Cruising (1980)
★★½ — Cruising (1980)
William Friedkin came to Cruising off the back of two of the biggest films of the 1970s (The French Connection and The Exorcist), but by 1980 his commercial standing had taken a knock with the troubled production and box-office disappointment of Sorcerer (1977). Cruising, loosely adapted from a 1970 novel by Gerald Walker and partly inspired by real events, reunited him with Al Pacino for the first time since their near-collaboration never materialised on other projects. The shoot took place largely on location in New York's West Village and drew significant protests from gay rights groups, who argued the film associated gay men with violence and predation, a controversy that followed it through release and into its critical legacy.
Cruising (1980), directed by William Friedkin, is a strange, uneasy hybrid, part police procedural, part psychological descent, part controversial immersion into the leather-and-denim gay subculture of late-1970s New York. Al Pacino stars as Steve Burns, an undercover cop assigned to infiltrate the S&M bar scene in search of a serial killer targeting gay men. On paper, it sounds like classic Friedkin: gritty realism, moral ambiguity, urban decay. And sure enough, there are flashes of his signature style, the moody cinematography, the throbbing electronic score, the handheld urgency that made The French Connection feel so alive. But Cruising never coheres. The crime plot feels half-formed, the killer’s identity muddled, and the investigation lacks real momentum. Instead, the film lingers in shadowy backrooms, bathhouses, and cruising zones with a voyeuristic unease that borders on exploitative, especially given its historical context and the backlash it received from LGBTQ+ communities at the time. It’s less a thriller than a disorienting plunge into a world the film seems both fascinated by and afraid of, without offering clarity, empathy, or narrative payoff. Pacino gives it his all (intense, twitchy, increasingly unhinged) but even he can’t anchor a story that feels structurally unfinished. Scenes end abruptly, character arcs vanish, and the final act dissolves into ambiguity that feels less like artistic choice and more like editorial collapse. Historically significant, visually striking, and undeniably provocative, but ultimately unsatisfying as both a crime film and a character study. Friedkin captures atmosphere brilliantly, but the story beneath it never fully ignites. A fascinating misfire, not a forgotten masterpiece.
Rating: ★★½ | Year: 1980 | Watched: 2026-02-15
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Where to watch (UK)
Rent: Apple TV Store · Amazon Video · Google Play Movies · Sky Store
Buy: Apple TV Store · Amazon Video · Google Play Movies · YouTube
Physical: Amazon UK
Affiliate disclosure: Movies With Macca may earn a small commission on purchases or subscriptions started via these links. It costs you nothing extra.
Related on Movies With Macca
More from William Friedkin: To Live and Die in L.A. (1985) · The French Connection (1971) · Killer Joe (2011) · The Exorcist (1973)
More with Al Pacino: Scent of a Woman (1992) · Insomnia (2002) · Scarecrow (1973) · Hangman (2017)
More from Germany: Lessons of Darkness (1992) · Cemetery Man (1994) · The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) · Resident Evil: Retribution (2012)
More from the 1980s: Nightmare City (1980) · A Better Tomorrow (1986) · Style Wars (1983) · Garlic Is as Good as Ten Mothers (1980)
More crime: A Better Tomorrow (1986) · Angst (1983) · Stolen Face (1952) · Cairo Station (1958)
More mystery: Mononoke the Movie: The Phantom in the Rain (2024) · Mononoke the Movie: Chapter II - The Ashes of Rage (2025) · Carnival of Souls (1962) · One Way or Another (1975)
