“Two-Lane Blacktop” (1971): A languid, existential journey rather than a heart-pounding adventure, and that’s what makes director Monte Hellman’s film so fascinating. James Taylor and Dennis Wilson play two nameless and meandering auto racers: a driver and a mechanic, respectively. They end up in a showdown in their ’55 Chevy with a big talker in a ’70 G.T.O. (Warren Oates) who is named, aptly, G.T.O. Along with the girl who randomly showed up and insinuated herself in their lives, they agree to race G.T.O. to Washington. The pervasive feeling of detachment is meant to metaphor for a national sense of melancholy at the end of the 1960s. But you’re welcome to just enjoy the cars.
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