Vincent Canby, New York Times, June 8, 1969 on Oates, Hellman and Two-Lane Blacktop:

"'Two-Lane Blacktop' looks very much like the sort of movie that was conceived as a metaphor and, only after some difficult labor pains, given form as a literal narrative. 'Two-Lane Blacktop' (...) is a remarkably engaging movie, mostly in spite of, rather than because of, its metaphorical aspirations. All of which was most surprising to me after having plowed through the screenplay, by Rudolph Wurlizer and Will Cory, which Esquire published last April and, with a certain reckless optimism, descibed as its 'nomination for the movie of the year', even though there were still eights months to go."

"'Two-Lane Blacktop' is afar from perfect film (those metaphors keep blocking the road), but it has been directed, acted, photographed and scored (underscored happily) with the restrained and control of an aware, mature filmmaker."

"Monte Hellman, its 40-year-old director, has for some years enjoyed an underground reputation as the man who made not only 'Beast from Haunted Cave', for Roger Corman's atelier, but also two low-budget westerns, 'The Shooting' and 'Ride the Wirlwind', which received few, if any, theatrical dates in this country and yet were aclaimed in France as two of the most exciting, most objective, most nihilistic American films in years. On the basis of 'The Shootist' and 'Two-Lane Blacktop', it seems to me that Hellman's reputation may well be deserved, but for reasons that have not so much to do with his apparent fondness for elliptical, draw-your-own-conclusion narratives as for his humor, his appreciation of action as the raw material of film narrative and for a fine discipline of technique. All of these have helped to transform a sometimes pretentious screenplay into a real movie."

About Warren Oates: "Perhaps because his role is the only one that suggests a past, Oates is the most interesting person in the film, a driving, driven middle-aged man, his handsome face beginning to collaps, who keeps talking about the need to settle down if he isn't to go into orbit, though he clearly already is in orbit and out of control."