ELECTRA GLIDE IN BLUE

US, 1973, 113 minutes, Colour.
Robert Blake, Billy "Green" Bush, Mitchell Ryan, Jeanine Riley, Elisha Cook.
Directed by James William Guercio.

Electra Glide in Blue again presents US police on our screens. They are either brutal pigs or relentlessly tough heroes to be admired in their unrewarding job. This film shows both sides while in sympathy with the policeman. Law enforcement in Arizona today is in line with Western traditions, with the honest lawman (in his naivety, self-esteem and vulnerability to bigger law enforcers and to criminals) still a sign of contradiction. As played by small Robert Blake, he is basically a good man. And, in this world, what is the fate of good men? Episodic, but with good supporting cast and fine photography, it is quite a good film.

1. The emphasis of the title: bikes and police? where was the basic sympathy of the film: for or against the police? Why?

2. The film came out in the 70s atmosphere about the police and law and order. What did the film have to say about law and order in society? About police in society? About attitudes of Americans towards police in the 70s? Did the film give insight into this theme or did it repeat conventional cliches? Why?

3. Were the police presented as 'pigs' in the film? Where? Were they presented as heroic? Where?

4. The significance of the prologue? The murder, the van going along the highway, the emphasis on the Arizona territory and scenery and atmosphere? How well stylistically was this done? Did it set a tone for the rest of the film? How? Did the rest of the film live-up to the prologue as regards suspense, plot, visuals? The role of visuals in the film?

5. Your first impressions of John? He was a small man, yet he was a big man. The fact that we saw him with Joelene first? John in the ordinary rounds of the day? As a traffic policeman? His pride in being a policeman? His relationships with the other police? His ambitions to be a detective? what were his chief limitations? How sincere a person was he? What attitude towards life did he have? For instance the encounter with the two girls at the sandwich bar and his comment about Alan Ladd?

6. How did the film present John in a Western setting? The law enforcer in Arizona? The police station and the comment of the policeman to the men before they went out? The words of abuse that he gave to them? The road as the equivalent of the old trail? His encounters with the law-breakers? with the people speeding? With the detective from Los Angeles? His rigorous enforcement of the law and of his not being bribed? A good man on the trail? How typical of the modern American is he?


7. His friend Zipper: the relationship between the two? Zipper as a typical policeman? His love for his bike? The disappointment for John that Zipper was corrupt? what feelings did John have about this? The importance of Zipper's death at John's hand? How significant and symbolic was this?

8. What was Harve meant to stand for in this film? What kind of person was he in himself? Was he admirable in any way? His style of police behaviour? His pushing the young people around? His brutality? How did this contrast with John's treatment of the same people? Harve's ensuring that he got answers by planting things and by bashing?

9. How was the audience's sense of justice appealed to? By John's reactions and enforcing of the law? By Harve's attitude to the law? Zipper's? What attitudes towards justice did the film presuppose in its audience?

10. How important was the Joelene sequence? The fact that Joelene was revealed as a person? (The sequence itself was strong: did it fit well into the flow of the film?) What did it reveal about Joelene as a person? Her relationship with Harve? With John? What insight into behaviour did it give to John? What was Harve's reaction?

11. Why did John understand that Willie had done the murder? Why was he capable of understanding Willie? Why did Willie commit the murder? What insight into Willie's character and motivation did the film give? How?

12. How peaceful were the sequences of John back on the road after the murder encounters? Again the relationship of Zipper at the end of the film and John's disillusionment?

13. Did you expect that John would die? Is this the fate of the good policeman? How ironic was it that it was accidental that John was killed? His good nature versus criminal suspicion? How well did this tie in all the themes that were shown in the prologue? The significance of John's death and the long shot of the travelling along the road?

14. How stylish was this film? It was a first film by a director. Is this evident? Did the style communicate insight into modern America, the police and justice?