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More film photos after review
SensuousSadie@aol.com
www.sensuoussadie.com
Synopsis from Netflix: After a serial killer
brutally murders several gay men in New York's S&M and leather
districts, cop Steve Burns (Al Pacino) goes undercover on the streets,
where he must learn the complex rules of the underground gay subculture
if he's to catch the psycho. Karen Allen co-stars as Burns's girlfriend
in this gritty 1980 thriller, which sparked protests from gay rights
groups at the time of its release but has since developed a minor cult
status.
I have known about the movie Cruising, starring Al Pacino & Karen
Allen, for decades but didn’t rent it because I didn’t realize that it
focused on the BDSM subculture of the Gay community in the 1970’s. This
film was made in 1980 and dramatized a series of actual murders in the
gay community of New York City during the 1970’s. It features a very
young Al Pacino, one who you almost might not recognize. Not only has he
not yet come into his own as the deeply moving character actor that we
know him, but this movie fails to give him the space to create a strong
character. Too bad, really. The plot revolves around a detective played
by Pacino who goes undercover in the S&M community to seek out the
killer.
Let’s look at the BDSM part first. What is truly remarkable is that the
director chose to shoot the film in actual leather clubs, using real
members of our community. So yes, we really do get to see actual kinky
activity including whipping, bondage, fisting and a variety of other
things. We do not see any genitalia however, and the shots are done with
a graciousness. Because the clubs are dark – as they would be in real
life – you don’t really see too many details. But it’s the real thing
all right. The opportunity to see our leather brothers in action from
three decades ago doing the very same thing we are doing today is quite
marvelous. And no, I didn’t see anything unsafe occurring.
Perhaps the most interesting part of this film is Al Pacino’s discovery
of his own sexuality which he begins to explore more deeply as he
becomes involved in the kinky community during the months he is living
there. Pacino plays this subtly, but it is clear that he is becoming
either bisexual or homosexual as he first begins to fantasize about the
clubs during sex with his girlfriend, and eventually stops having sex
with her altogether. Unfortunately, although not surprisingly, it was
not at all clear what he decided about himself and the movie took the
cop out route by having him return to his girlfriend at the end with no
explanation whatsoever; lack of sex notwithstanding. You have to
remember that in 1980 there were not the hundreds of films for the GLBT
lifestyle that there are today. This film was a groundbreaker to even
deal with this subject much less take a peak at the BDSM world.
What made his sexual questioning even more confusing is the fact that
Pacino was supposed to be going into the S&M community in order to
ferret out the killers. That is – he was presumably going in to "cruise"
men; thus the title. The movie showed him interacting with a number of
hot leathermen, apparently going off with some of them, but never
overtly doing anything that could unmistakably be called gay sex. Is it
possible that an undercover agent cruised the BDSM community day and
night for months on end (cruising actually was his job), but in fact was
really just hanging out and chatting? Somehow, I doubt it.
This is a complex film for many reasons, and the DVD includes an
excellent interview with Director William Friedkin which I recommend
because it will help you understand the complexities of why he set up
the plot the way he did, which is just about as inexplicable as the
sexuality issues I’ve noted above, Suffice it to say that the movie is
certainly interesting, but you really won’t know who the bad guys were
or what happened when it ended. You only will after you watch the
interview. Of course viewers who went to the actual movie theater in
1980 didn’t have that advantage.
More importantly you should know that this film is extremely important
for various reasons. One is that it may well be the first representation
of BDSM in modern films in this real-life detail. Second, during and
after the filming there was a huge controversy in the gay community
about this work. There was so much noise from the crowds trying to
interrupt filming that most of the shots had to have their audio
redubbed. The BDSM folk supported it as you can see – they’re in the
movie. However, some did also feel that the fact that the film connected
S&M with serial killers was a negative image to be putting out there to
the general public. The gay community in general were also pissed off
because they were concerned that the general public would think that all
gay people were sickos who just wanted to whip each other and so on.
Remember – again this was at a time when there were none or almost no
other representations of gay people in mainstream film.
Director William Friedkin of course said that he had no intention of
making any kind of statement; that he was just telling a story. This may
be true, but totally ingenuous. Film history tells us that in mainstream
Hollywood films, kinky characters are almost always killers or abusers.
Friedkin was not looking at the big picture.
In any case, while this film does not stand up three decades later as a
powerhouse of great filmmaking; it does give us a window into a very
specific time period in the history of gay and BDSM communities coming
into their own, not to mention the amazing views of those New York
dungeons. Well worth renting!
Roger Ebert’s Excellent Review
http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19800215/REVIEWS/70718009/1023
Sensuous Sadie is the author of Spiritual Transformation through
BDSM; Stories and Submissions from Fellow Travelers. Read an excerpt
and more at Sadie's Kinky Goodies
http://www.sensuoussadie.com/sadieskinkygoodies.htm. She is the
founder and leader (1999 - 2001) of Rose & Thorn, Vermont's first BDSM
group. Comments, compliments and complaints, as well as requests for
reprinting can be addressed to her at
SensuousSadie@aol.com or
visit her website at
http://www.sensuoussadie.com/. Sadie believes the universe is
abundant, and that sharing information freely is part of this abundance,
so she allows reprints of her writing in most venues.
Copyright 2008 Sadie Sez Publications
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