I've been hearing about this movie for a long time. Since the birth of the counter-culture. Like Brian Wilson's lost masterpiece, this movie has garnered mythic status over the years. Withdrawn from circulation because it uses the Door's "Moonlight Drive"--and you know how picky the Lizard King could be about commercial rights. Just ask his former band mates. His estate has taken Jim's last wishes to the letter. Only recently have they consented to allow the releasing of the film on DVD.<br /><br />They would have been doing us all a great favor if they had declined consent. Although I was hoping for the best, I had a feeling this would turn out to be a turkey. But I never expected it to be quite such a Butterball.<br /><br />I think if I were teaching a class on how to make a pretentious movie I would no doubt point to this film. There's something pathetic in its attempt at the mythic, including the names of its characters such as "The Driver," "The Mechanic," and "The Girl." At one point, "The Driver" refers to "The Girl" by her name, "Higgins," and one can't help but wonder how he learned her name, and why, if she had a name, it wasn't used throughout the script. It was another case of being jarred loose from the film, but by that time I had been jarred so many times I was beginning to feel like last season's apricots.<br /><br />This is not a good example of a road movie. See "Easy Rider," "Vanishing Point," Bob Hope and Bing Crosby. Anything but this.<br /><br />One star for location shooting in Santa Fe, which hasn't changed much since the early seventies. Another star for using "Moonlight Drive," a personal favorite of mine. And a third and final star for some nice cinematography of the open road.<br /><br />Beware the myth.