Jack Nicholson
Yellow 33 (Drive, he said)

It can happen that an actor or actress tries their hand at making a film, thus moving to the other side of the barricade. In this way, one ends up having a comprehensive perspective of cinematic work. Of course, not everyone who tests themselves manages to create a convincing work, but at least the intent should be appreciated. This is exactly the case with "Yellow 33 (Drive he said)" directed by Jack Nicholson in 1971 and presented at the Cannes Festival of that year where it did not receive a warm reception (whistles and boos of disapproval from some spectators). Furthermore, in Italy, the film only arrived in the mid-70s, when Nicholson's name was linked to major commercially successful films like "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest." So today we might ask why that directorial debut by the American actor earned a certain negative (and still unjustified) reputation at the time.

But first, let's briefly recall the salient facts of the film. Based on a novel by Jeremy Larner, "Yellow 33" is set in a university campus in Ohio (USA) during that turbulent period between the late '60s and early '70s. The main characters are two students, Hector (played by William Tepper) and Gabriel (Michael Margotta), who share the same room in college but are very different from each other.

The first is the typical student very versed in playing basketball and with the typical appearance of a muscular boy, not exactly someone predisposed to deep thoughts. But nonetheless, he does not seem so immune to the socio-political tensions of the time, considering that he is not at all convinced of signing a contract to join a professional basketball team (it is known that the clauses could be too binding for a young man who is inclined to be spontaneous like him). In short, Hector’s way of life is somewhat wild and undisciplined, sexually fulfilling due to his relationship with the wife of one of his professors, which also causes severe reprimands from the coach of the university team he is part of.

A somewhat different story is that relating to the second character, Gabriel. He appears completely aware of his ideas and actions. At least that's how it appears in the early scenes of the film since he is an extremely politicized student in radical positions. And in those years, like him, many other young students were living in radical opposition to the prevailing Yankee system, especially because of the draft coinciding with America's military engagement in Vietnam. Many, upon receiving the draft card, would publicly burn it and then find ways to flee abroad (Canada or Mexico being the preferred destinations). But the problem regarding Gabriel’s character is that he is a so-called borderline subject, literally going off the deep end. Indeed, if at the military draft examination he pretends to be unstable to avoid enlistment (and even violently rants at army doctors), from that moment on he gets so used to it that he actually goes out of his mind. One could not define him otherwise if, among his various exploits, first at the home of the girl he is about to have a sexual encounter with, he instead starts ranting against the TV that dulls the brain and destroys it, causing the girl to flee hastily. And to end his senseless actions by running naked across the university campus fields (oh, here's a male frontal nudity too daring for those times) and entering the biology lab where he releases various reptiles kept in the terrarium. It is inevitable that the academic authorities, duly impatient, have him arrested, with a straitjacket, by burly security personnel. It is easy to imagine that then Gabriel will have to spend some time in some mental rehabilitation facility, a heavy fate reflecting a direct commitment on the Vietnam front...

I have previously mentioned the audience's and critics' unenthusiastic reactions at the time of the release of "Yellow 33". Indeed, Jack Nicholson shows skill in outlining the unpredictable and convoluted psychology of the main characters of the film. Both Hector and Gabriel, albeit in different ways, are typical offspring of the chaotic years that the USA was going through. Hector himself, with his uncertainties about the future path to take in life, tells us that even a person dedicated mainly to sports cannot be immune to the spirit of the times (and what else to say that sports have nothing to do with politics..). Gabriel, then, is an individual certainly over the top and certain of his antics are signals of a general discomfort, but in his case, the result of a mental imbalance assumed and not properly clarified.

If one criticism could be made of director Nicholson, it would be that he did not provide a structurally cohesive work. The impression is that of having in front of us a decidedly chaotic film, somewhat a mirror of those difficult years mentioned earlier. A film, therefore, that when revisited today appears dated, but still useful to understand the trials faced by the young people at that time who were already politically aligned and wore the parka.