This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, March 25, 2009 - Entering central Utah from Colorado on Highway 70, the map promised a slight "scenic detour." The highway signs saying "No service" understated the case. About three miles south of the main road, there's a town marked Cisco on the map, if it can even be called a town.
I've been through ghost towns before, but this was just plain creepy. (One guidebook accurately sums it up as "apocalyptic.")
But there was also something strangely familiar about it. With a little research, my hunch was confirmed:
This is where Kowalski comes to his big finish in the 1971 cult film "Vanishing Point," one of the two nihilistic car-chase classics of the early '70s. (The other was "Dirty Mary Crazy Larry," and I saw them as a double feature more times than I can remember).
The Lens is the blog of Cinema St. Louis, hosted by the Beacon.