Cisco Pike — Cisco Pike(Blu Ray)
Appearing in 1971 Cisco Pike was the first film helmed by LA-based director/ writer Bill Norton (as B.L. Norton) -Convoy, Tour Of Duty, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. And for a debut film it’s very self-assured, well shot, directed & flowing. Sure like a lot of similar films it has a wondering, at times episodic plot, but unlike recent stabs at this type of thing like 2014’s Inherent Vice- it remains entertaining, appealing, and charming through-out.
The film focuses in on down-on-his-luck singer/songwriter Cisco Pike (Kris Kristofferson) - who a few years back, had his brush with fame but now lives in a rundown Venice beach apartment, with his mellow-yet- feisty girlfriend Karen Black. For a time Pike was fairly well known local drug dealer- but after been busted a few times he’s decided to pack in and focus on getting his music career back on its feet. One day he gets a knock on his half boarded up apartment door, and it’s Officer Leo Holland (Gene Hackman)- the twitchy & nervy cop who got Pike arrested a few times. The pair take a ride, landing up back at seemingly officer’s Leo garage- and inside is a 100 kilos of confiscated marijuana. The pair agree that Pike will sell the whole lot over the weekend- and so we click into a series of often quirky, at times bizarre drug deals, amusing & at times fraught banter between Kristofferson & Black, and general drifting around the more sparked-out & grimy music joints, recording studios, cafes & venues in the LA area. Around mid-way, Harry Dean Stanton turns up in the pairs bath, and he plays Jesse Dupre- Pike’s now junky former writing partner. The whole film slow-but-surely stumbles towards it’s a rather edgy, tense, yet sad finale.
On the whole, Cisco Pike is an enjoyable romp of a film- Kristofferson is prefect as the gravely voiced-yet- charming Pike, Black is well picked as the cookie-hippy yet disgruntled girlfriend. Hackman as always is great, here playing a very convincing on-edge & at times highly unbalanced cop. Harry Dean Stanton does what he does, and as always it’s great too. There’s a great selection of supporting cast/ characters too- we have Andy Warhol starlet Viva playing Lesbian drug fiend heiress Merna, there’s a sleazy & tricky music act mangers, a pimped-up black dealer(Antonio Fargas), and more. The film largely soundtracks by the mellow country/ folk music of Kristofferson, and this along with the other very 70’s music choices works great. If you enjoy 1970’s cinema you have to check out Cisco Pike.
Moving onto this new Blu Ray- and first, off we get a nice new high definition print of the film, which really picks up great clarity & detail in both the cities landscape, with-in smoky clubs, and hash hazed apartments. Moving onto the extras- and we get a good selection of stuff- first off a new commentary from Bill L Norton, and Elijah Drenner an LA-based film historian- this is great laid back & chatty track. It starts with the pair talk about this film been a number a 1st- Norton’s directorial & writing debut, Kristofferson’s first role, and producer Gerald Ayres first gig. They move to talk about some of the film's key locations like Cisco’s flat which was in the Venice Beach area, moving onto getting hold of a kilo of grass for the garage scene. They move onto talk about how actors came to film- and other possibles who would have had key parts, like apparently Don Johnson was considered for the Cisco Pike role before Harry Dean Staton in touched Norton to Kristofferson. It’s a really interesting & informative track, and as Drenner lives in LA & has a passion for the film that really adds to the pair's banter. Next, we get an around ten-minute look at the film's locations now & then, and this features a voice-over by the passionate Drenner. We get a forty-three-minute overview of the career of Joy Bang, who played one of the smaller roles in the film- this is by film programmer and writer Kier-La Janisse, and again is another very passionate & well put together extra. Lastly, we get an original trailer, image/ promotion gallery, and TV spots.
I like to think I have a fairly good knowledge of 1970’s counter-culture/ stoner movies- but before this Blu Ray I was not aware of Cisco Pike, so I must say a personal thanks to Powerhouse for making me aware of the classic slice of hash hazed cinema- and they’ve done such a great job with this Blu Ray, it’s print and the extras too. If you into 70’s stoner films, or enjoy 70's set in LA- you’ve gotta, gotta pick this up!.