A vanishing point is a point in a perspective drawing to which parallel lines appear to converge. The number and placement of the vanishing points determines which perspective technique is being used.

• linear perspective is a drawing with 1-3 vanishing points.
• curvilinear perspective is a drawing with 5 vanishing points mapped into a circle with 4 VPs at the cardinal headings N,W,S,E and one at the circle origin.
• reverse perspective is a drawing with vanishing points that are placed outside the painting with the illusion that they are "in front of" the painting.

Vanishing points were first used by Renaissance artists such as Donatello and Masaccio.

Vanishing points can also refer to the point in the distance where the two verges of a road appear to converge. This is often used to help assess the upcoming curves in the road; to judge the radius and therefore the entry speed and optimum line. If the vanishing point moves towards you or to your sides, the curve is tightening. If the vanishing point moves away from you or comes to center, the curve is straightening.

External links

• Geometry of the Vanishing Point at Convergence

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Vanishing Point
Theatrical poster
Directed by	Richard C. Sarafian
Produced by	Norman Spencer Michael Pearson
Written by	Guillermo Cain Malcolm Hart (story outline) Barry Hall (uncredited)
Starring	Barry Newman Cleavon Little Dean Jagger Victoria Medlin Charlotte Rampling
Music by	Kim Carnes Delaney, Bonnie & Friends Pete Carpenter Mike Post Jimmy Bowen
Cinematography	John A. Alonzo
Editing by	Stefan Arnsten
Distributed by	20th Century Fox
Release date(s)	January 15, 1971
Running time	106 min. (approx.)
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$1,300,000
Gross revenue	$12,442,673
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

Vanishing Point is a 1971 road movie starring Barry Newman, Cleavon Little, Dean Jagger, and a 1970 Dodge Challenger.

Vanishing Point is notable for its scenery from filming locations across the American Southwest and its social commentary on the post-Woodstock mood in the United States. It was one of the earliest films (following on the example of Easy Rider), to feature a rock music soundtrack. It is beloved by Mopar enthusiasts because it is one of the most significant movies ever to feature a classic Dodge muscle car. The film continues to be popular to this day and is considered a cult film.

Synopsis

Barry Newman plays a delivery driver named Jimmy Kowalski (his first name is never given throughout the movie) who works for Argo's Car Delivery Service in Denver, Colorado. Flashbacks which appear throughout the movie hint that he has either lost everything he has ever wanted and was reduced to taking the job of a car delivery driver as a last resort, or he is (what is called today) an adrenaline junkie. He is a Vietnam veteran, a former law enforcement officer, former race car driver, and former motorcycle racer. He lost his job as a cop apparently after being framed in a drug bust, in retaliation for his preventing his partner from raping a young girl. He seemingly gave up his automobile and motorcycle racing careers after two near-fatal accidents. His girlfriend lost her life in a surfing accident.

As the movie opens, Kowalski is near the end of his chase by the California Highway Patrol, where the two bulldozers are setting up, and the CBS News truck arrives, after seeing the bulldozers, he decides to turn around, but there are more Patrol cars closing in. He then drives off the road, stops and gets out to think, then gets back into the car and continues to drive back towards the roadblock. The movie does a freeze frame, and when movement resumes, Kowalski has vanished at 10:02 AM.

The movie then flashes back to Denver, Colorado, two days earlier, where his journey began. He has just arrived in Denver with a 1970 Chrysler New Yorker, he is delivering from San Francisco, and asks for another assignment. His supervisor objects and insists Kowalski get some rest, but Kowalski insists on taking on another delivery that night. It is already 11:30 PM. Kowalski is assigned to deliver an "Alpine White" 1970 Dodge Challenger R/T hardtop, "Pistol Grip" 4-speed manual transmission) controlling either a 383, or a 440 cubic inch "Magnum" V-8 engine (Which Police later mistakenly report is "Supercharged"), bearing Colorado license plate number OA-5599. Kowalski is delivering this car to San Francisco. After stopping at a biker bar to buy some benzedrine and making a bet with a drug dealing friend Jake (Lee Weaver) over how long it will take him to make it to San Francisco, he is on his way and takes off at high speed out of Denver.

It doesn't take the police long before they begin to give chase later that morning near Glenwood Springs, Colorado. Now with two police motorcycles in the rear view mirror, Kowalski runs one of the police motorcycles off the road. Seeing this, Kowalski stops and has a flashback of himself wiping out during one of his dirt track races. Seeing the officer is unhurt, Kowalski takes off.

Kowalski winds up being chased across the states of Colorado, Utah, and Nevada, with the police unable to catch him. The whole way, Kowalski has his radio tuned to the station KOW, which is broadcasting out of Goldfield, Nevada. An African-American DJ at KOW known as Super Soul listens to the police radio frequency and helps Kowalski evade the police by broadcasting information on the police whereabouts over the radio. Relatively quickly, it becomes apparent that Super Soul and Kowalski have some sort of telepathic link, where Super Soul can ask question to Kowalski over the air, and can "hear" Kowalski's spoken replies.

With the help of Super Soul, who calls Kowalski "the last American hero" on his radio show, Kowalski begins to gain national attention as a cult hero among the counterculture during the chase. Bikers and hippies flock to KOW radio in Goldfield to offer support. Kowalski is helped by others including an old man and a Pentecostal sect. In the afternoon, Super Soul is physically attacked by a cop and several probable Ku Klux Klan "klansmen" (see secret handshake of recognition) and KOW is forced off the air. Near the California state line, Kowalski is helped by a biker and his naturist girlfriend (the same girl he saved from being raped in San Diego). They give him more benzedrine and help smuggle him across the California state line where the police have set up a roadblock waiting for him that evening. By next morning, Kowalski has made it as far as Cisco, California (a fictional town in the Sierra Nevada foothills east of San Francisco). The closest actual towns would be Copperopolis and Angels Camp where, with the California Highway Patrol in hot pursuit, Kowalski re-enacts the movie's opening, but this time, instead of "vanishing", at 10:04 a.m., he runs into the two bulldozers set up by the police as a roadblock, producing the fatal fireball of his death, the sequence for which the movie is often remembered.

Despite Kowalski's new cult hero status among the counterculture, he repeatedly shows he doesn't want that status during the movie; Kowalski is at heart either a true "loner" or a despondent blue-collar worker.

Cast and Crew

Actor	Role
Barry Newman	Jimmy Kowalski
Cleavon Little	Super Soul
Dean Jagger	Prospector (The Desert Snake Catcher)
Victoria Medlin	Vera Thornton
Karl Swenson	Sandy McKees (Argo's Car Delivery Attendant Clerk)
Lee Weaver	Jake (Denver Drug Dealer, Kowalski's Connection)
John Amos	Super Soul's engineer
Joe Brooks	Speed Freak
Tom Reese	Sheriff
Paul Koslo	Charlie (Young Nevada Patrolman)
Robert Donner	Collins (Older Nevada Patrolman)
Owen Bush	Communications officer
Severn Darden	Rev. J. 'Jessie' Hovah
Delaney Bramlett	J. Hovah's singer (as Delaney & Bonnie and Friends)
Bonnie Bramlett	J. Hovah's singer (as Delaney & Bonnie and Friends)
Bekka Bramlett	J. Hovah's Baby (as Delaney & Bonnie and Friends)
Rita Coolidge	J. Hovah's singer (as Delaney & Bonnie and Friends)
Patrice Holloway	J. Hovah's singer (as Delaney & Bonnie and Friends)
David Gates	Piano player at revival meeting (as Delaney & Bonnie and Friends)
Anthony James	Male Hitchhiker #1 (Front Seat)
Arthur Malet	Male Hitchhiker #2 (Back Seat)
Timothy Scott	Angel
Gilda Texter	Nude motorcycle rider
Charlotte Rampling	Female Hitchhiker
Cherie Foster	Girl #1
Valerie Kairys	Girl #2

Production

• The script originally had the Super Soul character written as "Super Spic" but it was deemed too racist and didn't fit with Cleavon Little, who was cast for it.
• Due to budget constraints, and the fact that the Dodge Challengers used in the film were "on loan" from Chrysler Corporation, the car used in the crash scene at the end of the film is a derelict 1967 Chevrolet Camaro.
• Although Cisco is a real location in California, the Cisco scenes were filmed in Cisco, Utah, a ghost town near Moab. The chase involving Kowalski and the police includes actual footage from Rifle, Colorado; Thompson Springs, Utah; Green River, Utah; Austin, Nevada; Wendover, Utah; and Tonopah, Nevada. The film is notable for actually having been filmed in the locations in which the movie was set, and as a result, features incredible footage of the desert and the small towns in the region during the pre-Interstate Highway era.
• The car was not supercharged nor turbocharged as commonly misconceived, but normally aspirated with the single quad (4 barrel) 440/375 horse. The cameras were undercranked in some scenes to give the illusion of high speed. Also some chase scenes had high speed engine noises over-dubbed in portions of the sound track.
• A total of five 1970 Dodge Challengers were supplied to Cupid Productions by Chrysler Corporation. Four were identically equipped with 4-speed, 440 engines. The fifth Challenger was equipped with a 383 engine and automatic transmission, and was used primarily on the camera runs. After the picture wrapped, only one Challenger was still in service, as the other four were virtually destroyed during production filming. (On the 2005 DVD release, director Richard Sarafian commented that there were a total of nine Challengers used during production. However, in a March 1986 Muscle Car Review magazine interview, both Barry Newman and stunt driver Carey Loftin concurred that there were only five).

The ending

The ending, and related to this, the overall theme of the film, has been the source of much debate. The viewer is left guessing why Kowalski suddenly decided to drive recklessly and evade the police across four states to his death. Kowalski himself says little during the movie.

Barry Newman offers a different interpretation of the film's ending. In an interview printed in the March 1986 issue of Musclecar Review he says "Kowalski smiles as he rushes to his death at the end of Vanishing Point because he believes he will make it through the roadblock." Presumably, Newman believes that a combination of Kowalski's drug-induced frame of mind and the blinding light from the bulldozer blades prevents him from seeing that he has no chance.

The August 2006 issue of Motor Trend magazine has a sidebar with Newman, in which he offers a newer explanation that is more in line with the "constraints of the physical world" theory more so than the "drug-induced haze" theory. Newman explains that Kowalski sees the light glinting from between the two bulldozers... to Kowalski, it was still a hole to escape through. It symbolised that no matter how far they push or chase you, no one can truly take away your freedom and there is always an escape. Newman also theorised that the entire film itself was an essay on existentialism. Kowalski drives to drive, with no real purpose for doing what he's doing. He decides to give his own life its definition and meaning, with complete freedom over his actions.

Interestingly, the original shooting script describes that moments before impact, Kowalski slams both feet onto the brakes, trying to stop the car, but fails. (However, seeing as how this is not portrayed in the movie, it is not as things "really" happened, and therefore is just trivia).

Sarafian explained that he wanted to make Kowalski appear outerworldly, and that the world within the film was a temporary existence that he was just making a stop in. And that the ending of the film, he was ascending from this existence into another (and even points out that the lyrics of the end song point this out, "when the light of life stops burning, till another soul goes free").<ref name="DVDcom" />

Alternate versions

The current U.S. DVD release of Vanishing Point includes both the original version of the movie and the alternate version. In the alternate version Kowalski picks up a hitchhiker (played by Charlotte Rampling) after being smuggled across the California/Nevada border, filling in the story of that evening. According to interviews with Barry Newman and commentary from the director, the hitchhiker was a representation of Death, finally catching up to Kowalski.

Soundtrack

Vanishing Point Soundtrack
No cover image exists
Soundtrack by Various Artists
Released	January 15, 1971
Recorded	1970
Genre	Country Hard rock Pop Rock
Label	A&M Amos
Producer	Pete Carpenter Mike Post Jimmy Bowen Tom Thacker

A soundtrack of the film was released in the U.S. on vinyl LP by Amos. The vinyl soundtrack is long out of print. There have been reissues of the soundtrack compact disc in the U.S. by A&M, and in Europe by Amos.

Track listing

1. "Super Soul Theme" - The J.B. Pickers - 1:50 (Bowen)
2. "The Girl Done Got It Together" - Bobby Doyle - 2:47 (Settle)
3. "Where Do We Go From Here?" - Jimmy Walker - 2:53 (Settle)
4. "Freedom of Expression" - The J.B. Pickers - 5:48 (Bowen)
5. "Welcome to Nevada" - Jerry Reed - 1:52 (Barnhill/Lanier)
6. "Runaway Country" - Doug Dillard Expedition - 4:09 (Dillard/Berline)
7. "Love Theme" - Jimmy Bowen Orchestra - 2:40 (Bowen/Carpenter)
8. "You Got to Believe" - Delaney, Bonnie & Friends - 3:00 (Bramlett/Bon)
9. "So Tired" - Eve - 2:10 (Creamer/Sliwin/Temmer)
10. "Mississippi Queen" - Mountain - 2:32 (West/Laing/Pappalardi/Rea/Knight)
11. "I Can't Believe It" - Longbranch Pennywhistle - (Frey/Souther/Seger/Browne)
12. "Dear Jesus God" - Bob Segarini and Randy Bishop - 3:57 (Segarini/Bishop)
13. "Sing Out for Jesus" - Big Mama Thornton - 1:47 (Carnes)
14. "Sweet Jesus" - Red Steagall -
15. "Over Me" - Bob Segarini and Randy Bishop - 3:04 (Segarini/Bishop)
16. "Nobody Knows" - Kim & Dave - 2:22 (Settle)

The first ever recorded material by Kim Carnes appears in the soundtrack, credited as "Kim & Dave". Kim Carnes also wrote the song performed by Big Mama Thornton. The pop music group Delaney, Bonnie & Friends had a small role as a Christian music band, which included singer Rita Coolidge and singer/songwriter David Gates at the piano.

Tracks "I Can't Believe it" and "Sweet Jesus" are not on the original LP Soundtrack.

Miscellanea

• The license plate on Kowalski's Dodge Challenger is Colorado OA-5599. This license plate number has been highly sought after as a vanity plate ever since the film's release.
• Kowalski plans to drive from Denver to San Francisco in 15 hours. This would require an average speed of 85 miles per hour.
• A one twenty-fifth scale plastic model kit of the Vanishing Point was produced by AMT, and re-released many times since. Although a good representation of the car can be made by the experienced modeller, the model utilises a 440 Six-Pack, rather than a 440 Magnum.
• The vehicles used for filming included four 440 4-speed cars and one 383 automatic. There were no 426 Hemis used in filming.

References in popular culture

• The film was the inspiration for the 1997 album by Primal Scream, also titled Vanishing Point. In addition, a track from the album was named Kowalski after the character from the film; the track also featured samples of Super Soul's "last American hero" speech from the film.
• The film was the basis for Audioslave's 2004 music video "Show Me How to Live", which included members of the band in the 1970 Challenger travelling across the desert, following the plot of the movie.
• A reference to the movie can be found on Guns N' Roses Use Your Illusion II album track "Breakdown". This is a spoken-word part, mimicking Super Soul's voice, in the end of the song, in which one of Super Soul's on-air monologues from the film can be heard.
• The sound effect when Kowalski crashes into the bulldozers was later used in the video game .
• Death Proof, the Quentin Tarantino contribution to the faux-exploitation "double feature" Grindhouse, features a chase involving a Dodge Challenger resembling the one seen in Vanishing Point (not being an R/T model and having an automatic transmission). Death Proof also references the movie by name repeatedly calling it - "one of the best American movies ever made".
• In the documentary Celluloid Closet, actor Tom Hanks talks about how Vanishing Point was one of the first times he could recall seeing stereotypical gay characters in a film.

Remake

A Vanishing Point remake was created for Fox television, first airing in 1997, and also featuring a 1970 Dodge Challenger. The film stars Viggo Mortensen as Kowalski, rewritten as a suspected militia sympathiser from Idaho, and Jason Priestly as "The Voice", Super Soul's replacement character, a libertarian talk radio shock jock. The two films are similar, but the remake has had its plot tweaked to include more traditional motivation and action, and is not very well regarded, by fans of the original film or otherwise.

Richard Kelly is currently writing a remake of the film for 20th Century Fox.^[1]

References

See also

• Vanishing Point (1997) - Television remake

External links

• Vanishing Point - fan site. Articles, rare photos, trivia (site out. link to the Waybackmachine archived page).
• Review of 1997 TV remake, contrasted with original film.