“The Mother Road” — a review

One thought kept crossing my mind while watching Lauren Cardillo’s “The Mother Road,” a PBS documentary about her and her mother’s trip on Route 66.

Lauren has one cool mom.

How many moms do you know took their kids to a Bruce Springsteen concert?

How many moms at Social Security age would have the endurance and self-assurance to go on a three-week road trip without their husbands?

How many moms have a good enough relationship with their daughters that they would be able to go on such a long trek without killing each other?

Irene Cardillo does.

On an entertainment level, “The Mother Road” scores high. It’s a crisply edited, fast-paced film that crams in a lot of Route 66 sights in its 57 minutes. And the selection of road tunes by Willie Nelson, Bruce Springsteen, the Eagles, Chuck Berry and the original version of Tom Cochran’s “Life Is a Highway” will have roadies shopping on iTunes.

Lauren and Irene share about equal time in front of the camera. But it’s Irene who’s the star. Although she was born in 1926, the same year that Route 66 was commissioned, she shows the same vitality and unexpected delights as the Mother Road.

Irene displays a bright, humorous and self-knowing mind, but is not self-conscious. She spray-paints graffiti on the Cadillac Ranch sculpture. She cavorts around the Foyil Totem Pole like a teenager. And she dashs away from the wild burros of Oatman, Ariz., when they become too pushy.

Lauren had her mother in mind as a metaphor for the Mother Road. “You’re vibrant, and so is the road,” Lauren says to her. But when Irene gets off the road for a day because of fatigue, Lauren’s stated reason for their trip early in the film — “We’re both getting older … we may not get another chance” — hits home.

This see-it-while-you-can mantra for Route 66 also hits home during the course of the film. Shooting for “The Mother Road” was completed a few years ago, and some things that are shown are gone. The Red Cedar Inn in Pacific, Mo., is closed indefinitely, and Lillian Redman, former owner of the Blue Swallow Motel in Tucumcari, N.M., died not long after the filming.

So treasure your mother — and Mother Road — while you can.

(To find your local PBS television station, go here. Times and listings for “The Mother Road” also can be found at the TV Guide site here.)