Plot for Cars II ­ Winslow finishes the race

Looking into history and imagining the old trails that once carried people along, can bring back thoughts of a time when travel wasn't measured down to trying to save 10 minutes on a weekly business trip.

Route 66 represents the last of the old trails. It was an entirely different phenomenon, being that it was the first American highway, unlike what we see today.

It must have been a unique American experience to cross the country on this road; to see the landscape and people along the way at its slower pace, before the concrete belts of the interstates finally spread out everywhere, taming the last of the wild west.

This is part of the subplot in Cars, a Disney/Pixar movie about a racecar en route to a race in California, but who then gets sidetracked in a small town on old Route 66 called Radiator Springs.

It might be of some interest to those in Winslow to know that a few years ago, John Lasseter, founder and creative director of Pixar, along with his head animation crew, signed into the guest book at the Old Trails Museum. According to those working at the museum, Lasseter and his bunch were looking for inspiration when creating Cars, and found some of what they were looking for in Winslow. During their weeklong stay in Winslow, the Pixar crew spent time with Diane Patterson, owner of Roadworks, who is even credited at the end of the movie.

Having recently seen the movie and talked to locals who have as well, it would be safe to say that Winslow lent much to the movie's subplot.

A once thriving town, Radiator Springs, was bypassed by the interstate, whereby, businesses were boarded up, downtown fell apart and the residents withdrew into seclusion. A great historic hotel designed like a Spanish hacienda, that was the "greatest stop on Route 66," closed down and was abandoned. Years later, a young racecar came to town and gave the residents hope to bring the town back to its former glory and they all did their part to make the town look great again ‹ putting up neon signs and remodeling their businesses. As the racecar brought the town attention and fame, the residents came together and the great hotel reopened.

Sound familiar?

The scenery of the movie is certainly not a match to Winslow as our landscape here would have made the animators' jobs far too easy and the movie's aesthetics less appealing for moviegoers. Radiator Springs appears to be more of a compilation of Holbrook, Williams, Seligman and Peach Springs, set in the landscape of the Painted Cliffs on the border of Arizona and New Mexico on the way east to Gallup on I-40.

Pixar's Cars is optimistic, as Radiator Springs reinvented itself in a matter of days. The real thing in Winslow is almost 10 years in the making, but audiences probably would not appreciate two hours of watching local political characters endlessly debate over what is the proper course of action; surface personal jealousies and vendettas while commiserating over budget constraints, and planning for incessant infrastructure improvements. This kind of entertainment is left for documentaries.

A few people around town say a woman from southern California named Roberta Gilliam, has been coming to Winslow for the past 10 years to film a documentary about the "renaissance" in Winslow. This is the story Winslow needs to make.

Donate to nhonews.com Report a Typo Contact
Most Read