Cruising (1980), which centers on an undercover detective in the New York Leather community in the late seventies on the hunt to track down a serial killer who is killing young gay men, is remembered two ways — either as homophobic, awful, or both. Which is why it took me so long to sit down and finally watch it.
And yeah, it’s certainly a mess, curated by an outsider’s (William Friedkin, director of The Exorcist, to be exact) view into the Leather community, but there’s more there than a flattened hit job. Sure, Pacino’s character Detective Steve Burns has absolutely zero personality (zilch, nada), sure, the writing wobbles in and out of self-serious, seemingly accidental sexual double-entendre every time two straight men are talking to each other, but it’s also ~a vibe~.
When it was released, Cruising was protested widely by the LGBT+ community, and with good reason. There were very few mainstream representations of the LGBT+1 community at the time, and this one portrayed the gay world as seedy and dangerous. Due to existing schisms in the community, one can imagine more assimilationist-minded activists were loathe to be associated with the yucky leather people. Whereas others may simply have bristled at the homophobic violence. And yes, the film tracks flashes of sudden police brutality, but we are never truly on the cops’ side during it, and the victims are often humanized through camera angles, lines, and facial expressions that indicate the cops are in the wrong. Even, and perhaps especially, when we track the POV of two trans sex workers who double as police informants at various points through the film. Cumulatively, the film presents a moral gray area that, to my mind, is as critical of cops as it is of the dangers of cruising. But maybe that’s my bias interacting with what is ultimately a very ambiguous film — kind of a Rorschach for the sexual comfort (and anti-cop sentiment) of the viewer.
The script could certainly have used a few (or a dozen) editing passes before being shot — often you’re asking yourself “who is that?” “what’s happening?” “why are these people fighting?” — but as far as visuals it’s honestly delightful. Give me a dark, desaturated forearm covered in Crisco followed by a fisting scene in a studio film any day and I’m a happy camper. (We used to be a country!! A real country!!!) The soundtrack of disco and jangling keys on carabiners gives the film a distinct gay noir feel that’s rarely portrayed. In the leather bar, you can practically smell the sweat and poppers-soaked hankies. This sense of realism is due in part to the fact that they shot in the actual leather bars of the time2, recruiting real players as extras, making Cruising (unfortunately) one of our highest-budget pieces of gay Leather historical preservation available.
By the end of the film you’re predictably left with more questions than answers. It feels like they didn’t have a great ending in mind so they just kind of did a few coy shots and rolled the credits. I would have loved a more deliberate arc for both Pacino and the murderer. But hey, maybe they were going for more of a teasing and denial vibe.
Anyway, here’s a roundup of my favorite snicker-inducing lines of the film in chronological order:
INT. LEATHER BAR - NIGHT
LOREN LUCAS: Why do you come here?
SERIAL KILLER: Why do you?
LOREN: ‘Cause I’m having ego problems and I need to be worshipped and adored.3
INT. POLICE STATION - CHIEF’S OFFICE - DAY
Detective Steve Burns (Pacino) meekly takes a seat across the desk from Captain Edelson.
CAPTAIN EDELSON: Burns, why do you think you were called down here?
BURNS: I don’t know, they told me that there was a special assignment or something, and that I was right for it.
CAPTAIN EDELSON: Let me ask you something. Have you ever had your cock sucked by a man?
BURNS: A man. (Laughs) No. Uh —
CAPTAIN EDELSON: Ever been porked? Had a man smoke your pole?
BURNS: (Laughs harder) You gotta be kidding. You’re kidding I know it.
CAPTAIN EDELSON: No.
INT. LEATHER BAR - NIGHT
Burns stands against a wall, surveying the crowd, and is approached by the Man in the Yellow Hankie.
MAN IN YELLOW HANKIE: (In a thick Brooklyn accent) You into water sports?
BURNS: No, I just like to watch.
MAN: Later. (Walks away)
BURNS: Yeah.
MAN: (Turns back around) If you like to watch, take that hanky out of your pocket, asshole.
INT. POLICE STATION - DAY
In the previous scene, Burns has lured Skip (a suspect in the murder cases) into a hotel room, knowing the cops are going to bust down the door. When they do, they find Burns on his stomach, hog tied with leather twine.
Now, in the police station, they’re being interrogated by a group of cops.
COP 1: I want to know what you were doing in there.
SKIP: Nothing.
COP 2: He’s tied up, lying face down. Nothing? (Then yelling and stabbing a steak knife into the table beside Skip’s hand) Is this what you had in mind for him?
COP 1: Listen, we got enough to stick you away for three years right now.
COP 3: It’s as tight as a chicken’s ass.
The door swings open and the entire doorframe fills with a huge man wearing nothing but a jock strap and a cowboy hat. He steps into the room and slaps Burns so hard across the face that he falls to the floor.
The huge man continues to slap both men periodically throughout the interrogation. His presence is never explained.
INT. TRAIN STATION - DAY
BURNS: Look, the guy was innocent. You worked him over like he shot the president or something. You destroyed that kid. You didn’t even have a case against him.
CAPTAIN EDELSON: You fingered him.
BURNS: I fingered him but I didn’t think anybody was gonna go that far with him.
CAPTAIN EDELSON: Sometimes you only get one chance.
BURNS: He didn’t have a knife. I didn’t come on this job to shitcan some guy just ‘cause he’s gay, captain.
CAPTAIN EDELSON: You’re gonna come into days where you have to collar a dozen guys like that. Scared, weird little guys who don’t know why they have to do what they do. It isn’t your fault, it isn’t their fault. It’s the job.
Just this shot. That’s all.
And this one. Watching hot boys lift weights is very important police work, ok??
EXT. CENTRAL PARK - NIGHT
Stuey has led Burns down into a tunnel to hook up.
STUEY: How big are you?
BURNS: Party size.
STUEY: What are you into?
BURNS: I go anywhere.
STUEY: I don’t do anything.
BURNS: That’s cool. Hips or lips?
STUEY: (unzips fly)
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I’m using this version of the acronym not because it was especially in use at the time (it wasn’t widely used until ‘88) but because the ‘Q’ was still a slur in the late 70s/early 80s.
This article is a fantastic summary of the film’s fraught shooting process.
Craving more 70s Leather culture? Get it through this free podcast ep from last year.
EVER BEEN PORKED whattt I never heard of that one before. Absolutely need to see this movie after reading this post