Cruising

[_shadow_]

There seems to be a decided lack of fine detail for a 4K scan from the original negative.

[tenia]

Looks like it will be even less of the ultimate release this should have been. Reports are that the picture has been DNRed, the 5.1 soundtrack tempered with (in some cases to add sound effects) and that the 2.0 track is a downmix of this newly modified track.

[The Elegant Dandy Fop]

I have the release and can say the transfer does look very smooth, and glazed out in some parts, but otherwise a million times better than the previous release. 5.1 tampering is inevitable with Friedkin. It's what he does. I still find the added gunshot to the end of Sorcerer to be very frustrating when compared to the original version.

[_shadow_]

Do both sound mixes omit the sound of approaching footsteps/jangling chains that typically played over the last closeup of Pacino and was removed for the blue edition?

[soundchaser]

William Friedkin has some harsh words for...widescreen.

[domino harvey]

He’s confusing shooting anamorphic, which is ‘Scope, with anamorphic-enhanced transfers of his film (ie 16X9) on home media, for anyone trying to figure out how he could make this blunder. That a director doesn’t know what this means in a DVD/Blu-Ray listing is... odd

[Big Ben]

He’s confusing shooting anamorphic, which is ‘Scope, with anamorphic-enhanced transfers of his film (ie 16X9) on home media, for anyone trying to figure out how he could make this blunder. That a director doesn’t know what this means in a DVD/Blu-Ray listing is... odd

Do you follow him on Twitter? He's always been strangely incoherent (In my opinion) online, to the point Mark Kermode asked once if he was physically okay. It's weird because he's always so well spoken in filmed interviews.

[domino harvey]

I don’t, but a similar thought crossed my mind. Some people just write and hit send without reading what they typed or thinking twice, I imagine that’s probably the best case scenario here

[David M.]

He’s confusing shooting anamorphic, which is ‘Scope, with anamorphic-enhanced transfers of his film (ie 16X9) on home media, for anyone trying to figure out how he could make this blunder. That a director doesn’t know what this means in a DVD/Blu-Ray listing is... odd

If I recall correctly, on a podcast he revealed that he thinks the color fades from old video tapes. I don’t think he fully understands video.

[nitin]

Is that why he faded the colour out himself from The French Connection blu ray?

[HJackson]

Do you follow him on Twitter? He's always been strangely incoherent (In my opinion) online, to the point Mark Kermode asked once if he was physically okay. It's weird because he's always so well spoken in filmed interviews.

He says some crazy shit in person too. There’s an interview that’s always stuck in my head where he explains his admiration for Birth of a Nation by describing Griffiths’ contribution to film grammar (so far so good) and then breaks into a small rant about how you’re not allowed to justify the Ku Klux Klan in our “politically correct society” and that the film is really about black crime.

[beamish14]

Friedkin is definitely a nut beyond his bizarre revisionism and preference for DVD's over 35mm prints. This interview with screenwriter Caroline Thompson about working with him on a proposed adaptation of her 1984 novel FIRST BORN is incredible.

[Big Ben]

Do you follow him on Twitter? He's always been strangely incoherent (In my opinion) online, to the point Mark Kermode asked once if he was physically okay. It's weird because he's always so well spoken in filmed interviews.

He says some crazy shit in person too. There’s an interview that’s always stuck in my head where he explains his admiration for Birth of a Nation by describing Griffiths’ contribution to film grammar (so far so good) and then breaks into a small rant about how you’re not allowed to justify the Ku Klux Klan in our “politically correct society” and that the film is really about black crime.

Yes I'm familiar with the interview in question. He also goes into his opinion on black crime which he feels was the justification for Southern Whites to create the Ku Klux Klan. I have no idea how the hell he arrived at his completely asinine conclusions about the Klan but he really could not be less informed about it. And then in the same God damn interview (Of course!) he goes on to champion Godard. What a pivot. For those who want see Friedkin go full gonzo here is the interview.

I suppose thinking about this now I think it makes sense that he made a film like Cruising which has always felt really tone deaf in my opinion. I realize I'm way out the loop being born when I was but I can't help but feel being born in the nineties really insulated me from the realities of the HIV/AIDS crisis and all the ensuing disinformation, homophobia and sense of loss that the LGBT community felt at the time.

[R0lf]

I suppose thinking about this now I think it makes sense that he made a film like Cruising which has always felt really tone deaf in my opinion. I realize I'm way out the loop being born when I was but I can't help but feel being born in the nineties really insulated me from the realities of the HIV/AIDS crisis and all the ensuing disinformation, homophobia and sense of loss that the LGBT community felt at the time.

CRUISING hit a year before AIDS was being medically reported. And as far as the protests during shooting of the film go there is also the counter story that they were drummed up by assimilationist anti-BDSM queens who didn't want *that* kind of gay on screen. There is a great write up on the scene at the time and the making of CRUISING here: http://www.jackfritscher.com/PDF/Drumme ... 8_PWeb.pdf

[MichaelB]

Yes, it's impossible to watch it now without thinking of what was just around the corner, but this wouldn't have been apparent back in 1980. Even the acronym "AIDS" wouldn't be coined for a couple of years (July 1982, with its first official use/endorsement by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that September, more than two and a half years after the film came out).

And it's also worth recalling that this project had a very long gestation - back in 1973, producer Philip D'Antoni (then fresh off the unexpected Oscar triumph of The French Connection) developed it with Steven Spielberg as the latter's directorial debut. I forget why it collapsed, but it wasn't Spielberg's fault, and D'Antoni was so impressed with what he'd done that he recommended him to his former production head at Fox, Richard D. Zanuck. Given D'Antoni's track record, Zanuck took him seriously... and the rest is history.

[Big Ben]

CRUISING hit a year before AIDS was being medically reported. And as far as the protests during shooting of the film go there is also the counter story that they were drummed up by assimilationist anti-BDSM queens who didn't want *that* kind of gay on screen. There is a great write up on the scene at the time and the making of CRUISING here: http://www.jackfritscher.com/PDF/Drumme ... 8_PWeb.pdf

Thank you for posting this. My only real experience with oral history around this time came from David Ehrenstein who really, really, really doesn't like Cruising. I understand his sentiments about the matter very clearly but he really never insinuated that there was more to the story. Naturally people are going to have strong opinions on this entire ordeal, not least the gay community. The most sobering thing about the conversation for me was David's lamentation of how much chaos HIV had really caused, with him explaining to me how much (And I'm paraphrasing here) "didn't exist anymore". It's nice to have a longer second opinion.

And it's also worth recalling that this project had a very long gestation - back in 1973, producer Philip D'Antoni (then fresh off the unexpected Oscar triumph of The French Connection) developed it with Steven Spielberg as the latter's directorial debut. I forget why it collapsed, but it wasn't Spielberg's fault, and D'Antoni was so impressed with what he'd done that he recommended him to his former production head at Fox, Richard D. Zanuck. Given D'Antoni's track record, Zanuck took him seriously... and the rest is history.

It's also to my understanding that Cruising was plagued by various productions issues and that in turn had an effect on everything that went into the film itself. I won't deny that parts of Cruising are really well made but I've always felt the overall product is so muddy I was really unsure just what Friedkin was communicating. I know that the book (Obviously) goes deeper into motivations and so forth but Cruising has always left a bizarre aftertaste in my mouth. I'm obviously at a perceptual disadvantage though for reasons I've state above but so much of the content in Cruising has always appeared to me to be a product of it's time, both in it's aloofness and apparent (Although I'm not convinced outwardly malicious) misconceptions about the gay community. Not that these things still don't impact the LGBT community today mind you but the film feels so late seventies early eighties. It exists in a state right before a time of great strife for so many people and I just can't view it outside of all that due to my place in the world.

[cdnchris]

In the commentary the two get a little into his "revisionism" and Kermode mentions a shot he is sure is missing and Friedkin says he's unsure of what is talking about. They also talk about the colors and Friedkin explains what he was trying to do with the timing previously but took it out because he now feels it was, basically, pointless.

[FrauBlucher]

Beaver

[colinr0380]

I think Cruising is a fascinating film (and will never make me pick up a Party Size back of anything again without a brief flashback!) but it inevitably is a straight man's view of the 'gay world' (as much as say the opening scene of Irrreversible is), explaining it to his presumably straight (and staid) as he is audience. That perhaps causes some of the frustration with it, and its prominence at the time and since, but going into it with that knowledge of how the film is approaching its subject and adjusting expectations accordingly it is still very entertaining.

The great AIDS-themed film that has almost entirely fallen into obscurity is the 1993 Canadian film Zero Patience, which instead of treating the subject like a sober, distressing drama instead goes off into fantastical dimensions and irreverent musical numbers to express its concerns about how the disease was treated.

[_shadow_]

Arrow's BD is an improvement on the prior DVD at least in taking the blue filter down from 11, but still a miss overall. It seems like this is mostly due to Friedkin's influence and Arrow wasn't able to do what they would have wanted with it.

But the choice of essay for the booklet empasizes that this is a straight person's presentation of gay culture to a straight audience, and I couldn't help feeling that even more intensely when seeing the movie again.

The leather guys dancing to punk rock is a good example of the film's "Bizzaro World" POV - sadly, its mix of real-life people and locations with a purely filmic fantasy of what those people did there seems to be taken at face value by contemporary viewers.

This release would have benefitted from multiple gay perspectives on the film, but there's not really much depth in any of the (ported) features, and it's not like Friedkin's a reliable narrator. In a typical example, the essay talks about Friedkin just happening to think about Pacino's character maybe being the killer while editing the film, even though this is taken directly from the book, which presents it quite overtly. And it seems like nobody's really read the book, when it would have been fascinating to look into the book in detail - what reaction it received when published, and how it evolved into the final film.

And of course the "clinking chains" sound over the final shot of Pacino is gone in the new audio mix. The BD's new opening titles are better than the DVD's new titles, but this film is primarily valuable as a historical document so erasing the "this film isn't about most gays just the perverted ones" disclaimer means viewers are missing valuable context as to how this was presented to its initial audience.

At least the DNR is not as pervasive and extreme as I'd expected based on screenshots.

[colinr0380]

The other notorious 'straight view of gay people' film from 1980 which is a bit more obscure these days for obvious reasons is Windows (the only directorial credit of cinematographer Gordon Willis), in which a friendly passing lesbian helps a woman who is being stalked, but then the big thriller twist is:

Spoiler

that she is the obsessive stalker herself and even hired the man to attack her object of desire so that she could swoop in to save the day

[R0lf]

This release would have benefitted from multiple gay perspectives on the film, but there's not really much depth in any of the (ported) features, and it's not like Friedkin's a reliable narrator.

Gary Needham who was announced for the original commentary (that was buried) is a gay academic who specialises in LGBT culture. I presume because of any previous “controversy” they didn’t want to include any gay content? Or they didn’t care?

It’s also a bit on the nose that the blurb for the movie on the rear cover skirts around using the word GAY to an almost ludicrous degree.

[zedz]

This is such a hapless film. Apart from being obnoxious in its historical context, it's just not very good on any level. I can only assume that its defenders are more enamoured of its unrealized potential than its actual achievements. It could have been a valuable depiction of an underexplored subculture - but it isn't. It could have been an examination of establishment - and specifically police - homophobia - but it isn't. It could have been an intriguing character study of a closeted cop who has to go undercover as himself, and then has to deal with the personal fallout of that - but it isn't. It could have been a suspenseful thriller - but it isn't. It would have been so easy for it to be a dumb, oblivious camp frolic - but it's too po-faced and nasty to even clear that lowest of hurdles. It's like Friedkin latched onto some 'edgy' content but had no idea what to do with it, or thought that that was enough, and Pacino seems to be just as bewildered.

[Finch]

4K in February



2-DISC 4K ULTRA HD BLU-RAY LIMITED EDITION CONTENTS:
Brand new 4K restoration from the original 35mm camera negative by Arrow Films
120-page perfect-bound collector’s book featuring articles from The Village Voice and The New York Times, essays from the film’s extras cast, an introduction from William Friedkin, and an archive interview with Al Pacino
Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Sister Hyde
DISC ONE - FEATURE & EXTRAS (4K ULTRA HD):
4K (2160p) Ultra HD Blu-ray presentation in Dolby Vision (HDR10 compatible)
Original lossless English mono audio, 2.0 stereo, and 5.1
Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
Two archive audio commentaries by director William Friedkin, one solo and one moderated by critic and broadcaster Mark Kermode
Brand new commentary featuring original musicians involved with the soundtrack
I Want to Be the Curator, a brand-new interview with actress Karen Allen
Deleted scenes and alternative footage
On-set audio featuring the club scenes and protest coverage
Censored material reels
Theatrical trailer, teasers, and TV spots
DISC TWO - EXTRAS (BLU-RAY):
Walking the Line, a brand-new interview with actor, film consultant, and former police detective Randy Jurgensen
Cut Offs, an interview with editor Bud S. Smith
Who’s That Guy?, an interview with actor Jay Acovone
Pounding the Beat, an interview with actor Mike Starr
Boy on the Bus, an interview with actor Mark Zecca
Mineshaft Memories, an archive interview with Wally Wallace, former manager of the Mineshaft
Breaking the Codes, a brand-new visual essay surrounding the hanky-codes featuring actor and writer David McGillivray
Stop the Movie, a short film by Jim Hubbard capturing the Cruising protests
The History of Cruising, an archival featurette looking at the film’s origins and production
Exorcising Cruising, an archival featurette looking at the controversy surrounding the film and its enduring legacy
William Friedkin’s BeyondFest 2022 Q&A at the American Cinematheque
Extensive image gallery featuring international promotional material, on-set sketches, and more

[yoloswegmaster]

Interesting that they are redoing the 4K restoration. They probably wanted to fix the issues that were imposed on the Friedkin supervised master. Great package for fans of the film but I wish they released Sorcerer instead.