Why no water?
Something I noticed while watching Vanishing Point again recently was how it seems to go out of its way to show Kowalski doing without water. All of us have learned to accept the fact that movies skip over some of life's physical requirements. For example, Kowalski never needs a bathroom stop, at least one we see. Indeed, movies usually only depict people doing routine things like bathing, dressing, eating, going to the bathroom, etc. when there's a specific reason to show those episodes, and we allow them to omit these details even when their absence creates holes in the logic of the plot. In Vanishing Point, one hole is almost too big to ignore. Kowalski spends almost the entire movie driving through the desert southwest, and a sizable portion of it literally out in the desert off the road. Although I don't recall any characters talking about the temperatures being hot, several are shown sweating, and the word "desert" is mentioned over and over, most notably by Supersoul and the prospector (Dean Jagger). At one point, Supersoul speculates that Kowalski may try to escape his pursuers through "Death Valley." Throughout this entire journey, we never see Kowalski drink any water, and he refuses offers of water at least twice that I can remember, starting with the dealer who gives him the "Bennies" at the biker bar. He doesn't just say "no thanks," but indicates that he doesn't need water. Finally, when he gets his second cache of speed from the biker in the desert, he swallows a handful of pills with one swig of wine (whatever it is it's in a wineskin). Of course, we never see Kowalski eat anything either, but that's not even unrealistic given the amount of speed he has obviously taken. But for him to travel approximately 36 hours through the desert without drinking is for me a noticeable omission. I'm not sure what to make of it, but I think it's a deliberate detail.
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