Cruising [DVD] [1980]

I first saw "Cruising" on grainy VHS back on a chilly February night in 1998. I was mesmerized by it. Al Pacino was the star of gangster classics like "The Godfather Trilogy" "Carlito's Way" and "Scarface." He was a cool, tough guy. To see him with his permed hair going to gay bars in this movie and letting himself be felt up, tied up and slapped was bizarre.

Now "Cruising" has been released on DVD for the first time. First off, the movie has been remastered and looks like a different film. What was murky or muffled before, now is crystal clear, especially the soundtrack. The songs in the clubs have much more oomph to them than they did before.

Al Pacino plays a cop called Steve Burns who's offered the chance to go undercover in the gay community to catch a serial killer. He agrees and goes under the alias of John Forbes. There are hints that Pacino's character is struggling with his own sexuality despite having a girlfriend (Karen Allen). But it is never really properly addressed in the film.

Sadly, Al Pacino has no involvement whatsoever with this DVD release and there are no interviews or commentaries from him on it. It was a painful experience making it and he brought a firestorm of criticism down on his head by being in it. It was one of three movies in the first half of the 80s that he was lacerated for. "Cruising" was the first one in 1980. It was attacked by gay groups who objected to its depiction of gay life and it was mauled by the critics. The next one was, believe it or not, "Scarface" in 1983. It was attacked by Cuban-Americans for portraying them as criminals and attacked by the critics for not being as good as the 1930s original. Then "Revolution" in 1985 was again savaged by the critics and was a huge box office flop. Pacino must have wondered what he'd done wrong and he retreated into a 4-year exile from films. Many wondered if he would ever return. Thankfully he did with "Sea Of Love" in 1989 (ironically, a sort of heterosexual remake of "Cruising" with Pacino's cop after another sexual killer) and the critics heaped praise on his performance. His non-involvement with this DVD just shows that he would rather forget this movie. It's a shame as it would be great to hear his side of the story and what he saw in the project.

You can see why Pacino would want to forget it from the "Making Of" documentaries on the DVD. Gay activists would turn up on set and blow whistles to drown out the actor's voices. A lot of the dialogue had to be redone in a studio later. The gay activists even resorted to reflecting sunlight with mirrors on rooftops into the actor's eyes and ruining the lighting of the shot. One time, word got around that Pacino was shooting a scene in a coffee shop and the activists surrounded the place. Pacino had to be taken through the hostile crowd by bodyguards as the coffee shop had no other way out but the front door. He was driven away at speed with his head in his hands.

William Friedkin's commentary is not as good as the one he did on "The French Connection" DVD. That's one of the best DVD commentaries I've ever heard and you were gripped from first moment to last with the wealth of detail that Friedkin added to the movie. Here, he doesn't have so much to add and sometimes even resorts to just describing what's happening onscreen when you can work that out for yourself. One fascinating comment is how the radiologist's assistant in "The Exorcist" ended up being accused of a gay murder and Friedkin visited him in prison to do research for "Cruising."

The confusion over who the real killer is is a real cheat on the audience. You can't string the audience along for two hours and then thumb your nose at them and say: "Suckers!" It makes the whole thing seem pointless. I still like watching "Cruising" for the atmosphere. As Friedkin says, it's like no other movie and there are things you'll see here that you'll never see anywhere else. A fascinating glimpse into the pre-AIDS gay leather bars of 1980 and an example of a movie that could simply never be made today.

Mesmerising and incredibly brave performance from Al Pacino. On one level, it's a classic 'cop goes under cover to catch a killer' story, on another it raises some disturbing questions about society's attitude to gay men and gay sex, and how gay men themselves act out the hatred dished out to them from parents and society. Real NY fetish clubs and punters were used in the movie and it shows. Although the movie is set very much at the end of the 70s, it is remarkable how little things have changed. Yes, poofs are now acceptable on prime-time TV, as long as no one has to think about them having sex, and certainly not without a condom. Julian Clary almost got crucified for mentioning fisting on TV. This is a great movie. Apparently, Marc Almond's favourite film. The sort of film that gets better and deeper each time you watch it.

For years this movie has been heavily criticized for its homophobic portrayal of gay men. Set against the backdrop of 70s gay leather bars in New York Al Pacino is a cop dispatched undercover to hunt down and expose a gay serial killer, by using himself as bait. The movie is gritty and violent, and adopts a style typical of Hollywood cinema at the time. Pacino is great, brooding and on edge. Stalking gay leather bars cruising for sex to catch the sado-masochistic killer. Pacinos character is completely straight, or so we assume but the assignment does cast doubts on the future strength of his marriage.
The almost exclusive portrayal of gay men as sadomasochistic leather queens cruising for rough anonymous casual sex is where the problem lies. Is it the responsibility of Hollywood to give a balanced, realistic representation of all aspects of gay men and their culture? Well yes. In the same way that Hollywood should aim to represent all factions of society, no matter how marginalised in a balanced and accurate manner. Does that happen today? In the 27 years since this movie came out the representation of gay people in mainstream cinema is as bad as ever. Im not making excuses for the film but with that in mind remember the movie represents only one aspect of gay culture, and its not necessarily that inaccurate. Permissive casual gay sex pre Aids was a reality and is so again. The movie is an entertaining thriller, some of the acting is a bit ropey. The plot by todays standards is overblown and melodramatic and the characters are 2-dimensional.
But -and this is my point- by todays standards its not bad at all!! Its depressing though how little ground has been made but don't let that spoil your enjoyment of this thrilling if dated and slightly silly film.