Personal Comments on the Movies
The 1968 action-film, BULLITT starring Steve McQueen and Robert Vaughn and
the 1971 action-film, VANISHING-POINT starring Barry Newman and Cleavon
Little both share a common interest place of San-Francisco. Steve McQueen
stars as Lt. Frank Bullitt whom is a cop that lives in San-Francisco and
Barry Newman stars as Kowalski whom is an ex-cop now turned car-delivery
driver on a personal mission to get from Denver Colorado to San-Francisco
in 12 hours. BULLITT and VANISHING-POINT also share a common interest of
high-speed. Lt. Frank Bullitt and Kowalski are cool, tough, quiet and
moody. Furthermore, they're both just laid-back and just take everything
all in but take actions when the need arises.
What makes BULLITT AND VANISHING-POINT special and unique is that they are
unique, believable authentic action-films for their times. Furthermore,
BULLITT and VANISHING-POINT are enjoyable films that still stand the tests
of time. Rebellious speed is also what makes BULLITT and VANISHING-POINT
very special. A nice tribute to BULLITT in the form of a limited-edition
2001 Ford Mustang GT's that had the "BULLITT" treatment and trim was a
nice gesture to pay tribute to the film and to the late actor Steve
McQueen.
A remake of the original 1971 VANISHING-POINT was made in 1997. Don't get
me wrong! The intentions of the 1997 remake were good however, to me, it
doesn't hold a candle to the original 1971 version because for one, the
acting, feel, unity and the spirituality in the 1971 version was natural,
heart-felt and unrehearsed. Furthermore, though there was information
given about Kowalski's life and past there was still A LOT of mystery
about the good-hearted but yet, silent, moody, rebel tough-guy which added
more flavor to the 1971 Movie. There was no mystery about Kowalski in the
1997 version of VANISHING-POINT, whatsoever. What made you wonder too, is
why did Kowalski have to be in Frisco in 12 hours. This added more mystery
and excitement to the movie. There was no mystery to the 1997 version of
VANISHING-POINT. I was VERY UPSET when that black 1968 Dodge Charger R/T
got wrecked in the 1997 version of VANISHING-POINT. My reaction was the
same when the black 1970 Dodge Charger in the 2001 edition of THE FAST AND
THE FURIOUS staring Vin Diesel got totaled.
I'm not trying to say that the 1997 remake of VANISHING-POINT was awful
because in all-due fairness, there were a couple of parts in the original
1971 version that I didn't really care for such as when the cop tried to
rape the young woman in the back of the police cruiser and also when
Super-Soul and his CO-DJ got racially slurred and assaulted. Other than
those two parts the 1971 version of VANISHING-POINT was really great. I
did feel a little better when Kowalski sort of "took care of" that cop
that tried to rape that young woman and she was able to get away unharmed.
I also felt a little better when Super-Soul had the courage to come back
to the radio-station and continue to broadcast, in spite of what happened.
All the poems that I've written about VANISHING-POINT are about the
original 1971 version. Two songs by The Grassroots titled: "Sooner Or
Later, Love Is Gonna' Getcha'" and "Two Divided By Love" would
have also
blended in nicely with the movie and it's other songs and music too. In
the poem titled: "Creation Soul" on my VANISHING-POINT tribute page I
want
to enlighten everyone to the fact that Kowalski's time and final few days
matched those of Janis Joplin's. She's the "Precious Human-Being" that
I'm
referring to in the poem, "Creation Soul". If there were ever a time
that
the original 1971 movie VANISHING-POINT were to be remade, the songs that
I've mentioned in my VANISHING-POINT tribute poems would be the songs that
I would have in the film. The same would apply for the 1968 action-film,
BULLITT too. BULLITT and VANISHING-POINT are both great films.
MGT
Copyright©2003 Mark Turns.