Vanishing Point: Argo's Car Delivery Service, Denver

[340challconvert]

Really enjoying your Vanishing Point venue analysis.
Very cool to see the original location vs the current maps.
Thanks for your research on this!

 

[Speet]

Here's another piece of the VP locations puzzle...

This chase sequence, following Kowalskis encounter with 'Speed Freak' (the Jag-driver), was taken on Alt 93 / Lincoln Highway, some 17 miles south of West Wendover, Nevada.
Kowalski and the trailing cops are speeding northbound towards West Wendover.


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Fantastic! I'd read once that someone had identified a "very brief scene shot on US93 south of Wendover" but never tried tracking it down without stronger clues as which exact scene was being talked about. Another location added to/scratched off the list, congratulations!

 

[831 HQT]

Really enjoying your Vanishing Point venue analysis.
Very cool to see the original location vs the current maps.
Thanks for your research on this!
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Thanks paharamia for the praise. But it needs to be extended to fellow research peers Speet and MrLocation, as we all three seem to be kind of obsessed by those original VP locations.

 

[831 HQT]

Now here's something again for the die-hard Vanishing Point fans.

It's about another location in Goldfield Nevada (besides the famous Goldfield Hotel) to press the nose on the windows - trying to find traces of the filming from almost 50 years ago.

It's one of the Sheriff's offices. Undisclosed location in the film, but in reality just a few steps away from the Goldfield Hotel.

Super Soul's KOW Radio at the Goldfield Hotel

The mining company office that turned for a few brief hours into a Sheriff's office.
(Same ridge in the background)

The inscription on the window reads (top line):
'Goldfield Deep Mines Company of Nevada'

Google Street View

Google Street View

Google Street View
The Nixon-Wingfield Building, built in 1907.
Home of the Goldfield Consolidated Gold Mines and later Goldfield Deep Mines Company.

Google Maps

 

[MrLocation]

Really enjoying your Vanishing Point venue analysis.
Very cool to see the original location vs the current maps.
Thanks for your research on this!
View attachment 34259

Obvious really, once you point it out. How annoying, having been there and missing it only last year. I have to wait until 2019 until I can go back. Sigh.

 

[Speet]

It's not spelled out but it's not hidden either. The Consolidated Mines Co. office was redressed as the Sheriff's office for the film, and I don't think they pretended it was anywhere other than Goldfield. The office buildings's shadow is prominent in Cleavon Little's first scene; Super Soul walks past it on the way to the Goldfield Hotel. It also makes sense how engineer John Amos so easily can pick up "them on the air".

 

[831 HQT]

Hello Speet,

I really was surprised to discover the shooting location of one of the Sheriff-Office scenes was in Goldfield. This because I was so convinced that this office was located in Tonopah; both in reality and in the virtual reality of the film.

In reality,
because in the DVD commentary director Richard C. Sarafian mentions having shot 'this' scene in Tonopah. But he mixes things up here, as said scene is the one with the Sandy McKees interview / the biker gathering in front of Argo's Car Delivery (and of course this was shot in Denver). So what did they shoot then in Tonopah? There are no other (unknown) town scenes besides the ones involving law enforcement authorities. (Or maybe another 'lost' scene?)

And in the virtual reality of the film,
because a Sheriff Office that size (with a secretary) just doesn't fit Goldfield. This suits perfectly to 'bigger' crossroad towns in the area like Tonopah, Ely or Fallon, with connections from/to all directions.

And yes, there's more: This Sheriff's Office

was in reality located in the very same building as well; just round the corner (facing Ramsey street), in the office of the 'Reorganized CrackerJack Mining Co.'

Google Street View

The inscription on the window reads (top line): 'Reorganized CrackerJack Mining Co.'
(BTW, the kid out on the street is Richard Sarafian jr.)

A perfect match...


And last but not least, here's a 'souped up' photo of Kowalski in full swing at downtown Denver's 16th street:

 

[831 HQT]

And moving on.......to the Beach Scene:

Japanese movie program still picture

Some of you probably will recognize the distinctive scenery immediately. Yes, it's Point Dume State Beach in Malibu.

Google Street View

Wikipedia.org:
'With its close proximity to the film and television industry location, Point Dume's Westward Beach continues to be a popular filming location for films, television, advertisements, and videos, appearing frequently whenever a beach scene is needed.'

Surfer, beware!

Google Street View

Have a look again at MrLocation's great/unique Flickr-Album for an ever more complete list of the Vanishing Point filming locations:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/mrlocation/sets/72157632013998035/

 

[Aussie Challenger]

Just found this thread, about 12 years back on one of my many visits to America I was traveling roughly along the route Kowalski was supposed to have taken and ended up in Austin. The town looked so much as it did in the movie, I had a meal in the restaurant and a walk around followed by a cruise around. I originally only went to get fuel but recognizing the turn-off and entering Austin spent some time there.

 

[Speet]

Okay what's left to find? Jake's (Lee Weaver) home maybe. That too was some real location. According to Sarafian, Kowalski's phone booth was placed in a real spot somewhere too but the wider shot establishing it to be alone in the middle of nowhere didn't make it into the final cut.

I was recently asked to consider where Charlotte Rampling's scenes were shot, as can be seen in the UK cut. I imagined it would be extremely difficult since that was a night shoot offering very scant clues. MrLocation suggested that all of the shots for the hitch-hiker sequence and the morning after were filmed at just about the same spot each time, and I agree. The last shots are set shortly after dawn and could have in fact been shot in sequence at the end of the night shoot.

We've been waiting patiently for this, everywhere and since forever.

Sarafian's DVD commentary offered Thousand Oaks, CA as the vicinity of the scene. I examined satellite imagery of the municipality and looked at a large hill on the east side of town, zeroing in on Skeleton Canyon. North Westlake Boulevard runs through it and the large hill immediately to the west is poised to catch the early eastern sun.

Using Google streetview I dropped in on a possible site and right away started seeing points of similarity in the hillside and the elevation of the surrounding land, lower on the other side of the road.

Views from the vicinity of the intersection with Valley Spring Drive also have some similarity, particularly the tiny bit of hillside that shows at the right edge of the movie shot.

Comparing topographical data from 1967 to an aerial image from 1976 shows the main road was realigned to the west in places in that span of time, though I should think after 1970. The topo map shows that an old driveway joined the old road a little east and north of the current intersection. The aerial photograph shows that driveway took a sharp right turn around a tree. On the map it roughly paralleled the old road alignment as it descended toward a stream bed, just like the driveway Kowalski wakes up on.

If that geometry is correct then the camera stood very close to here.

The gate seen in the film is the entrance to the old driveway. Kowalski backs up the old driveway onto what will become Valley Spring Drive (in its earliest form as a newer unpaved driveway intersecting the old one) and exits it to take off down the main road. The same three trees, minus a low-branching limb or two still stand in a raised bed next to Valley Spring Drive, while the North Ranch Center building stands on the site of the gate and the old main road alignment.

 

[MrLocation]

You've proved beyond all doubt, Speet, that this is the exact location. How sad are we, that we're now having to find locations that weren't even on the US release? Blame this on 831 HQT again - the originator of this thread. Our three-way joint collaboration (Speet, 831 HQT and I) for Vanishing Point locations are here:
Vanishing Point (1971)

 

[831 HQT]

Speet

Amazing: You lifted the veil from the secret of one of the last remaining unknown VP-location; congratulations!
Thousand Oaks: And I thought one had to look for this scenery in the Sacramento / Stockton area (assuming they shot the scene at the end of the filming schedule, coming from the High Sierra going down towards the Central Valley).

Here's another picture I just found on the 'United States Geological Survey' (USGS) site:

In this aerial image from 1973, the location looks still the same as it was at the time of filming (1970). It is assumed that the scene with Charlotte Rampling is shot driving back and forth this same stretch of road.

So it seems that apart from principal filming that started in Denver and ended in the Tonopah / Goldfield area, the crew shot these three scenes out from Hollywood:

The Rape Scene (Venice)
The Beach Scene (Malibu)
The Charlotte Rampling Scene (Thousand Oaks)

And well, that's it then? Can we consider 'Vanishing Point Location Decoding' as mission completed? I guess so. All that's left to do now is fine tuning, meaning getting (better) pictures from locations with bad or no pictures at all.


MrLocation

Your Vanishing Point Location Flickr Album really is the holy grail - the one stop, get it all source - for us VP location freaks all over the world!

 

[Speet]

Speet

Amazing: You lifted the veil from the secret of one of the last remaining unknown VP-location; congratulations!
Thousand Oaks: And I thought one had to look for this scenery in the Sacramento / Stockton area (assuming they shot the scene at the end of the filming schedule, coming from the High Sierra going down towards the Central Valley).

Here's another picture I just found on the 'United States Geological Survey' (USGS) site:

View attachment 48204

In this aerial image from 1973, the location looks still the same as it was at the time of filming (1970). It is assumed that the scene with Charlotte Rampling is shot driving back and forth this same stretch of road.

So it seems that apart from principal filming that started in Denver and ended in the Tonopah / Goldfield area, the crew shot these three scenes out from Hollywood:

The Rape Scene (Venice)
The Beach Scene (Malibu)
The Charlotte Rampling Scene (Thousand Oaks)

And well, that's it then? Can we consider 'Vanishing Point Location Decoding' as mission completed? I guess so. All that's left to do now is fine tuning, meaning getting (better) pictures from locations with bad or no pictures at all.


MrLocation

Your Vanishing Point Location Flickr Album really is the holy grail - the one stop, get it all source - for us VP location freaks all over the world!

The stuff in Thousand Oaks did come near the end; Sarafian's commentary mentions having only one good car left by then.

There was to be another Hollywood scene: I recall there was planned a Vietnam flashback that would have involved stunt driving and probably pyrotechnic FX, but no images of filming have ever turned up to my knowledge. It was probably dropped for lack of time/budget but if it happened it would likely have been filmed on Fox's Century Ranch in Malibu, like MASH was.

Let's not forget the stock footage. Beauty shot of a Jeep CJ in the snow, probably an outtake from an advertisement. Real stock car crash, which some racing buff might probably identify.

 

[6PKRTSE]

Very cool info & footage of everything you have documented. Makes me want to jump in mine and go for a high speed pursuit. Will blue look as good as white on film? I would go around the bulldozers at the end though....

 

[831 HQT]

The stuff in Thousand Oaks did come near the end; Sarafian's commentary mentions having only one good car left by then.

There was to be another Hollywood scene: I recall there was planned a Vietnam flashback that would have involved stunt driving and probably pyrotechnic FX, but no images of filming have ever turned up to my knowledge. It was probably dropped for lack of time/budget but if it happened it would probably have been filmed on Fox's Century Ranch in Malibu, like MASH was.

Let's not forget the stock footage. Beauty shot of a Jeep CJ in the snow, probably an outtake from an advertisement. Real stock car crash, which some racing buff might probably identify.

With Vanishing Point's 50th anniversary approaching, I hope that Fox will dig in their vaults and come up with answers to questions like these...

 

[831 HQT]

Very cool info & footage of everything you have documented. Makes me want to jump in mine and go for a high speed pursuit. Will blue look as good as white on film? I would go around the bulldozers at the end though....

Come spring and having dream machines like yours, your notion is perfectly understandable. Guess the colour doesn't matter when you're behind the wheel? (And you seem to be a reasonable person )

 

[MrLocation]

6PKRTSE: Did you see my upload of Speet's bulldozers in Cisco? Outstanding!

 

[Speet]

And well, that's it then? Can we consider 'Vanishing Point Location Decoding' as mission completed? I guess so. All that's left to do now is fine tuning, meaning getting (better) pictures from locations with bad or no pictures at all.

There are always more places to find. To my knowledge, no one's definitively pointed out where Kowalski crosses his own off-road tracks in the desert. It was vaguely defined as being on the vast dry lake bed near Wendover, UT. Bonneville salt flats sometimes gets mentioned but I've never believed that was accurate. The northern ridge line looks too distant in all shots for this to be north of I-80.

I have long suspected that both ground-level and aerial footage filmed here was instead some miles south of Wendover airfield.

From this vantage the distant ridge profile above matches the screen image below very well.

This indicates an area roughly 500 to 1000 feet east of the Nevada state line and about 1.5 to 2 miles north of the Salt Springs Waterfowl Management Area, where the northern fringes of the stream beds surrounding the wetland fade away into the dry lake. Google Maps

A view south from the Blue Lakes at Salt Springs.

The same distant mountain shows up in one shot from a similar angle.

I haven't managed to pinpoint any details just yet but this does narrow it down considerably. Supposedly this land falls within the northwestern boundaries of the Utah Test and Training Range (south) and is an off-limits area. There are lots of old vehicle tracks visible in Google's aerials, not necessarily Kowalski's.

 

[831 HQT]

Speet,

you’re quite right with your localization of this part of the off-road desert scene, as your comparison pictures clearly demonstrate.

So based on the research done by you and MrLocation, we can recap this desert scene (44 Min. into the movie) as follows:

- Cornered by the police, Kowalski escapes into the desert:
Junction State Route 376/377, Carvers, Nevada

- K gets lost on the mudflats, crossing several times his own tracks:
Mudflats just south of Wendover, Utah

- K reaches for his sunglasses, stops because of a flat tire, meets the prospector and ‘roots right in’:
Dry lake south of US 95, between Millers and Coaldale, Nevada

- J. Hovah’s faith healer ‘camp meeting’ / Vaya con Dios!:
Gemfield, just outside Goldfield, Nevada



In the film, the shots taken on the mudflats and on the dry lake are interwoven. In reality, they are more than 300 miles apart.

I once drove this stretch on US 93 Alt towards Ely, and it was p-o-u-r-i-n-g. So I don’t think the tracks on these mudflats last very long.

 

[Speet]

Where did Kowalski run Deputy Collins and Charlie off the road?

They first spot him driving east on US 50 coming from the direction of Austin, NV. They chase him until just past where the road curves from one miles-long straightaway to another.

The curve in the film looks sharper than it is today. Satellite images show evidence of the road having been realigned to a longer, more gradual curve a short distance north of the original alignment.
Not far past that, Kowalski pulls a bootlegger's u-turn (a shot from Cisco, UT it looks like, inserted here) and charges their patrol car head-on.

Collins skids to a stop on the shoulder and Charlie takes over.

This happens 5.8 miles east of where they began chasing him.

This shot from near the film's end is also taken from the vicinity of the starting point, as are a few other long-lens shots earlier in the film. Here, the Challenger is headed west on US 50 towards Austin again.