Two-Lane Blacktop: James Taylor as a ’55 Chevy Driver

James Taylor with Dennis Wilson and Laurie Bird in Two-Lane Blacktop (1971) Vitals James Taylor as “The Driver”, laconic race car driver Arizona through Tennessee, Fall 1970 Film: Two-Lane Blacktop Release Date: July 7, 1971 Director: Monte Hellman Costume Designer: Richard Bruno WARNING! Spoilers ahead! Background Monte Hellman’s offbeat cult classic road movie Two-Lane Blacktop was released 55 years ago this week on July 7, 1971, starring musicians James Taylor and Dennis Wilson as the unnamed driver and mechanic of a ’55 Chevy gasser that picks up a hitchhiker (Laurie Bird) and falls into a cross-country race for pinks against the blustering driver of a new Pontiac GTO, played by Warren Oates. Always an unorthodox maverick, Hellman was inspired to cast Taylor after spying his face on a Sunset Boulevard billboard, recalling that he “just flipped over his face.” Both Taylor and his late co-star Oates recalled the first-time actor feeling frustrated with his lack of control as Hellman…