alexanderdavies-99382 "Electra Glide in Blue" plays more as a character piece than as a gritty police thriller, although there are some X-rated scenes. The opening begins with the apparent suicide of a local hermit. Robert Blake is the pint-sized traffic cop who yearns for better things in his professional life. He has aspirations to becoming a plain clothes detective. He eventually achieves this but Blake begins to feel disillusioned about his promotion. By the end of the film, he returns to being a traffic cop. The character's ultimate weakness, is his honesty. He simply believes in being a police officer of good professional conduct and of abiding by a good set of ethics. Unfortunately, all this comes back to haunt him........ This is rather talky and short on action. The story drags here and there but "Electra Glide in Blue" is always interesting. Robert Blake gives a very good performance.

innocuous I first saw EGiB the very first weekend it opened in Boston. Back then, you had very limited access to movie reviews and there wasn't much buzz about movies prior to their release. Because of this, the ending of the movie surprised me a great deal. In fact, I think it overwhelmed my perspective of the movie as a whole.Fast forward to 1989. While I had seen a few clips from the movie here and there, I only had the opportunity to watch the movie again in its entirety after I found that a local video store had a VHS copy for rent. I discovered that EGib has a lot more depth than I originally gave it credit for. I've only watched it a few times since, but it remains a very impressive accomplishment for a first-time director.The cinematography really puts you there in the desert with the cops, investigators, barflys, and low-lifes. Blake is very good in his role, which seemed to be written for him. I only wish that the other actors had done a better job. Ryan is particularly disappointing.Just remember when you're watching that this film was made at a peculiar time in US history. After ten years of anti-war protests, "Summer of Love," rapidly expanding drug use, and all sorts of wild-hippie-crazy-leftist-pinko-commie activity, basically the government and our parents' generation said, "OK...you win. We're out of SE Asia and you can look forward to disco." We were stunned. I think that EGiB is more of a parable of THIS situation than any other. After all, what do you do when you take the thorn out of the lion's paw and he eats you anyway?Definitely worth your time to watch.

jjoreilly This movie, like a lot of movies of that time are just way too cool...remember Vanishing Point or The Last Detail? Stuff like that...cool script...trippy music...strange characters...great locations...weird lighting...not too pretentious...very realistic while strange at the same time...you are laughing one minute, shocked the next...and usually very original...a lot of the music then was the same...let's see, Cinderella Liberty, Carnal Knowledge...I guess you could go on and on...but strange, cool little movies that you can't forget...and unlike many modern movies, not overdone...just right...usually has you walking away kinda scratching your head...Technically, I guess heavy duty film critics could find a million things wrong with them but even the flaws make the quality happen too...weird...I love movies like that...I guess because they don't spoon feed you like all too many of the movies of the last fifteen years or so do...again...just right...let's see, Serpico, The Lords of Flatbush...Midnight Cowboy ('69?)...on and on...

eltee2 I saw this movie when it first came out as a biker/college student/pot-head/drinker! I loved it then. I OWN the movie now and as a current rider and a retired Police Commander (& former Motor Cop), find it highly realistic & true ('cept for the chases, which may have been OK out here in the West given the time frame). Despite Bobby Blake's problems w/the law & women, he is NOT GUILTY according to a court of law and that fits OK with me! "The Job" has difficult moments and leads down roads unknown. "EG in Blue" personifies it! So much for being the Nice Guy! Cops can't be bad guys and nice guys at the same time!!! Lt JG (Ret)