Dodge Challengers and Möbius Strips: Director Richard C. Sarafian on "Vanishing Point"

Next Tuesday Fox Home Entertainment releases a revamped DVD of the 1971 cult classic Vanishing Point in both standard definition and Blu-ray editions. Both look very fine indeed, but if you've got the equipment, the Blu-ray is the one to get. The film itself is an oddball piece that's very much of its time. Point is the story of an enigmatic driver, one "Kowalski" (played by Barry Newman, seen below with Lee Weaver), who, for reasons that remain known only to himself even after we get his back story via a series of flashbacks, is compelled to attempt a Denver-to-San Francisco jaunt...in 15 hours. Naturally his efforts attract the attention of law enforcement officials in a number of states, not to mention a blind radio DJ named "Super Soul" who becomes Kowalski's cheerleader and confessor. A combination crazy chase movie, Easy Rider-esque examination of "America," and a one-part-existentialism/one-part-mystic philosophical statement, Vanishing Point remains both compelling...and breathtakingly beautiful. Director Richard C. Sarafian followed the film with another picture chockablock with memorable imagery, Man In The Wilderness, and went on to direct and act in many other pictures, but Point remains a unique high for him. We recently spoke about it with the director, who turns 79 this year. Some spoilers are revealed in the interview, just so you know.

SCR: Vanishing Point is a movie that has fantastic imagery; you worked here with the  first rate cinematographer, John Alonzo.  The screenplay was written, under a pseudonym, “Guillermo Cain,” by the great Cuban writer Gabriel Cabrera Infante.  I wonder if you'd just give me a little bit of the background as how this very unusual film came into being, and then maybe let's talk about the process by which you created the visuals. 

SARAFIAN: I was in London and I was considering several other screenplays at the time.  One was Downhill Racer.  The other one was Serpico, and then Love Story.  At the moment I had just completed a movie that ultimately was called Run Wild, Run Free, about autism.  Anyhow, my wife, now my ex-wife, Robert Altman's sister, convinced me that I would have more fun with Vanishing Point, ‘cause it had a lot more to say and was more of a challenge for me as a director.  This was as I was considering Downhill Racer with Gene Hackman; I thought the challenge of that piece was to get into the molecule or the essence of speed and to transfer that—what Jean-Claude Killy might have seen, felt and experienced—into the audio-visual medium and the challenge of that, reaching for that. [Racer was eventually made by Michael Ritchie, starring Robert Redford—Ed.] But I didn't think that I would function well in that world.  I'd been overweight—I'm fat.  But here comes Vanishing Point, written by Guillermo, who was at one time Castro's Minister of Information, who apparently had read Jack Kerouac's On The Road, and was now writing this very graphic visual piece…and the essence of it was about freedom.  And so I saw it as about the road being an endless road and that the demise of our hero doesn't end at the bulldozer, that he goes on.  

And so that was taken, again, from a concept that's maybe a little bit too esoteric, in terms of a German mathematician by the name of Möbius who wrote about time as a strip; he took a ribbon and twisted it and then tied the ends together; what you get is an elliptical band.  So that the end of it, that there is no end to the road, that we go on, and to another dimension maybe.  So it's very hopeful, maybe, very spiritual kind of--as far as that.  [Then studio head] Richard Zanuck said to me, “Richard, does he die in the end?”  I told him, I said, “Mr. Zanuck, it depends on your…your view.”  There was a second ending that was never added, which he wouldn't accept.  And that ending was that when Kowalski heads for the crack between the two bulldozers…it was soundless.  And visually it's the same, but Super Soul goes, “Yeah,” and celebrates the moment.  So when he screened the picture, he said “Oh, Richard, he's got to die.”  I said, “Well, OK, Mr. Zanuck.” And I think the spirit, at least in terms of what I wanted to say was, you know, as Kim Carnes sings in the end credits, “Nobody knows, nobody sees, till the light of life is ended and another soul goes free.”  Now, if I tried to explain that to the head of a studio, they'd throw a net over you. So for me it was like sneaking under the tent while the devil had his back turned. What I think is that maybe I've allowed the audience to see it through their own prism in terms of what it's about, you know.

SCR: That ties in with the characters who seem to serve some symbolic functions, specifically the hitchhiker played by Charlotte Rampling, who was cut out of the U.S. version, but appears in the film late in the U.K version of the picture, which is also included in this DVD release. 

SARAFIAN:  Yeah.  Symbolizing death, and warning him that where we are now in our existence here is an absurd bind.  I mean, we're all moving through this dimension at our own speed, some of us, like Kowalski, faster than the others, you know, on to another level. That's how I thought in terms of his ultimate so-called demise, and that in terms of him moving on and to another plane. That there's more to it than this. 

SCR:  What was the actual physical shoot like?

SARAFIAN:  It was a joy. I was with a short crew, 18 man crew, we were able to travel from hundreds of miles a day to get the right light, to get the right location and to do the photography. We didn't have any money but we had an exceptional crew and John Alonzo, of course, collaborating with him was like …well, without him it would have been a half pair of scissors.  And it was almost instinctive.  We did a lot of improvisation, particularly the scene in the desert with the prospector. Delaney and Bonnie and Friends, when that group came out to the desert for their scene, they didn't want to do the scene because it was against their beliefs--so I rewrote it on the spot.

Delaney (far right), Bonnie (holding babies), and, in pigtails, Rita Coolidge—all part of Vanishing Point's traveling salvation show.

I mean, I got to a point where Zanuck called me and he says, you know, you're going over budget, you got to help me, cause Mom and Dad, they're threatening to fire me.  And I said, well Mr. Zanuck, I'll do what I can.  I went back and did a lot of trimming of the script.  And I took 20 pages out of it. He had tears in his eyes at the moment. He ultimately did get fired.

Max Balchowsky, who was my mechanic, is unheralded; he kept the cars alive.  He exchanged parts at night.  But he was famous during the early 60's from building the car called Old Yeller 2. Carey Loftin, the stunt coordinator, of course, famous for Bullitt before that I had met him when I did a documentary for the National Safety Council in the early 50's.  But there's no question, I mean so many directors, they all have the great crew.  But how many can say with an 18 man crew?  And no money; $600,000, $700,000 below the line doing a studio movie.  It was amazing.  But it was a joy.

SCR: Now about the car, the white Dodge Challenger that Kowalski drives. Quentin Tarantino, in the picture he made last year, Death Proof, paid homage to Vanishing Point and particularly with regard to the car. You're thanked in the credits of that film.  Did you consult with Tarantino at all on this re-release of Vanishing Point?

SARAFIAN:  No, I'm disappointed.  He had an opportunity to participate in the Blu-Ray but walked away from it.  But the car…well, the car came about partially because of the actor. At first I balked at Barry Newman being the star, ‘cause I had other possibilities and I felt…all I wanted was the adult male that looked like he belonged behind the wheel.  And I had several major actors in mind that might have made a difference.  It didn't turn out that way. It came back to me that either I use Barry Newman or Zanuck wasn't going to make the picture.  I said, “Well, Mr. Zanuck, I'm going to make the car the star.”  And he said, “I knew you'd see it my way.”  And he took me out to the parking lot and he showed me a whole bunch of cars that were out there.  At that moment I didn't know what the hell I was looking at. The final decision came from stunt coordinator Carey Loftin, and Chrysler, and his choice was the Dodge Challenger, which was a 440 V-8 without the hemi.  So there again, here was a challenge of making that car perform what it had to do at that time.  And Max Balchowsky of course being the genius mechanic who was able to make whatever modifications necessary in terms of suspension and more, because no cars were actually built to do what we were making them do! I think we used up four.  Four or five cars.  I'd like to own one today.  I heard one went at auction for a million. 

Comments

[Peter Nellhaus]

The Mobius Strip or the missing twenty pages will suffice as an explanation on how Kowalksi could drive from Colorado to Nevada and skip Utah. I did think of "Vanishing Point" on my own drive the opposite direction, from San Francisco to Denver in a 1986 Volvo 240DL.

[THE FUTURIST!]

This movie was cheese. Now, it's smelly expired cheese.

[THE FUTURIST!]

Even better: Vanishing Point was cheese. Now, it's smelly expired blu-cheese.

[don r. lewis]

I kinda love "Vanishing Point" because it's just so odd. I'm not sure it actually works but I love it (and love re-watching it) for many for many of the same reasons I love "Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia." Those movies are just such awesome capsules of time and the type of brash, ballsy films we'll never see again. Well, never see without 80 cuts per minute and glossy photography.

And there's alot going on at once, which Sarafian touches on when he's talking about the philosophical message intertwined in this movie that's a car movie about a druggie racing across the Western states for no *real* reason. I love how the heavy, yet kind of touchy-feely ideals get smashed up against the big old block engine and cheesy acting. It all works in a weird way for me. Again, alot like "Alfredo Garcia." In fact, until I saw the movie again about 3 years ago, I had placed Warren Oates in it in my mind.

Cool interview, GK!

[Adam R.]

It's truly astonishing the Infante wrote this film, which, atmospherics aside, is an enjoyable-enough period piece. This sort of genre work coming from the author of Three Trapped Tigers is like Joyce doing punchups on d-grade Oaters. I'm not trying to come off pretentious, I swear, but it's a rare combination of literary genius and highly generic material. If I'm wrong with that claim, I'd love to be corrected.

Glenn, I know you reviewed Perec's A Man Asleep adaptation recently, and that Perec himself stated he preferred commercial "product" over the to-be-expected art film. I'd love if a writer of his temperament got hold of a rote screenplay and added their own signature to it - something like the murder mystery involution of his unfinished 53 Days, maybe.

[Herman Scobie]

Sarafian directed one of the best TV episodes I've ever seen: "Home to Judgment," on disc three of I Spy season 3. Written by Robert Culp, the episode, perhaps influenced by Bonnie and Clyde, strives for an existential statement about the relationship between violence and identity. Sarafian always seems to have the camera in the right place as Culp and Cosby defend themselves from a mostly faceless horde of gunmen while holed up at the farm of Culp's aunt and uncle (Una Merkel and Will Geer.) In addition to being unusually violent for 1968 pre-assassination TV, the episode is notable for beginning in the middle of the action without providing any setup.

[Dan]

"Vanishing Point" is one of those lost gems I love introducing people to. Thanks for the interview!

[Escher]

a quick note to point out that G. Cabrera Infante's proper first name is Guillermo and not Garcia.

[SIMON KOSSOFF]

Vanishing Point, among the few truly great road movies. An outstanding reflection of its time and location. I see something new to enjoy at each viewing. Thanks for the article. I have been trying for years to net some background on this movie and its fine director.

[Christian]

Just one of the great 70's existentialist road movies.
And there were quite a few!

[Bill Bailey]

I first saw Vanishing Point as a double header with Bullitt, VP always stuck with me (I think I was 15 at the time) and I don't know why, I was not into cars (that came later) but the movie as a whole stayed with me. Years later, a neighbor had a copy of VP on VHS, loaned it to me and I wound up buying it from him. I know this movie pretty much frame by frame now, and have since purchased a new copy.
The bottom line here is that the car is the star in this movie, the foley nailed ALL of the soundtrack, too many movies 'dub' in goofy mis-matched sound tracks of car motors/sounds etc.

Additionally, like 'Easy Rider' this movie is a window back into time when America was a different place, be it the landscape or people's attitudes. I really like this movie and will continue to watch it for a long time to come, my hat is off to you Mr. Sarafian.