# 'uncut' Version Of "cruising"?



## chico enrico (Aug 20, 2007)

Does anyone have a copy? 

It was only ever released at on US Video company, 'magnetic videos' but I haven't been able to come across a copy anywhere (on DVD either)

Don't suppose anyone has a copy? Would love to see this film in its entirity rathr than the heavily censored general release version.


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## Reno (Aug 20, 2007)

Cruising is finally getting released on DVD in September in the US, in a restored version which was premiered in Cannes this year. I'm much looking forward to seeing that, it's a really interesting film. No Hollywood studio would greenlight a film like that today. I've only ever seen the version shown on Channel 4 and I don't know how much was cut there, but even that was quite explicit.

http://www.amazon.com/Cruising-Delu...9-4507214?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1187605489&sr=1-1


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## The Groke (Aug 20, 2007)

Not heard of this one before, but sounded interesting: five minutes research later, and it would appear that nothing significant will be put back in this new DVD version, other than a dolby 5:1 sound mix and cleaner transfer as the cut footage is lost.

From an interview with Friedkin here



> As Bug opens in the U.S., Friedkin will be returning to the Directors’ Fortnight for a special revival screening of his most maligned and misunderstood film: 1981’s Cruising, starring Al Pacino as a Manhattan detective who goes undercover to investigate a series of unsolved murders in and around the gay leather-bar scene. At the time, Cruising was widely attacked for its supposed homophobia and unflattering depiction of the gay lifestyle. Today, it has been somewhat critically rehabilitated, and if its colored hankies and studded bracelets unavoidably seem like fossils of a bygone cultural era, the movie’s unabashed approach to its subject, its jarring narrative ellipses and its enigmatic resolution (or lack thereof) retain their unsettling power.
> 
> “The film doesn’t turn away from the sexuality,” says Friedkin, who notes that the Cannes screening will be followed by a theatrical re-release, complete with a new Dolby Digital sound mix, in select U.S. cities this fall. “That means it will still disturb a lot of people on both sides of the issue.”
> 
> ...


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## Reno (Aug 20, 2007)

Here it claims that if not longer the new version is more explicit: 

http://news.bostonherald.com/blogs/stephenSchaefer/?p=198

In any case, it will be good to finally have this on DVD.


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## chico enrico (Aug 20, 2007)

Excellent!! Looking forward to that. the original full version was also released on lazerdisk in the late 80s/early 90s. A friend of mine used to have it but stu[pidly sold it along with all his other LDs years ago. Sure they wouild be able to get hold of an original version somehow if it was released on both LD and video ('magnetic videos' release) and splice the footage together, as was done with the 'directors cut' of The Wicker man.


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## Leica (Sep 15, 2007)

I'm going to a screening of the restored version soon, Friedkin is going to be introducing it.


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## maldwyn (Sep 15, 2007)

Leica said:
			
		

> I'm going to a screening of the restored version soon, Friedkin is going to be introducing it.


This is one of those films I'd like to see disappear, mainly because it's such a crap film.


> "I’m quite willing to sit down with responsible members of the gay community and have them tell me just how a film like mine is going to provoke more violence against gays," Friedkin told gay activist and film scholar Vito Russo in a New York magazine interview he gave during the film’s shooting.
> Two months after Cruising’s release a man armed with a sub-machine gun opened fire on patrons of the Ramrod -- a bar prominently featured in the film -- killing two and wounding twelve.
> Friedkin had no comment.


http://ehrensteinland.com/htmls/library/cruising.html


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## Reno (Sep 15, 2007)

maldwyn said:
			
		

> This is one of those films I'd like to see disappear, mainly because it's such a crap film.
> 
> http://ehrensteinland.com/htmls/library/cruising.html



Are arguing for censorship and the banning of the film then ? I'd be more interested in the reasons why you think the film is "crap" rather than a cut and paste job of an old newspaper article, much of which is rather OTT. Starting out by comparing Cruising to the Nazi propaganda film The Eternal Jew verges on hysteria. Opion is still divided, but Cruising has gone through a critical re-evaluation over the last decade, not least within the gay community. It may be a flawed film, but if it's a failure then it's a fascinating one.

It's no news that Cruising has been hugely controversial ever since it was being shot, but considering the film was made nearly thirty years ago, most of it is surprisingly non-judgemental in its representation of the gay S&M scene. The conclusion of the film is a serious miscalculation, but then again it is no more offensive than that much more recent artsploitation flick Irreversible. That film made the same erroneous connection between the gay S&M scene and real violence, rape and murder in a time that is supposed to be considerably more politically enlightened than the late 70's when Cruising was made.


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## Leica (Sep 16, 2007)

Is _To Live and Die in LA_ worth seeing ?


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## gsv (Sep 17, 2007)

Leica said:
			
		

> Is _To Live and Die in LA_ worth seeing ?


No.
Not unless you want to see William Petersen being hyperactive and making an arse of himself.


GS(v)


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## gsv (Sep 17, 2007)

Now I can show it to a bi / bdsm / dom / theatre-director mate of mine and try to get him to make *Cruising: The Musical* 




			
				Reno said:
			
		

> That film made the same erroneous connection between the gay S&M scene and real violence, rape and murder


You take the majority line on that* , but I don't think it's supported by the film.
None of the other gay bdsm characters becomes a killer.

Surely the film represents sexual repression resulting in violence, in men who are unable to reconcile their desires with their upbringing/straight macho lifestyle.

* or at least the majority of the nay-sayers - though I'm not saying you're one of them


GS(v)


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## lobster (Sep 17, 2007)

I don't think banning a film with fake acting is the way forward.
What could happen is that a underground scene with real violence or death could take place. Look at Happy Slapping, that's a crime that should be punished. 
All the Video nasty should be available uncut.

Personally those films do not interest me at all, sadly there are people in society that are fucked up and love that shit which is better faked than someone actually filming it.

A good documentary more or less sums up the way i feel towards those exploitation films.


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## Leica (Sep 30, 2007)

I finally saw Cruising last week. I can understand why it has been criticised, as it did leave a rather dodgy message at the end -- at least that was my interpretation.

On the other hand, I think calling for the banning of the film is a step backwards. A ban would not serve any purpose other than to prevent those who wished to form their own opinion from doing so.


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