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I’ve always enjoyed “Cruising”, Billy Friedkin’s opus on violence, male homosexuality, leather and all things bizarre. Right from that great line, “Have you ever been porked?” between stars Paul Sorvino and a fresh-faced Al Pacino, this film draws me in like few others.
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While the police action and the chase mystery are interesting, what I enjoy most about this film is Pacino’s transformation from all-American boy cop to undercover cop to feigning homosexuality in the leather underground of New York and the changes he goes through to get there. The script suggests he and girlfriend Karen Allen lose their love life in the process; how could they not? Try chaning your sexual orientation sometime for the focus of your job.
The scene between investigative chieftain Sorvino and his boss, who makes it clear to Paul that he either catches the killer by the time of the upcoming 1980 political convention or “I’ll put someone in your seat who can do just that” adds an element or reality to the film, which straddles the line between fantasy and reality much of the time.
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After being given the ultimatum, Sorvino turns up the heat on his undercover cop turning gay man, Pacino. In a touching and dramatic scene, Sorvino not only turns down Pacino’s request to be released from the case, he hands him potential new leads and in effect says, “Catch this guy.”
So, for me, this film is full of human realities and conflicts that make it a great film. This transcends the somewhat mundane material — the norish police drama focused on catching a serial killer in the gay leather underground — that makes it a compelling film about people and situations and how the two come together in art.
One thing I’ve never understood — the ending. All seems well afterward, but is it? Does the tug in the harbor signal some rumbling beneath the surface? Or does this signal a return to normalcy for everyone. This is the kind of emotion Friedkin generated in all his films. Since no sequel was produced, I may go to my grave wondering about this. If so, I’ll be pleased to watch this film another half-dozen or dozen times trying to piece this together.
The CRUISING (DELUXE EDITITON) dvd has restored the movie and soundtrack, but doesn’t add anything new. According to the film’s director, William Friedkin, over 40-minutes of additional footage was cut from the original movie and has since disappeared. And though he would have liked to include the 40+-minutes on this dvd, Friedkin says that he feels that the movie is complete as is.
For those who aren’t familiar with this movie, it’s about a New York city cop (Pacino) who goes undercover in the S&M(Sado-masochism)/Leather subculture of the gay community looking for a serial killer who’s targeting gay men. Even though he’s a rookie, the cop is chosen for this assignment because he looks like most of the victims. The film is a gritty whodunnit and exposes an aspect of gay life that most will never see, and raises more questions than it answers. It can be very confusing at times and you never really know if the actual killer is caught; if the guy caught is the actual killer or if there’s more than one.
For those who are familiar with CRUISING, I just like to say that the porn frames are still in it. I thought that they would take them out because of the dvd transfer, but they didn’t, which is good. The film looks sharp and there are some graphic enhancements that I don’t remember being on the original video, but it doesn’t take away anything from the movie.
***Bonus Material***
***Friedkin’s commentary
***Two featurettes that total about 45-minutes and include interviews with some of the actors from “Cruising,” along with Friedkin (Pacino is not on it), which also talks about the controversy and backlash from the gay commmunity
***Theatrical trailer
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