YMMV / Vanishing Point

• Cult Classic: Many movie car and chase film enthusiasts have this one on their top lists.
• Everyone Is Jesus in Purgatory: The scenes with the snake catcher and faith healer, and the (UK-release-only) hitchhiker scene, are very easily read as symbolic.
• Germans Love David Hasselhoff: Flopped in the US in its original release, then became a big hit in Europe, which prompted 20th Century Fox to give it an American re-release.
• Memetic Mutation: Vanity license plates reading "OA-5599" (the plate number on Kowalski's Challenger) have become quite a popular item among car enthusiasts. White Challengers weren't available for purchase by the time of the film, either, but this color got a pretty hefty demand as a result.
• Narm: The flashback with Kowalski and the surfer girl. It was probably intended to give some more backstory to Kowalski, but it comes off as Mood Whiplash in the middle of a gritty car chase movie.
• Special Effects Failure: The Challenger turns into a 1967 Chevy Camaro at the end. This is becase Chrysler required the cars be returned after filming.
• Unintentional Period Piece: The 1997 remake including many references to the Ruby Ridge and Waco sieges (the DJ now being a libertarian shock jock with a Gadsden flag in his studio, Kowalski being confused with a Right-Wing Militia Fanatic partly due to said shock jock's support and partly due to being a Gulf War veteran, and the leading FBI agent involved in the case even being implied to wanting some sort of retribution for the agency following those incidents via his pursuit of Kowalski) manages to somehow date this version even more than the original's post-Woodstock early '70s setting.
• The Woobie: The flashbacks show that Kowalski's had kind of a rotten life (and the remake adds a "Returning War Vet" detail as well, especially because it was done pretty shortly after the First Gulf War). Crosses into Jerkass Woobie depending on how you feel about him.

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