Spyke & Mike

Biker “Exploitation” is a term coined by producers, actors, and ultimately YOU the viewer. Not all biker films are actually geared at the (exploitation) or in other words, the “bad” angle of the biker lifestyle. Some of these actually “miss the target” and simply feature the motorcycle as secondary component to the plot. However, in literally every film involving bikers or the biker ‘lifestyle’, one thing you, as a viewer can count on is the presence of the Police. Electra Glide in Blue has the unique twist of actually using story of a motorcycle cop as the baseline. In this film, Blake plays a motor officer named John Wintergreen. His character is not really into being a ‘traffic cop’ as he has aspired to become a homicide detective. In my opinion, if you had to be a cop, what better job than cruising around on your departmentally funded Harley? But hey, this review isn’t about me, it’s about the film!! Back to the chase, and no code-4! John Wintergreen patrols the rural Arizona highways with his partner “Zipper.” Wintergreen is laid-back but upright about enforcing the law, while Zipper is predominately lazy. Zipper likes busting Hippies (remember them?) even going so far as to plant evidence on a young ‘hippie’ during a search of his van. Wintergreen again proves to be the polar opposite of his partner Zipper, as he continuously states how much he hates riding his motorcycle, and Zipper’s only real dream is to own his own motorcycle. Zip spends a lot of time reading comic books, and eating junk food while John takes his job seriously. One of the things about Wintergreen that is out of place in this film is (in one scene) he is firing his pistol at an “Easy Rider” poster in the police firing range. … It gets worse! Crazy Willie, an older local – perhaps homeless- person comes in contact with John and Zip near an old shack in the desert. They almost playfully chase Willie on their bikes and finally capture him. He tells John about his friend Frank who had committed suicide in the shack. John goes to the shack and discovers the body and believes the case is not a suicide, but a murder. The coroner later arrives and disagrees with John who was feverishly taking notes. After a shouting match with the coroner, in walks Detective Harve Poole, who admires Wintergreen’s savvy, and arranges for Wintergreen to be transferred to homicide as his ‘driver’ to help with the case. Harve and John return to the shack and find a large statue of Jesus, which is full of “Reds” and as the investigation continues, John and Harve interrogate a group of hippies, looking for a drug dealer named Bob Zemko. The theme of good cop – bad cop comes into play as Harve roughs some of the hippies up after John had nicely questioned them. John’s initial joy at being promoted is short-lived, as his relationship with Harve deteriorates after he finds out that John has been sleeping with ‘Jolene” (Harve’s girlfriend) and the waitress at the local bar. But when Jolene mocks Harve’s sexual prowess (implying that Harve is impotent) and brags that Wintergreen can “go three times in one morning” things just go downhill for our hero and he is demoted back to traffic. After a wild motorcycle and car chase the pair capture and question Zemko. More good cop - bad cop scenes cause Wintergreen to eventually realize that Crazy Willie committed the murder; the victim was an old friend of his who had taken to selling the drugs and hanging around with a younger crowd. Jealous, Willie had murdered his friend and arranged it so it appeared to be a suicide. As usual there is some stolen money, and the search for this money is when Wintergreen discovers another terrible fact: Zipper’s dream was to own his own motorcycle, and had stolen the dead man’s drug money (initially blamed on Zemko) to pay for it. At Zippers trailer in the desert, the movie’s theme is uncovered when zipper shows John the “Electra Glide in Blue” sitting in the yard. Later, Zipper is drunk and begins firing his gun at Wintergreen, missing him but striking a random passer-by. Wintergreen then shoots Zipper in self-defense, and Zipper dies in his arms. Back in the desert on patrol, Wintergreen spots the same van that was featured earlier in the film, and he pulls it over. He recognizes one of the hippies as the very same one that Zip had planted the drugs on in the beginning of the film, and decides to let them go. They take off down the highway, but Wintergreen realizes that he still has the hippie’s Driver license in his hand. As he tries once again to pull the van over to return the license, the passenger opens the rear window and fires a shotgun killing Wintergreen. It’s a very sad ending to a really weird flick! For me, this is where the whole deal goes bad. The movie is loaded with plagiarism of the iconic film “Easy Rider.” Yeah, I believe that “Electra Glide in Blue” truly is a ‘cult-classic’ sort of piece, but the constant blasts from Easy Rider kinda turned me off.