This week’s mystery movie was the 1971 film Two-Lane Blacktop, with James Taylor, Warren Oates, Laurie Bird, Dennis Wilson, H.D. Stanton, Alan Vint, Bill Keller, Katherine Squire, George Mitchell, Kreag Caffey, A.J. Solari, Rudolph Wurlitzer and Jaclyn Hellman.
Photographic advisor Gregory Sandor.
Associate producer Gary Kurtz.
Screenplay by Rudolph Wurlitzer and Will Corry. Story by Will Corry.
Produced by Michael S. Laughlin.
Directed by Monte Hellman.
Further information on Two-Lane Blacktop is available from the AFI Catalog.
Two-Lane Blacktop is available on Blu-ray from Critics’ Choice Video.
Two-Lane Blacktop in Esquire magazine, April 1971 (paywall). Screenplay online here.
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I picked Two-Lane Blacktop as part of the tribute to the centennial of Route 66. After clunking around for years as an infamous flop, it has gained an audience. I toyed with the idea of doing a centennial tribute to Mel Brooks, but his films are too well known to ever be mystery movies.
A behind the scenes shot of filming Two-Lane Blacktop. The camera is in the trunk and the sound guy rides on the back bumper.
I’m guessing Bosley Crowther hated it.
Aha! We are in Vincent Canby territory (The New York Times July 8, 1971):
In the hearts of many Americans, I suspect, faith in God is a lot less important, less immediate and even less mystical than faith in the internal combustion engine. It’s no wonder. The internal combustion engine, especially when it is placed in an automobile, is something that can be touched, tinkered with, modified, souped up and, when necessary, dismantled, as well as worshiped as the means by which a man makes his way through life.
When your destination is without meaning, your style must be expressed through transportation, according to the wisdom of the contemporaries. Thus, nothing becomes modern man as much as the wheels in which he makes his arrivals and departures.
In Monte Hellman’s new film, Two-Lane Blacktop, which opened yesterday at the Beekman Theater, the godhead is the crankcase of the 454-cubic-inch, high-performance ’55 Chevy with aluminum heads, the car through which two young men, identified only as The Driver (James Taylor) and The Mechanic (Dennis Wilson), realize their destinies in a series of drag races in Esso country, across blacktop space and through stop-watch time.…
….Two-Lane Blacktop is a far from perfect film (those metaphors keep blocking the road), but it has been directed, acted, photographed and scored (underscored, happily) with the restraint and control of an aware, mature filmmaker.
For Monday, we have two mysterious persons and a mysterious car.
Update: This is James Taylor and Laurie Bird.
For Tuesday, we have a mysterious fellow doing mysterious things with flashlights.
Update: I was hoping this was famous racer “Big Willie” Robinson III, but as Sylvia points out, it’s not him. Robinson is listed in the credits at IMDB, but not at the AFI Catalog. I checked with motorsports expert David Freiburger, who said that he had seen flashlights used like this in street racing but that an arm drop was more common.
Brain Trust roll call: Stacia (mystery movie and Back of the Head mysterious guests), Suz n Chaz (mystery movie and Back of the Head mysterious guests) and Michael Lott (mystery movie and mysterious object on hood of mysterious car.
For “Hm Wednesday,” we have a mystery fellow in a cowboy hat.
Update: This is Bill Keller.
And we have another mysterious fellow in a cowboy hat, and Back of the Head Guy.
Update: This is H.D. (Harry Dean) Stanton, right, with Warren Oates as Back of the Head Guy.
Brain Trust roll call: Thom and Megan (mystery movie and Monday’s Back of the Head Guests).
For “Aha Thursday,” we have a mysterious guest examining two enigmatic four-barrel objects.
Update: This is Dennis Wilson with a set of dual quad carburetors.
Brain Trust roll call: Mary Mallory (mystery movie, Monday’s Back of the Head Guy No. 1, Wednesday’s mysterious hitchhikers and Back of the Head Guy), Greg (mystery movie, Monday’s Back of the Head Guy No. 1, Wednesday’s mysterious hitchhiker No. 2, Back of the Head Guy and mystery cars), Funky PhD (mystery movie Monday’s Back of the Head Guests, Wednesday’s mysterious hitchhiker No. 2 and Back of the Head Guy), Boebert (Wednesday’s mysterious hitchhiker No. 2), Sylvia (mystery movie, Monday’s Back of the Head Guests, Wednesday’s mystery guests and interesting information about mystery cars and who Tuesday’s mystery guest is not), B.J. Merholz (mystery movie and Wednesday’s mysterious hitchhiker No. 2 and Back of the Head Guy), and Allison Francis (mystery movie).
For Friday, we have a mysterious woman.
Update: This is Laurie Bird.
And a mysterious fellow.
Update: This is Warren Oates.
And our final mysterious fellow.
Update: This is James Taylor.
Brain Trust roll call: Mary Mallory (Monday’s Back of the Head Woman and Thursday’s mysterious fellow), Sarah (mystery movie, Monday’s Back of the Head Guy and Thursday’s mysterious guest), Funky PhD (Thursday’s mysterious guest), Mike Hawks (mystery movie, Monday’s Back of the Head Guy, Wednesday’s mysterious hitchhiker No. 2, Back of the Head Guy and Thursday’s mystery guest), Anne Papineau (mystery movie and Thursday’s mystery drummer) and Sylvia (Thursday’s mystery drummer and mysterious intake mechanism.
ladailymirror.com 
This is TWO-LANE BLACKTOP, that’s Laurie Bird on the right and James Taylor on the left! A series of wacky events has kept me from seeing this entire movie so I’m going to try to rectify that this week.
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“Two Lane Blacktop” 1971 with James Taylor and Laurie Bird?
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Thanks Mary. Really enjoyed reading this article.
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Oops. Thought I was still viewing Mary’s article about the Statue of Liberty.
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Two Lane Blacktop!!!! I saw the scoop for the blower through the windshield and I knew.
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Dad thought Monday’s picture looked like a rally car. Our movie is Two-Lane Blacktop with James Taylor and the tragic Laurie Bird for Monday.
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TWO LANE BLACKTOP. I was 7 when this was released. James Taylor and Dennis Wilson oth Monday, Bill Keller at right in first photo, Warren Oates BOTH and Harry Dean Stanton today.
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James Taylor and Dennis Wilson in a Chevrolet 150.
Warren Oates and Harry Dean Stanton in a Pontiac GTO.
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I forgot to mention the movie was Two-Lane Blacktop from 1971.
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Two-Lane Blacktop, with James Taylor and Laurie Bird on Monday, Warren Oates and Harry Dean Stanton on Wednesday.
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I’ll give a WAG that Wednesday is Harry Dean Stanton playing Harry Dean Stanton.
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Two Lane Blacktop 1971
Monday – the BOTH folks are James Taylor and (going by the length of the hair) Laurie Bird, I think. Could be Dennis Wilson but I don’t think it is.
Driving on Route 66 in that amazing 55 Chevy 150 with the hood scoop. Saw a clip of the “stop by the side of the road, open the hood and tweak things” – whoa!
Tuesday – The action sequence with the opening credits. The sequence involved “Big Willie” Robinson’s Daytona group, but that image is not Big Willie, who was 6’6″, massive and muscular. Maybe this unnamed guy works for him? The young man is having a “Natalie Wood in ‘Rebel'” moment as he uses the red and green lights to start the drag race. One of the cars in the sequence, the orange Daytona Charger, does belong to Big Willie.
Wednesday – 1) Bill Keller, I think
2) BOTHG is Warren Oates with Harry Dean Stanton
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Warren and Harry Dean driving the Two Lane Blacktop
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Two-Lane Blacktop?
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Laurie Bird on Monday and Dennis Wilson today.
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It’s two plane Blacktop. Thank you Dennis Wilson and James Taylor.
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**Lane** not plane😗
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Thursday’s mysterious guest is Dennis Wilson, drummer for the Beach Boys!
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James Taylor, Harry Dean Stanton, Warren Oates and Denis Wilson in TWO LANE BLACKTOP.
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Dennis Wilson looking handsome in “Two Lane Blacktop.”
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Dennis Wilson looking handsome in “Two Lane Blacktop.”
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Thursday – Dennis Wilson (taking a break from the Beach Boys) futzing around with that contraption protected by the hood scoop on top of the Chevy. His smiling face a rarity in this movie.
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Laurie Bird, Warren Oates, and James Taylor.
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Two-Lane Blacktop (1971) w/Dennis Wilson, Laurie Bird, James Taylor, Warren Oates, Harry Dean Stanton, Bill Keller, Alan Vint, Glen Rogers…
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Friday – Laurie Bird, Warren Oates and James Taylor
One of the blogs had portions of an interview that Brad Stevens did with Monte Hellman for a ‘films of Hellman…’ book he was doing. Part of Hellman’s quote on the question “What are the characters seeking?” caught my attention. Unlike the typical choices made by filmmakers (of the day) to show ‘inner turmoil,’ he said…
“… the characters don’t use drugs, aren’t violent, aren’t blown away at the end. They have just decided not to marry, raise a family, etc. They’re not making a statement – They’re just not interested.”
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That looks like James Taylor, so it has to be “Two-Lane Blacktop”.
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That’s James Taylor, so this has to be Two-Lane Blacktop
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