homestar_is_cool Electra Glide in Blue, a 1973 film notable for being director James William Guercio's debut film, stars Robert Blake and Billy "Green" Bush as two cops who attempt to fulfill their own dreams: John (Blake) - a promotion; Zipper (Bush) - a bike. This film has recently gained critical praise, despite the original derision towards it and the dismal box office numbers for a film of this caliber. It's also notable for being the beginning of the short-lived acting careers of many Chicago members (all four of them play minor-role hippies).For the plot: in a nutshell, John wants to get a promotion while Zipper wants the best bike in the world. John gets his promotion (to detective's driver), but with an added price: either conform to what detective Harve says or to write tickets on a motorcycle. John, seeing what Harve does for confessions and to solve murder cases quick, gives up his dream to find another one, leading to his own death. As for Zipper, he steals something viable towards the case and buys his dream bike out of his childlike naivete.For the actual critique itself: the film has some of the most inspired cinematography I have ever seen. Using wide shots to show how isolated John, Zipper, and Harve are, it also uses zoom outs to show how the soul leaves the body, not caring about its former life. With that, it overshadows the hokey acting and the deliberately loose plot (patterned after "Easy Rider") - making Guercio seem like a master of the camera on his first try.The sound quality varies on the copy I watched: at points, the film seems so crystal clear while at other points, Zipper sounds muffled (1970s muffle) whenever he speaks his innermost fears. Is that deliberate on the sound crew's behalf, knowing Guercio's production work with Chicago and Earth, Wind & Fire? As for other parts of the film, it worked good as a clash between the real and the fake, while being a tale against being a manchild.Overall, I give the film an A- for trying so hard and working about 95% of the time. This film has to be seen - due to its obscurity, nobody gets why too much freedom can make somebody fake or make somebody real due to loneliness. Oh, and there's some good dry humor in here: Bob Zemko playing the man who doesn't know who Bob Zemko is; John displaying his skills as a conservative-really-liberal cop; and Zipper's obsession with comic books, especially "Pogo". It, to me, predicted the rise of Chicago's mediocrity (John is Guercio, Zipper is Chicago - as Zipper becomes dumber to get his dream, John matures astoundingly - and he's killed by Terry, who killed himself in 1978). Yeah, after some bad things, this film becomes quite symbolic of many things.

inspectors71 I saw this movie at a drive-in in Spokane, Washington in the summer of 1973--double feature with Westworld! What a great memory. Electra Glide in Blue was so cutting-edge, so modern! It had motorcycles and girls with enormous breasts (covered) and blood and cussing. It even had several members of Chicago, my favorite band at the time! Unfortunately, it lacked one important thing, something critical to make it actually . . . good--a story. I own a copy of it, and I watch it from time to time to relive the good memory of seeing a movie that had the line, "Yeah, man, I'll tell ya something. You're standing in pig dung." Robert Blake was so intense in his desire to be promoted, Mitch Ryan could do his officious buttbag-act in his sleep, Billy Green Bush was great as the wack-job motorcycle cop, and Chicago-member Lee Loughnane, sitting there with the pigs, should have stuck to his day job with Chicago--he may have been sober, but his delivery of that pig dung line was proof of the dangers of drugs. I even own a copy of the album, with all the poster stuff. The soundtrack was the best part of the movie.This movie was truly awful. It slogged and plodded and tried so hard to be deep, and all it accomplished was teach me that 15 year olds make terrible film critics.

Robert J. Maxwell Everybody likes to ride around on a motorcycle in the sunshine, and, what with the desert climate of southern Arizona, you get not only the wind in your hair and the scent of sagebrush but a rosy tan as well. Unfortunately, Robert Blake and his partner, Zipper (Billy Green Bush), are constrained by their police uniforms and what they call proper police procedure, or PPP. The movie is essentially about how closely the police force follows that procedure when murder is involved.Two old weirdos live in a desert trailer and when one is found murdered the other (Elisha Cook, Jr., more flamboozled than ever) is arrested. But did he do it? And, if so, why? The written story is dated. The affable and sympathetic Blake is taken under the wing of his superior, Mitch Ryan, a big blustering detective who beats up hippie informants while Blake must stand silently by. Yes, this is a movie which pits the ugly cops against the far-from-innocent but still human hippies. The hippies dress in rags, do dope, and -- hold on -- they have long hair. All they want is to be left unhassled, but Ryan is intent on cementing community relations by beating them to a pulp.Mitchell is not only a bully but, even worse, his drunken girl friend explains to Blake that he is also impotent, causing Mitchell to almost pop his cork and hate Blake, finally demoting him and putting him back in uniform on his hated police motorcycle. (He'd love to have a more colorful machine with Electraglide transmission.) I think Blake's motorcycle represents the police force, which in turn represents the society which the hippies must live in and which hates them for reasons that are "accidental" rather than "essential." Mainly, they look funny. (None of them can act, either.) In fact, I think Robert Blake's character must illustrate Edmund Burke's dictum, "All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing." How else can we explain this good man's assassination by previously harassed hippies at the end? Why else does Blake suffer? He's guilty of no wrong doing, intelligent enough to solve a rather complicated homicide, and in the end courageous enough to tell his sadistic boss that the boss is full of horse hockey.The dialog is kind of stylized, especially Mitch Ryan's. He carries on with his rodomontade as if speaking to Jesus. It isn't exactly realistic. That's okay because at least it's an attempt to be original. The narrative, though, sometimes falls flat. After being promoted to detective by Ryan, Blake lovingly dresses himself in expensive new civilian clothes, if a modified cowboy outfit can be considered civilian, and strides outside only to look down and see that he's forgotten to put on his trousers. It's not really either credible or amusing, though it's supposed to be cute, I guess.The direction is okay. The camera is where it should be, and at the proper times, but -- can we have some kind of moratorium on slow-motion violence? Sheez! A pursued hippie on a motorcycle crashes through a cafe window and I fell asleep before he finally hit the floor.The climactic scene was shot in Monument Valley. Warning to all film makers. Lay off. That's John Ford territory.

jjoreilly This movie, like a lot of movies of that time are just way too cool...remember Vanishing Point or The Last Detail? Stuff like that...cool script...trippy music...strange characters...great locations...weird lighting...not too pretentious...very realistic while strange at the same time...you are laughing one minute, shocked the next...and usually very original...a lot of the music then was the same...let's see, Cinderella Liberty, Carnal Knowledge...I guess you could go on and on...but strange, cool little movies that you can't forget...and unlike many modern movies, not overdone...just right...usually has you walking away kinda scratching your head...Technically, I guess heavy duty film critics could find a million things wrong with them but even the flaws make the quality happen too...weird...I love movies like that...I guess because they don't spoon feed you like all too many of the movies of the last fifteen years or so do...again...just right...let's see, Serpico, The Lords of Flatbush...Midnight Cowboy ('69?)...on and on...