SITTING DUCKS
Dir. Henry Jaglom, 1980
USA, 90 mins
Part of EMOTIONAL TIME: The Films of Henry Jaglom

Sparked by the success of EASY RIDER, the road movie came to be the essential American film genre of the '70s, a pungent metaphor for "dropping out" and American self-searching. To his credit, Jaglom might have helped mount that throne, helping shape Jack Nicholson and Peter Fonda's cross-country melange in the cutting room as an assistant editor. The motel pools of SITTING DUCKS' America look a lot different than the backwoods expanse of RIDER, but then again the country had just elected Ronald Reagan. Health-nut Michael Emil and smooth-talking Zach Norman are en route to Central America after stealing a gambling racket's money, and end up in a relationship merry-go-round. They get in with a cast of characters that include Patrice Townsend, Irene Forrest, and Richard Romanus as a would-be singer-songwriter.