Review of Electra Glide in Blue

Saw this film in '73 at a dingy cheapo type theater near L.A. City College and was mesmerized by it on a number of levels. This film seems to embody the times and the anti-society feel of our generation as no one within the "system" can be trusted for a millisecond due to their spineless acceptance of the status quo and the inherently corrupt system that pays their bills and gives them validity. Robert Blake was at his best in this film as he seemed to be the quintessential anti-hero who slowly awakens to the rottenness around him and eventually realizes he can only count on his own judgment and sense of right and wrong in a perverted and unjust world. The film has lots of quirky and odd-ball characters and the setting is dingy and gritty while still revealing the basic self-centered instincts that inhabit all of humankind regardless of social position. This is a wonderfully quirky film and magnificently dusty, dirty, and gritty while still encapsulating all the Shakespearean foibles of human nature on a realistic and often petty scale.