Movies - Cruising

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	Movies - Cruising

Cruising is the name of a film released in 1980, directed by William Friedkin and starring Al Pacino. The film is loosely based on a novel written by New York Times reporter Gerald Walker about a New York City serial killer targeting gay men in the 1970s. The film was rated R by the Motion Picture Association of America for its violence, profanity, illicit drug use, and explicit depictions of gay, kinky sexual behavior.

Cast and crew

Director/Writer - William Friedkin
Gerald Walker - Novel

Al Pacino
.... Steve Burns
Paul Sorvino
.... Capt. Edelson
Karen Allen
.... Nancy Gates
Richard Cox .... Stuart Richards
Don Scardino .... Ted Bailey
Joe Spinell
.... Patrolman DiSimone
Jay Acovone .... Skip Lea
Randy Jurgensen .... Det. Lefronskyk
Barton Heyman .... Dr. Rifkin
Gene Davis
.... DaVinci
Arnaldo Santana .... Loren Lukas
Larry Atlas .... Eric Rossman
Allan Miller .... Chief of Detectives
Sonny Grosso .... Det. Blaisia
Ed O'Neill
.... Det. Schreiber (as Edward O'Neil)
Michael Aronin .... Det. Davis
James Remar
.... Gregory
William Russ
.... Paul Gaines
Mike Starr .... Patrolman Desher
Steve Inwood .... Martino
Keith Prentice
.... Joey
Leland Starnes .... Jack Richards
Robert Pope .... DaVinci's friend
Leo Burmester .... Water Sport
Bruce Levine .... Dancer
Charles Dunlap .... Three Card Monte
Powers Boothe
.... Hanky salesman
James Sutorius .... Jack (voice)
Richard Jamieson .... Spotter
Jimmie Ray Weeks .... Seller (as James Ray Weeks)
David Winnie Hayes .... Bouncer
Carmine Stippo .... Bartender
James Hayden .... Cockpit Coke man
Todd Winters .... Tugboat Mate

Story

In New York City, body parts of men are showing up in the Hudson River and police think it is the work of a serial killer who is picking up gay men at bars and then raping them and slicing them up into little pieces. Officer Steve Burns is sent deep undercover to the urban world of gay leather bars in order to track down the serial killer. His undercover work takes a toll on his relationship with his girlfriend and leads him to question his own sexual orientation. In the end Burns captures the serial killer, who is a gay music student, and the film ends with Burns being unable to put his undercover work behind him.

Negative criticism

The criticism of the film can be divided between the quality of the film versus its alleged political message. In both cases most of the criticism was highly negative and gay activists had public protests against the film.

Jack Sommersby's comments were common of the criticism directed at non-political matters such as character development and the changes made when the film was transferred from a novel to a film :

"There’s nothing indicative of his fighting his sexual identity, so why does he target gays, then? After first plunging his knife into a victim, he tells them, “You made me do that.” Huh? What about them made him do that? The closest we get to a motivation comes from his imaginary conversations with his deceased, formerly-disapproving father, who tells his boy, “You know what you have to do.”, which sets him off to kill, and, again, we’re baffled as to the connection Friedkin’s trying to make. Was the father’s disapproval pertaining to his son being gay, and is the son trying to win back his father’s approval by killing men of a sexual nature the father has a seething hatred for? If so, there’s no indication of any of this. In fact, we don’t even know if the father knew his son was gay before passing on."

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Movies - Cruising

Cast and crew

Story

Negative criticism

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