Reception
Vanishing Point premiered in January 1971 and did not receive positive notices. In his review for the Los Angeles Times, Charles Champlin wrote, "Vanishing Point might have had a point, but it ... ah ... got lost. What's left is sophisticated craft and fashionably hokey cynicism". Variety magazine said, "While stock car addicts may be able to maintain interest in the ultra-fast manipulation of the car, many viewers will just get car-sick ... or sick of the car, which isn't the same thing". Larry Cohen, in the Reporter criticized the film for being "calculated, tedious and in desperate need of tightening, the picture, produced by Norman Spencer, is uninvolving and devoid of a cohesiveness that might have made it work".
Newman recalls that Fox had no faith in the film and released it in neighborhood theaters only to disappear in less than two weeks. However, it was a critical and commercial success in the UK and Europe which prompted the studio to re-release it in the United States on a double bill with The French Connection. A cult following began to develop due in large part to a broadcast on network television in 1976.
The film currently has a rating of 75% on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 12 reviews.
Read more about this topic: Vanishing Point (1971 film)
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