the versioncore canon

V

version

Well-known member
I did recently notice a bunch of the stuff I was watching and reading was by and/or about intense gay guys: Burroughs, Pasolini, Anger, Mishima, Fassbinder.
 
Clinamenic

Clinamenic

Binary & Tweed
Thankfully Luke's grooming gaze, try as he may, cannot extend through his online presence. My heart goes out for what poor youth fell under his influence IRL though.
 
william_kent

william_kent

Well-known member
@linebaugh said: Have you seen it? How does it comoare to the other friedkins


Cruising - Nightclub scene

judge for yr self

CRISCO!

"leather bar: interior", the reconstruction of the discarded "cuts", seems impossible to find but, frankly, it was disappointing, too much talking, too little "action"

I have this paperback:

s-l1600.jpg


but I have too few shelves, and too many books, so I can't quote verbatim
 
craner

craner

Beast of Burden
version said:
Yeah, it's good. Not as good as Sorcerer, To Live and Die in L.A. or The French Connection, but worth watching. It's really odd and the soundtrack bangs.
Click to expand...

I think the stories about how it was made and how it was received are much better than the film itself.
 
craner

craner

Beast of Burden
I see with Sorcerer we’ve gone from commercial disaster to cult obscurity to critical rehabilitation to backlash against new-found acclaim. Someone recently panned it by asking “but what does it actually have to say?” Like, an actual critic, being paid to write about films, said that.
 
V

version

Well-known member
craner said:
I think the stories about how it was made and how it was received are much better than the film itself.
Click to expand...

It's a strange, clunky film, but that was part of the charm for me. I think it loses its way in the final third once we think we've found the killer, but I really liked the ending.

I read an old article on the protests and controversy around it a while back that was pretty good. I can see why people were angry.

THE CRUISING CONTROVERSY: William Friedkin vs. the Gay Community
 
V

version

Well-known member
version said:
Finally watched Cruising last night. Loved it. When it looked like the killer would be neatly wrapped up I was a bit disappointed, but Friedkin knocked it out of the park by pulling back and piling on layers and layers of ambiguity instead.

Wonder whether Master and Commander . . . ending on the same piece was just a coincidence or some sort of nod.



It's tempting to read it as an AIDS metaphor, but you'd have to do it in a retroactive, 'death of the author' sense as the film came out a year or so before the first clinical reports. I'm sure someone's written a paper on it or something though, Pacino coming into contact with and, via transmission, seemingly taking on the form of a killer specifically targeting gay men in 80s New York.

I stuck a bit of the commentary on after finishing it and Friedkin said that bizarre bit with the guy in the jockstrap and cowboy hat at the police station was a real cop who actually did that during interrogations because it would rattle people and sound so unbelievable that the victim would seem like they were full of shit if they tried to report it to a judge or anyone who might be able to help.



The stuff with the police is one of the more intriguing aspects of the film, imo. There's this tension between the institutional phobias of the organisation, the personal phobias of the officers and the actual conduct of the officers, i.e. the policies of the department are hostile to queer people and the officers harass and abuse and insult them, but a couple of them are seen forcing sexual favours out of people on the street, one of them's seen in the clubs and the department itself has this guy walking around in a jockstrap and cowboy hat, roughing up prisoners, and employs at least one person as an informant.
Click to expand...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top