Screenplay by Rudy Wurlitzer. Will Corry (Story)

Drag racing east from L.A. in a souped-up '55 Chevy are the wayward Driver and Mechanic (singer-songwriter James Taylor and the Beach Boys' Dennis Wilson, in their only acting roles), accompanied by the tagalong Girl (Laurie Bird). Along the way they meet Warren Oates' Pontiac GTO-driving wanderer and challenge him to a cross-country race — at stake: their cars' pink slips. Yet no summary can do justice to the existential punch of Two-Lane Blacktop. Maverick director Monte Hellman's stripped-down narrative, gorgeous widescreen compositions and sophisticated look at American male obsessions make this one of the artistic high points of 1970s cinema, and possibly the greatest road movie ever made.

103 min., Color

Limited Edition DVD Includes: Widescreen VHS Presentation ~ Documentary Monte Hellman: American Auteur ~ Theatrical Trailer ~ 48 page Collector’s Book — ISBN 0 7640 0758 0 — 1999

Published Screenplay of Two-Lane Blacktop by Rudy Wurlitzer, Broadway Books, 1973

Foreign Versions — A Estrada Não Tem Fim — (Portugal); "Asphaltrennen" — (West Germany); "Carretera asfaltada en dos direcciones" — (Spain); "Corrida Sem Fim" — (Brazil); "Fortare än döden"- (Sweden); "Macadam à deux voies" — (France); Strada a doppia corsia" — (Italy); (Released for TV in Finland under English title)

  

New 2007 Criterion Collection Edition Double DVD includes: Director-Approved Special edition with new, restored high-def digital transfer and Dolby Digital soundtrack, supervised and approved by director Monte Hellman. Book of the screenplay by Rudy Wurlitzer. Audio commentaries by Hellman and filmmaker Allison Anders, and one by screenwriter Rudy Wurlitzer and author David Meyer. Plus many other extras — ISBN 1 5515 02692 — 2007.

Buy the CRITERION DVD of TWO-LANE BLACKTOP at Amazon.com, click below:

The original trailer for Monte Hellman's "Two-Lane Blacktop"

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