Two-Lane Blacktop

Two-Lane Blacktop (1971)

Timing: 1:42 (102 min)

6.922/10
218

6.999/10
2292

7.2/10
14000

All about film

Video 3

Photo 2

Actors and characters

Release date

1971-07-07

Country

United States

Production

Universal Pictures, Michael Laughlin Enterprises

Genre

Drama

Budget

$850 000

Revenue

$0

Website

Director

Monte Hellman

Actors

James Taylor, Warren Oates, Dennis Wilson, Laurie Bird, Rudy Wurlitzer, Harry Dean Stanton, Jaclyn Hellman, Alan Vint, Katherine Squire, Bill Keller
All actors and roles (10)

Scenario

Producer

Michael Laughlin

Operator

Jack Deerson

Composer

Artist

Audition

Fred Roos, Jennifer Shull

Editing

Monte Hellman
All team (24)

• No makeup was applied to any of the actors.
• By 1983, three out of the four actors who appeared in the film were already dead. Actress and photographer Lori Bird committed suicide in 1979, Warren Oates died of a heart attack at the age of 53 in 1982, and Dennis Wilson (drummer, vocalist and composer of The Beach Boys) drowned a year later.
• Esquire magazine named the film 'Two-Lane Blacktop' film of the year and even published its full screenplay.
• The film ended up being 3.5 hours long. The contract with the studio required director Monte Hellman to shoot a 2-hour film.
• Of the four actors in the main roles, only Warren Oates had previously appeared in films.
• Upon release, the film was not a commercial success, but in 2012 it was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry of the U.S. Library of Congress.
• Most of the racing scenes were filmed with stunt drivers.
• Filming took 8 weeks between August and October 1970.
• Monte Hellman came up with the film's ending in a dream.
• The film's crew consisted of 30 people.