Harbour Highlights: Vanishing Point
18 98 mins
18 98 mins
“The question is not when's he gonna stop, but who is gonna stop him.”
Welcome to Harbour Highlights, a series of cult and classic favourite, handpicked by the staff of Harbour Lights.
This month, Matt jumps into his Dodge Challenger to speed us to 1971’s Vanishing Point. A direct inspiration on films such as Baby Driver and Death Proof – which also uses a Dodge Challenger and refers to Vanishing Point as "one of the best American movies ever made" – Vanishing Point follows Kowalski, former stock car racer and dishonourably-discharged police officer turned car delivery driver, who places a bet he can drive the 1,200+ miles between Denver and San Francisco in just 15 hours.
The result is a fast-paced car chase of a B-movie, merging music, drugs and rebellion to give a pure impression of the counterculture movement of the moment. Noted by people such as Steven Spielberg and Bruce Springsteen as one of their favourite films of all-time, the film would not only go on to inspire the films above but mediums such as video games and music (Primal Scream’s 1997 album ‘Vanishing Pont’ was their attempt to capture “the air of paranoia and speed-freak righteousness” of the film). A film that runs on pure adrenaline, don’t miss your chance to see it on the big screen.