Electra Glide in Blue

A requiem for the death of the American hero. No, this is not the plot--this is what the movie accomplishes. Do not mistake this existential parable for what may otherwise seem like a superficial counter culture exploitation flick--it is nothing of the sort.

Record producer Guercio's first (and last) effort at filmmaking (captured beautifully by the late cinematographer Conrad Hall) leaves the viewer wondering "where have all the cowboys gone?" John Ford taught us that the hero rode a white horse and did the right thing, even if it killed him-, and in this Vietnam era analogue, Blake is a five foot four inch leather clad motorcycle cop writing speeding tickets along a lonely two lane road cutting through monument valley. With high hopes and ideals, he aspires not only to do more but to become more...and for a while he succeeds. But the world is different, people are different, and the old heroes he admired are not just obsolete--they are extinct.

We are inexorably drawn through his disillusionment and our own to an ending that is sad, tragic, and inevitable.

EGinB should be seen as an anthem to early 70's America, and the ringing messages of all road movies at the time.The film is unique as a tour de force from a director who knew precisely what he was doing.From the opening scene, with it's brilliant use of close-ups, to the final incredible draw-back, EGinB relentlessly drives home the message of post-Vietnam America, with themes of honesty,realization,ruthlessness and duty.As in other Road Movies, the Road is the conduit along which America travels for hope and redemption.The implication is that it is only in the expanse and purity of the Big Country that these ideals can be attained.

Blake seizes his opportunity to wrest his character, Wintergreen, out of the Vietnam War and into a troubled American Society; not without a little resentment along the way. His remark to the truckdriver he books, displays his feelings; " I'll give you,what they gave me (in Vietnam)...nothing". His ideals of right and honesty give way eventually to acceptance of the system, with all it's failings.

The photography is beautiful and skillful, lending a curious winsome nostalgia to the Great American Outback.Wintergreen's gleaming bike,( the Electra Glide of the title), deserves a credit of it's own. EGinB has an ending that audiences have argued about for 30 years. I think it is an original devize by the director, that emphasises the plight of nations and individuals, who trade honesty and integrity for mundanity and compromise.Additionally, what you are really watching during the long 7 1/2 minutes drawback, is a pictorial unfolding of the American flag.This echos the ' God bless America ' lyrics of the Big Elk soundtrack.Watch it, and listen to the music of Big Elk as it unfolds.It somehow encapsulates the film and it's themes, and is mesmeric for that. See it, but realize what you are watching; it's worth the research; and you'll never see a Volkswagan Camper in the same light again!

Much chat about this film, especially now since it's 'finally' out on DVD in wide screen format.

This is the best film of a specialized genre from the late 60's through early 1970's exploring the counter-culture revolution and the "Establishment".

Unlike Easy Rider, A Clockwork Orange and Billy Jack, EGIB hits the nail on the head. There is evil everywhere, and good intentions don't always result in good outcomes.

Beautiful directorial debut by Guercio, awesome cinematography by Conrad Hall.

In essence, one of the best films from 1973.

American music producer James William Guercio's one-off dalliance with filmmaking, ELECTRA GLIDE IN BLUE is made when he is only 28-year-old. It stars Robert Blake as a motorcycle cop Johnny Wintergreen who patrols rural Arizona highways and aspires to be a homicidal officer.

The movie opens with a promising panache hardly betrays that Guercio is a greenhorn, conjecturing through its voyeuristic close-ups, audience would soon realize a face-unshown man prepares to kill himself, yet, Guercio's camera also cunningly suggests that he is cooking beef streaks at the same time. Then, boom! He blows himself dead through a shotgun, which unusually aims to his chest rather than the usual easy target, the head, it compellingly sets a paradoxical situation that one immediately knows there is something fishy about the whole act.

Also, before the title card, Guercio takes a tongue-in-cheek tack to introduce our unlikely hero, big Johnny, the camera lurks and swirls in the apartment where Johnny expertly gratifies Jolene (Riley) in bed, before revealing that Johnny is small in stature. When a man's masculinity is stunted by his appearances, it gives audience an idea why he is so eager to achieve something, to compensate the ingrained inferiority complex is a shoo-in. So the apparent-suicidal case becomes his stepping stone to be recruited by detective Harve Poole (Ryan) for his astute observation that it is indeed a murder underneath the hatched facade.

But the ensuing police procedural dampens Johnny's driving enthusiasm, especially after witnessing Harve hectors physically abuses and a group of hippies to milk information about their prime suspect, a drug dealer Bob Zembo (a cameo of Peter Cetera, one of the four CHICAGO members who take on acting roles here apart from their contribution to the picture's soundtrack), and the final straw is an awkward confrontation between him, Harve and Jolene, the latter turns out to be Harve's lover, and spitefully lambastes Harve's incompetence to make her contented and laments her ill-fated destiny, working in a barrelhouse after a dashed Hollywood dream, Johnny and Harv fall out afterwards.

Unambiguously Guercio conducts a half-hearted approach to solve the murder mystery, after trifling with a biker-chasing set piece to keep the action moving, the movie falls back on Johnny's "inner voice" for an expedient epiphany to realize who is the murderer at the end of a MADURA concert, with reasons unexplained, but that is not enough, ultimately there would be another revelation later, to further muddle the water and leave the opening scene ever so ambivalent when one retraces back, before reaching its chilling coda, completely hits viewers like a cold shower, willful but symbolic, overall, it is a loner's world against the canvas of a vast Arizona landscape, everyone in the story is either indolent, disillusioned or corrupt, only the hippies' community stands in as a getaway from the unpleasant reality, but their guarded world is defiant towards the mainstream values, Johnny represents a tragic hero who is doomed because of what he represents, an authority figure, cannot be saved by his amiable personality and all-too-well intentions.

Performance-wise, everyone on board is on a par with excellence, Elisha Cook Jr. is heart-rending to watch in his committed lunacy, Mitchell Ryan expertly imbues a certain degree of passing diffidence in his bombast mannerism and Billy Green Bush is so organic as Johnny's shade- hogging partner and nails his big scene with a flourish, so is Jeannine Riley, manages to steal some limelight even with a role riddled with platitudes. And our leading man Robert Blake, ever so self- reliant as a pipsqueak trying rather hard to chase his dream, only to get short-changed by a cynical world.

ELECTRA GLIDE IN BLUE, also bolstered by a symphonic soundtrack produced by Guercio himself and its striking wide-screen landscape sensation shot by DP Conrad L. Hall, is an astonishing debut feature, if it intends to be more of a zeitgeist-capturer than a gripping detective story, then I must give my whole-hearted congratulations to the crew, mission grandly accomplished!

Blake, as Big John Wintergreen, is the idealized American who is a Marine Corps veteran from Vietnam, comes back and wants to do the right thing: enforce the law fairly and not give favors to other cops nor hassle the hippies. He is "chopping the wood before him" by riding his Harley, working traffic and the concert and hoping to be a Detective. He tries hard and provides info to the lead Detective but he just can't bring himself to be brutal to the hippies at the commune or hassle the hippie VW Bus drivers. And he is a man, and hence tempted by the delightful Jolene. His traffic partner, Zipper, wants more but doesn't want to work for it like Wintergreen. And amidst all these human dynamics is a murder and theft of cash. Aside from being a great story, there are many specifics that will make you want to watch this film. The 70's flavor is a fun retrospective. The Police Bike vs. dirt bike chase scene is the greatest ever done. The desert scenery never looked better and the Monument Valley morning scene is a real treat. The soundtrack is perhaps the biggest star. You have Du-Wop, Country, Rock and jazz. Sadly, only parts of some songs are in the movie (or are spoken over) and the soundtrack is not available on CD. If you are ever in an old record store, look for the LP in a silver colored cover. You may even be lucky enough to get the posters and picture book that came with the album. I would love to see Rhino records give this soundtrack the same treatment they gave to Casablanca. You will like John Wintergreen and feel his joys and sorrows as his personal and professional life take their ups and downs.