According to the director's commentary on the first DVD release, the reason the movie took so long to release on DVD was Jim Morrison. "Two Lane Blacktop"'s soundtrack has scenes in the movie where Doors music is playing in the background. Monte Hellman and the producers had trouble initially securing permission from Morrison's estate to release the film with its original content of Doors music on to the medium of DVD. For obvious reasons, such DVD permission was not part of the original agreement with the Doors in 1972. Eventually, the studio got permission to use the Doors music again and the DVD was released.
No one wore makeup in this film.
A drummer for the rock band The Beach Boys, Dennis Wilson gave his only acting performance in this film.
By the end of 1983, three of the four leading players were all dead. Laurie Bird committed suicide in 1979, Warren Oates suffered a fatal heart attack in 1982 at the age of 53, and Dennis Wilson drowned a year later.