Cruising

William Friedkin's 1980 thriller set in the gay subculture of New York leather bars and S&M clubs was notorious in its day for brutal violence and an extreme portrait of urban gay life. Al Pacino stars as Steve Burns, a patrolman recruited to go undercover by Capt. Edelson (Paul Sorvino) to try to catch a serial killer targeting gay men. Burns is straight and has a girlfriend (Karen Allen) but fits the victim profile and he commits himself fully to the assignment, creating a new identity and cruising the most extreme underground sex bars for information. Friedkin moves between scenes of murder mystery investigation and the perverse spectacle of the leather trade at its most extreme. The club scenes are shot as if in a dark, shadowy dungeon and a walk through Central Park at night becomes a public meat market of gay hook-ups and anonymous quickies. Pacino's character observes it all with a blank expression that makes his involvement ambiguous: is he fascinated, repulsed, attracted, or indifferent to the spectacle he sees? And the film leaves that question unanswered. Based on Gerald Walker’s 1970 novel, which was inspired by real-life murders, Cruising quickly became infamous, sparking protests by the New York gay community over the film's distorted portrait of gay life. Seen with hindsight, this is an interesting if not necessarily satisfying film, part sideshow and part art film dive into a subculture, with hints of suppressed homosexual feelings awakened in the hero. Presented with a new 4K restoration, extras include audio commentary by Friedkin and critic and broadcaster Mark Kermode, an archival commentary by Friedkin, and archival featurettes. A strong optional purchase. (S. Axmaker)