Two-Lane Blacktop (1971)
Drama • 1h 41m
Director: Monte Hellman
Cast: James Taylor, Warren Oates, Dennis Wilson, Laurie Bird, Rudy Wurlitzer, Harry Dean Stanton, Jaclyn Hellman, Alan Vint, Katherine Squire, Bill Keller, David Drake, Richard Ruth, Don Samuels, Charles Moore, Tom Green, W.H. Harrison, Illa Ginnaven, George Mitchell, A.J. Solari, Melissa Hellman, Jay Wheatley, James Mitchum, Kreag Caffey, Tom Witenbarger, Glen Rogers, Tomas Moore, Big Willie Robinson III
About the film
A driver and a mechanic travel around the United States hopping from drag strip to drag strip in a 1955 Chevy Bel-Air coupe. They race for money, betting with their competitors. The pair gains a young and talkative female stowaway. Along the way they unintentionally attract a well-to-do drifter driving a new Pontiac GTO. This older man, looking for attention, antagonizes their efforts.
- Featured Lists
- National Film Registry
Year of Induction: 2012
- TSPDT
- 2026: #3842025: #3812024: #3762023: #3852022: #385
Director: Victor Sjöström
Video format: 1080p Blu-ray
Director: Leo McCarey
Director: Philip Kaufman
Criterion 4K Blu-ray is a significant upgrade over previous WB Blu-ray see comparison
Criterion for the first time on home video have provided the 70mm 6-track as well as the Dolby stereo which was previously on LaserDisc. Both tracks are unique so included both with the 6-track default. Criterion’s 5.1 remix is lossless compared to the lossy tracks of the previous blu-rays and DVDs.
See comparison
Director: Joel Coen
Shout is still very good but Arrow has the edge due to better handling of highlights and less chroma noise, comparison
All the same
Director: John G. Avildsen
Sony boxset or 2024 VHS packaging 4K Blu-ray
Sony boxsets or 2024 VHS packaging has Dolby Vision, 2019 Sony 4K Blu-ray is HDR10 only.
Original Stereo mix: Columbia Pictures LaserDisc, Sony 4K Blu-ray (any)
5.1 remix: Sony 4K Blu-ray, Sony Blu-ray
Dolby Atmos remix: Sony 4K Blu-ray (any)
Director: Mike Nichols
StudioCanal 4K caps.Criterion Blu-ray better encode than StudioCanal Blu-ray.
Director: Martin Scorsese
Video format: 4K Streaming
Director: Victor Sjöström
Video format: 1080p Blu-ray
2023 Criterion 4K Blu-ray (bad compression) / Curzon 4K Blu-ray (visible chroma noise and meh compression)
Director: Roman Polanski
Director: David Lynch
Criterion standard BD encode, sold separately, is not very good
Director: Todd Solondz
1999 R1 Trimark DVD
The Criterion 4K Blu-ray has audio that, despite being in a lossless codec, is extremely lossily compressed akin to an MP3.
Director: Roman Polanski
The 4K restoration introduced elevated black levels that Criterion have corrected while BFI left as is. However, the encoding on the Criterion is markedly worse, turning the grain into mush whereas the grain structure on the BFI is largely intact due to the noticeably superior encode. Therefore, the one to seek out is dependent on whether you prefer slightly better black levels or stronger grain retention.
Director: Ridley Scott
Final Cut: WB 4K Blu-ray (Caveat: No Dolby Vision from Streaming)
Workprint: WB 30th Anniversary Blu-ray Set for a better AVC encode
1982 Theatrical Mix: Embassy Video releases, HD-DVD for the 70mm 6-track mix
International Cut Dolby Stereo: Criterion Collection LaserDisc, HD-DVD for the 70mm 6-track mix
1992 Director's Cut Dolby Stereo: WB CAV LaserDisc 2.0 PCM-best fidelity of any mix, HD-DVD for the 70mm 6-track mix
Workprint: WB 30th Anniversary Blu-ray Set DTS-HD MA 5.1
2007 Final Cut remix: Blu-ray Dolby TrueHD 5.1
WB 4K Blu-ray only has Final Cut and contains a bad Atmos remix with new sound effects. Original Final Cut mix was removed.
Director: Quentin Tarantino
2025 Taiwan Deltamac 4K Blu-ray
2025 Taiwan Deltamac 4K Blu-ray > US Paramount 4K Blu-ray (Taiwan 4K Blu-ray is not low passed as the US 4K Blu-ray and has better grain and fine detail retention)
Director: Stanley Kubrick
US Criterion 4K Blu-ray > UK MoC 4K Blu-ray > Australia Imprint > US Kino Lorber better encoding
The MoC, Criterion and Imprint UHDs were encoded by FiM making all 3 very close. The higher bitrate helped in deciding and some luck; however Criterion is the most consistent one of all 3. Imprint has some scenes with more splotchy grain while MoC is quite close to Criterion but has some more blocking in dark scenes (e.g.: comp #27). With Criterion’s superior audio, it ensures complete consistency.
From cbc: "I'm personally quite fond of the restored track on Eureka's 4K Blu-ray. It does have spots with objectively worse fidelity, but for the most part, it sounds a lot more natural and less shrill, particularly dialogue. It seems to be a new mixdown of stems. Technically a remix, so not everyone's cup of tea, but it's not revisionist like most new movie mixes tend to be"
Both Imprint (included in their set) and Capelight (on its own/individually) offer remastered BDs. All other BDs, including the one included in The Complete Kubrick, are sourced from the same older master from around 2010.
More Drama on Blu-ray
Director: Richard Rush
> Shout! Factory 4K Blu-ray (FiM encode on Radiance compared to Duplitech encode on Shout! Factory)
Director: Paul Verhoeven
Video format: UHD Blu-ray
New 4K restoration recently screened at Venice Film Festival https://variety.com/2026/film/news/apichatpong-weerasethakuls-4k-restorations-match-factory-1236843949/
Director: Robert De Niro
2027 FreeWind Media UK 4K Blu-ray
Director: Todd Haynes
Video format: UHD Blu-ray
French BubbelPop 4K Blu-ray has EN audio but doesn't have EN subtitles see caps
Caveat of Kino Lorber: "Hero" segment is stretched from 4:3 to 16:9, 1999 Fox Lorber DVD features original framing
Director: Claude Lelouch
French Metropolitan 4K Blu-ray has English subtitles and is better than Criterion Blu-ray see caps and comparison
Warner Archive 4K Blu-ray 11/24/2026
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· last reviewed 1 year ago
Every recommendation follows the same method — how these calls are made.