Touches You

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

The biggest problem with this movie is it’s a little better than you think it might be, which somehow makes it worse. As in, it takes itself a bit too seriously, which makes most of the movie feel kind of dull.

Honestly, Cruising isn't that good of a film. That's it. I guess there's a reason that I never saw this particular Pacino film until yesterday. You can give this one a miss.

"Cruising" (1980) This is considered by many to be a classic in the Gay Film genre....partially due to the controversy surrounding the film itself (as well as the reported deleted scenes) and partly due to the ground-breaking nature of the subject material. For a 1980's mainstream release -- it IS pretty racy in context. Al Pacino portrays an undercover cop in the NYPD. His assignment requires him to infiltrate the world of the underground S&M/Leather subculture of the gay community. His goal is to identify a serial killer who has been seducing and brutally murdering several gay men over the past few months. From what I gather, this film is based on a novel...which was based on a real-life series of homicides in 1970's NYC. It is a pretty decent film (as far as early 80's films go) and worth having in the "Have Seen" column of LGBT films.....but I'm not really sure the film answers all of the questions it seems to ask. [3/5]

The controversy over this supposed anti-gay film has stirred debate for nearly 40 years. The slaying of gay men part of the leather and s&m scene is violent and ugly, a view of just one small portion of the community. I've seen it through various gay pride and marches, Folsom Street Fair, visits to Silver Lake near downtown Los Angeles, and various Halloween parades. It does exist, and this is part of its story in the gay naked city.While cop Al Pacino comes off a little brusk, he's just out to do his job, even if disguising himself as a gay man is repulsive to him. He's not homophobic, just not interested in that sort of thing. But in spite of his reluctance and longterm relationship with Karen Allen, he's gotta do what he's assigned to do. So it's off to the gay leather bars of midtown Manhattan and the woods of Central Park.The murders are brutal, showing the fear of the victim before they are killed. This lifestyle isn't just about the gays; perversion crosses over and this just uses a small portion of the gay community to tell its story. It's just not a very good movie. Don Scardino plays an effeminate gay man who befriends Pacino, and it's obvious that Pacino likes him in spite of their differing sexualities. As a gay man, I look back on it as a warning against promiscuity, and with the AIDS crisis just around the corner, it's a bit prophetic.

Al Pacino, one of the greatest talent in Hollywood and gave us many memorable movies and with William Friedkin as the captain of the ship the expectation rises even higher. The story starts in with a serial killer who kills only gay guys with the same kind of appearance. This leads pressure to the police department who hires Al Pacino, an normal cop to go undercover and catch the bad guy. But Al Pacino himself gets more involves physically and mentally into his disguise. The storyline is decent but its main flaw is the screenplay. We get to see a similar kind of scenes about 3 to 4 times. And the serial killers character is undeveloped. This is one of the most worst crime thriller that i've had ever watched, everyone and every scene in this movie moves on a snail pace and there's not even one scene gets me excited. My advice, Just Stay Away!!!!!!!!