Cisco Pike

Director: Bill Norton

1971 / 95min / 35mm

When a dirty cop (Gene Hackman) busts washed-up rock ’n’ roller-turned-drug dealer Cisco Pike (Kris Kristofferson), he hands his collar an ultimatum: Cisco has one weekend to sell 100 kilos of marijuana… or else he’s going up the river. A downbeat race-against-time drama distinguished by its grimy location photography around Venice Beach, with Black, playing Cisco’s long-suffering girlfriend, joining a stellar supporting cast that includes Warhol superstar Viva and Joy Bang as a pair of good-time groupies, and Harry Dean Stanton, in his first sizable film role, as Cisco’s hard-drinking former bandmate.