Cruising (film)
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Cruising |
| Original title | Cruising |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1980 |
| length | 101 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 16 (formerly 18) |
| Rod | |
| Director | William Friedkin |
| script | William Friedkin |
| production | Jerry Weintraub |
| music | Jack Nitzsche |
| camera | James A. Contner |
| cut | Bud Smith |
| occupation | |
| |
Cruising ( English "drive around", "cross": see cruising ) is an American thriller from 1980 . Directed by William Friedkin , who also wrote the script .
The plot is loosely based on the novel of the same name by Gerald Walker. It tells the story of a serial killer who killed gay men in New York City in the 1970s .
action
A brutal series of murders spreads fear and terror in New York's gay leather and SM scene. The sadistic perpetrator seems to come from within his own ranks. The patrol officer Steve Burns is assigned to immerse himself in the scene and play the decoy, because outwardly he corresponds to the type of murder victim. He accepts the unusual assignment because he hopes it will give him a career jump. For the heterosexual Burns, a journey into an unknown world begins, which unsettles him in his sexual identity. A friendship develops between him and his gay neighbor Ted, which leads to a jealous scene with Ted's friend. The investigation also strains his relationship with his girlfriend, which is why they split up temporarily. A first suspect, who was intimidated and beaten up during the interrogation, turns out to be innocent. Burns is outraged by the brutality and inhumanity that the police show towards the gay suspect. He threatens to quit his job. Captain Edelson, his supervisor, persuades him to continue and offers him the prospect of promotion to detective. Eventually Burns manages to arrest the suspected killer, a schizophrenic student. He meets with him at night in the park and can just stab him before he can stab. The police compare the student's fingerprints with those that the murderer left in a sex theater and they match. Burns is soon named a detective and returns to his girlfriend. The police find Ted, who was murdered with a knife, but assume a relationship act.
background
Cruising was partly filmed on location in New York gay clubs. The film sparked heated controversy in homosexual circles in advance because it was feared that they would be portrayed too negatively. In a July 16, 1979 article, The Village Voice columnist Arthur Bell called for production to be hindered where possible. There were protests during the filming and the film launch in the USA.
Cruising premiered in New York on February 8, 1980. On February 22, 1980 the film was shown out of competition at the Berlinale , and on August 25 of the same year it opened in German cinemas.
In the original English version, Burns erroneously addresses his superior as Captain Edelsteen; the latter corrects him, his name is Edelson. The German dubbed version obtained from Berliner Synchron changed the captain's name, here Burns addressed him as Edelman and received the reply that his real name was Edelsteen.
criticism
"Friedkin does not always succeed in making the complex fascination of his main character clear, but as a black city thriller in the tradition of the ' French Connection ', also directed by Friedkin, the film has a remarkable quality."
“[T] he endeavored authenticity in the description of the milieu and the nerve-wracking action scenes cannot hide the fact that Friedkin ultimately shies away from getting involved in the explosive explosiveness of his subject without reservation. The dramaturgical inconsistencies of the last third of the film [...] undermine the genre logic of the detective thriller, and as a police officer 's psychogram, "cruising" remains unconvincing, as the growing sexual ambivalence of the main character is not explored. "
“Friedkin, who had dealt with much differentiated homosexuality in his earlier film ' Die Harten und die Zarten ', limited himself here exclusively to brutal gay sex for sale, the manic, heated physicality of which appears spectacularly nauseating. [...] Since Friedkin indulges in the scenery so permanently, only routine scenes remain for the actual plot. A pathological father fixation is quickly attached to the killer from the standard repertoire of psychopathology, before the confused showdown in Central Park takes off . "
“In the story with brutally staged murders, which is overly trimmed to nerve-wracking effects, the subject of the fragility of human and social norms is quickly lost. The only thing that interests the film is the atmospheric exploitation of the milieu that it depicts as an inferno. "
Awards
- 1981: Nominated for the Golden Raspberry for worst film
- 1981: Nominated for the Golden Raspberry for worst screenplay
- 1981: Nominated for the Golden Raspberry for worst director
Web links
- Cruising in the Internet Movie Database (English)
Individual evidence
- ^ Interview with William Friedkin , accessed September 3, 2012.
- ↑ Article in The Village Voice of August 28, 2007, accessed September 3, 2012.
- ^ Cruising in the Internet Movie Database .
- ↑ Sold Brothers , article in Der Spiegel No. 8/80 of February 18, 1980, accessed on September 3, 2012.
- ↑ a b Cruising in the Lexicon of International Films .
- ↑ Cruising on Synchronkartei.de, accessed on September 3, 2012.
- ^ The Berlin disease , article in Die Zeit No. 11 from March 7, 1980, accessed on September 3, 2012.
- ↑ Helmut W. Banz: Voyeuristic . In: The time . No. 36/1980 , August 29, 1980, film tips, p. 35 .
- ↑ Review in Der Spiegel No. 35/1980 of August 25, 1980, accessed on September 3, 1980.