Taglines: Al Pacino is Cruising for a killer.
Cruising movie storyline. A serial killer brutally slays and dismembers several gay men in New York’s S&M and leather districts. The young police officer Steve Burns is sent undercover onto the streets as decoy for the murderer. Working almost completely isolated from his department, he has to learn and practice the complex rules and signals of this little society. While barely seeing his girlfriend Nancy anymore, the work starts changing him.
Cruising is a 1980 American crime thriller film written and directed by William Friedkin and starring Al Pacino, Paul Sorvino, and Karen Allen. The film is loosely based on the novel of the same name, by The New York Times reporter Gerald Walker, about a serial killer targeting gay men, in particular those associated with the leather scene. The title is a play on words with a dual meaning, as “cruising” can describe police officers on patrol and also cruising for sex.
Poorly reviewed by critics upon release, Cruising was a modest financial success. The shooting and promotion were dogged by gay rights protesters, who believed that the film stigmatized them. The film is also notable for its open-ended finale, further complicated by the director’s incoherent changes in the rough cut and synopsis, as well as due to other production issues.
About the Story
In New York City during the middle of a hot summer, body parts of men are showing up in the Hudson River. The police suspect it to be the work of a serial killer who is picking up homosexual men at West Village bars like the Eagle’s Nest, the Ramrod, and the Cock Pit, then taking them to cheap rooming houses or motels, tying them up and stabbing them to death.
Officer Steve Burns (Al Pacino), who resembles the victims, is sent deep undercover by Captain Edelson (Paul Sorvino) into the urban world of gay S&M and leather bars in the Meatpacking District in order to track down the killer. He rents an apartment in the area and befriends a neighbor, Ted Bailey (Don Scardino), a struggling young gay playwright. Burns’s undercover work takes a toll on his relationship with his girlfriend Nancy (Karen Allen), due to both his refusal to tell her the details of his current assignment and Burns building a close friendship with Ted, who himself is having relationship problems with his jealous and overbearing dancer boyfriend Gregory (James Remar).
Burns mistakenly compels the police to interrogate a waiter, Skip Lee (Jay Acovone), who is intimidated and beaten to coerce a confession before police discover Skip’s fingerprints don’t match the killer’s. Burns is disturbed by this police brutality, and tells Captain Edelson he didn’t sign on for this so that they can arrest anyone just because he’s gay. Exhausted by his undercover assignment, Burns is close to quitting, but is convinced by Edelson to continue with the investigation.
Cruising (1980)
Directed by: William Friedkin
Starring: Al Pacino, Paul Sorvino, Karen Allen, Richard Cox, Don Scardino, Joe Spinell, Jay Acovone, Randy Jurgensen, Barton Heyman
Screenplay by: William Friedkin
Production Design by: Bruce Weintraub
Cinematography by: James A. Contner
Film Editing by: Bud S. Smith, M. Scott Smith
Costume Design by: Robert De Mora
Set Decoration by: Robert Drumheller
Art Direction by: Edward Pisoni
Music by: Jack Nitzsche
Distributed by: United Artists
Release Date: February 8, 1980
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