DVD review: “Exit Zero”

The new 26-minute film “Exit Zero” doesn’t so much explore the history of the Route 66 ghost town that straddles the Texas-New Mexico border as give an atmospheric look of what’s there now and glimpses of what was there before.

Here’s the trailer for the film:

Like Unoccupied Route 66‘s previous film about the deserted Painted Desert Trading Post, “Exit Zero” was written and narrated by Nick Gerlich and filmed and directed by KC Keefer.

The film contains an interview with Charlie Nixon, who was born in Glenrio’s Cooper Hotel in 1932, just a few years before it burned down. It also contains vintage photographs of a more-prosperous Glenrio from the 1930s to the 1960s and modern-day footage of the Longhorn Cafe, the First and Last Motel and other deserted structures gradually crumbling into dust.

Some of “Exit Zero’s” best moments come when we hear vintage radio commercials for Alka Seltzer and Schaefer Beer, to name a few, while an old automobile cruises down the dusty, gravel-road part of Route 66 between Glenrio and San Jon, New Mexico.

Gerlich notes in the film Route 66 was “stitched together” from existing roads. Glenrio also has a “stitched together” background, with two alignments of Route 66 there and Interstate 40 roaring nearby. It occupies two time zones, and the differing tax structures of Texas and New Mexico often became determining factors of which side of the line to put a tavern or gas station.

Glenrio began in 1903 as a railroad stop and evolved into a roadside settlement once Route 66 came along. Despite its vibrant business district, the town’s population seldom surpassed 100. Glenrio suffered its first economic shock when the railroad quit stopping there by 1955, and Interstate 40 bypassed it in the early 1970s.

Gerlich pointed out one thing I never knew — the now-abandoned post office once was the State Line Bar. And the original Glenrio post office building is a wooden shack attached on the west side of the building, on the New Mexico side of the line.

After the credits roll near the end of the film, make sure you stick around to watch a short blooper reel.

“Exit Zero” won’t be a substitute for the unique experience of actually visiting the ghost town. But the film will bring back memories for those who have traveled to Glenrio before or whet the appetite for those who’ve never been there.

Unoccupied Route 66 also is producing a film called “Missouri Maze,” which examines a central Missouri alignment of Route 66 that includes John’s Modern Cabins.

(“Exit Zero” may be purchased from the Unoccupied Route 66 website for $15, which includes shipping in the lower 48 U.S. states.)

(Image of Glenrio by Brent Lind via Flickr)