If a picspam falls in the forest...

[bironic]

I finally got around to watching Cruising (1980, Al Pacino), the "disturbed gay serial killer stalks NYC's S&M scene in the late '70s" movie that, if I recall correctly, generated an ambivalent reaction among the people interviewed in The Celluloid Closet (which is where I first heard of the film) because it's at once exploitative, voyeuristic, sensationalized, misrepresentative, stereotyped, seductive and revealing for the ways in which it portrays an S&M leather subculture that most audience members of the time wouldn't have known about. I remember one gay man saying in the interview that it was the first time he'd seen anything like modern gay nightlife on the big screen, even if it wasn't the most common one. Another man, or maybe it was the same one, pointed out the inflammatory issues the film raised for conflating gayness with hard kink with murder and mental illness and depravity.

Some film critic quotes for context:

• Apollo Guide: "Was it insensitive to make this film when it stood to represent the gay subculture to mainstream America? Yes. Is it a great film? No. But it is a fascinating relic."
• AfterElton: "Is it offensive? Yes and no. It's insensitive, certainly. And I wouldn't want my mother watching it, lest she think I've been in a sling in the meatpacking district for most of my adult life."
• Village Voice: "Cruising is a mediocre thriller but an amazing time capsule -- a heady, horny flashback to the last gasp of full-blown sexual abandon, and easily the most graphic depiction of gay sex ever seen in a mainstream movie."
• Salon: "No one would get away with it now, or even try."

It was an interesting watch. Definitely remarkable for the amount of kink displayed on screen in a Hollywood film. Unfortunately predictable in that most of the kink was portrayed as weird and abnormal. At least, until Pacino's character, a cop playing out that fandom favorite plot of going undercover in the S&M club scene (I wonder if that cliché stemmed from this movie?), started showing signs of wanting to experience some of those kinks himself. They never went there explicitly, maybe because the producers thought they would lose their straight/conservative viewers who identified with macho "never-been-porked" Pacino, although he did ask one suspect to tie him up, but strong hints were there in his gaze, in the way he started wearing leather cuffs while in bed with his wife and staring off into the distance right before he orgasmed, in the way he hesitated longer as the movie went on whenever a guy would check him out or proposition him, stuff like that. Still, hard to say if, especially when it first came out (ha), Pacino being seduced into sexual encounters with men and even learning to treat gay men as real people in day-to-day conversation was meant to feel dangerous or attractive. It was a confused movie in the last third, but I'd like to think it implied that Pacino would never be able to shake what he learned about himself while he was undercover.

Not to compound the exploitation here, but Cruising would have been perfect for that Kink Bingo "all you can kink" mini-challenge, and if it's okay with you I'm going to share a whole bunch of screen shots that prove it.

Bingo-defined kinks portrayed include: anonymity, authority figures, begging, bites/bruises, blades, bloodplay, bodies and body parts, body alteration/injury, bondage, collars, consent play, crossdressing, danger, domestic/tradesman kink, dressup, drugs/aphrodisiacs, exhibitionism, exposure, fisting/stretching, food, foot/shoe fetish, gags, gangbang, gender play, guns, humiliation, in public, leather/latex/rubber, masters doms slaves & subs, medical kink, mirrors and doubles, nippleplay/tit torture, oral fixation, orgies and decadence, pervertibles, pictures, roleplay, sensory deprivation, service, sex toys, shaving/depilation, smacking/slapping, subspace/headspace, suspension, uniforms/military fetish, vanilla kink, vehicular, voyeurism, washing/cleaning, watersports, whipping/flogging, worship.

Note: A few of the pictures can be interpreted as non-consensual. You may not want to click through if that will bother you.


56 pix, more or less in alphabetical order:




Anonymity/in public




Blood play




Body modification, mirrors





Body modification, voyeurism





Bondage















Bruises





Consent play, danger, begging





Dressup





Dressup – Pacino's wife (Karen Allen) tries on some of the clothes he's been bringing home from his undercover work





Drugs (he's snorting something), mirrors, voyeurism. Also, there is a huge dildo in that suitcase.





Headspace – Pacino's thinking about the club he just went to while he's in bed with his wife





Fisting





Fisting, suspension





Suspension





Food, pervertible (the steak knife is used for knifeplay elsewhere)





Gags, drugs (the dance partner stuffs a soaked handkerchief into Pacino's mouth)





Orgies/decadence





Genderplay










Guns!





Uniforms everywhere in this movie





Humiliation, exposure










Smacking/slapping










Blades, danger





Blades, nippleplay/tit torture





Leather, anonymity





Leather, sensory deprivation





Leather. Plus, I don't know, I really liked these two guys even though they were only on screen for a few seconds during a pan. They felt legit. I bet they were among the NYC scene-goers who were invited to populate the film.






Dressup/makeup





Masters/doms/slaves/subs, obedience – Pacino plays a game of take-your-pants-down chicken with this guy





Medical kink





Oral fixation (guy in the middle spends a while fellating that baton), more uniforms





Orgies/decadence or gangbang





Outdoors, exhibitionism





Outdoors





Outdoors





Pictures





Shaving





Suspension, tit torture, yet more uniforms





Uniforms, authority figures





A little domesticity to break things up





A bit of vanilla kink with Pacino and wife





Ditto, with bodies/body parts





Vehicular, plus some earlier stuff with a squad car that didn't screencap well





Voyeurism (audio surveillance)





Voyeurism





Washing/cleaning, foot fetish, worship, service





Watersports – Pacino learns the symbolism of a yellow kerchief in your left back pocket and tries wearing it to a club





Watersports – sleazy Daniel Auteuil/Kenneth Branagh lovechild takes an interest in our hero. Gotta love the light-up belt as well.





Whipping/flogging – this was the best shot I could get, but the guy walking by snaps his crop against the tunnel wall and startles Pacino





Worship, mirrors





Worship, foot fetish, pictures





Thanks for viewing! Thoughts welcome, as always.

x-posted to kink_bingo

Comments

[obsessive24.livejournal.com]

Wow, weird coincidence, this film just arrived in my Lovefilm mailbox this morning. Planning to watch it later tonight.

[bironic.livejournal.com]

I will be interested to hear what you think of it!

[obsessive24.livejournal.com]

Is it weird that I got a very Taxi Driver vibe from the whole thing? I knew nothing of the film and can't remember why I put it on my Lovefilm queue in the first place, but did a bit of reading after seeing it and was interested to see how derided it was. I can see how that could be the case in the context of the time.

[zulu.livejournal.com]

Looks like it's worth checking out!

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Up to you! To repeat what I just told parauque below: I saw some value and subtlety to it that I wasn't expecting, but there were certainly a ton of flaws as well. I've been known to 'talk up' movies to friends because I'd had such low expectations going in, only to cause the opposite problem for them.

[zulu.livejournal.com]

No, don't worry, that's clear; I'd be interested in it as a product of its time, not expecting cinematic greatness. :D

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Ah! Well, I'd definitely recommend it for that!

[pauraque]

Thanks for this, interesting stuff. I'd heard of the movie via The Celluloid Closet, but I haven't actually seen it. Maybe I should check it out.

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Up to you! I saw some value and subtlety to it that I wasn't expecting, but there were certainly a ton of flaws as well.

[deelaundry.livejournal.com]

I watched this in my queer lit class in college. Can't remember the details of the discussion except for the exploitative/stereotyping aspect of it.

By the by, I see some yummy Collars in there! Please to be adding to your list of kinks displayed.

[bironic.livejournal.com]

You know, I even scanned back through the movie to spot any collars, and failed. But you're right, there's a guy near the top who has a chain necklace with a padlock. ETA: Oh, duh, and our friend cupping himself in the questioning room corner. I must have been too busy staring at the rest of him. Will add.

<3

[daasgrrl.livejournal.com]

Domesticity? What kind of a sick pervert are you?

I can't stand Al Pacino, but it sounds like an interesting movie! :)

[bironic.livejournal.com]

:D You're just disappointed I couldn't find a reason to include a screen shot of the background guy who looked like Cumberbatch. If it makes you any more likely to consider seeing the movie, Pacino only did that trademark tonguing-his-tooth thing like once, and he spent almost all of the movie speaking softly.

[daasgrrl.livejournal.com]

Clearly, that would be Cumberbatch!kink ;P

I haven't see enough - any? - Pacino movies in order to hate him with good reason. It's just... him, or rather his whole tough guy image XD

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Heh. Understandable. For what it's worth, he does spend more of the movie getting pushed around and checked out and tied up and generally discovering his inner sub than he does asserting his het-manliness, except for when he stalks the murder suspect (and, without real explanation except that maybe he's starting to get jealous/territorial or takes exception to the assumption that he's sleeping with a guy, gets in a fight with the roommate of a guy he's befriended, which he loses).

Also: maybe Cumberkink?

[daasgrrl.livejournal.com]

NO THANK YOU. THAT SOUNDS LIKE SOMETHING WITH CUCUMBERS.

[Tangentially, I don't suppose you've been following the Star Trek gossip, but the RPS pairing QCumber apparently already exists. There is a comm. Oh, dear XD]

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Oh God, I love it.

The cucumber follow-up I was going to make was that when rageprufrock posted about the BC casting, she reposted an IM conversation she had with a friend which began by referring to him casually as Benedeuce Cucumber.

...Sometimes I have to pause before writing his name to make sure I'm using the right one and not the Cucumber one.

[daasgrrl.livejournal.com]

As you may - or may not - have noticed, I have resorted to The Frumious Cumberbatch, because I just can't stand it. On ontd, someone once referred to him as B. Dic Cum. Which is like... the shortest slash story ever! What's in a name? Well, in his case, rather a lot it seems XD

[anatsuno.livejournal.com]

cummerbund bend-and-snap is my very favorite. :D /drive-by

[alizarin-nyc.livejournal.com]

I like how this discussion has digressed.

[sophinisba]

Thanks for posting this! I've been curious about this movie and this was really interesting to look at.

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Cool! I'm glad you enjoyed it.

[anatsuno.livejournal.com]

yes, thank you rather for this post! fascinating. :)

[spuffyduds.livejournal.com]

ZOWIE.

[alizarin-nyc.livejournal.com]

*chinhands* Fascinating. I looks particularly kinky for the time.

I suggest... HM. A remake. Yes. That would be excellent. But not with a Cumberbatch anywhere near it. And a nice fat NC-17 rating.

OMG it's on instant play on Netflix...

[igbc.livejournal.com]

Thanks so much for posting this! I asked for and got a Cruising fic for Yuletide 2011, which made me happy. This makes me happy, too!

[lemposoi.livejournal.com]

I couldn't have described it better myself. What a weird film.