No, the script is not based on the novel of German writer Thomas Mann, and the movie has nothing to do with Venice, Italy. It is more like a prequel of The Big Lebowsky, although the main character is, as in Mann's story, a musician at the end of his tether. And the derelict, dying" beach-side community where he has put up his tents actually is Venice: Venice, California. Some of the main characters actually do end their lives in Venice.
Cisco Pike is a kind of a dark comedy. Only his coolness can save the main character, the viewers see him driving off into the desert as the end credits start rolling. The movie takes a critical but also sympathetic look at the hippie and drug culture in California in the early 1970s, where everything seems to fall apart: buildings, law and order, relationships. It might be a movie one appreciates most for the atmosphere and the depiction of a certain era.
Some of the acting performances are outstanding. Gene Hackman is excellent as slightly disturbed cop, Karen Black plays more or less the same character as in Five Easy Pieces (including some pleasant singing), Antonio Farga's presence is as always refreshing. Harry Dean Stanton should have been nominated as Best Supporting Actor for his role of the main character's drug addicted friend. Talking about child support he tells that his kids will have his insurance money as he sustained brain damage in a car accident. Whiplash wouldn't do, he explains, nowadays it has to be brain damage. I always get lucky that way." For me that is the best line of Cisco Pike.
Cisco Pike is a kind of a dark comedy. Only his coolness can save the main character, the viewers see him driving off into the desert as the end credits start rolling. The movie takes a critical but also sympathetic look at the hippie and drug culture in California in the early 1970s, where everything seems to fall apart: buildings, law and order, relationships. It might be a movie one appreciates most for the atmosphere and the depiction of a certain era.
Some of the acting performances are outstanding. Gene Hackman is excellent as slightly disturbed cop, Karen Black plays more or less the same character as in Five Easy Pieces (including some pleasant singing), Antonio Farga's presence is as always refreshing. Harry Dean Stanton should have been nominated as Best Supporting Actor for his role of the main character's drug addicted friend. Talking about child support he tells that his kids will have his insurance money as he sustained brain damage in a car accident. Whiplash wouldn't do, he explains, nowadays it has to be brain damage. I always get lucky that way." For me that is the best line of Cisco Pike.