I watched this 1975 picture like a deep-sea diver exploring the awful depths for the strange, fascinating, and ugly fish that are forgotten treasures of garbage film-making.
The protagonists of Easy Rider (Peter Fonda) and Two-Lane Blacktop (Warren Oates) are locked in a full-fledged road war in this film. The plot revolves around two vacationing racing mechanics and their wives (Loretta Swit and Lara Parker) driving their Winnebago north to Aspen, and witnessing a rite by a group of hillbilly Satanists while stopped along the way – this is the film for those of you who, like me, wondered where that awesome sacrifice Tom Hanks watches on TV in The ‘Burbs came from.
Following that, there’s a lot of anxiety about leering and smiling locals who could or might not be engaged in the scheme, and then there’s some hard-panting chases. The action sequences are fantastic, which is fortunate given the rest of the film’s stiff language and bland, style-deficient directing.
The screenplay fails to probe anything beyond the apparent dramatics, and although it raises the possibility of depth, satire, and mystery, it snubs it all in favour of straight-ahead action and jaw-clenching heroics (whilst the women cry and weep over the family dog). Only Oates keeps his conviction among the cast; as the local sheriff, R.G. Armstrong puts on his trademark redneck bully display.
Has one of those anti-climactic, nonsensical, and very ’70s cynical endings. It seems to have cost at least four times as much as The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and The Hills Have Eyes combined, and it has a considerably greater cast, yet it isn’t anywhere close to being as terrific. However, I believe this affected both the Craven picture and the Mad Max movies.
