Quartile rating: 7/10 · 1 rating
When New York is caught in the grip of a sadistic serial killer who preys on patrons of the city's underground bars, rookie cop Steve Burns infiltrates the S&M subculture to try and lure him out of the shadows.
Cruising is a genuinely singular film — William Friedkin's deeply uncomfortable, atmospheric dive into late-70s NYC leather subculture is unlike almost anything else in mainstream American cinema. Gordon Willis's cinematography is exceptional, capturing the neon-drenched, sweaty underground with a tactile dread that elevates the material considerably. The film's novelty is undeniable: its unflinching immersion in S&M bar culture, its refusal of easy moral framing, and its destabilizing ambiguity around identity make it a one-of-a-kind artifact. The plot is serviceable as a procedural but deliberately withholding to the point of frustration for some viewers. Pacino delivers a committed performance in a role that required real physical and psychological commitment, though the supporting cast is uneven. The ending is intentionally ambiguous and divisive — some find it provocatively open, others find it unsatisfying — but it fits the film's overall ethos of refusing closure and certainty about sexuality and violence.