Cruising
Director: William Friedkin
Genre: Thriller, LGBT, New Hollywood, Crime Fiction, Action, Crime Thriller, Film adaptation, Action/Adventure, Drama
Year: 1980
Country: United States of America
Language: English Language
Starring: Al Pacino, Paul Sorvino, Karen Allen, Don Scardino, Powers Boothe, William Russ, Joe Spinell, Richard Cox, Barton Heyman, Jay Acovone, Ed O'Neill
Cruising is a 1980 film directed by William Friedkin and starring Al Pacino. The film is loosely based on the novel of the same name, by New York Times reporter Gerald Walker, about a serial killer targeting gay men, in particular those associated with the S&M scene.
Poorly reviewed by critics, Cruising was a modest financial success, though the filming and promotion were dogged by gay rights protesters. The title is a play on words between 'cruising' in the sense of patrolling and 'cruising' in the sexual sense, used particularly by gay men.
In New York City during the middle of a hot summer, body parts of men are showing up in the Hudson River. The police suspect it to be the work of a serial killer who is picking up homosexual men at West Village bars like the Eagle's Nest, the Ramrod, and the Cock Pit, then taking them to cheap rooming houses or motels, tying them up and stabbing them to death. Officer Steve Burns (Al Pacino) is sent deep undercover into the urban world of gay S&M and leather bars in the Meatpacking District in order to track down the killer. He rents an apartment in the area and befriends a neighbor, Ted Bailey (Don Scardino) a struggling young gay playwright.
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Internet Movie Database