Cruising

When a sadistic serial killer preys on patrons of New York City’s underground leather bars, rookie cop Steve Burns (Al Pacino) is assigned to hit the clubs to lure the murderer out of the shadows, and starts to identify with the S&M subculture more than he anticipated, stirring homophobia at the precinct and the concern of his girlfriend, Nancy (Karen Allen). Panned by critics at the time, picketed by gay-rights groups, and ultimately denounced by Pacino, this 1980 crime thriller by William Friedkin (The French Connection, The Exorcist) has been reevaluated in recent years, and cited as a favorite by Quentin Tarantino and the Safdie Brothers. Notable for its controversial use of a Black police interrogator and a queer-passing undercover detective, Cruising is a powerful dramatization of how race and sexuality facilitate more intimate community policing.

Series curator Steven W. Thrasher introduces the screening on June 9. Join us for a discussion with Thrasher, New Yorker culture writer Julien Lucas, and The End of Policing author Alex Vitale after the screening on June 11.