Rent Zabriskie Point (1970)

Haunting - Zabriskie Point review by sb

FILM & REVIEW For me Antonionio was one the greatest film directors of all time…..his alienation trilogy in the early 60’s are just stunning. He left his native Italy to make Blow-Up in London then into LA to make this. Steeped in the radical counter culture of the time it was a box office disaster and panned by the critics although as is the nature of these things it’s reputation has increased over the years. There is no real plot to speak off - Daria (Halprin)who works for Rod Taylor’s real estate developer agrees to drive to his house in Arizona. Meanwhile Mark (Frechette) gets fed up with the endless student protest Marxist debates, buys a gun and gets involved in a campus riot. He flees and steals a light plane and flying over the desert buzzes Daria and landing hooks up with her. They finally make love in the desert (surrounded by other amorous couples)then he leaves to fly back to LA and his fate. She arrives at her boss’s place but leaves immediately and imagines the house exploding.…..and that’s it…. It does tie in with his earlier films as the two leads keep a remote distance (apart from the sex) and nothing seems to ever be resolved….but it’s stunning to look at.. The Death Valley sequences both from the air and on the ground are quiet beautiful and the extended finale where the house explodes in orange flames is shot from endless angles and in slo-mo set to Careful with the Axe, Eugine by Pink Floyd - it’s quite a remarkable sequence. Halprin went to marry Dennis Hopper in his drug addled 70’s period and Frechette joined a commune , did a bank robbery and died in prison at 27……which does give the film another dimension . Quite what it all means is anyone’s guess and although it’s a long way from his earlier masterpieces it’s still worth a watch - 3.5/5

More Than Just a Beautiful Disaster - Zabriskie Point review by griggs

In 1978, this was slammed as “the worst film ever made by a director of genius” and included in The Fifty Worst Films of All Time. Forty-seven years later, I gave it a go—and to my surprise, it’s nowhere near that bad.

The story is loose and dreamy, but it has a rhythm that gradually pulls you in, and there are moments where it becomes fairly compelling. Visually, it’s stunning—full of sun-bleached landscapes and surreal flourishes that give it a strange, hypnotic charm.

The biggest issue is the two leads. It’s not their lack of acting experience that’s the problem—it’s their energy. They feel oddly distant, even unlikeable, which makes it hard to care about them or engage with the politics the film gestures toward.

The dialogue doesn't help either. It often sounds like what an out-of-touch adult imagines young people say, which is a shame, as Sam Shepard had initially been involved in the writing process. His departure left the dialogue in the hands of much older writers, which might explain why it often sounds like a caricature of youth rebellion rather than the real thing.

It’s easy to see why it failed, but also why it’s worth revisiting.