Quoting:
One of my best movie-going memories is of a hot summer evening in the mid-'70s when my dad took us to our local second-run cinema for a double feature of Vanishing Point and Crazy Larry, Dirty Mary.  I was too young to "get" a lot of the plots and references, but I was totally enamored with the roaring engines and the speeding cars.  Car chases were my favorite cinematic phenomenon when I was a kid.  I watched "Vanishing Point" not long ago.  My favorite character was the blind soul brother DJ.  I also thought the old snake catcher in the desert was pretty cool.  
The frustrating thing for me is that the studios will not rerelease "Crazy Larry, Dirty Mary" for television, video, or anything, and I don't know why.  
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I'm a car nut and big fan of the road/chase movie,these movies help fuel the fire..but Vanishing Point was something different.
The way it was originally shot, it was supposed to be more of a dream or fantasy movie. If you notice the time line Sunday 10 am both start and end the film, Kowalski actually passes himself in a black Chrysler on his way to Denver, while driving the white Challenger the other direction to California, its a stop action shot. The ending? Well Kowalski dosen't really die, or at least he thinks he is going to make it through the bulldozers..that wasn't a Dodge Callenger that blew up...theres a lot of bizzare things going on in this movie and even more stange scenes of it was edited out..
The studio was really upset the way it was filmed originally, said it was too "artsy & surreal" for the american public.
They re-cut it, & didn't even bother to advertise or promote on major scale and cut it up for drive-ins as a B movie side feature.
You'll also notice that there is no mention or credit for Chrysler for the Challenger. Mopar was originally thrilled to supply cars for the film but quickly distanced themselves from it once they saw the drug use, sex, racial unrest, anti-cop/establishment themes in it.
The film had so many ditractors and problems, the director said he was suprised it was seen by anyone at all..
BTW, did you notice John Amos (James Evans of Good Times) played Super Souls (Little) radio engineer? One of his first movie roles..

Quoting:
BTW, did you notice John Amos (James Evans of Good Times) played Super Souls (Little) radio engineer? One of his first movie roles..
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I did not know that fact.
Oh yeah, VP has a MUCH different vibe from smash 'em up flicks like "Sugarland Express" and "Crazy Larry."  I still loved it as a kid for the car chase element.  I didn't see it again for more than 20 years.  At that time I was cued into all the social and political themes.  The dreamy timelapse and the scorching desert montage give it a psychedelic feel.  I mean psychedelic in the true sense of the word, not the pop-culture sense.
I'd love to see an uncut version released.  Do you think all those reels still exist?  The coolest would be to smoke myself a J and see it on the big screen.  Pigs will sprout wings and fly first, 2B sure!
8)

One thing we had in the '70s that we don't have now are second-run theaters and the midnight movie circuit.  Well, they have second-run theaters, but they lack the flexibility of the ones back then.  Now they're just showing the crap that was at the Cinema Cinemaplex three months earlier.
You have to be in a city like Boston, New York, or SF to get the "midnight movies," and then it's usually "The Rocky Horror Picture Show."  I LOOOOAATHE  Rocky Horror.  
What's really gone is independent cinema culture.  Watching an Andy Warhol or a John Waters flick at home is just not the same as going out late and seeing a bunch of other weirdos going for the same thing!

Quoting:

I'd love to see an uncut version released.  Do you think all those reels still exist?  
One thing we had in the '70s that we don't have now are second-run theaters and the midnight movie circuit.  Well, they have second-run theaters, but they lack the flexibility of the ones back then.  Now they're just showing the crap that was at the Cinema Cinemaplex three months earlier.
You have to be in a city like Boston, New York, or SF to get the "midnight movies," and then it's usually "The Rocky Horror Picture Show."  I LOOOOAATHE  Rocky Horror.  
What's really gone is independent cinema culture.  Watching an Andy Warhol or a John Waters flick at home is just not the same as going out late and seeing a bunch of other weirdos going for the same thing!
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Vanishing Points new DVD has the UK version that has two scenes that were edited from the US version, after seeing it, the movie just seems weirder, dosen't help clarify some questions..
Completely know what your sayng about second run theaters and independent cinema..living in the "hip" section of Long Beach (wait, "hip" and Long Beach don't go together, do they ;) ) we have a few art house theaters around, its the few times I get to go to a movie without seing most of the film already being shown on TV ads..we get midnight movies too, and the dreaded Rocky Horror Show freaks at midnite on Saturdays...seeing the Mike & Ike's Sick & Twisted Festival Of Anamation at 1am is great as you can tell who had a few drinks before buying their ticket, it's not a quiet show..

BTW the best second play theater I know of was in Columbus, OH. Cinema 21 had 2 shows for $2 (what most college kids could afford), mostly second run movies, sometimes the midnigt movie was a party or stoner movie i.e. Animal House, Cheech & Chong, or Dazed & Confused, Blues Brothers, etc.
The best thing is that it was a cinema 'n draghthouse, they had a real "bar" at the referesment stand with stools and served BEER and alcohol! You could buy a big tub of popcorn and beer, I loved it, usually for 7 bucks you could see two movies, get a box of popcorn and get a pitcher of beer on Saturday! You could sit at the bar and watch the movie from there, they had cut out big rectangle slots to see into the theater from the bar, and they had removed the first three rows of seats and put in round tables and old lounge chairs to sit. How I miss that place..
Why I haven't seen this concept anywhere else I don't know..

Quoting:

Vanishing Points new DVD has the UK version that has two scenes that were edited from the US version, after seeing it, the movie just seems weirder, dosen't help clarify some questions..
Completely know what your sayng about second run theaters and independent cinema..living in the "hip" section of Long Beach (wait, "hip" and Long Beach don't go together, do they ;) ) we have a few art house theaters around, its the few times I get to go to a movie without seing most of the film already being shown on TV ads..we get midnight movies too, and the dreaded Rocky Horror Show freaks at midnite on Saturdays...seeing the Mike & Ike's Sick & Twisted Festival Of Anamation at 1am is great as you can tell who had a few drinks before buying their ticket, it's not a quiet show..

BTW the best second play theater I know of was in Columbus, OH. Cinema 21 had 2 shows for $2 (what most college kids could afford), mostly second run movies, sometimes the midnigt movie was a party or stoner movie i.e. Animal House, Cheech & Chong, or Dazed & Confused, Blues Brothers, etc.
The best thing is that it was a cinema 'n draghthouse, they had a real "bar" at the referesment stand with stools and served BEER and alcohol! You could buy a big tub of popcorn and beer, I loved it, usually for 7 bucks you could see two movies, get a box of popcorn and get a pitcher of beer on Saturday! You could sit at the bar and watch the movie from there, they had cut out big rectangle slots to see into the theater from the bar, and they had removed the first three rows of seats and put in round tables and old lounge chairs to sit. How I miss that place..
Why I haven't seen this concept anywhere else I don't know..
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I don't know the ins and outs of the biz, but I think film distribution is becoming sooo monopolized and expensive that it prohibits a lot of the freedom of the old days.  I was too young to actually participate in the great mdinight movie scene in the '70s, but I heard about it.  I also experienced the remaining vestiges of it from the '80s through present.

It's pathetic how long the Rocky Horror Pick-your-nose has lasted, if it's still a thing people are doing.  Note how an irreverent freakshow quickly became a conformist ritual.  Rocky Horror goers had to learn to dress in certain ways, what to do with certain props, when to sit, when to stand, when to sing....it sounds kinda like the Catholic church, don't it?

Occasionally, one of my favorite '70s movies Monty Python and the Holy Grail comes to one of our local indie theaters.  But I won't go see it because all the DORKS from the university sci-fi/D&D club will be there clowning around and trying to recite the lines before they happen.  Feh! :P