Past the point of no return

I must say I enjoyed the scenery in this movie. I’m heading West after graduation to work at Yellowstone and it was neat to see the wide open road spreading out in front of Kowalski. My eye was always drawn to what was around the next bend in the road. I especially loved the shots when the car would come zooming from one side of the screen to the next, then it would cut to the car a few miles down the road doing the same thing.

Kowalski was a huge mystery to me during Vanishing Point. It seemed like the one thing he wanted to do was drive, and drive fast. The random flashbacks to him with his lover, as a racecar driver, and then as a cop did little to ease my confusion about him. He wasn’t your normal protagonist at all. Yes, he did go on a journey, but he as a person didn’t really get anywhere because of it. There really was no character development and his interaction with people was always a little bit off.

When the chick on the naked bike offered him anything he wanted I was completely caught off guard when he didn’t go for it. I guess I expected him to act as any other male character normally would, but it seemed as if this movie was trying to mess with our heads a little bit when it came to expectations.

I guess as much as this movie was about being on the big open road it was also about being stuck in a sense. Beck mentions this in the reading as well, although I don’t really know what to make of how he goes about saying it. Kowalski knew that he was not going to get out of the clutches of the cops no matter how far he drove, so he decided to bite the bullet and die instead of ending up in captivity.

Throughout all of this rather depressing Kowalski business there was the shining beacon of Super Soul, but he also is down trodden by “the man” at one point. Unlike Kowalski he doesn’t give up hope. He goes back to his boarded up station and continues to send hope his way, although in the end it doesn’t work out. I guess “the man” wins this one and I think this is a testament to the political turmoil that America was in during the 60’s and 70’s.

This post feels awfully disjointed, ugh.