I SUMMON DBUSKIRK to Comment on the 1973 Film Electra Glide in Blue
By Mr. Moderator on Jan 11, 2010
Towsman dbuskirk, have you ever seen the 1973 film Electra Glide in Blue? I caught about an hour of it on tv last night, and it seemed right up your two-lane blacktop.
The opening credits alone are worth the price of admission, playing like a fever dream of a Lou Reed album cover shoot.
Follow up:
For those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about, take a look at the credits! It stars Robert Blake, who's always fascinating, as an Arizona Highway Patrolman. It's directed by Chicago mastermind James William Guercio, in what would be his only film directing credit. Chicago bandmates Peter Cetera, Terry Kath, Lee Loughnane, and Walter Parazaider play roles in the film. A few actors play characters who seem to be real people who also appear as actors in other roles. It's loaded with well-traveled character actors, maybe most notably Elisha Cook Jr. and Mitchell Ryan. Maybe best yet, Nick Nolte appears uncredited as "Hippie Kid."
The plot involves highway patrolmen, hippies, Harleys, hermits, Native Americans, and comic books! Best of all, I caught a scene with a smokin' blooz-jazz-rock band in action, or maybe it was a jazz-rock-blooz band. I wish I could find the clip; it's probably those Chicago dudes unleashed. Kath and Guercio do close out the film with this stunning contribution.
So I ask you, db (and other film buffs), how does this film compare with classics like Two-Lane Blacktop and Vanishing Point?
I look forward to your insights.
10 comments
This, along with IN COLD BLOOD have always been the evidence I held up to show Blake as a wasted talent, his craziness and low-ambition killed him (and maybe his wife) but given good material he could really elevate things.
It's also one of the most beautiful desert films you'll ever see, Conrad Hall was the cinematographer (COOL HAND LUKE, FAT CITY, AMERICAN BEAUTY etc.)and he was under orders to make the thing look like a John Ford color western.
Guercio also produced The Buckinghams. That was his "Get out of Jail free" card that I play to forgive him for Chicago.
He was a live wire on Tom Snyder's 90's CBS show. He was full of scandalous stories about Alfalfa, Lana Turner, Steve McQueen, Bogart, Tracy as well as his own free-flying neurosis; he was mesmerizing. I was saddened that his personal problems stood in the way of getting him one last juicy role.
I think he was sensing my six-pack while reaching for his shotgun...
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