In Dave Kehr‘s 6.7 N.Y. Times review of Warner Home Video’s just-out DVD of Michelangelo Antonioni‘s Zabriskie Point (’70), he quotes a line spoken by the late Mark Frechette, who played the lead male role. I haven’t seen Zabriskie Point in eons and Kehr has obviously just seen it, but I’m 95% sure he slightly misquotes.

The line is spoken when Frechette stands up to speak during a meeting of lefty radicals who are talking about whether they’re willing to risk their lives in order to fight the pigs. My recollection is that Frechette says, “Well, I’m willing to die” — beat, beat — “of boredom.” And then he walks out. Kehr quotes Frechette as follows: “I, too, am ready to die for the revolution, but not of boredom.” Very slight difference and not a big deal, but I have pretty good recall.

Sidenote #1: “On August 29, 1973, Frechette and two members of [Mel Lyman’s] commune attempted to rob the New England Merchant’s Bank in the Fort Hill neighborhood in Boston. One of the members of the commune was killed by police and Frechette, who did not have bullets in his gun, was arrested and sentenced to the minimum security state prison in Norfolk, Massachusetts. He died under suspicious circumstances during a weightlifting accident when a 150-pound bar fell on his neck, allegedly choking him to death. Officials did not suspect foul play however questions arose over whethere Frechette had been suffering from depression.”

Sidenote #2: Harrison Ford’s Wikipedia bio says he “had an uncredited role in Michelangelo Antonioni’s 1970 film Zabriskie Point as an airport worker.” Whatever the accuracy of this, I doubt that Ford is the guy in this Great Escape clip — even though it looks just like him.