I think it had Viggo Mortenson in it. In the MT article Barry Newman said he hated it (could be a little bitter that it was only a tv movie?), but I havent seen it yet. The reviews I have read have been mixed.

 

It is a MUST SEE even if it's just to see the chase scene in the desert with the '70 Challenger and the '68 Charger !!!

 

Ya, it would be cool if they did come out with a VP edition, but unfortunately their is a licensing issue that goes along with this, just like when the had the Roadrunner, they had to pay Warner Bros. to use the little bird. As for the movie, I think the orginal was better. You should know this, the car they crashed into the dozers at the end was a base model Camaro, the original Vanishing Point Challenger still exist in a private collection.

 

The original Vanishing Point is film art. It is by far better than the remake. I am pretty sure one of the original Challengers was stolen by a local hooker off the set lol. Also, there was one scene where Kowalski almost hit a civilian car head on, that was an accident that really happened while filming while Barry Newman was actually driving and some local decided to drive around the road locks set up for the filming and they left it in the film lol.

 

Another good Mopar chase movie is "Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry". This was filmed around the Visalia/Exeter,Ca area. It was also filmed at speeds of 90+ with no film effects(ie slow motion or fast motion). What is interesting in the interviews is that the sound man was in the trunk during the chase scenes. Also, even though there was a script for the movie, alot of the dialogue was improvised by the cast members.

 

I think 3 Challengers were used in the original, 2-383's and a 440? They actually did destroy a Challenger at the end of the remake. TOTALLY unnecessary![:@]

 

I have it and liked it, but it felt unfinished to me.

 

From what I've read, five Challengers appeared in the 1971 movie -- four 440 four-speeds and one 383 automatic. Apparently, they used the 383 to tow the Camaro via cable into the bulldozers for the crash scene at the end. It's not known if any of the vehicles from the movie survive, because the Chrysler Corp. disassociated itself from the film when the execs there found it it involved -- gasp! -- the use of speed and had -- bigger gasp! -- a naked girl on a motorcycle.

As to the remake of Vanishing Point, the ONLY good thing about it is the scene involving the black Charger -- much like the ONLY good thing about 2Fast 2Furious is the scene involving a street race with a Challenger. Needless to say, the Challenger totally blows away whatever modern car it's running against.

I don't think Vanishing Point should ever be remade. Such a story only could have happened in the '70s. Why? Because the story wasn't supposed to make sense -- just like the early '70s themselves didn't make sense. Where they really screwed up the Fox remake was by cluttering up the action with a pretty bogus story line. I'm afraid anything produced now would be as bad as the Fox TV version.

 

Noted director Quentin Tarantino now apppears to be ripping off both versions of Vanishing Point. A trailer for a movie called "Grindhouse" -- which apparently is two short movies put together and is coming out in April -- has a couple brief shots of a showdown between a black Charger and a white Challenger (as in VP The Remake) -- including both cars bursting through a barrier on a hill (as in VP Classic). Cinematography at its finest!

 

Everyone these days thinks 'Gone in 60 Seconds' is the greatest car chase movie ever. What happened to the good ole' days when people watched good car chase movies?