Monte Hellman · 1971 · road

Monte Hellman's 1971 existential road movie. Two near-silent gearheads drift east along Route 66 in a primer-grey '55 Chevy, living race to race, until a boastful stranger in a new GTO dares them to a cross-country dash to Washington, D.C. - pink slips to the winner. A girl drifts in and out of the car and the race, until the contest, like everything else, evaporates into the American road.

1. 1
   Needles

   The Driver and the Mechanic run their souped-up '55 Chevy east out of the California desert along old Route 66, drifting town to town and hustling drag races for gas money.

2. 2
   Flagstaff

   In Arizona a wandering hitchhiker, the Girl, climbs into the back seat and quietly unsettles the two men's wordless partnership as the highway rolls on.

3. 3
   New Mexico

   They fall in with a boastful older man in a bright new Pontiac GTO, and a bet takes shape: a cross-country race to Washington, D.C., the pink slip of the loser's car to the winner.

4. 4
   East Tennessee

   The race loosens as it runs east - the drivers swapping food, passengers, even cars - until the rivalry dissolves and the point of the dash quietly slips away somewhere in the Appalachian South.

5. 5
   Washington, D.C.

   The nominal finish line neither car is ever shown reaching - the film simply strands its drivers mid-race and lets the celluloid itself catch fire and burn away.