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Cruising poster

Cruising

year 1980decade 80sdirector William Friedkin

102 minutes

Cast

Selected cast credits · Film reference

Al Pacino Steve Burns
Paul Sorvino Captain Edelson
Karen Allen Nancy
Richard Cox Stuart Richards
Don Scardino Ted Bailey
Joe Spinell Patrolman DiSimone
Jay Acovone Skip Lee
Gene Davis DaVinci
Randy Jurgensen Detective Lefransky
Barton Heyman Dr. Rifkin
Arnaldo Santana Loren Lukas
Larry Atlas Eric Rossman
Allan Miller Chief of detectives
Sonny Grosso Detective Blasio
Edward O’Neil Detective Schreiber
Michael Aronin Detective Davis
James Remar Gregory Milanese
William Russ Paul Gaines
Mike Starr Patrolman Desher
Steve Inwood Martino Perry
Leland Starnes Jack Richards
Robert Pope DaVinci’s friend
Leo Burmester Water Sport
Bruce Levine Dancer
Charles Dunlap Three Card Monte
Powers Boothe Hankie salesman
James Sutorius Voice of Jack
Carmine Stipo Bartender
James Hayden Cockpit coke man
Todd Winters Tugboat mate

Cruising | The Rewatchables

host Bill Simmonshost Chris Ryanguest Wesley Morrisproducer Craig Horlbeck theme Naughty November
Explore episodeClose episode

What’s Aged the Best?

Erotic engagement; New York; killer voices; soundtrack; apartments; clubs; Mercedes; police critique; Ted; Remar; costumes; title card

In the discussion (13)
Approx. transcript time · 00:05:00Read transcript
  • The club scenes are praised for erotic engagement and reciprocal looks rather than detached tourism, illustrating cruising through eye contact.
  • The movie captures layered New York nightlife and the descent from ordinary streets into unknown enclosed spaces; it is praised as of a place rather than merely shot there.
  • The killer or killers are creepy, and the conspicuously different dubbed voices can heighten that creepiness despite sounding bad.
  • The gritty mostly punk soundtrack lends legitimacy despite largely unfamiliar songs; it is distinguished from a disco soundtrack and linked to emerging post-punk/no-wave music.
  • Karen Allen’s presence and apartment are appreciated, with real buildings and apartments making the city convincing rather than repeatedly reused sets.
  • Burns removing window-fan slats and the informal rules of apartment leasing feel specifically New York.
  • The clubs feel authentic: Anvil, Ramrod, Wolf’s Den, Cockpit, Eagle’s Nest/Eagle, plus unnamed policeman and American-flag bars.
  • Martino Perry’s Mercedes is admired, including casually parking where a space should not exist.
  • The film’s view of police power and lawlessness remains relevant.
  • Ted’s boy-meets-boy play synopsis, ending with an analyst, is enjoyed.
  • James Remar’s committed performance is praised alongside The Warriors and 48 Hrs.; a neighborhood sighting prompts an anecdote about being too intimidated to approach him.
  • Burns’s wardrobe progresses from khakis and work shirt to makeup and studded leather, visibly tracking exploration that may go unnoticed on a first viewing.
  • The title card is praised alongside the other Naughty November films’ striking title sequences.

Probably Unanswerable Questions

Burns’s sexuality and hookups; Ted’s killer; captain’s knowledge; Party Size ad-lib

In the discussion (9)
Approx. transcript time · 00:06:17Read transcript
  • Steve Burns changes after entering this world, but exactly what happens remains deliberately ambiguous.
  • Unresolved questions include whether Burns killed Ted, when he recognized his sexuality, whether he was already bisexual, how many killers exist, his relationship’s future and his reaction to his girlfriend wearing the clothes.
  • Burns’s weight training blurs professional preparation with attraction to the bodies he sees in clubs.
  • Whether Burns killed Ted is disputed: one voice suspects him, while another emphasizes his affection and connection with Ted.
  • An internet theory making Burns the only killer is rejected because other killings are shown; multiple killers or copycats remain possible but unaccepted explanations.
  • Ted’s murder remains disputed: the boyfriend is a possible intended suspect, while the captain’s reaction may implicate Burns; jealous behavior is offered against the categorical claim that Burns could not kill.
  • What the captain knows at the end remains unclear, including whether he suspects Burns and will summon him back the next day.
  • Whether Party Size was scripted or a Pacino improvisation is unknown.
  • Whether Burns completed hookups, especially with Ted, remains unresolved; a possible Ted hookup makes the jealous boyfriend a plausible killer to one interpretation.

Half-Assed Internet Research

Origins; protests; missing footage; Pacino choices; budget; soundtrack; production; disclaimer

In the discussion (24)
Approx. transcript time · 00:06:43Read transcript
  • Protests reportedly ruined sound and contributed to multiple killer voices; around 40 minutes of explicit club footage were removed, described by Friedkin as pornography.
  • The film derives from Gerald Walker’s 1970 novel, which Friedkin disliked; unsolved leather-bar murders, Village Voice articles and undercover officer Randy Jorgensen helped motivate his interest.
  • Friedkin’s retrospective explanation frames the film as a murder mystery in an S&M setting rather than an anti-gay statement, with the timing amid gay liberation and AIDS shaping its reception.
  • The city’s 1970s seediness is recalled through the blackout and Times Square; critic Nathan Lee’s enthusiastic reappraisal is placed uncertainly in the 2000 s or 2010 s.
  • Pacino’s dramatic-star run precedes reported refusals of Han Solo, Close Encounters, Apocalypse Now and Kramer vs. Kramer; he wanted Slap Shot but his inability to skate reportedly cost him the role.
  • Friedkin reportedly criticized Pacino’s eloquence, lateness and lack of creative ideas; the onscreen performance is defended against that judgment.
  • The club participant reacting to the lubricated arm is identified as Bruno Kirby, surprising the others; the cast also prompts recognition of Mike Starr, William Russ, Powers Boothe and Ed O’Neill.
  • The reported budget is 11 million dollars and gross 19.8 million, characterized as a hit.
  • Karina Longworth’s podcast is cited for an interpretation of erotic thrillers partly as AIDS allegories, not solely reducible to that reading.
  • A cited interpretation connects the captain’s limp to compromised masculinity; the author is not remembered and the reading remains interpretive.
  • The novel’s protagonist is described as racist, unlike the film’s more valuable transformative journey.
  • The soundtrack discussion lists Willy DeVille with “the moment” and “Pulling My String,” the Cripples, John Hiatt’s “Spy Boy,” Madelynn von Ritz, the Germs’ “Lion’s Share” and Rough Trade; only one intended Germs song was used.
  • Mutiny’s “Lump” is identified as the opening song and the only funk track; another female-sung disco-tinged track is characterized as fundamentally rock.
  • The earlier uncertain collaborator name is corrected to Travis Mathews in the discussion of Interior. Leather Bar.
  • The missing explicit footage reportedly no longer exists, having been destroyed in fires according to Friedkin.
  • Friedkin reportedly worked with Mafia members because they owned many of the city’s gay bars.
  • The morgue sequence is reported as the first film given permission to shoot there; medical examiner Michael Baden allegedly lost his job over the decision before later television fame.
  • Karen Allen reportedly never received the complete script because her character was meant not to know what Burns was doing; the implications for her final costume scene are questioned.
  • Journalist Arthur Bell is identified as the early organizer of opposition.
  • A protest reportedly drew 1000 marchers through the East Village, and Bell’s Village Voice articles are recommended.
  • The Mineshaft refused filming; Friedkin reportedly submitted the initially X-rated film 50 times and removed 40 minutes, inconsistently claiming the cuts either did not affect the story or obscured Burns as a possible killer.
  • Writer John Rechy reportedly persuaded Friedkin to remove a gay-liberation slogan from the opening body-recovery scene because it could be misread.
  • An initial disclaimer disavowing judgment of gay life is recalled as controversial, though absent from the current viewing and not quoted exactly.
  • The explicit club footage reportedly used actual patrons and leather-scene participants rather than primarily actors.

Most Rewatchable Scene

Pacino dancing; ending also favored

In the discussion (18)
Approx. transcript time · 00:19:25Read transcript
  • The ambiguous mirror ending and return to the harbor are admired, including the possibility of continuing murders; the editing problems may have helped create its ambiguity.
  • The assignment scene is praised for Burns readily volunteering rather than resisting, with promotion seeming secondary; the captain opens by bluntly asking about sexual experience with men.
  • The dancing sequence is praised as an unusually uninhibited Pacino moment, interpreted as release and a metaphorical sexual experience rather than mere undercover work.
  • The precinct-night rejection is admired for the irony of an actual undercover cop failing to look or act sufficiently like a fetishized cop.
  • Sorvino’s briefing is a scene candidate, using victim photographs that resemble Burns to explain the undercover assignment.
  • The first gay-bar visit and Burns’s tour of the Ramrod and Wolf’s Den establish how fully the film enters this world.
  • Powers Boothe explaining the hanky code is a favorite; Burns promises to think about it and returns with a yellow hanky before being told watching is insufficient.
  • Burns lifting weights after the hanky-code encounter is interpreted as going beyond a purely undercover commitment.
  • The dressmaker murder sequence, including the cinema trip, is praised as a miniature Hitchcock film.
  • Burns telling the captain he cannot handle what is happening is a favorite; the captain’s indifference highlights the lack of concern for him as a person.
  • The yearbook identification of Stuart is enjoyed as hands-on mystery solving.
  • Burns tailing Stuart and confronting him at the park benches is praised as an old-fashioned showdown, despite possible police misconduct.
  • The ending with Karen Allen wearing the clothes is admired for leaving the next encounter unknowable; Burns hearing club music during sex suggests mental distance from his girlfriend.
  • The interrogation is considered terrifying and bracing rather than rewatchable or camp.
  • The nearly naked cowboy-hatted enforcer is interpreted as an S&M embodiment used by police to abuse and coerce suspects.
  • Burns asking why he was hit is a favorite non-dancing Pacino reaction, destabilizing what undercover realism means.
  • Dancing receives repeated final selections, while another preference favors the showdown through hospital and especially the ending.
  • The final shaving and residual cream are interpreted as concealment and a sexual visual metaphor, with agreement on that reading.

Roger Ebert's review

In the discussion (1)
Approx. transcript time · 00:30:54Read transcript
  • Ebert gives two and a half stars, praising visualization, authentic subculture and sustained suspense while questioning the refusal to declare a central meaning. No denominator is spoken.

The Great Shot Gordo Award for Most Cinematic Shot

712bar silhouette; boots and magazines; shaving mirror; precinct-night montage

In the discussion (4)
Approx. transcript time · 01:10:45Read transcript
  • Burns’s silhouette entering the 712 bar beneath a bridge, with water behind him, is a cinematic-shot choice.
  • The boots beside wrestling magazines during the first killing are another shot choice.
  • The shaving mirror shot with the girlfriend putting on the clothes is another choice.
  • The precinct-night sexual montage is compared to a moving painting, especially its nightstick image.

The Butch’s Girlfriend Award for the Weakest Link in the Film

Ted; confusing hotel sting

In the discussion (3)
Approx. transcript time · 01:12:04Read transcript
  • Karen Allen is spared blame because of cut material; Ted is proposed as the weak link despite his necessary explanatory function.
  • The hotel sting is confusing: Burns protests that backup arrived too early despite being tied up, leaving unclear whether he wanted sex or was waiting for a knife.
  • The police interruption is interpreted as premature ejaculation followed by punishment of the victims; the confusing sequence’s destination is nevertheless appreciated.

What’s Aged the Worst?

Sentence deal; dubbed voices; Franco film; headline; height staging; pickup dialogue

In the discussion (8)
Approx. transcript time · 01:13:53Read transcript
  • The first victim’s wrestling magazines prompt a joking objection to the association with wrestling.
  • The captain’s promise of an eight-year maximum and release in three is questioned, both for leniency and his lack of sentencing authority.
  • The dubbed killer dialogue is a qualified negative, also admired for disorientation and possible use of the father’s voice.
  • Franco’s2013 Interior. Leather Bar. project is criticized as overreach and an unappealing use of money.
  • The project is defended for exploring a straight actor’s unease and producing beautiful, if overly modern, reimagined footage.
  • A newspaper’s anti-gay killer headline is jarring despite being considered period-realistic.
  • The park confrontation conspicuously uses a bench and incline to make Pacino appear as tall as Stuart.
  • The early pickup dialogue about an ostrich feather, a Martian and an ego needing worship is criticized as awkward psychoanalytic writing, despite succeeding within the scene.

The Stephen A. Smith Hottest Take Award

Captain cannot play pool; Burns lacks appeal; ideal Cruise vehicle

In the discussion (3)
Approx. transcript time · 01:20:03Read transcript
  • Sorvino’s captain is terrible at pool, repeatedly hitting clusters rather than playing coherently, undermining confidence in him.
  • Burns is considered too tired, unhealthy, scared and unappealing to attract these men; they seem to respond to Pacino’s celebrity rather than the character.
  • Cruising is proposed as an ideal Tom Cruise vehicle, initially around 1993 but with 1999’s Eyes Wide Shut-era curiosity preferred over Jerry Maguire-era Cruise.

Casting What-Ifs

Gere signed; Spielberg considered directing

In the discussion (2)
Approx. transcript time · 01:25:22Read transcript
  • Richard Gere was reportedly signed before Pacino, but is judged too handsome and insufficiently raw or believable as this kind of New York cop.
  • Spielberg reportedly circled the film, prompting disbelief and joking speculation about an entirely different cultural history.

Recasting Couch

Bernthal first; Affleck second; Driver, Damon and young Berenger alternatives

In the discussion (3)
Approx. transcript time · 01:25:59Read transcript
  • A young Tom Berenger is imagined as a strong alternative, recalling Looking for Mr. Goodbar, though perhaps not a large enough star.
  • Adam Driver is the initial remake choice, followed by enthusiastic support for Bernthal.
  • Matt Damon and Affleck are added as remake possibilities; the final preference ranks Bernthal first and Affleck second.

The Teddy KGB Award for the Actor in a Completely Different Movie

Interrogation enforcer

In the discussion (2)
Approx. transcript time · 01:27:44Read transcript
  • The shirtless, underwear-clad interrogation enforcer wins the Teddy KGB award for doing his own thing.
  • The enforcer reading a newspaper during a break suggests he is a cop routinely summoned for this role, making the institutional cruelty more striking.

Apex Mountain

S&M leather scene in movies

In the discussion (7)
Approx. transcript time · 01:34:46Read transcript
  • Pacino is rejected for Apex here.
  • Sorvino is rejected for Apex here.
  • Remar is rejected for Apex here.
  • Friedkin is rejected for Apex here.
  • Karen Allen is rejected for Apex here.
  • Crisco, nasal spray or poppers, and handkerchiefs are floated without a resolved affirmative choice.
  • The S&M leather scene in movies receives an affirmative Apex judgment; Pulp Fiction’s gimp is considered a more problematic, decontextualized later portrayal.

Best Race Horse Name from This Movie

Party Size; Hips or Lips; Cocaine joke

In the discussion (1)
Approx. transcript time · 01:35:41Read transcript
  • Hips or Lips and Party Size are racehorse-name candidates, with Party Size enthusiastically repeated; Cocaine is also repeated jokingly.

Picking Nits

Infertility clue; heterosexual relationship; front-page killings

In the discussion (3)
Approx. transcript time · 01:35:55Read transcript
  • The killer’s infertility clue is criticized as a tired trope.
  • Burns’s line that his girlfriend does not know much about him feels overly obvious; their relationship’s history, appeal and future are unclear, and the film understands leather culture better than heterosexual romance.
  • A three-victim gay-community serial killing making the front page is questioned, then defended as tabloid sensationalism.

Sequel, Prequel, Limited Series, or All-Black Remake

Untouchable versus expanded series

In the discussion (3)
Approx. transcript time · 01:38:46Read transcript
  • Untouchable is one preference; another favors a six-hour series in 1980 or the present to explore psychological transformation more deeply.
  • Remaking is resisted because the unresolved meanings and period context give the film lasting force, and using an openly gay cop could remove the original ambiguity.
  • A mainstream gay cop unfamiliar with leather culture could still have a journey; provocative star choices include Chris Pratt, a female version with Sigourney Weaver, and Bradley Cooper.

Just One Oscar

Friedkin; Willy DeVille

In the discussion (2)
Approx. transcript time · 01:41:46Read transcript
  • Friedkin receives two agreeing single-Oscar choices.
  • Willy DeVille receives a separate Oscar vote for his song contribution.

The Coach Finstock Award for Best Life Lesson

Safer career path versus taking a liberating assignment

In the discussion (2)
Approx. transcript time · 01:46:15Read transcript
  • There may be less destructive paths to becoming a detective than abandoning one’s life for this assignment.
  • The competing lesson is to take the job as a route to both advancement and liberation from possible sexual repression; the Catholic-background explanation is expressly hypothetical.

Producer review

More sexual exploration or visible struggle; ambiguity defended

In the discussion (2)
Approx. transcript time · 01:50:00Read transcript
  • The invited producer wants more depiction of Burns’s sexual exploration or struggle, rather than only showing his eventual fluency in the world; others partly agree.
  • The response emphasizes ambiguity gained through rewatches and the original shock value; contemporary access to pornography and possible desensitization may alter expectations.

More from the conversation

The panel introduces Cruising as the current Naughty November installment, with Wesley visiting for three films.
Approx. transcript time · 00:01:29Read transcript
The Warriors and Cruising are compared as controversial late 1970s New York films; Cruising’s preproduction protests contrast with a present-day judgment that it is good, fascinating and full of ambiguity.
Approx. transcript time · 00:02:52Read transcript
A planned 250th-episode viewing on an airplane proved impractical because of shocking sexual imagery, including oral use of a nightstick.
Approx. transcript time · 00:04:25Read transcript
The film belongs to a grim New York lineage with Death Wish, Taxi Driver, The Warriors, Hardcore and Prince of the City; Woody Allen’s beautiful, increasingly nostalgic city offers a contrasting contemporary image.
Approx. transcript time · 00:07:07Read transcript
The film is discussed as unusually early mainstream depiction of established gay sexuality rather than coming out; the objection that it reduces gay life to leather clubs is disputed through its range of characters.
Approx. transcript time · 00:08:57Read transcript
Sorvino’s dialogue explicitly distinguishes leather and S&M from mainstream gay life; concern about the murders bridges these communities.
Approx. transcript time · 00:10:09Read transcript
The discussion links unequal attention to murdered gay men with Dahmer and a contemporary cultural return to gay serial-killer victims.
Approx. transcript time · 00:10:45Read transcript
The film’s humane investment in a gay subculture is defended, with avant-garde predecessors and James Franco’s later missing-footage-inspired project discussed; the collaborator’s name is uncertain.
Approx. transcript time · 00:12:37Read transcript
Memories of uncertain pre-Uber trips home and racial barriers to hailing cabs connect lived New York experience to the film’s energy.
Approx. transcript time · 00:16:24Read transcript
Why Pacino rejected major roles remains uncertain; his position among actors receiving scripts first may help explain it.
Approx. transcript time · 00:20:47Read transcript
The performance is liked without being called among Pacino’s best; Friedkin treats him as part of the film rather than an adored star and appears more interested in Stuart.
Approx. transcript time · 00:21:39Read transcript
The police’s sexual corruption and assault of sex workers are central concerns, connected to personal complicated experiences with officers and broader NYPD history.
Approx. transcript time · 00:25:02Read transcript
Pacino’s dancing is read as actor and character letting go, followed by a changed energy when Burns stalks the suspected killer; uncertainty about the role may shape the early performance.
Approx. transcript time · 00:30:08Read transcript
Friedkin’s interest is interpreted as a crime mystery within a visually compelling world he wanted to explore.
Approx. transcript time · 00:33:31Read transcript
Another interpretation emphasizes experience changing Burns’s understanding of professional and sexual boundaries; stalking Stuart crosses to the hunted side without necessarily proving a sexual change.
Approx. transcript time · 00:34:09Read transcript
Friedkin’s films are discussed through transgression inside institutions such as police and clergy, with The French Connection and The Exorcist as examples.
Approx. transcript time · 00:35:31Read transcript
Burns’s prior competence as officer or partner is questioned; his basic black-and-blue outfit contrasts with actual police leather uniforms.
Approx. transcript time · 00:37:59Read transcript
The French Connection’s lasting immediacy, harsh arrests and car chase are admired; De Palma reportedly felt the chase set a standard others could scarcely follow.
Approx. transcript time · 00:38:55Read transcript
Friedkin’s path through Sorcerer, The Brink’s Job, Cruising and Deal of the Century prompts a contrast between speculative drug explanations and the collapse of support for New Hollywood films.
Approx. transcript time · 00:39:59Read transcript
The 1970s emphasis on pushing characters is contrasted with 1980s budgets and star guarantees; Michael Douglas’s erotic thrillers translate earlier transgression into heterosexual metaphor.
Approx. transcript time · 00:41:06Read transcript
Dunaway in Mommie Dearest, De Niro in Raging Bull, Pacino in Scarface and Nicholson in The Shining illustrate actors peaking and exhausting themselves; Beatty is treated differently, with Nicholson’s later supporting roles discussed.
Approx. transcript time · 00:43:40Read transcript
Friedkin’s limited interest in directing Burns may have left Pacino to himself, despite the actor’s history with strong directors.
Approx. transcript time · 00:45:09Read transcript
Masculinity and dominance shape the leather scene; objections to one narrow subculture standing for all gay life are considered understandable, compared with violent Black-film stereotypes and Boomerang’s middle-class representation.
Approx. transcript time · 00:46:48Read transcript
A personal habit of carrying a handkerchief for sweat prompts encounters and greater awareness of apparently casual hankies after rewatching.
Approx. transcript time · 00:50:38Read transcript
The contemporaneous anti-disco backlash raises the stakes for gay and Black gay audiences; Black men’s near-absence from the film is considered unsurprising given club segregation, but the torture figure dominates their sexual representation.
Approx. transcript time · 01:01:52Read transcript
Leather-scene masculinity and body presentation are connected to later Stallone, Schwarzenegger and Rock action-film imagery.
Approx. transcript time · 01:04:37Read transcript
The unusual opportunity for supporting actors to flirt with and share these scenes with Pacino is imagined as remarkable.
Approx. transcript time · 01:06:43Read transcript
Complaints that censorship left the film’s position unclear prompt mockery of the idea that Burns needed a conclusive explanatory speech.
Approx. transcript time · 01:08:03Read transcript
In-person meetings in obscure bars while shooting pool are nostalgically preferred to office or video meetings.
Approx. transcript time · 01:21:00Read transcript
An Eyes Wide Shut revisit is proposed, with the Leelee Sobieski scenes considered a possible key to its mystery.
Approx. transcript time · 01:24:50Read transcript
A recent prop auction prompts surprise at the Shawshank Bible and hammer’s 432000-dollar total and a roughly 80000-dollar Saving Private Ryan clapper; Cast Away volleyball and Boogie Nights artwork are also mentioned.
Approx. transcript time · 01:44:41Read transcript
Friedkin’s immersion in real places and contemporary subcultures is compared with method acting and Blue Chips’ basketball authenticity, contrasted with films lacking a sense of present-day place.
Approx. transcript time · 01:47:44Read transcript
Closing identifies this as Naughty November episode two and gives a full production credit transcribed Craig Coralbeck.
Approx. transcript time · 01:49:45Read transcript