Electra Glide in Blue

At first glance, one might think James William Guercio’s only directorial work is a typical police film. After all, it revolves around motorcycle cop John Wintergreen, portrayed by Robert Blake with unique intensity. Wintergreen wants to leave the motorcycle unit and the endless pursuit of speeders behind. He longs for a job in the homicide division. When he discovers the body of a man who has died under mysterious circumstances, his dream seems within reach. But just as Blake, with his portrayal of a deeply lonely outsider, subverts the (Hollywood) image of a tough cop, Guercio defies almost all classic genre conventions. Instead of an action-oriented cop thriller, which still appears in some sequences, he has created an unforgettable mood piece. This is how life must have felt in the early 1970s in the USA, and it probably feels that way again today.