Product Description

When an ex-cop and race car driver named Kowalski makes a bet that he can deliver a 1970 Dodge Challenger from Colorado to San Francisco in less than fifteen hours he meets a variety of colorful characters along the way and is soon chased by the police.
Genre: Feature Film-Action/Adventure
Rating: R
Release Date: 6-FEB-2007
Media Type: DVD

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #353 in DVD
• Brand: NEWMAN,BARRY
• Released on: 2004-02-03
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, Color, DVD-Video, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English, Spanish
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish
• Dubbed in: French
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 98 minutes

Amazon.com
Art film and road movie collide for Vanishing Point, an existential car chase across the desert in a post Easy Rider America. Barry Newman stars as Kowalski, a taciturn driver who bets that he can drive a new Dodge Challenger from Denver to San Francisco in 15 hours. He loads up on amphetamines and begins his odyssey through the contemporary west while a funky black DJ (Cleavon Little) turns the driver into a folk hero and broadcasts advice on dodging the cops. It's like a counterculture precursor to Smokey and the Bandit, with the road as the last bastion of freedom and the DJ as a combination commentator and mystical guide. The slim plot offers a network of society drop-outs that aid the "last free Man on Earth" (as the DJ describes him) on his obscure but obviously symbolic quest while flashbacks paint Kowalski as a world-weary hero. It doesn't really make much sense, but the amazing car chases and excellent stunt work are stunningly set against the American west, beautifully captured by cinematographer John A. Alonzo. Vanishing Point is most assuredly a product of its time, the heady, anything-goes era of rebellion in the early 1970s. --Sean Axmaker

Customer Reviews

cult movie
Good Picture Quality, Good Sound Quality, Excallent Remake On DVD of an old early 70's movie.

one of the greatest car movies of all time
Lots of great chase scenes, and action. This movie shows the spirit of the American Muscle car.

Excellent movie whether you're a car guy or not!
I rented Vanishing Point because I'm a car nut, and especially like the old muscle cars of the '60s and '70s like the 1970 Dodge Challenger that's driven in the film. The movie definately satisfies the car nut in me, with all of the chase scenes, but if you rent it just for that you're missing the whole point of the film. Vanishing Point is the story of an ex-cop, ex-Vietnam Vet named Kowalski. He's tasked with the job of delivering a 1970 Challenger from Denver to San Francisco. For fun, he makes a bet with his drug dealer that he can make the trip in only 15 hours. Along the way he is helped by a blind DJ named Super Soul who gives him advice over the radio for avoiding the cops. I found the movie to be very spiritual and symbolic. Kowalski seems like just a stoned-out, law breaking, speed freak, which he is, but the movie gives us a glimpse into how he became that way through a series of flashbacks into Kowalski's life. It seems like everytime Kowalski tried to do the right thing, it came back to haunt him. Along the way, he becomes sort of an anti-hero, fighting the establishment that has let him down. I won't give away the ending if you haven't seen the film, but I loved it. It's just the way this guy should have gone out! Get this movie! 4 Stars!