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Cruising (Deluxe Edition) |  | Director: William Friedkin
Actors: Al Pacino, Paul Sorvino, Karen Allen, Richard Cox, Don Scardino
Studio: Warner Home Video
Category: DVD
List Price: $19.97
Buy New: $9.99
as of 11/21/2009 18:12 CST details
You Save: $9.98 (50%)
New (38) Used (14) from $9.99
Rating:  96 reviews
Format: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), French (Subtitled), Spanish (Dubbed)
Rating: R (Restricted)
Region: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Number Of Discs: 1
Running Time: 102 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
MPN: 116796
UPC: 085391167969
EAN: 0085391167969
Theatrical Release Date: February 8, 1980
Release Date: September 18, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Features:
| • | 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 and enters the world of gay S&M sex clubs, learning their rules and mores as he goes along. But as Burns arduously tracks down the murderer, he finds himself growing attracted to these clubs and the g |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
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 and enters the world of gay S&M sex clubs learning their rules and mores as he goes along. But as Burns arduously tracks down the murderer he finds himself growing attracted to these clubs and the gay lifestyle forcing him to question -- and possibly confront -- his own sexual identity.System Requirements:Running Time: 102 Mins.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA Rating: NR UPC: 085391167969 Manufacturer No: 116796
Amazon.com
Al Pacino hunts for a serial killer in a lurid world of gay leather bars in Cruising. Because of his resemblance to the victims of a series of slayings, cop Steve Burns (Pacino) goes undercover as a gay man, wandering through wild, gyrating bacchanalias straight out of a Tom of Finland painting, hoping that the killer will be drawn to his dark, tormented eyes. Cruising is a peculiar movie, a gritty police procedural that director William Friedkin (The French Connection, The Exorcist) tried to push into a quasi-metaphysical dimension with some casting tricks and subliminal images. Due to the controversy the movie sparked in the gay community, Friedkin goes to great lengths in the commentary and featurettes to defend the authenticity of the movie's sources (about a bizarre scene where a muscular black man wearing nothing but a jock strap and a cowboy hat appears out of nowhere and slaps a suspect being interrogated by the police, Friedkin claims this actually happened, though no context is offered). The movie passes no apparent judgment on the overtly sexual scenes in gay bars...yet clearly these scenes are expected to provoke unease in the viewer. Cruising is sure to provoke arguments: Is Pacino's performance vulnerable or tentative? Is the movie about homophobia or homophobic itself? What does the ending mean? Yet there's no denying it's claimed a place in cinematic history; far more people know about it than have seen it. For that--as well as the stylish cinematography--Cruising is worth seeing. --Bret Fetzer
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 96
 Great product, excellent transaction, totally worth it. September 18, 2009
Nancy Lara Rios
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I bought it as a gift, but the condition is great, just as described. Fast shipping.
 Crusing in the 80's July 12, 2009
C Frani (Cape Cod Ma)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I liked the suspense but I'm not sure of the ending. Left too many questions. I was surprised with the graffic nature for a 80's movie.
 Still an important part of gay cinema history April 20, 2009
Freddybare (Central Mass)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
No matter what you think of the messages in this film, its important to realize it was groundbreaking nontheless. Especially so is what was really going on in the clubs at the time. I can tell you this is how it really was. Exciting and scary at the same time, you can see how a deadly disease could've spread so quickly. Put this in your DVD collection right next to Boys in the Band, Making Love and Priscilla.
"Another Side To Gay Life Revealed" April 15, 2009
Terry Richard (Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada)
William Friedkin, who directed "The Exorcist", also directs this interesting, and often at times, graphic look, at male homosexuality, circa 1979. This was before AIDS, and the S&M and leather side of gay life in New York is explored, with Al Pacino starring as a gay cop who goes undercover to investigate the murders of many gay men in the gay district of New York City. Not for the faint-at-heart viewer, this gay man was amazed and stunned at a side to my community that I had never viewed before. Very informatibe and interesting, as well as eye opening, "Cruising" has been a movie that many have wanted on DVD for years. Al Pacino is great, and the supporting players are outstanding. The script isn't the strongest, but the movie, after being viewed, really makes people talk, both for its subject matter, and the eventual outcome of the film.
The DVD has a ton of bonuses, including commentary by Friedkin, the trailer, and 2 new featurettes. The picture has been cleaned from the original studio print and looks impeccable.
OK for cheap thrills. April 15, 2009
PJR (Minneapolis, Minnesota United States)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Cruising seemed like superficial cheap exploitation when it came out. But I decided to give it another chance when I found a used inexpensive copy recently with director's comments and all. I think now that it stands up reasonably well for the photography and Pacino's reasonably OK acting.It is interesting to get the commentary. What were they thinking?!
Also, I will take the director and producer's word for it that it is a one dimensional snapshot of a unique scene (a few leather bars) at a unique time (post-sexual revolution,pre-aids)and place (New York). They say they had to fly out from Hollywood to see if it was really true. OK, that is interesting, even though the film the scene quickly and leave. All told this is a rather three stars cheap thrills film at best.
It never gets into the heads of the leatherboys or the variety of their sex play and what their various practices do for them. The commentary implied that the leatherboys were only too happy to cooperate and be seen and filmed(surprise, surprise), and that was an interesting historical note that rings quite plausible.
Sorry, but it still seems after 30 years that Cruising was hastily knocked out to make some bucks and get some attention for those who made it. The dialogue is wooden. The characters are very thin and the mystery parts are gimmicky and even corny. Good lord! The killer is a mystery because he has no sperm in his semen. So what? And he is a nut case who has had problems relating to his father!! And they admit that they were switching voices on characters because they wanted to keep viewers disoriented and involved; but there was nothing artsy about it. What depth. LOL.
It is implied that Pacino is being lured into the mentality he is supposed to be impersonating, but there is no character development that makes that implication in anyway interesting artistically. They do keep you wondering, but why should you be very interested in whether this more or less one-dimensional cop is some kind of closet case? OK hint, hint, kinky sex can be intoxicating. I get it. But for me that is a problem -- why just hint, hint? Show some guts and talent and put it out there and explore it. Several other good films have done that with SM -- I can't remember them all. There was one with Eastwood, 9 1/2 Weeks, Belle Du Jour, The Night Porter, Love is the Devil, even Crimes of Passion -- and a fascinating French one that I have never seen on DVD, translates roughly The Prisoner. Too many more to remember.
Basically Cruising is just a kind of what's around the corner suspense flick with some leather and sweaty skin thrown in. Respectable photography, exotic setting, respectable acting by Pacino. OK for an evening of popcorn when you don't have any good other mysteries around.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 96
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