Cisco Pike

Interesting little movie set in California in the early seventies. Kris Kristofferson plays Cisco Pike, a musician trying to stop dealing drugs and get back to recording music. Unfortunately corrupt cop Holland (Gene Hackman) has an offer for Cisco. Sell some marijuana for him in two days and he'll look at charges made against Cisco (Holland's busted him twice before). Selling the drugs is harder than it looks as he has some stolen and other buyers are trying to make deals with him. He ends up getting the amount of money he needs but Holland is unstable and starts shooting anything in sight.

It's a movie where almost everyone seems stoned or drugged up, Kristofferson is great as the main character and his songs are good too. Enjoyable performances too from Hackman, Karen Black and Harry Dean Stanton make this a decent watch about the tail end of the sixties drug scene.

I've never seen so many reviews miss the mark so entirely. It's important to understand that this is mainstream money behind a bleeding- edge art-flick of it's day. Kristoferson was reviled by the mainstream. Truly loathed. It's one of the reasons his star never quite took-off. Seriously, having one of his albums back in those days would have had your folks shipping you off to boarding school.

Many are characterizing this as "down-beat", "low-key", one person even said, "humerous melodrama". Wrong. The aloof demeanor of Kristoferson's character is just how Kristoferson was. That lumbering meter was omnipresent in films of the day. He wasn't intoxicated, or leastwise effected by it, that was just what passed for kool in those days kids. Those guys grew up on Gary Cooper and the strong-silent type was the guy every kid emulated. This was disingenuous coming from a long-haired California kid. Part of the reason he was so hated.

The copyright date in the film says 1971. Hackman's character was driving a car depicted as a police cruiser and it was a '70 model. Also, Kristoferson's character rents a car at one point, and it's a '71. So I'm guessing this film is early '72 at the latest and not '79 like the info says.

Anyway. This is an incredibly enjoyable watch. 'Play Misty for me', Clint Eastwood's directorial debut is a better look at the early 70s. That came out in '70 as a matter of fact. To me LA was just a set along with the period in Cisco Pike. Again I think there are way better cultural history tours of the time. This was fantastically directed, and if often poorly lit, was cinematographically quite professional looking. The script is tight with great dialog that dates well but it moves a little fast. They needed about 10 more scenes in the film to flesh it out a little. Probably budget issues.

I recall loving this film when I saw it upon release in 1972. It seemed to capture something of the moment that so few films did and I fell in love with the songs of Kris Kristofferson. Recently picking up an Italian poster for the film encouraged me to revisit it. Actually, hard to find but I found I had a DVD. The film is fine, Kristofferson is great as is Karen Black, for most of her performance. Indeed, she is great at first but seems to fade a little in the final scenes. Viva is okay but perhaps a little old in the role, seeing her now alongside the kitten like Joy Bang. There are not a lot of songs here and the central story regarding the drug dealing sets ones eyes rolling at the thought but the dialogue, the cinematography and colourful and evocative creation of the freewheeling lifestyles remains attractive and compelling. One slight item of curiosity is that IMDb suggests there is talk of a threesome but no nudity, whereas quite clearly we see Kristofferson with Viva and Bang in a brief topless frolic. It is blink and you miss it stuff, so whether it was intended to be cut out, I don't know and can't remember whether or not it was in in the cinema release!

This hard to find film has always been a favorite presenting the changing L.A. music/hippie scene of the early 70's. Kristofferson, in his starring film debut, is marvelous as the down-on-his-luck troubadour of the title. At times he appears genuinely and functionally smashed, but it fits the character to a tee. It's also interesting to watch him composing his often sad, literate tunes, as one realizes this was probably how he wrote many of his greatest songs ("Help Me Make It Through the Night", "For the Good Times", "Me and Bobby McGee", "Sunday Morning Coming Down"): in lonely desperation. None of them are here, but he does do "Loving Her Was Easier" and "Pilgrim Chapter 33". The latter autobiographical song is perfectly fitting for the character of Cisco Pike. Kristofferson is so charismatic and his screen presence is such that we root for him in typical early 70's anti-hero fashion even though he is essentially a drunken pothead who cheats on his girlfriend (the always welcome Karen Black) and is racing to unload $10,000 worth of marijuana in a single weekend. But you'll seldom find a more real and lived-in performance than this debut. Sam Peckinpah saw this and cast him as the doomed Billy the Kid in his next film.

Kristofferson's desperation is fueled by crooked cop Gene Hackman (in fine if eccentric form) who himself is desperate for the money. So the thrust of the film is Kristofferson racing around L.A., weaving on the freeways in his beat-up station wagon full of pot, and encountering Roscoe Lee Browne, Wavy Gravy, Antonio Fargas, Severn Darden, Howard Hesseman, Doug Sahm, and a menage a trois with Viva and Joy Bang. It's a time capsule to be sure. In the final reel Harry Dean Stanton shows up memorably as an old buddy who's even more wasted and down-on-his-luck. The underrated B.L. Norton is behind the camera, and the film is highly recommended. This begs for a DVD release with extras. A Krisofferson commentary would be particularly insightful.

Cisco Pike was Kris Kristofferson's film debut and it's astonishing to see him looking so young. He also provided the bulk of the songs featured on the soundtrack. He plays Cisco Pike, a recovering drug dealer and semi pro musician who can't quite decide which direction his life is going to take. Crooked cop Gene Hackman approaches Kris with the chance to clear his criminal record by selling Gene's purloined stash of primo dope. The balance of the film follows Kris' efforts to unload the pot in one hurried weekend which finds him frolicking in bed with Warhol star Viva and porn actress Joy Bang, dropping in to the studio with Doug Sahm and the Sir Douglas Quartet, dining on fine food with Antonio 'Huggy Bear' Fargas, and reminiscing about old times with his strung out old music buddy H D (Harry Dean) Stanton. Add Karen Black, Severn Darden and Wavy Gravy himself, Hugh Romney, and you have an amazing time capsule and a tremendously entertaining and well acted picture. This would make a terrific double bill with 1971s Vanishing Point.