moonspinner55 Review of Cisco Pike

Cisco Pike (1971)

Vivid character study with fine debut performance by Kristofferson

[6/10 · 25 October 2017]

Singer-songwriter Kris Kristofferson is well-cast in his first film as Cisco Pike, a musician with some success a few years behind him, now just another struggling performer in Southern California. Busted twice for dealing, he's gone straight, hoping to get back into the music business which has quietly passed him by. The narcotics officer who nailed Cisco comes to him with a proposition: having just lucked into 100 kilos of weed, he wants Cisco to sell it all off in two-and-half days, give the cop 10 G's and keep the rest of the profits for himself. Writer-director B.L. Norton (whose script was reworked by an uncredited Robert Towne) creates a deceptively lackadaisical atmosphere, yet the paranoia and desperation is palpable. The vivid cinematography is by Vilis Lapenieks; performances by Kristofferson (who also contributes four songs to the soundtrack), Gene Hackman, Karen Black, Antonio Fargas, Roscoe Lee Browne and Harry Dean Stanton are each in their own remarkable. There are some problems with the film, mostly narrative: an unexplained sequence midway has Hackman's narc apparently following Cisco as he deals to his clients, leading to a violent argument that sort of dead-ends; also, Cisco is given several chances to explain his actions at crucial points in the story, but each time he frustratingly clams up (this is a problem that runs throughout the movie). Otherwise, a perceptive, quirky effort with funny asides and lovely throwaway moments. **1/2 from ****