Post by Ham Burgerstand on Apr 22, 2021 10:31:13 GMT -5
Maverick filmmaker, and "the best kept secret in Hollywood" has died at age 91.
“Two-Lane Blacktop,” released in 1971, is Hellman’s most lasting achievement, the film for which he is best known and which best encapsulates what is special about him as a filmmaker. The movie stars the Beach Boys’ Dennis Wilson and singer-songwriter James Taylor as characters known only as the Mechanic and the Driver. On a cross-country road trip they pick up a teenage hitchhiker played by Laurie Bird and have a series of encounters with another driver on the road, played by Warren Oates.
Made in the flush of the generational success of Dennis Hopper’s “Easy Rider,” when Hollywood studios were chasing youth audiences, “Two-Lane Blacktop” was declared the “movie of the year” by Esquire magazine, which published its screenplay.
Made in the flush of the generational success of Dennis Hopper’s “Easy Rider,” when Hollywood studios were chasing youth audiences, “Two-Lane Blacktop” was declared the “movie of the year” by Esquire magazine, which published its screenplay.
