Electra Glide in Blue
Picture: B+ Sound:
B Extras: B Film: B+
One of the great-unsung films of the 1970s, Electra Glide in
Blue, has finally made it to DVD and deserves to get rediscovered
by younger audiences. Three decades
before he became a murder defendant in real life, and two years before his hit
TV series Baretta, Robert Blake gave one of his best performances as a
dedicated Arizona motorcycle cop who yearns to trade his blue uniform and
Electra Glide motorcycle for the tan cowboy suit of an Arizona homicide
detective.
Electra Glide in Blue is the only film ever directed by music
producer James William Guercio, who put both the original Blood, Sweat &
Tears and the original Chicago on the map.
The finished product is so good, you come way wishing he'd done more
films. Guercio's directorial debut is very accomplished and was obviously
enhanced by his choice of cinematographer, the late, great senior Conrad
Hall. In his audio commentary, Guercio
tells us that Electra Glide in Blue was a low-budget production for
United Artists, but thanks to Hall's excellent photography and
composition you'd think it had the benefit of a big budget.
Guercio made Electra Glide in Blue as the flip side to Easy
Rider. At a time when law
enforcement officials were under fire from the counterculture, Guercio wanted
to make a film about a police officer with integrity who was simply doing his
job. But just by showing a cop in a
sympathetic light caused some leftist critics with agendas to
ridiculously brand the film "fascist," the same idiotic thing
they said about Dirty Harry. In
fact, the fascist moniker is even more ludicrous when applied to Electra
Glide in Blue. Even though we see
him taking target practice at a poster of Dennis Hopper and Peter Fonda on
their cycles in Easy Rider, Blake's character, John Wintergreen, is
diminutive in size and of American Indian ancestry, which automatically makes
him an underdog. We also see him being
civil to hippies on a few occasions, which contrasts with the harsh way
his fellow officers deal with members of the counterculture. And Wintergreen is ultimately a man who
refuses to give up his principles and sellout to the establishment, even if it
means sacrificing his dream.
Like other underrated gems from the same era such as Law and
Disorder and The Friends of Eddie Coyle, Electra Glide in Blue
is the kind of honest character study with scenes of gritty action that has,
sadly, all but disappeared from movie screens.
It stands as a fine example that epitomizes a glorious, but all too
brief time of filmmaking after the limitations of the studio system and the
restrictions of the Hays Codes collapsed, and before political correctness and
the "blockbuster" mentality overtook modern-day Hollywood, and being
real was all a filmmaker had to worry about.
Electra Glide in Blue, which MGM released briefly as a letterboxed
12” LaserDisc in the waning months of the format, has been given a terrific
anamorphic widescreen transfer by MGM to DVD.
Due to Conrad Hall's expert use of the 2.35:1 format and his
panoramic vistas of the American West, this is one movie that lost a lot in
previous pan-and-scan versions on video and television. The sound on the DVD is also above average
for a 32-year-old film recorded in magnetic stereo, presented here in Dolby
Digital 2.o Stereo with Pro Logic surrounds, though the 4-track magnetic source
deserves DTS treatment, especially with such a fine score. And thankfully, we get more special features
than usual for a catalogue title. James
William Guercio delivers an informative and candid audio commentary and
introduction. The original theatrical
trailer is also included. For fans of
gritty '70s cinema, Electra Glide in Blue is a must-have DVD.
- Chuck O'Leary
