A new documentary celebrating the people, places and legacies found along America’s most famous highway will make a stop Tuesday evening at Sapulpa’s TeePee Drive-In.
“Route 66: The Main Street of America,” written and directed by filmmaker John Paget, takes audiences on a journey from Chicago to Los Angeles as the highway approaches its centennial. Paget and members of the film’s crew will attend the Sapulpa screening as part of a “rolling premiere” taking the documentary through the communities where its stories originated.
“We wanted to bring the film back to the communities from which the stories come—back to the people who tell the stories in the film,” Paget said during an interview with Sapulpa Times. “It’s just great to show the film in actual historic theaters and drive-ins all along the road.”
The tour began Sept. 1 at the Art Institute of Chicago, near the starting point of Route 66. Paget said the world premiere drew a sold-out audience of approximately 900 people.
The film has been about three years in the making, but Paget’s relationship with Route 66 stretches back decades. His first Route 66 documentary was released in 1994 and featured Angel Delgadillo, a Seligman, Arizona, barber widely regarded as the father of the historic Route 66 preservation movement.
After Seligman was bypassed, Delgadillo spent years campaigning to have the former highway through his community recognized as historic. His efforts helped launch a movement that eventually spread across all eight Route 66 states.
“He’s the reason you see those historic Route 66 shields,” Paget said. “He stood up and said, ‘I’m going to do something to save my town.’ That inspired people up and down the road.”
Now 99, Delgadillo was the first person Paget interviewed for the new film.
A Cadillac serves as the documentary’s visual link, carrying viewers from one community and story to the next. The journey includes iconic attractions such as Cadillac Ranch near Amarillo, where Paget interviewed a photographer who documented the art installation’s creation.
Paget said one of the most surprising revelations was that all 10 Cadillacs were still operational when they were placed nose-first into the ground.
“They were not pulled from a junkyard and trucked in,” Paget said. “All those Cadillacs drove out to the site. They were in perfect operating condition.”
Although the documentary celebrates roadside landmarks, Paget said its emotional center is found in the people preserving their communities, family businesses and local history.
One story follows a man working to restore Amboy, California, after his father—who purchased the small Mojave Desert town as a restoration project—died unexpectedly. Similar stories of people carrying on the work of parents and grandparents appear throughout the film.
“It was interesting to me how often that came up in people’s stories,” Paget said. “Honoring a legacy and a family legacy is why they’re doing what they’re doing.”
Paget said audiences have been surprised by how emotional and hopeful the documentary is. One viewer described watching it as “a therapy session for America” because of the sense of unity it created.
Route 66, Paget said, has evolved from a road travelers used to reach the “promised land” into a destination of its own.
“It’s become a place where our history is honored, where people slow down and share stories,” he said. “It’s a place to connect to nature, to history and to each other.”
Gates at the TeePee Drive-In open at 5:45 p.m. A meet-and-greet with Paget and the filmmaking team begins at 6 p.m., followed by an introduction at 7:20 p.m. The film begins at 7:45 p.m.
Tickets and additional information are available at teepeedrivein.com.
Watch the full Timeloop interview on YouTube.