Review – Cruising

This movie is a challenge to watch in the 21st century because it’s been so thoroughly robbed of its cultural context. In 1980 mainstream audiences had such a poor understanding of homosexuality that – in response to protests from gay groups – a disclaimer was added to the beginning of the movie. Now homosexuality is “out” enough that most people understand the difference between the average gay guy and the “leather scene” men in this movie. Now that gay men aren’t automatically scary, the production can settle down and become a reasonably routine crime drama. Al Pacino stars as a beat cop trying to earn a place in the detective division by working undercover in the “homosexual underworld” in order to track down a brutal serial killer. One of the murders early in the picture is especially jarring. Worth seeing