Electra Glide in Blue

Dir: James William Guercio

1973

*****

James William Guercio's 1973 cult classic Electra Glide in Blue is often compared to other films such as Easy Riders, Vanishing Point and Two-Lane Blacktop but apart from being a road movie, it's nothing like them. It's has also been regarded as the conformist reactionary film to those other films, which is also complete nonsense. Robert Blake plays a good-natured and proud motorcycle cop, working the long roads of rural Arizona. Good at his job and with years of experience, officer John Wintergreen aspires to make homicide detective one day, and when he finds the corpse of a well-known local, he ceases the opportunity to prove himself. However, after securing work in the homicide case as a trainee detective, officer Wintergreen soon realizes that those in law enforcement can be just as untrustworthy and corrupt as the criminals and that maybe his good-nature and fair treatment has been taken advantage of. This isn't really a film about America's emerging youth culture, it's a modern take on the classic western with a 1970s twist. It features hippies, social issues and other characters and situations prevalent in the early 70's and indeed, this film couldn't really be made in any other era but there is no agenda as such and no morality lesson as such, other than you're often on your own, there is no left or right, top or bottom, everything stops and starts with you. It's totally a western, just replace the cowboys with cops and the red Indians with hippies. It is also a really good character study and crime thriller. Record producer and label owner James William Guercio never made another film after his cult debut. Robert Blake has since said that he and world renowned cinematographer Conrad Hall assisted the inexperienced director so much that they should have received the director credit instead of him. James William Guercio knew what he wanted though, he accepted a pay-cut so that Conrad Hall could be hired and was paid the grand sum of $1 for his work on the finished movie. Hall's contribution makes the film. It is absolutely stunning from the glorious opening sequences to the devastating last scene, I consider the cinematography to be one of the best of all time, nothing is wasted and everything is intentional. Robert Blake is brilliant in his character, utterly iconic and the ultimate 1970s protagonist. The film drips class and is one of the best independent films of the 70s (and ever). If you are only ever going to direct one film in your career then this is the one. It's even more unmissable for fans of the rock group Chicago, as most band members have a cameo (James William Guercio was their manager) and eagle-eyed viewers might spot Nick Nolte in his feature film debut as 'Hippie in the crowd'.