I had previously dismissed Rich Hall as a mildly amusing American comedian who sometimes appeared on panel shows, but I was flicking through television channels last night, and I caught the end of his documentary about the American road movie on BBC four. I was impressed by what he was saying, so I decided to watch it in full on Iplayer, and I think t is one of the most intelligent things I’ve seen on tv in some time. The road movie, of course, is one of the most profound of genres, where the scenery itself echoes the internal conflicts of the dramatis personae: they are about going somewhere, about movement; but they are also about self discovery, about searching for something internally, as if the vast open spaces act as visual metaphors for the human soul. Thus, as I vaguely recall Alan saying in one of his second year lllectures (or I could have read it) the journey out is also a journey inward.

Moreover, as Hall notes, these films act as social and political commentary, concerning such things as the hippy movement, free love, and so on. Of course, most of them were made during the classical period of Hollywood, when the American cinema was still an art form which directors used to actually say something, rather than the bland, witless form of mass entertainment George Lucas turned it into in 1977. I must say that one of the great joys of Hall’s program is watching someone call star wars what it is: meaningless crap responsible for turning one of the greatest art forms ever into something vapid and puerile. I screamed with joy when Hall named Lucas as the talentless hack he is. I mean, star wars fans lord him as a great auteur on a creative par with Tolkien, when he is nothing of the sort: star wars is unoriginal, derivative, and meaningless in terms of social commentary. I therefore took great, great joy in watching Hall rip into it in his sarcastic way.* (The next time I meet a star wars fan, I’ll be very temped to shout ‘CHEESECAKE!’ at him)

It was refreshing, then, to see something of intelligence and substance being said about cinema. Hall makes very good points, particularly in relating certain films to their social contexts. He also examines how some films were made: for example, I particularly like his account of the filming of Easy Riders, a film which we covered in my second year at university. Easy Riders is a film possibly most notable for the fact that most of the crew were off their heads on crack throughout filming, including and especially director Dennis Hopper. Of course, he could have gone deeper, as I know I should but, probably better not, here, into examining the relationship between the road and the psyche in terms of psychoanalysis in this genre; but while that would have been interesting to film graduates like me, it would have probably have just weighed an essentially lighthearted, if fascinating, program down. As it is, though, there is definite intellectual weight behind what Hall has to say, and I think he gives a valuable insight into the American road movie, and American cinema in general. Go watch.

*to be fair, it must be noted that jrr Tolkien cannot be called completely original, for he famously borrowed from Icelandic and Germanic epic poetry.