Sure, in the wake of Bonnie and Clyde and Easy Rider, a happy ending wasn’t a requirement for a hit. I won’t spoil the rest, save to say that things don’t get any rosier from there. Plus, the climax of the movie features a tragic heroin overdose. His character is floundering as both a musician and a drug dealer. Kristofferson is hardly your typical hero, even circa 1971.
So, maybe it was the subject matter that had the studio worried. But man oh man, even in his first staring role, his confidence and charisma are captivating. It’s true, he isn’t the typical Hollywood movie star, nor is he the kind of actor that instantly grabs you by the lapels, like Hackman does. Is it possible he’s too easygoing? Too much of an unschooled, understated greenhorn in the acting department? Despite ringers like Hackman, who’s blustery style sets him apart form the rest of the cast, as well as Karen Black and Harry Dean Stanton, Cisco Pike is without a doubt Kristofferson’s movie. His easygoing charisma wasn’t a known commodity at the time. After all, this was to be Kristofferson’s cinematic debut. Maybe they weren’t so sure about the movie star potential of its recording star. But despite the involvement of Kristofferson (a Columbia recording artist at the time) and ace script doctor Robert Towne, the studio got cold feet when looking at the finished product. Columbia Pictures had greenlit the movie as a way to quickly capitalize on the unexpected success of 1969’s Easy Rider. Cisco Pike actually wrapped production in late 1970. If things had gone just a little differently the year before, there’s a good chance Norton wouldn’t have been involved in Gargoyles.
Only Cornel Wilde ( The Naked Prey himself), a professor of demon mythology, and his intrepid daughter, can get to the bottom of it. The mythical, and perhaps misunderstood, monsters hide out in New Mexico’s Carlsbad Caverns where they try to get their hands on some ancestral artifacts, and perhaps plot to overthrow the world. Gargoyles, on the other hand, is a throwback to the monster pictures of the 1950s. Cisco Pike is a thoughtful and engaging downer about drug casualties, the Los Angeles music scene, and the corruption of American ideals. In November, his CBS TV-movie Gargoyles would air, staring Cornel Wilde, Jennifer Salt and Scott Glenn.Īs one might guess, these two films could not be more different from one another. January would see the release of his feature debut: Cisco Pike, a counterculture drama he co-wrote, starring Kris Kristofferson as a down-on-his-luck musician and ex-con being forced by corrupt cop Gene Hackman to sell a garage full of weed in one weekend. The UCLA graduate had two movies coming out.
A recurring column plumbing the depths of vintage and contemporary cinema – from cult, exploitation, trash and grindhouse to sci-fi, horror, noir, documentary and beyond.)įor director Bill L.
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