Cisco Pike

(1972)
As Ive expounded before, Im a huge fan of early 70s cinema; it still delights me to see Hollywood thrashing around trying to figure out what worked and what didnt (the ten years between the death of the old studio system and the rise of the summer blockbuster are to me the most interesting and creative time in American cinema). A movie like this one, Cisco Pike, might not have been made at any other time. I was drawn into it on the promise of Gene Hackman, but then, I was misled. Hackman is in the movie for all of ten minutes, an extended, if highly effective, cameo. Cisco Pikes titular character is a parolee played by Kris Kristofferson (introducing, the credits boasted) who was busted for drug dealing and has walked away from the life, prompted by his girlfriend Sue (Karen Black). When crooked cop Leo Holland (Hackman) wants to use him to sell a hundred kilos of pot over a weekend, Cisco at first resists, but Holland is persuasive. The rest of the film is Kristofferson bopping around L.A. meeting with various shady types trying to come up with Hollands money and having way too many arguments with Karen Black. Kristofferson isnt bad, but theres a lot of man and ya dig and the kind of youth slang that was probably already dated by 1972 and sounds silly now. But Kristofferson isnt all that good, either, and the inclusion of several of his songs on the soundtrack doesnt help matters. Luckily, we are treated to a slew of terrific cameos, including Roscoe Lee Brown, Antonio Fargas (a.k.a. Huggy Bear), and an appearance by the greatest character actor of all time, Harry Dean Stanton. Stanton appears about halfway through the movie as a musician friend of Ciscos, Jesse Dupre, who is strung out and, like Cisco, longing for the glory days. But whereas Cisco mostly whines about it, Stanton drives home the pain of living in the gloried past, of being a junkie, and the loss of youth in a culture infatuated with it. He steals the movie outright from Kristofferson (which isnt that hard) and turns in a masterful performance. Is it worth sitting through the rest of this for Harry Dean Stanton? Your mileage may vary, but I think so. Hell, I was prepared to sit through it for Hackman, who has given many fine performances; I didnt even know Harry Dean Stanton was in the movie (and given Hackmans extended cameo status, its a good thing he was). Cisco Pike is a pretty weak film, and it ages badly; but it also shows off the greatest character actor in a turn that helped him earn that title, so its the very defin ition of a mixed bag. For fans of Seventies cinema (were out there, if not in force) and of Harry Dean Stanton (and who doesnt like him?), its worth a look; for all others, no, its not. April 5, 2013

A moment of silence also for the passing of Roger Ebert. I was a fan of his since the mid-70s, and he was always my favorite movie critic. Im just pleased we have so much of his work to read and study, and of course we lost him far too soon.