Two-Lane Blacktop

Synopsis: The Driver and The Mechanic are two car freaks driving a 1955 Chevy throughout the southwestern U.S. looking for other cars to race. They are totally dedicated to The Car and converse with each other only when necessary. At a gas station, The Driver and The Mechanic, along with a girl who has ingratiated herself into their world, meet G.T.O., a middle-aged man who fabricates stories about his exploits. It is decided to have a race to Washington, D.C., where the winner will get the loser's car. Along the way, the race and the highway metaphorically depict the lives of these contestants as they struggle to their destination.
Genre: Drama
Director(s): Monte Hellman
Production: Universal Pictures
  1 win & 2 nominations.
 
IMDB:
7.3
Rotten Tomatoes:
94%
R
Year:
1971
102 min
1,833 Views


In Hollywood, 54 degrees.

# 93 KHJ #

#KCRC, San Bernardino #

Radio for California -

Keeping an eye out the window,

we have the showers -

There.

That Plymouth had a hemi

with a torque flight.

I believe we sawed the guy off,

even if we did lose 200.

- What do you need?

- High-test.

- Want me to fill it up?

- Yup.

Where's the gas tank at?

- Chevy block?

- Yeah.

Sure looks like

an awful lot of work.

396?

- 454.

- No sh*t?

- What kind of transmission?

- Four-speed.

- You build the headers?

- Yeah.

How fast will she run?

It depends on who's around.

Anything fast around here?

Got a Thames panel truck.

It's got a little bit

of transmission trouble right now though.

Probably blow our doors

right off, wouldn't it?

This is K-triple "A" radio, Kingman,

the alphabetical apex of Arizona -

#Mmm, oh, woman, oh, woman

oh, you treat me so mean #

# The meanest old woman

that I've ever seen #

#I guess if you say it's so #

#I got to pack my things and go #

# That's right, hit the road, Jack #

# Whoa, and don't you come back #

#No more, no more, no more, no more #

#Hit the road, Jack

and don't you come back no more #

- # Whoa, now #

- #Hit the road, Jack #

#And don't you come back

no more, no more, no more, no more #

#Hit the road, Jack

and don't you come back no more #

# Oh, yeah #

# Yeah ##

Ha ha hal

It's really bumpy back here.

What kind of car is this anyway?

You guys aren't the Zodiac killers

or anything like that, are you?

J ust passin' through.

L.P.'s truck was worse.

Wouldn't even be up in the morning

before he wanted to smoke up a joint.

Supposed to go to the Grand Canyon...

but he kept getting stoned

and pulling off to the side of the road.

- Say, which way are we going?

- East.

That's cool.

I've never been east.

She don't seem to be

breathin' right.

Might be the jets.

# Stealin', stealin' #

# Pretty mama

don't you tell on me #

# I'm stealing back

to my same old used-to-be ##

Don't you wanna race him?

Isn't that what you guys do?

I mean, didn't a car

just come up and challenge you?

It's too heavy

to do in a Porsche just for kicks.

We'd take him in the quarter mile,

but he'd probably lose us in long time.

How much bread we got?

We got 300 racing bread,

20 to spend.

# Whoo-hah #

Excuse me, sir.

Could you spare some change?

I need to catch a bus

for San Francisco.

Thank you very much. Excuse me, sir.

I'm trying to catch a bus back to San Francisco.

- I got sick and I -

- Good luck. Good luck to you.

And the greatest

selection of flared slacks and jeans.

- Excuse me, sir.

I'm trying to catch a bus

back to San Francisco.

I got sick, and I used up the allowance

my parents gave me, and I have to get back.

I need some money

to catch the bus.

Excuse me, sir.

I'm trying to catch the bus back

to San Francisco. Can you help me out?

- You need money?

- Can you spare any change?

- I - H-He can't?

- Well, I

I'm trying to catch the bus

back to San Francisco.

- You're gonna need a lot.

- You're welcome.

- Can you wait till Monday?

There's a '70 Camaro.

A '68 Barracuda.

Nothing there.

There's a Roadrunner

with a hemi in it.

'70 'Cuda.

They got some muscle here tonight.

Hey.

Old '55.

Listen, all we gotta do is rope one.

#Surrender to the waking world #

- I think I spotted something.

It's a '32 Ford.

It's got a 427 in it.

And, uh, those are Carter carburetors.

Eleven inches of rubber on the rear.

#Moonlight drive #

#Let's swim to the moon #

#Let's climb through the tide #

- Clean machine.

It's clean enough.

Not bad for home-grown.

It's a little bit more than that, sonny.

Say, you must have somethin'

real special here.

Gee, mister,

I'll bet it's pretty quick.

You wanna find out?

Well, ordinarily, I'd jump

at the, uh, opportunity...

but the thing is, I'm just not in the habit of seeing

the Chevy work against a two-bit piece of junk.

Let's make it 50.

Make it three yards, motherf***er,

and we'll have an automobile race.

Hey, this guy just bet 300 bucks!

- Where to?

- Airport Road. You can follow me.

I'll walk to the motel.

#And I wanna see the country #

Uh, let me have, uh, a glass -

a shot of rye and a glass of beer, please.

#He's a very fine man

and I don't wanna rest #

#And as a matter of fact

there just ain't nothin'he lacks #

# You know

he's sure got me guessin'#

#So if you wanna play

well, I will stay here all day #

#And I won't even taunt you #

#So you can try and hold me down

or even push me around and be a jerk #

# Or you can do just about

any other little things you want to ##

Now I don't even know who I am anymore.

So you got a little upset,

and I backed off.

Now I can't do it anymore.

You get upset now,

you've upset me, and I get angry.

- Well, don't do it.

- Look, you're not-

Let me have a double scotch on the rocks

with a twist, and a beer on the side.

- All right.

- You wanna use me. I'm tired of that.

I'm not gonna deal with that, baby.

Every time I hit you where it hurts,

you don't wanna deal with it.

I want a response from you.

Don't you withdraw from me...

because every time I need you,

you withdraw from me.

You don't need me.

You need a lamppost out in the street.

If I walk out of here tonight,

I'm walking out.

- You're out of your f***ing tree.

- Oh, f*** you! F*** you!

Yeahl

Yeahl

- Where you goin'?

- Amarillo.

Well, you're in luck.

Thank God Almighty, mister.

She's got a hard pull, doesn't she?

Zero to 60 in 7.5.

She'll do a quarter of a mile, 13.40.

Rerformance and image -

that's what it's all about.

It's a mighty fancy automobile.

I bought her in Bakersfield, California.

I was testing jets at the time.

It got so I wasn't getting enough action

on the ground. You know what I mean.

I mean, you just can't stay

with the same high forever.

So, when the 455 came out with

a Mark IV ram air and a beefed blower in...

a Carter high-riser setup,

I was on line.

390 horsepower.

500 foot pounds of torque...

whatever that is.

It's all in the folder right there in the glove

compartment, if you wanna take a look at it.

Oh, she's a real road king, all right.

How come you ain't

still in Bakersfield?

Because I'm in the Southwest.

What kind of sounds you like?

- Beg pardon?

- Rock? Soul? Hillbilly?

Western.

- What's your taste?

- It don't hardly matter to me.

Might be a fouled plug.

Wish we were back in Santa Fe.

So, after I got shot down twice

over Korea...

I decided it was time

for some fun and games.

Take a couple years off.

You know what I mean?

Then I ran out of cash

and had to take a job testing jets.

After a while it got so that I needed

a little more action on the ground.

I mean, you can't stay

with the same high forever. Right?

Well, about that time the 455

came out with a Mark IV ram air...

and a beefed blower -

Those son of a b*tches.

They've been following me

clear across two states.

Three states.

They keep wanting to challenge me.

They come up behind me

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Rudy Wurlitzer

Rudolph "Rudy" Wurlitzer (born January 3, 1937) is an American novelist and screenwriter.Wurlitzer's fiction includes Nog, Flats, Quake, Slow Fade, and Drop Edge of Yonder. He is also the author of the travel memoir, Hard Travel to Sacred Places, an account of his spiritual journey through Asia after the death of his wife Lynn Davis' 21-year-old son. more…

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