Cruising (1980), directed by William Friedkin and starring Al Pacino (VIDEO)

Watch the trailer for Cruising, directed by William Friedkin and starring Al Pacino; No. 77 on our list of the 100 best New York movies.

By Alison Willmore Tue Jul 3 2012

New York movies: Cruising (1980)

Once protested by the gay community, William Friedkin’s thriller serves as an unintended snapshot of a narrow slice of the pre-AIDS Village scene, with sequences filmed at the legendary leather club Hellfire. Al Pacino serves as the audience’s enigmatic window onto S&M culture, playing an undercover cop who may be repelled by (or drawn to) everything he’s seeing.—Alison Willmore

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