"Cruising" (1980) This is considered by many to be a classic in the Gay Film genre....partially due to the controversy surrounding the film itself (as well as the reported deleted scenes) and partly due to the ground-breaking nature of the subject material. For a 1980's mainstream release -- it IS pretty racy in context. Al Pacino portrays an undercover cop in the NYPD. His assignment requires him to infiltrate the world of the underground S&M/Leather subculture of the gay community. His goal is to identify a serial killer who has been seducing and brutally murdering several gay men over the past few months. From what I gather, this film is based on a novel...which was based on a real-life series of homicides in 1970's NYC. It is a pretty decent film (as far as early 80's films go) and worth having in the "Have Seen" column of LGBT films.....but I'm not really sure the film answers all of the questions it seems to ask. [3/5]

This film was important when it came out in 1980. We were just before the AIDS pandemic hit the world. In New York the gay scene had crossed the line of simple ordinary cruising to enter the hard line of sado maso sex, leather paraphernalia and a certain amount of constraint, force, violence, etc., what some call authoritarian gay sex. In that scene criminal violence is then a lot more difficult to trace and find out because it does not stand out "like a sore thumb" but gets blended in the surrounding violence.One serial killer is running on that stage in New York and to pick him, to find him out a cop has to be sent undercover. He is young, handsome, not gay at all, and yet he is going to get into the gay business. He finds out that this cruising is first of all attractive because it deals with feelings that are not satisfied otherwise: love, friendship, equal force and equal power. It is more some accompliceship than real sensation or emotion. The lovers meet halfway in the project of being as strong as the other, of submitting the other and be submitted to the other by this other precisely. This narcissistic fascination, this love for the other who is my equal and to whom I must submit to be his equal because he submits to me to be my equal – submission, domination and yet total communion and equality. This side is actually not explored enough in this film, except of course occasionally when the undercover cop meets with his next door neighbor the playwright. But that is little and it will end badly anyway because in such a situation jealousy and possessiveness are the two main characteristics of some couples who cannot accept any intruder, in spite of the fact that the gay bars are necessarily open stages and open situations. For some to get into a relation is also to get out of all opportunities to meet with another possible relation, the rejection of any promiscuity. That is not typical of the gay scene but men have not been used to being dominated by their partners for something like 300,000 years like women. Such situations can become very nasty.The film exploits another line without giving all the details. The serial killer was rejected by a father who, we understand, refused his gay orientation and required that he should change orientation in order to be given the support he wants. Unluckily it is suggested that the father has been dead for ten years. Hard on the chap who has not been able to prove himself to his father and is out in the wild without a father behind him, except as a phantasm to whom he writes hundred of letters, every week or so, without sending them, of course. Then we enter the field of perversion, rather simple actually, maybe too simple. He uses his sexual orientation to capture a prey, has sex with, complete or partial sex, it does not matter, and then he kills his prey who "made him do this." It sounds simple because it is not explored enough. It is true we were in 1980 and that was a long time before profiling became popular, a long time before "Criminal Minds." It will excuse the lack of expertise with DNA too.The subject was interesting, but the treatment has aged a lot and appears today rather simple if not superficial or just plain provocative, though the provocation has completely gotten out of the picture for us today.Dr Jacques COULARDEAU

Cruising is one of the most controversial films in the last 40 years, up there with Straw dogs, Clockwork orange, and Natural born killers. The film follows police officer Steve Burns (Al Pacino) who has been assigned by Captain Edelson (Paul Sorvino) to go undercover into a gay S&M clubs to find a serial killer who has been murdering men after having sex with them. The film has many graphic scenes of Pacino in these bars observing men engaging in various sex acts. Pacino gives a solid performance as a cop in over his head, who can't quite make out how he should feel after spending night after night in these clubs. After several weeks undercover, Burns becomes emotionally and physically distant from his girlfriend (Nancy Allen). Because of the nature of being undercover, Burns can't disclose what he is experiencing, seeing, feeling, etc. There are strong hints that Pacino might be experimenting sexually with some of the men in the bars he has frequented and that there might be more then one killer. The movie is extremely ambiguous about the identity of the killer (or killers) and the ending only leaves you more mystified. One of the controversies of the film was that there was 40 minutes of film that was censored and cut out. When director William Friedkin wanted to add the deleted 40 minutes several years later when the film was released on DVD, but the footage was missing. Friedkin has had several explanations on what exactly was in the footage. He has claimed it was just more footage of gay sex in the s&m bars and other times that there was also some scenes suggesting who the killer may or may not be. You have to give Pacino credit for taking on the role even if he probably wasn't the best choice. (Gere had been offered the role but passed). Gay rights groups were justifiably outraged that one the first movies about homosexuals would be a film about a gay man who is so repulsed about his own sexuality that he murders the men he has sex with. Another controversy was the perceived inference that the S&M scene is common among gay men and that they spend their nights partying and having indiscriminate sex. I don't really believe the latter was true, but you can understand why film was so controversial.

I heard about this film and decided to see it. William Friedkin has become a house-hold name with films like The Exorcist and The French Connection, To Live and Die in L.A., Rampage, The Guardian and Sorceror.The film starts with the discovery of a body part in the Hudson river. This body part is one among many pieces which were discovered. New York Police Captain Edelson(Paul Sorvino) assigns Officer Steve Burns(Al Pacino), who resembles the victims, is sent deep undercover into the urban world of gay S&M and leather bars in the Meatpacking District in order to track down the killer.Friedkin gives us scenes to what goes on inside the gay S&M and leather bars. Also there is a scene of some cops harassing a pair of transvestites and ordering them to give bl*wjobs inside their squad car. We hear one of the cops say. "I knew a guy once who was a coke-sucker". We hear his partner immediately say:"before that he was a cork-soaker". This dialogue shows the society's views on homosexualism during that time. The murder scenes depicted in the film are hardcore. Pacino's acting is excellent as always. His role in the film was to bring the serial out and the way he accomplishes this task is why you should rent or buy this excellent film. I've seen this film about three or four times already and it gets better with every watch. Also I should mention that Paul Sorvino, another favorite of mine, gives a powerful portrayal of New York Police Captain Edelson who is given a deadline by the Mayor to solve this case or else...Other serial killer films to see/buy: The Deliberate Stranger(1986), Ted Bundy(2002), To Catch A Killer(1992), Dear Mr. Gacy (2010), Albert Fish: In Sin He Found Salvation (2007), The Gray Man(2007), Dahmer (2002),The Secret Life: Jeffrey Dahmer (1993), Henry: Portrait Of A Serial Killer (1986), Citizen X(1995), Evilenko(2004), The Hunt for The BTK Killer(2005), Confessions Of A Serial killer(1985), Deranged (1974), H.H. Holmes America's First Serial killer(2004). Enjoy!