QZ qz thoughts
a blog from Eli the Bearded

Vanishing Point


At imdb, people who liked Two Lane Blacktop also liked Vanishing Point, so I found it to watch, the 1971 version not the remake.

Scott Dorsey offered to let me watch his print — if I were in the same state as him — and said Clevon Little was worth the price of admission. I've trusted Scott Dorsey's movie recommendations before, but I'm going to have to disagree with his opinion here: Super Soul (Clevon Little) was the most annoying part of the movie. Psychic DJ and just-so disembodied guide voice just isn't my scene.

I'd never watched it before, but I had seen a scene from the film. The snake hunting prospector to faith-healer viper buyer bit. It was another hard to accept (in the suspension of disbelief sense) sequence. Not that those people might not have existed, but that they'd be there where Kowalski has run short of gas.

Amusing trivia: According to imdb, Gilda Texter was the "Nude Rider", but then she went on to a long career in movie costuming. (you can see Gilda has shoes on in one scene, so not completely nude.)