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Electra Glide in Blue (1973)
Rate:
3
Viewed:
10/21
10/21:
I was most curious when it came to the meaning of the words for the title Electra Glide in Blue.
Within fifteen minutes of the opening, I finally found out, but the rest of the film is a mess. I had a feeling
for a while it was going to end in an Easy Rider way. Lo and behold, that's
what happened...just as exactly. And no, Alan Ladd wasn't that short; he's about four inches taller than
Robert Blake.
It's been a stupid, boring, and slow show although the photography by Conrad Hall is first-rate.
There's supposed to be a murder case, but it becomes an afterthought. Instead, I'm at the mercy of many close-ups
and meandering scenes.
Being the only one ever directed by James William Guercio who's primarily in the music business (hence the random
concert scene), Electra Glide in Blue isn't different from those pretentious pictures by the Cohen
brothers. Reportedly, Robert Blake and Conrad Hall did most of the directorial work. James William Guercio would
later reteam with Robert Blake to produce an even outstandingly bad movie called
Second-Hand Hearts.
I've got to say Robert Blake did a good job as John Wintergreen which got him cast in a TV show entitled
Baretta that he's memorable for. It's the best the actor could do with the material although he captured
a lot of his former character's persona from In Cold Blood. Oh boy,
Elisha Cook, Jr., has gone wacko. Billy Green Bush and Mitchell Ryan play caricatures who don't make any sense.
It's hard to tell, but Nick Nolte was in the film; he can be spotted wearing a long-sleeved blue shirt during the
confrontation between Wintergreen and the hippies.
All in all, Electra Glide in Blue makes it plain that James William Guercio isn't cut out to be a
film director.