Two-Lane Blacktop

Director: Monte Hellman
Year Released: 1971
Rating: 3.5

Existential mood-piece about quiet, nameless drifters (James Taylor and Dennis Wilson) - who only talk about one thing: cars - and the friendly little "race" they get involved in with Warren Oates, who drives a GTO (and has several different stories about how he got it). Steadily paced and quietly introspective, it's less about the people (Taylor, who drives the Chevy, stops Oates when he tries to explain how he got to be a drifter) and more about just trying to get enough cash to get through the day (read: survive), and to never stop moving. Cinematic equivalent to Pirsig's Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (which I was reminded of while watching); this picture could potentially be read as a Buddhist parable.