Esquire magazine printed the entire screenplay in its April ’71 issue before the movie was even released and boldly declared Two-Lane Blacktop as, “The Film of the Year.” Set largely on old Route 66, which had seen better days, filming locations stretched from California to Tennessee, and the project was wrapped up in two months for mere pocket change– $950,000. And while it wouldn’t quite live up to Universal’s expectations (who did little to promote it) and become a commercial success by anyone’s standards– it would survive the test of time to become a cultural icon, and one of the most loved road films ever made. There still a lot of love for Two-Lane Blacktop– even after all these ears. Sadly, there aren’t a lot of great studio stills that have survived– finding decent pics on the internet was slim pickings. I’ve had a few squirreled away for a spell (courtesy of Performance Pontiac Magazine, go figure) and so out they now shall come– along with a few tidbits from behind the camera.
“Dennis Wilson (of Beach Boys fame) was the last one to come onboard, after I ran through every actor and some other musicians. As a matter of fact, we even met with Randy Newman. Fred Roos, the casting director, finally suggested Dennis. If memory serves, I saw Robert DeNiro, Al Pacino, and James Caan; I think I saw every young actor in Hollywood. Dennis was very easy going. The only problem was that he was having so much fun that it was hard to find him when we were ready to shoot because he was off somewhere playing all the time.” –Director Monte Hellman
Not even the rain halted shooting of Two-Lane Blacktop. In fact, Monte Hellman credits the rain for adding excitement to an otherwise slow-paced scene when the characters arrive in Boswell, Oklahoma, early in the morning to find the town asleep. Things were so organic on the set that there was no makeup artist. The actors were simply instructed to “get a tan” before shooting began. –via Performance Pontiac Magazine
“One (of the ’55 Chevy used for the movie) was an authentic race car and was too loud inside to record dialogue. The second had a smaller engine in it and was quieter. The last one was a stunt car, so it had a rollbar and equipment for the stunt shots. James had to do a launch in the ’55, which was shot from behind. What he didn’t know was that the transmission was mistakenly put into Reverse by whoever was in charge of the car. He was told to pop the clutch [at 6,500 rpm] and when he did, the ’55 started going backwards instead of forwards. Happily, he stopped it before running over the crew and the cameras. James said he blew up the transmission and broke the driveshaft and rear when he popped the clutch and it went backwards…” –Director Monte Hellman
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