instead of the common practice of filming the drivers from a tow that drove ahead of the targeted vehicle. To convey the appearance of speed, the filmmakers slowed the film rate of the cameras. For example, in the scenes with the Challenger and the Jaguar, the camera's film rate was slowed to half speed. The cars were traveling at approximately so that when projected at normal frame rate, they appeared to be moving much faster.
Vanishing Point was filmed on location in the American Southwest in the states of Colorado, Utah, Nevada, and California.
* Austin, Nevada
* Cisco, Utah (the ending)
* Denver, Colorado
* Esmeralda County, Nevada
* Glenwood Springs, Colorado (first motorcycle police chase)
* Goldfield, Nevada (Super Soul scenes)
* Interstate 70 in Utah
* Lander County, Nevada
* Nye County, Nevada
* Rifle, Colorado
* Thompson Springs, Utah
* Tonopah, Nevada
* Wendover, Utah
Dean Jagger's scenes were shot on the Salt Lakes of Nevada.Siegel 2008, p. 30. Super Soul's radio station was filmed in Goldfield, Nevada. All of Cleavon Little's scenes were completed in under three days.
Carey Loftin was the film's stunt coordinator and responsible for setting up and performing the major driving stunts. Loftin's resume at the time included work on Grand Prix (1966), Bullitt (1968), and The French Connection (1971). Barry Newman learned from Loftin and was encouraged by the stunt coordinator to do some of his own stunts. In the scene before Kowalski crashes into the bulldozer, Newman drove and performed a 180-degree turn on the road himself without the director's knowledge.
The 383 car was also used as the tow vehicle in the crash scene at the end of the movie. A quarter-mile cable was attached between the Challenger and an explosives-laden 1967 Chevrolet Camaro with the motor and transmission removed. The tow vehicle was driven by Loftin, who pulled the Camaro into the blades of the bulldozers at high speed. Loftin expected the car to go end over end, but instead it stuck into the bulldozers, which he thought looked better.
===Ending===
Barry Newman offered his interpretation of the film's ending in an interview printed in the March 1986 issue of Musclecar Review, "Kowalski smiles as he rushes to his death at the end of Vanishing Point because he believes he will make it through the roadblock." The August 2006 issue of Motor Trend magazine has a sidebar with Newman, in which he explains that Kowalski sees the light glinting from between the two bulldozers. "To Kowalski, it was still a hole to escape through. It symbolized that no matter how far they push or chase you, no one can truly take away your freedom and there is always an escape." Newman also thought that the entire film was an essay on existentialism. Kowalski drives to drive, with no real purpose for doing what he's doing. He decides to give his life its definition and meaning, with complete freedom over his actions.
Sarafian explained that he wanted to make Kowalski appear otherworldly and that the world within the film was a temporary existence that he was just making a stop in. At the end of the film, he was ascending from this existence into another. The lyrics of the end song underscore this interpretation: "Nobody knows, nobody sees, 'til the light of life stops burning, 'til another soul goes free."
===UK theatrical release===
The UK theatrical release of the film differs slightly from the US release in plot and running time. In the UK release, Kowalski picks up a mysterious hitchhiker (Charlotte Rampling) toward the end of the film. Kowalski accepts marijuana from her, despite refusing marijuana in several previous scenes. He stops the car when he starts feeling stoned. She says she has been "waiting for him, everywhere and since forever." When he awakens the next morning, she is gone without a trace. According to interviews with Barry Newman and commentary from the director, the hitchhiker was meant to be an allegorical figure representing death. This scene was removed from the final US version, reducing the film from 105 minutes to 98 minutes. Newman felt that the scene gave the film "an allegorical lift" but the studio was afraid that the audience would not understand.Wheeler Winston Dixon: Missing in Action: The Lost Version of Vanishing Point. Film International 3.3.2014
==Videos==
[[File:Vanishing Point Trailer|Theatrical Trailer
==Posters==
Vanishingpointmovieposter.jpg
==Stills==
==References==
==Related Links==
*IMDb page
Category:Road movies
Category:1971 films
Category:Action