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03/26/09
Cruising (1980)
56
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:25
Fresh:14
Rotten:11
Average Rating:5.2/10
Synopsis: A sadistic serial killer is targeting New York's gay community and, in response, the NYPD sends rookie cop Steve Burns undercover to find the killer. Burns, who is straight, poses as a homosexual... [More]
Starring: Al Pacino, Paul Sorvino, Karen Allen, Richard Cox
Director: William Friedkin
Reviews for Cruising
Top Criticstill unsettling even after far more explicit fare has been produced in recent years
10/20/07
A lot of upcoming filmmakers saw "Cruising" and took notes, because the movie became the prototype for every serial killer movie to follow (see "Se7en," "Basic Instinct" etc.).
09/22/07
The film comes off as little more than a sensationalized exploitation flick.
09/21/07
Was it insensitive to make this film when it stood to represent the gay subculture to mainstream America? Yes. Is it a great film? No. But it is a fascinating relic.
09/20/07
Is it offensive? Yes and no. It's insensitive, certainly. And I wouldn't want my mother watching it, lest she think I've been in a sling in the meatpacking district for most of my adult life.
09/18/07
Its gamy images inside the leather and S&M gay bars along the Greenwich Village waterfront are both busy and dark.
09/07/07
Cruising can now be ranked among Friedkin's very best films.
09/06/07
'Cruising' views better today than in 1980, but that is relative. There remain bothersome errors in consistency and judgment.
09/06/07
No one would get away with it now, or even try.
09/06/07
Cruising is a mediocre thriller but an amazing time capsule -- a heady, horny flashback to the last gasp of full-blown sexual abandon, and easily the most graphic depiction of gay sex ever seen in a mainstream movie.
09/04/07
Why Cruising? Why now? And why does it feel like how you answer those questions will determine which side pocket you keep your handkerchief in?
09/03/07
Both on a conceptual level and in practice, Cruising buys into and advances some of the most dangerous myths about homosexuality and the homosexual lifestyle.
09/03/07
The most shocking thing about Cruising (shown in 2007 Cannes Fest), which occupies a unique place in film history, is its thematic and visual audacity, the fact that it was made by a mainstream director (Friedkin) and studio; it will never happen again.
06/18/07
Sordid, disturbing murder mystery revolving around leather bar gays.
05/09/07
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06/24/06
Top CriticWilliam Friedkin's Cruising is an interesting, albeit grisly, detective story before being damaged by an abrupt, out-of-the-blue and totally unsatisfying ending.
01/26/06
Incoherent, unpleasant, politically problematic, plus one of Al Pacino's most intensely bad performances. Yup. It's a winner.
12/31/05
No review available.
03/10/05
No review available.
01/19/05
Latest News for Cruising
September 14, 2007:
Interview: Picking Up on William Friedkin's Cruising
William Friedkin will forever be remembered as one of the legendary New Hollywood directors of the 1970s. Read on for our sit-down with the man who made such classics as The... More...
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