Electra Glide in Blue (1973) Arizona Desert Film Soleil

"He's A Good Cop. On A Big Bike. On A Bad Road."

Directed stylishly by James William Guercio. Written by Robert Boris and based on a story by Robert Boris and Rupert Hitzig. Cinematography by future Oscar winning cinematographer Conrad L. Hall. Music was by James William Guercio.

Starring Classic Noir actor Robert Blake (The Woman in the Window, Black Hand, Rumble on the Docks, The Tijuana Story), Transitional Noir (In Cold Blood), and Neo Noir Vet (Lost Highway) as Officer John Wintergreen.

Classic Noir vet Elisha Cook as Willie and Classic Western vet Royal Dano as the Coroner. Billy "Green" Bush as Officer Zipper Davis, Mitchell Ryan (Dark Shadows) as Det. Harvey Poole, Jeannine Riley as bar waitress Jolene, Hawk Wolinski as head shop supplier and VW Bus Driver , Peter Cetera as Bob Zemko and an uncredited Nick Nolte as a Hippie.

A tale of looking for The American Dream...

Arizona, John Wintergreen. Motorcycle cop. Zipper Davis his partner. Wintergreens gal pal is Jolene. She a former Rockette who never made it to Hollywood. Wintergreen wants to trade in his Electra Glide for a detective badge. Wants stop sitting on his ass and start using his brain.

Monument Valley

Robert Blake as John Wintergreen

Jeannine Riley as Jolene

Mitch Ryan as Harve Poole

Billy Bush as Officer Zipper Davis with John

John's big break comes when he and Zipper spot Willie, an old desert rat prospector who is deliriously running around screaming in his union suit.  John and Zipper chase him about the dry washes on their bikes.

They finally corner him and get him calmed down. He tells them that Frank killed himself. John and Zipper head to Frank's shack. John heads inside and sees the aftermath of what we, the audience, witnessed in the films prologue.

Zipper calls for the coroner on the squawk box. However we know that it wasn't a suicide, and John instinctively also notices something fishy. John pulls out his notebook and begins to write things down. It looks like Frank killed himself by a shotgun blast to the chest. A string is attached on one end to Franks big toe on the other end to the double barrel's triggers.

The coroner arrives and starts moving things around before any homicide detectives arrive. John chastises him about moving the body, they get in an argument. John says that nobody committing suicide shoots himself in the chest. Detective Harve Poole who arrives on the scene agrees and orders an autopsy. Harve also makes John his new assistant.

The autopsy reveals that Frank was killed by a .22 shot to the head. He was dead before he committed suicide. Harve and John isit Willie at the hospital. When Harve and John do a search of Franks shack.

Things start to go Noirsville when John begins to identify more with the various civilians he meets, including the trounced upon by "the Man" hippies that Zipper and Harve are really harassing. Into the mix add Jolene who turns out to be a refuge from the Boulevard of Broken Dreams She's eking out a living as a waitress in a local saloon and as probably the "town pump" for the PD of fictional town of "Stockton" Arizona.

Noirsville

The film is sort of dated now to it's "Age of Aquarius" era. but it does have beautiful cinematography and great performances by Blake, Bush, Ryan and especially Jeannine Riley who impresses with a compelling monologue. Add in seeing again Noir & Western character actors Cook Jr and Dano 7/10

In 2012, Time magazine called Electra Glide in Blue "A neglected cult-classic that could have only come from (or have been made in) the early ‘70s" and said: "It’s a quirky but unforgettable movie — part character study, part examination of an emerging youth culture — featuring some outstanding camerawork from future Oscar-winning cinematographer Conrad Hall."