Great Highway Moments on Film

At the very end of "Lost In America," a film that HBO describes as,"Two West Coast youppies sell everything, buy a huge motor home and set out to do some real living," Albert Brooks admits to his wife that "it isn't working." He agrees to "eat shit and head get New York as soon as possible," to find a new Creative Director position at another ad agency. The journey from rural Arizona (where he and his wife were working as a crossing guard, and as a fry girl, respectively) to New York City, is one of the most stunning tributes to American urbanism and our highway culture that I have ever seen. At the same time, the bold cityscapes, fronted by gracefully arching highways, are interspersed with very small town getting-lost scenes, where the roadways featured were far from limited access. Throughout the montage, Sinatra's "New York, New York" plays in the background. At the very end, Brooks pulls the motor home into a parking space on 57th street (right in front of the "9" building), and stumbles out cleanly shaven in a fresh suit, carrying his portfolio in a briefcase, as his wife hands him a cup of coffee from a thermos. It's a must see!