Flix

Netflix “on demand” or whatever they might call it is pretty cool. It allows me to watch video on my Xbox360 (thanks bin). It downloads pretty near instantly. It does not, however, have a huge library currently. Even the “late night Cinemax” section is pretty lame. It has forced me to dig a bit deeper, search for hidden gems. The best things I’ve watched have been Death Proof, Get Carter (the 70’s version with Michael Caine), New York Doll, and Dig. Last night I watched Vanishing Point from ’71. Kurt Russell’s character in Death Proof references it and The Commodore had recommended it, so I gave it a shot. Interesting film, to be sure.

There is very little dialogue in it, nearly all of it unimportant. Cleavon Little is pretty near horrible as a blind DJ, Barry Newman is wooden and stolid as the lead. The plot is odd, stunted, disregarded. Sadly, even the young lady who is nude for her entire 5 minutes of film time and rides a motorcycle around in the desert is not all that pretty. IMDB tells us that after this credit as Nude Motorcycle Rider she became a wardrobe consultant…odd. But wow…it is shot beautifully. John Alonzo really nails the look of western Colorado, Utah, and Nevada. The vistas of lonely roads with that white Challenger roaring down them are as American as apple pie and violence. The action scenes are well done, the stunt work clearly harrowing. I enjoyed myself through nearly the whole thing. I’d recommend it to car buffs, fans of odd 70’s cinema, and of course car chase fans.